Closing the door after getting the bird out?

[eldiel]

Hello!

As most of you know, my budgie has a very tough character. She simply adores her cage and doesn't go out. rarely maybe once she flies and make a round tour in the room. In addition, she loves oat and when I take one oat to my hand, she can come and fly to me around a meter to eat it. Generally she flies, takes the oat and flies back to the cage. I would like to ask if it would be something to try to close the cage door so that she has to explore the room? Would it have worse effects on the budgie?

I soon will take the second bird with a small cage to get them used to each other but I almost have no hope that my current budgie will accept another one in her cage. She is quite aggressive against cage and toys even. New 2 months old budgie chick might suffer a lot :/

[OP]

It is my opinion to NOT close the door when she comes out. I feel that could make her more aggressive towards you. I have a female (re-homed) and she just loves being in the cage. She feels safe in there. I have kept here out so that I can clean the cage, but she sits on top and watches me until I prop the door open, she is back in then.
Just leave the door open and let her come and go as she pleases, unless you want her in for some reason.

I have no comments to make on the introduction as I have no idea how she will behave. It's try it and see.

[eldiel]

I believe that not many budgies are such introverted, right? They are known as one of the most social and outgoing animals.

[OP]

That just depends which budgie manual they read from. Each one is an individual even within a flock.

[Hezz]

Just to point out that your quarantine period should not be shorter than 4 weeks; your two birds should not be brought together before that time. You should have the new bird in the biggest cage and the hen in the smaller one, so that when it comes time to introduce them, the new bird is not intruding into her space, but the other way round.

Closing the door is not a good way to go; we all need a bolt-hole to retreat to at times.

[eldiel]

Mar 15, 2017 19:59:34 GMT OP said:

That just depends which budgie manual they read from. Each one is an individual even within a flock.

Yes, I am very convinced that they have very individual characters. However, I think, it is not very common that a single budgie is very introverted like mine. Especially, when the budgie is bonded with us and when we spend a lot of time with it. Hopefully, the new budgie will make her more outgoing. If they can't live together, then I need to reconsider to provide my current budgie a better conditions, such as living in a huge cage with a flock.

[eldiel]

Mar 15, 2017 20:14:39 GMT Hezz said:

Just to point out that your quarantine period should not be shorter than 4 weeks; your two birds should not be brought together before that time. You should have the new bird in the biggest cage and the hen in the smaller one, so that when it comes time to introduce them, the new bird is not intruding into her space, but the other way round.

Closing the door is not a good way to go; we all need a bolt-hole to retreat to at times.

Waow, I thought 2 weeks would be enough but I can extend it.

Wouldn't my current budgie be offended if I change her place and put her into the new small cage? Maybe it is the way that she will be outgoing to visit her old cage. at least around since the new one will be inside

[Deleted]

My Squawk doesn't like being out of the cage. I recently got another budgie, Chirpy, who's more confident outside which has been helpful for Squawk.

[Hezz]

Mar 15, 2017 20:21:22 GMT eldiel said:

Mar 15, 2017 20:14:39 GMT Hezz said:

Just to point out that your quarantine period should not be shorter than 4 weeks; your two birds should not be brought together before that time. You should have the new bird in the biggest cage and the hen in the smaller one, so that when it comes time to introduce them, the new bird is not intruding into her space, but the other way round.

Closing the door is not a good way to go; we all need a bolt-hole to retreat to at times.

Waow, I thought 2 weeks would be enough but I can extend it.

Wouldn't my current budgie be offended if I change her place and put her into the new small cage? Maybe it is the way that she will be outgoing to visit her old cage. at least around since the new one will be inside

Probably, but much less so than having another invade her space at a later date. The change over should have happened before the newbie came along, but you can' t fix that now, so the sooner the better.

[eldiel]

Actually new small cage will come with the new budgie so I can put my current budgie to new cage only 15-30 min. Before I put the new one into the bigger cage.

Can you tell me if the cages should be in the same room during quarantine period? Maybe far from each other and I can open the small cage's door so that my current budgie fly over and make a connection with the new one.

[jellybean]

No. The new budgie should be in a seperate room altogether, with no connection with your present budgie until the quarantine period is up.

[eldiel]

Mar 15, 2017 21:38:39 GMT jellybean said:

No. The new budgie should be in a seperate room altogether, with no connection with your present budgie until the quarantine period is up.

So how come that we will be used to each other? Shouldnt I move the cage closer to each other every week?

[Learner]

Mar 16, 2017 5:44:44 GMT eldiel said:

Mar 15, 2017 21:38:39 GMT jellybean said:

No. The new budgie should be in a seperate room altogether, with no connection with your present budgie until the quarantine period is up.

So how come that we will be used to each other? Shouldnt I move the cage closer to each other every week?

The idea of keeping the new budgie far apart from the old one is to prevent any bugs / germs / infections travelling onto your first bird.

If the new one is going to be sick / ill this is likely to happen during the first 40 days. Keeping them apart means no germs or infections can be passed on to the older bird until you are 100% sure that the new budgie is well and not suffering from anything it could pass on to your existing bird.

Once the 40 days is up the chances of the new bird having a communicable disease / infection is very small. If there is a problem with the new birds health you will see this before it has a chance to spread.

After 40 days you can safely have them close to each other.

If you are thinking about buying a new cage put the new bird in it as soon as possible. Then, if you decide to try them together once they have got to know each other, you can let the older bird go into the newer bird's cage.

Do it the other way around and there's a good chance your first bird will be very cross that an outsider has moved in!!

[eldiel]

My current cage is around 65x65x35 and the small cage is around 35x30x20. It is quite small but I believe my old bird can handle over there for a month as long as I keep the door open when I am at home. My flat is not that big. (around 48m2, 2 rooms) so I can keep them seperated. However, my old bird will eventually fly. I believe after a few days, it is wise for me to put them in the same room but at the different corners.

[OP]

I think Learner has explained very well why you should not have the two budgies in the same room for the quarantine period. If they are in the same room and your new budgie has some airborne illness then that illness can infect your original budgie.
The whole idea of quarantine is to have the new budgie separate from the old budgie.
Think of it this way. If a human being has Ebola then that human being is put into quarantine, a tent which is totally separate from the people around them. It would be no good having the patient at one end of a room and the nursing staff at the other.
Now your new budgie is not likely to have Ebola but it could have Beak and Father disease or something else that is airborne. Quarantine is to minimise the risk if infection passing between both birds.
If either one fly's to the other ones cage then there is no point in having the quarantine period. If you are willing to take the risk, then forget the quarantine and start the introduction. Note I say risk.
I do hope you understand, we are trying to help you.