Considering one female Budgie

[Azalea]

As some of you know, we have four male Budgies, and I would like to possibly get a female someday. We are not actively looking, but I am wondering about the following issues:

1. When all of our birds are loose in the bird room together, will one female be "harassed" too much by the four male Budgies? And would her presence cause too much fighting among the males?

2. Could she affect their behavior even when they are inside their cage?

3. Would one female be happy enough in a cage by herself, since there are four other Budgies in the room (and a Sun Conure, and two Cockatiels)?

[Loz]

I'm no expert, all I can tell you for certain is of my experience with a flock of five males to one female (which later became nine males & one female, and eventually became ridiculously large). In my experience four to one was not too stressful for the female, Squeak, who ruled the males with a rod of iron. It wasn't so easy for her when it became nine males so I obtained more girls for support.
There again, my boys weren't overly demanding. Mr Hibs became Squeak's favoured male and the rest of the boys just amused themselves. It got more difficult when additional males arrived and some of them were "motivated" as far as Squeak was concerned. The problem would be if you have more than one possessive male and only one female. In that scenario, your new girl might not be happy. It is a question of dynamics and you won't know those until you see them.

Short answer: You won't know it's OK or not until you try it.

My thought is separate cages is a non-starter as the flock will want to interact and roost together. Separate cages will likely lead to agitation within the cages.

Just my thoughts. My experiences are what happened but my speculation is just that. More experienced hands here will have more insight into your questions.

Exciting times, planning an increase in flock size. I've always enjoy the planning!

[Ira]

It very much depends upon your flock and the individuals.

I've had 1 girl to 4 boys and I wouldn't say Gwen's been harassed.
But
Indie is her partner, but Yuki also wants in on the action. If Yuki sits with her, Indie gets very annoyed, but Indie can't make Yuki move so instead he starts taking out his irritation on one of the other boys. To the point where I'm considering adding another girl at some point.
So jealousy can be an issue.

[Azalea]

Oct 5, 2023 16:21:09 GMT loz said:

My thought is separate cages is a non-starter as the flock will want to interact and roost together. Separate cages will likely lead to agitation within the cages.

Thank you for your response, Loz! I appreciate your comments. So, you would just have the new female live with the four males?

Their cage is an HQ 13221A Flight (I think a company called Bastrop is now making them). 32"x21"x62". I've read comments by people who are keeping five or six Budgies in similar cages, so hopefully five would not be too crowded? They spend much of the day loose in the bird room.

[Loz]

Oct 5, 2023 17:03:18 GMT Azalea said:

Oct 5, 2023 16:21:09 GMT loz said:

My thought is separate cages is a non-starter as the flock will want to interact and roost together. Separate cages will likely lead to agitation within the cages.

Thank you for your response, Loz! I appreciate your comments. So, you would just have the new female live with the four males?

Their cage is an HQ 13221A Flight (I think a company called Bastrop is now making them). 32"x21"x62". I've read comments by people who are keeping five or six Budgies in similar cages, so hopefully five would not be too crowded? They spend much of the day loose in the bird room.

I cannot see a problem with that setup. Especially if there is a lot of out-of-cage time.

If you're worried about budgie babies, there shouldn't be any as long as the female cannot locate a suitable nesting site. That's not a guarantee but it is a reasonable working assumption.

As Ira says, it's all about the personalities. You won't know there will be an issue until you have one but there's a fair chance that four-to-one won't be a problem.

[Hezz]

Much of your concerns can only be answered by the personality of the hen involved. Generally one hen will be the queen of the flock and the boys have to toe the line. Things do get a bit more interesting when there are more than one hen. I would definitely house them altogether and keep watch for any fallout.

While cockatiels are wimps when it comes to living with budgies, be very vigilant about introducing new budgies into the same room as your conure. Conures, especially sun conures, are known to react badly to other species sharing their space, in particular new birds brought in after their arrival, and in particular budgies, possibly because of their big personalities. A sun conure will seriously damage, if not kill, a budgie. The last time I was visiting our vet they mentioned that at least once a week they have a smaller parrot brought in due to damage from a conure and they are usually the sunnies. Regardless of how well the conure has reacted previously, don’t assume the next time will be the same.

[Azalea]

Oct 6, 2023 0:10:13 GMT Hezz said:

 Regardless of how well the conure has reacted previously, don’t assume the next time will be the same.

Thank you for your response, Hezz! I was aware that Conures could "accidentally" hurt a Budgie with their greater size, but our Sun Conure seemed to be tolerating our Budgies well. We will be cautious from now on.

[Hezz]

I wouldn’t call the damage accidental but rather blatantly deliberate. If the conure is young still that tolerance may not transfer to any incoming birds. I would advise supervision at all times.