A cheeky baby hen and budgie squabbles!

[Miss_sj]

Charlie is roughly 16ish weeks old and she has found her confidence. She is trying to establish herself as the boss of our house. She has started a new habit of trying to nest in my hair and it HURTS! She literally gets all tangled in it. The first time, I thought she was stuck when I struggled to get her out, but nope. Just stubborn.

Charlie is mostly good friends with Flynn, but she is bossing him around. They are wanting to live in the same cage, but they do squabble sometimes. Is it too soon to allow this? (They've been introduced for about 2 weeks). When I seperate them, they fret and Charlie is hysterical. I work from home, so I can supervise and when I'm home their cage is generally open. In particular, when I do leave the house should I seperate them?

Charlie is really surprising me with how bold she is. The other day she flew to me, and was crawling all over me nibbling (her usual behaviour). She then crawled INTO my hand which meant I was pretty much holding her.

Her nibbles turn into nips which are quite painful.

Any tips for living with this cheeky little madam?

 

[Lori D Pert]

Lol...so you have a feisty little hen? Yes, they do try to rule the roost. When Sam was younger (she is 7 1/2 months now) she used to nibble my skin tags on my neck which turned into nips but she has outgrown this now as when the bites got too hard I would set her down immediately. Took time but she learned to be gentle. I would try putting she and Flynn together but do monitor their interaction for a few weeks. Your cheeky little Madam WILL boss Flynn around, it's what hens do...lol. As long as she isn't actively biting at his feet then the minor squabbles are normal. She is obviously quite tame so don't be afraid to tell her no with your hair, she may listen one day....maybe. Sam still thinks that she owns my cellphone and squawks when I try to use MY phone.

 

[Gribouille]

yeah, budgie girls will do that, they are the boss, and they bite hard. The crawling into your hand is just wanting some attention I guess? This week-end I was rearranging Pichu's cage and struggled to loosen a knot with one hand inside his cage, so my other hand was on the top of the cage, he crept under to get head scritches. Can't waste time when a hand has nothing to do, can we?
As for the biting, it takes time, Pichu was an angel when he came home to us but after the first two weeks he tried to test the bondaries and see if he could be the ruler of the house, he was biting quite much. I trained him to the gentle beak method (say "gentle beak" in a soft and cozy voice when you cuddle with your bird, then say the same thing when they try to bite you later on). I hold my finger up in front of his beak when I say it, finger's pads are not as easy to bite as finger's length. He usually stops at once and I can offer scritches if he wants them.
It also helps to be observant and see if they have reasons to want to "defend themselves" or being excited. I do not let my fingers around when I see Pichu is all fluffed and territorial. The only time I keep presenting my finger when he bites is when I want him to step up for bed time and he doesn't agree. He knows I win anyway, but he tries every time... Now I give him a treat when he goes to bed so it is MUCH faster and easier, but sometimes I have to cage him earlier to go out and that's when he protests..

 

[Miss_sj]

Lol...so you have a feisty little hen? Yes, they do try to rule the roost. When Sam was younger (she is 7 1/2 months now) she used to nibble my skin tags on my neck which turned into nips but she has outgrown this now as when the bites got too hard I would set her down immediately. Took time but she learned to be gentle. I would try putting she and Flynn together but do monitor their interaction for a few weeks. Your cheeky little Madam WILL boss Flynn around, it's what hens do...lol. As long as she isn't actively biting at his feet then the minor squabbles are normal. She is obviously quite tame so don't be afraid to tell her no with your hair, she may listen one day....maybe. Sam still thinks that she owns my cellphone and squawks when I try to use MY phone.

Yes, I do have a feisty, curious hen on my hands!

The good thing is she doesn't go for Flynn's toes, just snaps at him for no reason. Poor Flynn gets upset but goes back for more. It seems like she wants anything that he has- if he's playing with a toy, she wants that toy. If he's sitting on a perch, she needs to sit in that exact spot. If he is on my shoulder, well, he better move because Charlie wants to sit there!

