My budgies like me, but I want more!!

[Mac]

Hello,

I have 2 female parakeets (Pihu and Mango) for little more than a year. After about a month of acclimation, they started liking me, playing on my shoulder, playing with my hair and eating on my hand. However, they have their days, sometime I feel like they are afraid of me and don't want to go near me even with same environment without any changes. They do play for a half a minute with me and then fly away. I talk, play and do food interactions with them routinely. But still I feel like they don't trust me enough to stay for little longer, learn to talk, some tricks.
apart from their relation with me, they also have issues with each other. There are fighting and screaming at each other. If one moves away, the other one chases and picks fight. I make sure to buy a pair of all the toys but they want to play with same toy which ends being fight.
and sometime they are signing with each other or preening each other.

I am not sure how to improve my relation with them as well as their relationship with each other. I would appreciate any guidance or suggestions which help!

Thank You all!

 

[Miss_sj]

Hi Mac! It is great that your budgies will come to play with you for a short time. Keep persisting with your routine. Because they are a pair, they are more inclined to play with one another, so you may need to accept where your little friends are at. Also, it is quite common for budgies to squabble.

 

[Jas]

A little squabbling is normal but if they are attacking each other then perhaps look at how big their cage is? How many food, toys and water bowls do you have?

Being persistent and spending more time with them is probably the only option you have unless you separate them. As they are already getting their social need filled by each other.

 

[Mac]

Thank you Miss_sj and Jas. I guess you are right as to accepting that their bond with each other would always be stronger than the one with me. @ Jass; They do have large cage (53 inches), lots of toys and food bowls. They just like to fight for same thing just like kids. I do not want to separate them out however as you guys suggested may be try and spend little more time with them. I also wanted to get 2 males, that might change their hostile behavior towards each other!
Thoughts ?

 

[Jas]

; They do have large cage (53 inches)

Thats just a bit shorter than my conure's cage! I bet they love the room.

I wouldn't separate then either, it would be cruel on them both.

Yeah spending more time with them would get them more used to you.

No I don't think that would be a good idea. Tensions would increase and more fighting would occur. Pairs don't share space and may kill or harm each other. There's also no guarantee that they'll accept each other.

 

[Fergus Mom]

You are lucky they interact with you so much! Mine only sit on my finger to eat millet... I call it 'magic millet'!

 

[Lady Jane]

You write you "want more" What is it that you want from your birds? What do you give them?

 

[Gribouille]

I had 2 males and they were good friends but also fighting and not at all interested in us unless we gave them millet. I've heard females are fighting even more...
One of the males died and the one left alone was really lonely. He started to be tougher and dare come closer to us, but I really could see he missed a budgie friend, who could give him something I could never be to him.
Now I got 1 male and 1 female, they don't fight as much as the 2 males but they are not interested in us at all. They have eachother and live together with us but never come close. The best they do is land on the table when I am on my own eating bread, and I place a little piece for them on the table. They'll fly away as soon as I do something "dangerous" like lifting my cup or leaving the table. If there is more than me at the table they won't come. That's fine by me, I see they are happy and that's what is important to me.

 

[Mac]

@Lady Jane; I love the quote, it's so simple yet thought provoking as most of the us would consider time spent after the routine cleaning/feeding as "time spent with birds" due to our busy life. Getting back to wanting more, what I meant was is for them to be true companion. I want them to be happy and joyful in my presence. and As a relatively new bird enthusiast, I am afraid to hurt them emotionally even by mistakes. Hopefully with guidance and suggestions from AA members like yourself, I will be able to keep them happy and healthy!

 

[Lady Jane]

Here is a good read for you:

10 Ways To Have Happiness With Your Birds | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum