Question about pair bonding and housing

[Morgan]

Hello all!

I have three young budgies, two females and one male, and I am wondering how to house them together. One of my females (Pig) is an 8mo old dark eyed clear and was rescued at 3 mo. old from a neighbor’s flock in Southern California after she escaped. She is in her own cage. The other two (female named Monkey and male named Moon) I think are between 5-7 mo. old and are blue yellow-face type 2’s. I adopted them from someone on Craigslist in Northern California who thought they were both male and originally bought them together at a Petco up here. Since they were bought together I am going to assume they may be related. They are currently housed together in their original cage.

Monkey and Moon are generally friendly with each other, they groom each other and such, but they also bicker a little (mostly over food, Monkey is definitely dominant). They aren’t hand tame yet and I am not going to start taming them for another few days, after they’ve settled in to their new environment. Since I just got them a few days ago and they aren’t hand tame on top of that, I don’t want to separate them right away, but I also don’t want them to become a mated pair!

In addition, I think it is extremely likely that Pig and Moon are not related, and would make very pretty babies! (In the far future of course, and only after I’ve done all my research and am fully prepared). I will also be getting another male to even things out with them, whether they can all be housed together or need to be kept in pairs.

So my most pressing / general question is: How to budgies pick mates and bond with one another? Do I need to worry about this right away, or do I have some time since they are all still pretty young?

My more specific questions are:

1) Since they are still so young, do I need to worry about Monkey and Moon bonding right now? Should I separate them as soon as possible?

2) If I do need to separate them, could I put Moon with Pig as long as they get along well, and not expect mating/babies right away as long as they are sleeping 14 hours and getting only 10 hours of daylight? (I keep their cages covered from bedtime to morning to control this).

3) Conversely, could I house them all together if they all get along, until a certain age or until one of them starts going into breeding condition, and expect them not to bond until then?

I mostly want to avoid Monkey and Moon bonding in case they are related, so I am leaning towards separating them sooner rather than later, and getting Monkey a male companion from someplace else.

I would like to eventually house them all together in one happy flock of four, but only after clear bonds have been made between the appropriate pairs. However, I know that just because two budgies of the opposite sex are together doesn’t mean they will definitely bond.

Any advice, additional questions, or other comments would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[Morgan]

Also, just to confirm I am correct about Monkey and Moon’s ages, here is a photo showing their irises and fore-feather striping. They were purchased two months ago by the original owner, and the irises are about the same shade of dark grey on both, but Monkey has already molted all her stripes and Moon is a little behind her. Please let me know if I am correct in calculating their ages or if I’m a little off.

Thanks again!

ibb.co/d5hkp6k

[Hezz]

There is no reason to separate a pair simply because you think they might be related. Most bonded pairs don't breed and most budgies don't breed unless you give them somewhere to nest. It would be cruel to break up a bonded pair in my opinion. Birds don't bond for nothing, it is a fundamental part of their lives. Housing them all together should work out fine unless you want them to breed in which case keep the pairs separate, in their own cages otherwise you will have problems between the two pairs. Once you do house them together it is possible that their pairing may change - budgie dynamics are always changing.

Breeding depends so much on the strength of their bond, some will never break that bond, but still never breed; others will bond and the hen will ruin her health to have a clutch or three. It sounds contradictory, but nothing is a guarantee with budgies, just as you can't predict who is going to be attracted to who in the human world.

[Morgan]

It is very good to hear I can keep them all together in a single flock! Thank you for confirming they won’t breed if there is no nest box and conditions are not right for it.

Just a few more questions though:

A) I thought I read from multiple sources that budgies choose one mate for life. Is that incorrect?

B) Will they only choose a mate (whether for life or otherwise) when they are in breeding condition and nest boxes are provided?

C) How do I know if Monkey and Moon are already bonded? They preen each other but do not feed each other, and they do squabble a bit over the food bowl only. I’m going to get them another bowl.

D) If I do want Pig and Moon to breed in the future would it be okay to separate them later on for that purpose? I know they won’t breed just because I want them to of course, but would separating them and providing the right conditions and a nest box be the correct way to entice them to consider it?

Lastly, Pig has a fluffy yellow tunnel in her cage that my neighbor haven me because her bird hated it. Pig sits in it on occasion in the evening before I put her in her little sleeping / travel cage. (Backstory: I’ve been doing this since I got her because the little cage was the first thing I kept her in while looking for her original owner, and I read it was a good idea to keep her comfortable with moving into a smaller cage for vet visits. She is now very used to this and doesn’t like sleeping in her big cage at night, though she will nap sometimes during the day. She will cling to the highest part of the corner of her big cage and make herself very skinny with wide eyes if I don’t put her in her sleeping cage before she decides it’s bedtime.)

E) Would the fluffy yellow tunnel be considered a potential nesting hole to her? I’ll remove it if so.

Sorry for all the additional questions! I just want to make sure I’m doing this right. I have looked this up online but whenever I search for anything related to budgies bonding with one another I only get results about budgies bonding with their owners. I am also going to continue researching budgie breeding, not to attempt it any time soon, but just for knowledge. I’m obsessed with these little guys!

Thanks again!

[Hezz]

Most birds who share the parenting bond for life. The bonds can be broken by themselves or humans but even if split up often that pair will remain true to each other. I have a pair who haven't been in the same cage (for health reasons) for a few years but they are just as dedicated to each other as though lived together. Feeding doesn't always happen, preening doesn't always happen. Often that will be decided by the female if one of the pair is a hen.

Others can be very fickle. There are no guarantees when it comes to how two birds are going to react either to outside influences or to each other.

Take out the yellow tunnel - most obviously a breeding place to a budgie hen and they can cause terrible crop impaction, even death if the birds decide to chew on the fabric. The fluffy ones are the worst.

[Morgan]

Thank you for all of your advice once again Hezz! I took the tunnel out already since I had a feeling that might be the case. Pig has never been interested in eating it so far but for all the fore-mentioned reasons I’ll be getting rid of it.

I hope the three of them will be happy together in a flock and I’ll just see what happens. Most importantly Pig won’t be lonely chirping at the birds outside without any feedback anymore, and I’ll get another male if one of the ladies is being left out.