Do I iust let them sort this out?

As for her being tame and wanting attention, she really started flying to us so much because Flynn does. She doesn't even seem to love attention, she kind of ignores us while crawling all over us. Compared to Flynn, he stops and listens, its really obviois he wants the attention. I dont know- I just haven't worked her out!

 

[Miss_sj]

Also one more thing- is this nesting behaviour to worry about, or is it normal? She's way too young, right? Just thinking about her seeming to try to nest in my hair. She also has started sitting IN her food dish and kicking the food around

 

[Lori D Pert]

Yes this is typical hen behaviour. They will sort out the squabbles but my bet is Charlie will always win out. She is presuming everyone knows that she is the boss...lol. Because Flynn has no fear of you then by golly you belong to her too! I wouldn't really worry about the hair thing, alot of budgies love to preen your hair but hens seem to like it most. If she hurts or nips then a firm "No" and set her down. She will learn. Sitting in the food dish is another territorial behaviour. As long as they each have their own food dishes (even if she claims them both) this should work itself out. Watch them in the cage together though to make sure poor Flynn gets to eat. Don't be afraid to separate if he is being bullied too much but my guess is he'll put up with it..lol. And yes, she is too young to be nesting but don't have anything that can be thought of as a nest in the cage.

 

[Miss_sj]

Thanks for all of that! It is super helpful.

I've seperated them for now, Flynn is scared of her he likes playing with her out of the cage but not inside the cage.

Just random question: do budgie hens actually like attention?

She flies to me, but doesn't seem to care if I talk to her or not. She just crawls all over me nibbling!

Flynn does this sometimes, but he also stops and you can tell he enjoys the interaction!

 

[Lady Jane]

As you have learned Budgie females are the boss in a flock. That is why most times two females in same cage do not get along well. Of course they want all of the attention from their human. Somehow, the males manage to survive the dominance.

 

[Lori D Pert]

It may seem that she is ignoring you but all that preening (nibbling at you) is her checking you out. Sam still flies on my glasses and preens my eyelashes. She is very gentle now though. She knows if Mommy or Daddy flinch she's in trouble...lol. Certainly keep them separate if it seems safer that way. Sam still nibbles at everything we are wearing but after some time she did start to interact with us. She talks now and sits on our shoulder nattering away. She also will come for my call, which is a kind or brrrr sound with a heavy rolling of the "r". She will tap my mouth for me to talk to her. So yes, little hens may seem indifferent at first but this is just feisty hens being feisty hens. They do have a will of their own. Also what @Lady Jane said. Hens that have this bold personality seldom get along with other hens. Unless they are paired off with males, 2 sole hens will always battle for dominance.

 

[Dorcas George]

@Lori D Pert Sam grooms your eyelashes!!?? Reading your reply made me miss little Breeze who was such a nibbler and very inquisitive. @Miss_sj I hope Charlie settles down a bit and she and Flynn work it out so he’s not scared. Breeze (a little hen who is no longer with us) used to bump Packer off the food dish. Bossy indeed!

 

[Lori D Pert]

@Lori D Pert Sam grooms your eyelashes!!??

She does but has always been gentle with my face except for my lips if I was chewing something. I guess in her mind I'm supposed to feed her so she would bite down hard. Bit the heck out of my skin tags too and actually removed a few...lol. Needless to say this behaviour wasn't tolerated and now she is very very gentle. She also helps herself to my food so no need to fly to my lips. She's still bossy though...lol.

 

[Gribouille]

She also helps herself to my food so no need to fly to my lips.

Pichu did try that too but he isn't allowed to help himself from our plates or from the pans -for both hygienic and security reasons- so he has his own cup and bowl beside ours. When he wants more he comes to peek into my plate at what he'd like, and gets some more, but he can't help himself. He gets the idea and is quite good at respecting the rule (within reason of course!! )

 

[Lori D Pert]

I guess I should add that she is only allowed to the edge of our plates and only when it's food she can eat. Otherwise I would have a bird jumping right into my plate or on my fork (think I posted a pic of that) and I must lock her in her bird room when we have people over for dinner as she WILL just keep flying to everyone's plate. It's hard for her to take "no" for an answer. She actually argues with me. Stands on my finger in front of my face and ARGUES!!!

