More than one person

[beauderek]

Hi All

Our male budgie, 2.5 years old, is recently bereaved of his friend, a female budgie in a separate cage. They were pretty close, she was older, so they weren't interested in us really.

Since the female recently passed, we would like to try again with taming the remaining boy. My question is, is it better for just one of us (household of 2) to attempt to bond with him first rather than both of us trying to split his focus?

Any and all tips greatly appreciated. We would love for him to bond with us so he is happy to leave his cage and spread his wings around our home, rather than him spend a life in his cage with no chance to be himself*.

*Some back story: the girl who recently passed was an old bird adopted from an elderly care home. She had never left her cage and couldn't fly. The boy was bought to keep her company and never wanted to try leaving his cage except to visit her. He is young so we hope we can ensure he has a better experience than she had early on.

Thank 😊

[tweetiepiesmom]

So sorry for your loss. Concerning your little guy bonding with one person at a time, I'll leave the experts to answer that. My gut feeling is that both of you could interact with him and he'll decide who he wants to bond with, maybe both of you? When I was a teenager my family had a pet budgie - best pet in the world! Interestingly, he bonded with me and my sisters strongly but not so much with my dad and brother. It'll be interesting to read what the experts think.

[beauderek]

Thank you. She was a strong willed amazing little soul.

We've started talking gently and approaching Beau and he's relaxed really quickly. He's begun sitting on his swing watching me, then raising his wings at me (like he's holding his elbows out lol). If I copy him he mimicks me.

This seems positive, yes? 😁

[Hezz]

The budgie will probably decide who he likes to be around the most, often the female because of the pitch of women’s voices, but I wouldn’t let that deter the male of the house. In fact it is better if both humans interact with Beau, so that he isn’t left feeling bereft again if one of you needs to be away for any length of time.

[beauderek]

Thanks Hezz. Just an FYI for all reading, this household is 2 daddies (myself and partner), Beau the male budgie, plus Alfie (male, adult, fat, ginger cat) and Minty (also male, chihuahua, nearly 2 and the boss of the house lol).

We will definitely both keep with the bonding in that case so he can get familiar with each of us. He's also fascinated with Minty so I hope in the future they can be friends too 😊

[Hezz]

Well, unless you want to start speaking in a squeaky voice, it would seem that any preference will be down to Beau. . Just be careful with the other pets. Minty may become jealous if you show Beau more attention than usual, and budgies do like to dominate a house. I wonder if the hierarchy will stay the same.

[beauderek]

Thanks Hezz. Beau is very sad since Derek passed away and had been very withdrawn. He's not singing and sleeping a lot. He's also very fluffy all the time. I'm considering another bird to accompany him. What is the best time frame to wait until introducing a new friend? I assume not too soon x

[tweetiepiesmom]

Did Derek have an illness before she died? Any change in her eating, sleeping, activity level or appearance of her droppings? I ask because you said Beau is not eating and sleeping normally. I wonder if he's sick. What do his droppings look like? It may be worth taking him to an avian vet to check him out. It looks like its been a couple of weeks or so since Derek died. Beau should have perked up since then. How much time do you or your partner spend with Beau?

[beauderek]

Thanks for your reply. Derek was much older than Beau and had no symptoms of ill health before she passed away. She was around 9 years I think and Beau is only 2. He is eating regularly but otherwise seems withdrawn. I will keep an eye on him for the next few days and if he doesn't improve ill take him to an avian vet.

[beauderek]

That said, Derek did have a couple of instances where her droppings became trapped in the feathers around her cloaca and needed to be hand cleaned. Nothing similar with Beau though. I've been trying to encourage him to eat other things rather than just seeds, but he's not really interested

[ffiscool]

is he inquisitive? if you ate veg in front of him, carrots etc... would he maybe want to try some...

[Hezz]

In answer to your original question regarding time frame, there is no good or bad, but lots depends on the bird in question. I would get Beau checked out since he is showing signs of either depression or illness, and get another budgie as companion for Beau. You can do that now, as the new bird will need to be quarantined away from Beau for four weeks before you bring the two birds together. Quarantine is to protect both birds from any latent illness that may be present unknowingly, as a move can be stressful for any bird and stress can allow any latent illness to manifest. The four weeks will give you time to treat Beau if there is something wrong. Once there is another budgie in the house he may perk up again, calling back and forth, even if he can’t get to meet up right away.

[beauderek]

I've managed to get him to try kale a few times, but nothing else so far. He's more suspicious than inquisitive lol. I'll keep with it, slow and steady wins the race as they say 😉

[tweetiepiesmom]

I'd suggest you keep putting the same veggie or herb in everday and you need to put an amount in that he can't ignore - many times more than he'd eat. You might try an herb that looks like grass, dill, cilantro, parsley for example.