Last winter I had to separate my two pairs of budgies who had lived mostly peaceably for a couple of years sharing a single cage in my sun room.
In January, one pair staked out the long-ignored hanging coconut house for a nest, leading the other pair to engage in a bloody battle and sending me into a panicked redistribution of birds.
I set up my seldom used upstairs bathroom as a second bird room to exile the aggressive pair. (I broke down and gave the other pair a proper nesting box and allowed them to have one clutch, which I found a home for.)
(I also have a very long cage in said bathroom for a disabled parrotlet. The cage would not fit into my regular bird room.)
But now I am pressed for space with a new parrotlet finishing quarantine, and I would like to recombine the quartet of budgies.
There is no nesting or coconut house to incite breeding behavior, but I worry that the bad blood between the pairs will not be forgotten or that hormones may trigger another round of fighting.
I have a simple flight cage that I could use to ease the re-introduction. (Their current cage will not fit in the sun room. I am really pressed for space that is free of cats, dogs, and drafts!)
Any other advice that might smooth the way to a possible successful reunion?
In January, one pair staked out the long-ignored hanging coconut house for a nest, leading the other pair to engage in a bloody battle and sending me into a panicked redistribution of birds.
I set up my seldom used upstairs bathroom as a second bird room to exile the aggressive pair. (I broke down and gave the other pair a proper nesting box and allowed them to have one clutch, which I found a home for.)
(I also have a very long cage in said bathroom for a disabled parrotlet. The cage would not fit into my regular bird room.)
But now I am pressed for space with a new parrotlet finishing quarantine, and I would like to recombine the quartet of budgies.
There is no nesting or coconut house to incite breeding behavior, but I worry that the bad blood between the pairs will not be forgotten or that hormones may trigger another round of fighting.
I have a simple flight cage that I could use to ease the re-introduction. (Their current cage will not fit in the sun room. I am really pressed for space that is free of cats, dogs, and drafts!)
Any other advice that might smooth the way to a possible successful reunion?