 

[Gribouille]

I guess I should add that she is only allowed to the edge of our plates and only when it's food she can eat. Otherwise I would have a bird jumping right into my plate or on my fork (think I posted a pic of that) and I must lock her in her bird room when we have people over for dinner as she WILL just keep flying to everyone's plate. It's hard for her to take "no" for an answer. She actually argues with me. Stands on my finger in front of my face and ARGUES!!!

Yeah, Twitter was like that too. Pichu is more civilized, although he will always try and see if today he couldn't eat from my plate for a change! When he gets a no, he goes to his bowl and eats there until it is such a mess that he thinks he could help mess my plate too... He is sent/taken back to his bowl regularly during dinner but he knows my oldest son is the soft spot where he could get a beakfull or two if he insists a little more

 

[Fergus Mom]

Oh I get so jealous when I read about your birds flying to your plates and being pests! I SO WISH mine would do something besides dive bomb my head when they are out flying about!
I can picture Pichu peeeeeking into that plate - SO cute!
Stacie, you describe the hens behavior well! This sounds so much like Fiona with Fergus, she is a bossy one for sure.
When I see Fiona preening Fergus and all is going well, all of a sudden at some times he JUMPS like she has hurt, and then he'll put his head back down like - okay, I'm going to trust you again, I hope I'm not sorry!
I've never really seen them in a bad squabble though, I think they love each other, maybe like brother and sister, I'm not sure exactly 'how' they love, but I'm thinking that's a good thing. I do refer to them as 'your brother' or 'your sister'... Ha - think that might dissuade nesting behavior? I think NOT, but I do it anyhow!

 

[Lori D Pert]

@Fergus Mom do they ever land on your head? Had a little male when I was a kid that would dive bomb my Mom's hair a few times, then land on her head and hang upside down from her bangs and talk to her...lol. It broke me up everytime he did it.

 

[Fergus Mom]

@Fergus Mom do they ever land on your head? Had a little male when I was a kid that would dive bomb my Mom's hair a few times, then land on her head and hang upside down from her bangs and talk to her...lol. It broke me up everytime he did it.

Heck no LOL, they just fly really close to my head many times because when I'm sitting in front of their cage about ten feet away on my desktop I'm kind of in their flight path.
Neither has ever landed on me at all.
They only sit on my right index finger while eating millet from my left hand, or they might fly to their perch at the windowsill, or on top of, or in the travel cage, which sits across from their regular cage. Occasionally they will have fly time in the living room if they have been moved in there in the travel cage, and Fergus has landed on a high shelf, but usually they just do laps around rooms and fly right back to the cage they are in. I'd probably fall to a dead faint if either ever landed on me, but I'd sure love it!

 

[Fergus Mom]

Had a little male when I was a kid that would dive bomb my Mom's hair a few times, then land on her head and hang upside down from her bangs and talk to her...lol. It broke me up everytime he did it.

I meant to say - I'll bet that was hysterically funny!

 

[Lori D Pert]

I meant to say - I'll bet that was hysterically funny!

It was, especially when he did it when she was on the phone. He would hang upside down from her bangs and peck at the little holes in the mouthpiece of the phone (seriously dating myself here) and tell whoever she was talking to the he was a "very,very,pretty bird". I still miss him...

 

[Lori D Pert]

I also meant to mention and completely forgot is that little hens love to shred and chew. So shredding toys are a good idea. Sam has not really started to chew anything and is much more satisfied with weaving in and out of her hoops but many hens I have had have chewed the living tar out of everything. The little one my son had years ago even managed to destroy PVC blinds. Little pieces of hunter green PVC blind on the floor every day until they were gone! Those things are hard plastic and yet she managed to gnaw through them in record time!