Advice on to go about introducing a second budgie

[Skiwis]

About a month ago, I lost my first budgie Kiwi and have been unsure on what to do now that Sky is on his own. He is a nervous budgie and won't try new things unless someone else tries it first.

I have pretty much decided to get him a friend, but am worried about doing so as he bullied Kiwi quite a bit.

What I was thinking of doing was introducing the new bird to the things that Sky is scared of so that he doesn't say to the new budgie 'Don't go near that it's scary'

I would be very open to ideas of the best way to go about this as I haven't managed to get very far with getting Sky to try new things on his own

 

[Skiwis]

*Update*
I have now brought home another (young) budgie from a breeder and he or she is now settling in. (my new budgie is too young to be determined male or female yet)

I am currently quarantining the new budgie to train it and indroduce him/her to some new things before they go in with Sky.

Sorry for the mistake on the title of this thread, the title was meant to be:
Advice on how to go about introducing a second budgie

Thank you

 

[Sparkles99]

Please post pictures of both budgies! Some members here can reliably sex them & I like budgie pictures.

Depending on where they each came from & how far apart it was, they may need quarantining too.

Congratulations!

 

[Skiwis]

Here is Snowy - my new budgie
Snowy is currently quarantining in a smaller cage. I'm not sure of sex as Snowy is very young - I would be grateful if someone could help with that

 

[Skiwis]

Here is Sky

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

Looks like a girl to me. And Sky is a boy, as far as I can tell. What do you think, @Ripshod?

 

[Skiwis]

Please post pictures of both budgies! Some members here can reliably sex them & I like budgie pictures.

Depending on where they each came from & how far apart it was, they may need quarantining too.

Congratulations!

Thank you! I have sent some photos of Sky and Snowy. Snowy is being quarantined in a separate room for the time being, so I should be able to get to know Snowy a bit and introduce vegetables and fruit, which Sky is reluctant to try unless someone else tries it first

 

[Tiel++]

Looks like a girl to me. And Sky is a boy, as far as I can tell. What do you think, @Ripshod?

I agree.

 

[Ripshod]

Snowy does look female to me. Male+female often makes a good match and I don't think Sky will bully a female and get away with it

 

[Skiwis]

Looks like a girl to me. And Sky is a boy, as far as I can tell. What do you think, @Ripshod?

Yes, Sky is a boy - Thank you for identifying the sex of Snowy

I have had him for around 3 years now, but I've never really managed to train him that well. He was scared of a clicker until I used I ballpoint pen (which he still isn't too keen on) and he didn't go near a target training stick until Kiwi (my previous budgie) did

 

[Skiwis]

Snowy does look female to me. Male+female often makes a good match and I don't think Sky will bully a female and get away with it

That's good, thank you
He bullied Kiwi a lot and after Kiwi passed away, he started throwing tantrums every time someone in our house would leave 'his' room! It was almost like he was trying to train us!

 

[Ripshod]

It was almost like he was trying to train us!

He was!
In your case I'd actually wait until she's mature before letting them live together. Being so young he will bully her and possibly try mating with her. She's too young to understand what all that's about. But once she's more mature she'll be more able to defend herself - and she will. Just having another budgie in the same room should calm Sky down a lot.

 

[Fergus Mom]

After quarantine, and after a few days of having their cages in close proximity, I let them fly in the same room out of their cages, and the rest is history. One day Fiona went into Fergus cage and she did not wish to come out. She's been there ever since! Slowly on the intro will win out!

 

[Skiwis]

That's probably a good idea to leave it a while before introducing them, although Snowy isn't happy in her smaller cage since she came from an aviary and keeps shouting for Sky and the birds outside.
She's found the mirror in the other room on her exhibitions outside the cage and has developed an obsession with it She also keeps flying into it thinking she's found another bird.
She also spends a bit of time on the bottom of the Cage scratching her feet and wandering about - Should I be concerned about this?

 

[Fergus Mom]

She also spends a bit of time on the bottom of the Cage scratching her feet and wandering about - Should I be concerned about this?

Sounds like normal budgie behavior to me - (the wandering about at bottom), but scratching her feet? Like with her other foot?

 

[Stars]

Elle and the birds has a great video on how to introduce a new bird

 

[Ripshod]

We have to be careful peeps. Sky has a history of bullying.

 

[Skiwis]

Sounds like normal budgie behavior to me - (the wandering about at bottom), but scratching her feet? Like with her other foot?

Yes that was about right although it was more scraping the other foot back - I wonder whether she had a dust bath previously? I'm not sure whether pet budgies usually have them

 

[Skiwis]

*Major Update*

Sky and Snowy have now been in together for a few weeks.

After wheeling Sky's cage in one day to Snowy's they could properly meet each other - the idea was then to leave it a couple of weeks before letting them live together properly. However, Snowy had other ideas! After, she had seen Sky wheeled away she went to investigate when everyone's back was turned and flew into Sky's cage! We
made her sleep separately for the first few nights, but now she's sleeping quite happily in with Sky.

They get on alright, although it's not clear who is the boss of the Cage now! Snowy will often claim the food bowl and make Sky wait, but Sky still chases her off when I'm feeding them seeds or millet. I'm not sure whether they are quite equal, but there's no clear dominant bird - which is probably a good thing!