Fighting budgies - Help please!

[Sara]

Hi guys,

So I have 4 budgies (3 males, 1 female). For the past week or so, they have been fighting a lot nonstop and I noticed one of the males feathers are really torn out. I believe this could be due to the fighting and I think it may be over the female. (But I'm unsure as he may have plucked them out himself?)

I was panicked to see this and I therefore ordered a new cage and put two of the males there (one of which was the violent ones). The cages are next to each other and they keep climbing the walls to try to get to each other ever since I separated them into couples. I don't understand what is going on. 

Can anyone please give some advice or explanation?

Thanks!

[Hezz]

Don't know where you are, but it is breeding season where I am. Budgies will breed at anytime but they certainly do seem to prefer to follow their local seasons.

Are they actually fighting - rolling around on the ground, locked together, feathers flying - or are they squabbling and sniping at each other? If they really are fighting, keep them separate; it they are only squabbling, let them sort it out for themselves.

[Sara]

Dec 2, 2019 0:20:51 GMT Hezz said:

Don't know where you are, but it is breeding season where I am. Budgies will breed at anytime but they certainly do seem to prefer to follow their local seasons.

Are they actually fighting - rolling around on the ground, locked together, feathers flying - or are they squabbling and sniping at each other? If they really are fighting, keep them separate; it they are only squabbling, let them sort it out for themselves.

Thanks for the reply.
I'm in London. The small squabbles were usual but they had been on the floor locked a few times. Also they were chasing eachother around all day so I did separate them.

But the female in one cage and one of the males in the other cage are hanging on to the walls of the cage as if trying to get to eachother (eventhough this was the male was used to chase and annoy her all day). The female is running back and forth across the cage. Why do you think this is happening, and what can I do to help?

Also do you think my other budgie's severe featherloss could be a French moult? as none of the other budgies have lost any feathers like this?

Thanks!

[tweetiepiesmom]

Can you post a picture of the budgie with the feather loss? Some experts here have experienced budgies with French moult and may be able to tell from a picture. Sorry your budgies are fighting. Hopefully someone will be along soon to give you some advice. Separating the fighting ones is the right thing to do for now.

[Hezz]

Dec 6, 2019 12:24:24 GMT Sara said:

Dec 2, 2019 0:20:51 GMT Hezz said:

Don't know where you are, but it is breeding season where I am. Budgies will breed at anytime but they certainly do seem to prefer to follow their local seasons.

Are they actually fighting - rolling around on the ground, locked together, feathers flying - or are they squabbling and sniping at each other? If they really are fighting, keep them separate; it they are only squabbling, let them sort it out for themselves.

Thanks for the reply.
I'm in London. The small squabbles were usual but they had been on the floor locked a few times. Also they were chasing eachother around all day so I did separate them.

But the female in one cage and one of the males in the other cage are hanging on to the walls of the cage as if trying to get to eachother (eventhough this was the male was used to chase and annoy her all day). The female is running back and forth across the cage. Why do you think this is happening, and what can I do to help?

Also do you think my other budgie's severe featherloss could be a French moult? as none of the other budgies have lost any feathers like this?

Thanks!

This will almost always happen; go figure. Just like squabbling siblings who are forever fighting but pity help anyone else who might have a go at either of them! That's budgies for you. You can either leave things as they are, or try caging these two together, away from the other two.

Photos from the back might help answer your feather loss question. If the bird has bare patches, a photo of that as well.

[Sara]

Dec 7, 2019 0:09:54 GMT Hezz said:

Dec 6, 2019 12:24:24 GMT Sara said:

Thanks for the reply.
I'm in London. The small squabbles were usual but they had been on the floor locked a few times. Also they were chasing eachother around all day so I did separate them.

But the female in one cage and one of the males in the other cage are hanging on to the walls of the cage as if trying to get to eachother (eventhough this was the male was used to chase and annoy her all day). The female is running back and forth across the cage. Why do you think this is happening, and what can I do to help?

Also do you think my other budgie's severe featherloss could be a French moult? as none of the other budgies have lost any feathers like this?

Thanks!

This will almost always happen; go figure. Just like squabbling siblings who are forever fighting but pity help anyone else who might have a go at either of them! That's budgies for you. You can either leave things as they are, or try caging these two together, away from the other two.

Photos from the back might help answer your feather loss question. If the bird has bare patches, a photo of that as well.

Thank you for your reply. The budgie does have bare patches. He has some bare patches near his neck and it's completely bare under his wings as well but I couldn’t get a pic of that. But here are some other pics. I’m really worried about him. What do you think of this?

[Sara]

Dec 6, 2019 16:39:54 GMT tweetiepiesmom said:

Can you post a picture of the budgie with the feather loss? Some experts here have experienced budgies with French moult and may be able to tell from a picture. Sorry your budgies are fighting. Hopefully someone will be along soon to give you some advice. Separating the fighting ones is the right thing to do for now.

Thank you for your reply. I just posted some pics.

[tweetiepiesmom]

Poor baby. He looks quite the sassy character and has beautiful coloring. There are more experienced people here who can give you some ideas on what may be going on.

[Hezz]

Poor fella; he is a rough looking little nut, for sure. French moult affects the flight and long tail feathers mostly, rather than the small downy body feathers, so I'm not convinced he has that. It could well be from fighting - the spot on his back in particular suggests that to me. The patch on his chest though - that is a typical plucking stop, so it is hard to say for sure just what is going on. Don't be concerned about lack of feathers under the wings. Most birds have fewer feathers there anyway.

I would keep this little fella separate and really watch him closely to see whether you can catch him plucking at his chest, and watch to see that the feathers on his back grow back. If he is plucking, it may be from a number of different issues, from something irritating his skin, an allergy, an un-noticed illness that is causing him a problem, or it could be a psychological issue (not so common in our budgies as in our larger parrot friends). In any case you might want to consult a vet, if separating him doesn't see his feather health improve.