Second Budgie

[Angelgirl]

Hello all,

A couple of years ago I posted about my budgie Alfie. I thought he was a baby but realised he must have been over six months when I saw his eyes. I tried hand taming but he never really got it.

Fast forward to this year and I decided that Alfie was probably a little lonely - I haven't been able to have him out as I've never mastered the step up. On Monday whilst visiting my folks in Hertfordshire (I live in Somerset) I came across a pretty blue female (I think. She still has bars on her head and her eyes are black so she must be younger than Alfie was when I got him. I've called her Billie.

When in the pet centre I bought a travel cage to take her back to Somerset and was advised to put her straight in with Alfie when we arrived but Alfie wasn't too impressed with the idea! I've now bought a second cage to let them get to know each other a bit first before they live together. I've also been trying to hand tame Billie.

The problem is that just now, Alfie was chirping and she went mad in her cage looking at a way to get out to him. Am I being fair keeping them apart for now? Alfie hates my hand and will flap like mad when I put it in his cage. Billie is slowly getting used to it. Ideally I'd like to hand tame her first but I know that will be a while. Also, when I put her in with him will that undo all the work I've done so far?

Many thanks in advance for your help

Angel x

[Hezz]

Billie really shouldn't have gone straight in with Alfie, or even be in the same room as him. Billie should have been quarantined for a month to be sure she isn't carrying any latent diseases or parasites which can rear their ugly head due to the stress of the move. But it is too late for that now.

Bad advice there from the centre telling you to put a new bird straight into another's cage. I usually recommend to people that once their quarantine period is over, during which time both birds will be aware that there is another in the house and start calling to each other, is bring the new bird into the same room and place the cages beside each other and allow the birds to size each other up from the safety of their own cages. If they seem keen to meet, then allow them time out of the cages together under strict supervision, and observe how they interact. Do this for a few days and if all is good, only introduce them into the one cage when everything has be thoroughly washed and cleaned up and rearranged differently to how the resident bird is used to. This makes the cage a more neutral space instead of the new bird walking into the resident bird's home and taking over his favourite perch, swing, toy etc. Make sure you have two seed pots and two swings.

The quarantine period is an excellent time to work on training the new bird, as it is much more difficult once the two birds are together ....... they will be more keen to interact with each other rather than with you. Since that isn't happening, you may wish to still remove Billie and work with training her for periods of the day. No one can say how they will react once they are together.

[Angelgirl]

Hi Hezz and thanks for the advice. Sorry for not replying sooner but I felt awful when I realised what a bad budgie Mum I was.

Billie has her own cage for now and I am starting to hand tame her. She gets the 'step up' although I am struggling a little with keeping her there unless I'm holding millet! She's been out a few times and each time she flies on to the top of Alfie's cage. The problem with that is when I put my hand to her, he jumps because he's not hand tame and she jumps because he does!

I'm also a little worried about her flying into things. She won't sit on my finger long enough to get her back in her cage so I've been turning the lights to dim as was suggested in one of my previous posts about Alfie. The problem is, she still flies and then crashes into things. Do I need to make the room darker? I'm terrified she's going to seriously injure herself.

I'm entirely sure you're all going to be cross with me for this but I'm not going to be able to give them free flight together as Alfie doesn't come out his cage. Even when I accidentally left the side door open slightly he didn't go out. I could certainly try re-arranging his cage, especially as she now has her own things too. I have a feeling they won't ever get on though. She certainly likes him but he is just not that into her.

[Hezz]

Not your fault you were given bad advice, so don't worry. We can still try to work with what you have. Firstly for Billie's time out for a fly, move her out of the room where Alfie is; a small room works really well. She gets to fly, you get to go through her step up training and in a small room you don't waste most of your time walking around after her when she does flit off. Make sure you budgie-proof this room so you don't have the stress of making sure she doesn't go places you can't get her out of. It also makes things a bit easier getting her back into the cage.

Getting her to stay once she steps up is not the easiest - what you have to do is take control, so work with short amounts of time first ..... the trick is to tell her to step down, and put her off your finger BEFORE she does it for herself. You then increase the timing, little bit by little bit. The more time you spend working with her, the better your relationship will be. You really do only get out of a budgie what you put into them.

As for the birds being together at a later stage ....... what happens if you leave Alfie's cage open and allow Billie out of her's? Will she go into Alfie's? But do this in your small straining room if you have problems getting Billie home when needed.

Alfie probably needs time to warm to Billie. He may be a shy boy, and a pushy, noisy hen could be rather off-putting for him. Could you allow Billie to visit (on her own accord, as mentioned above) for short periods ....... minutes, not hours, supervise them and watch Alfie's reactions. If she visited on a regular basis, every day, he may start to even look forward to her company.

[Angelgirl]

Billie seems to be coming on in leaps and bounds which is complete contrast to how things were with Alfie. She's doing better at staying on my finger as I take her round the cage although I haven't tried having her out this weekend as my parents and sister have been down.

I'm fairly certain she will go in with Alfie - that's how they met in the first place! She escaped from her travel cage and was on his cage, I opened the door and she climbed in! She follows him about the top of the cage when she's there like a shadow. I will either take her, or him, out of the room next time I want to train her but, as you suggest, try and give them visiting time too!

I have also discovered she is a complete water baby! It's rather warm in the UK at the moment and I have today off. I came in the living room this afternoon to see her trying to get into her water bowl! I've given her the bath I bought for Alfie (but he was scared stiff of) and she loves it! The only problem is that the paint on her swing must be water soluble as now she has an orange head! I can't take it away though as she loves it and I looked everywhere for a small swing.

[Hezz]

Hopefully the paint on the swing isn't paint at all, but vegetable dye or food colouring.

Good news about Billie - glad she is being receptive to your training. This may also help Alfie be more settled around you as well ....... particularly if he does warm to Billie. Good luck and keep up the good work.