Hi all,
It's been a while since I posted here. Unfortunately after my dear Percy and Pepe passed away it has been hard for me to post on the forums however I have been reading and reacting to posts. It's a bit of a long-ish story of what is currently going on but I hope someone on here might have some advice that will help.
In mid May I took on a new budgie (her name is Crikey), she was only about 7 months old when I got her, lived alone and was so thrilled to meet Joey my other budgie. They got alone so so well, I took them both for an avian vet check in June, Crikey had mites (which I had suspected), Joey was given a clean bill of health. They both had a big moult then Crikey took advantage of Joey's fragility due to the moult and started being territorial over the food bowls and one perch in particular. Sadly Joey passed away suddenly (I suspect a fast growing cancer of some kind). Crikey stopped eating and was clearly depressed. I went on a search for a buddy for her. I found a nearby breeder that had a bird that had been separated from the flock as he hadn't paired up. He's 6 months old and I've called him Billy. He's a really sweet boy, I introduced them gradually and he's been for an avian vet check and is a bit under weight. Billy is a very quiet bird, I think going from being surrounded by so many birds to just one has been odd for him/I think genetically he was bred to be a show type bird. He hasn't worked out how to use swing perches yet bless him.
They started showing signs of companionship (preening and feeding each other). Then Crikey decided to monopolise the food bowl again when they started living together. She's not my first hen budgie so I know what they're like but it's excessive (yesterday she literally flew across from one side of the cage to the other purposefully to body slam and knock Billy off the perch by one of the food bowls..!). She'll still preen and cuddle up to him but doesn't want him going near the food bowl. Which isn't ideal as I need Billy's weight to go up so I'm trying to work out the options of how to help the situation.
Currently:
I'm wondering if anyone can give advice on what else I can try do to allow Billy time to eat?
Other things I've thought of but am unsure if they would help:
*Changing around the cage so she's less confident/cocky and she will need to learn a new layout?
*Get a new flight cage so there's more space that is their home area?
*Rehome another pair of budgies (and I would need a bigger cage for that) or another species of bird as a distraction (when I had Pepe my parrotlet, Joey who also used to be very intense with the more elderly birds I had would show off for Pepe and that would give them time to eat etc)? I think it would also potentially help Billy confidence wise as he is used to a larger flock.
What do you guys think? I've attached some photos of them below
Crikey is the green and Billy is supposed to be a rainbow buuuut I'm not convinced. He is also missing toes but he's very mobile.
It's been a while since I posted here. Unfortunately after my dear Percy and Pepe passed away it has been hard for me to post on the forums however I have been reading and reacting to posts. It's a bit of a long-ish story of what is currently going on but I hope someone on here might have some advice that will help.
In mid May I took on a new budgie (her name is Crikey), she was only about 7 months old when I got her, lived alone and was so thrilled to meet Joey my other budgie. They got alone so so well, I took them both for an avian vet check in June, Crikey had mites (which I had suspected), Joey was given a clean bill of health. They both had a big moult then Crikey took advantage of Joey's fragility due to the moult and started being territorial over the food bowls and one perch in particular. Sadly Joey passed away suddenly (I suspect a fast growing cancer of some kind). Crikey stopped eating and was clearly depressed. I went on a search for a buddy for her. I found a nearby breeder that had a bird that had been separated from the flock as he hadn't paired up. He's 6 months old and I've called him Billy. He's a really sweet boy, I introduced them gradually and he's been for an avian vet check and is a bit under weight. Billy is a very quiet bird, I think going from being surrounded by so many birds to just one has been odd for him/I think genetically he was bred to be a show type bird. He hasn't worked out how to use swing perches yet bless him.
They started showing signs of companionship (preening and feeding each other). Then Crikey decided to monopolise the food bowl again when they started living together. She's not my first hen budgie so I know what they're like but it's excessive (yesterday she literally flew across from one side of the cage to the other purposefully to body slam and knock Billy off the perch by one of the food bowls..!). She'll still preen and cuddle up to him but doesn't want him going near the food bowl. Which isn't ideal as I need Billy's weight to go up so I'm trying to work out the options of how to help the situation.
Currently:
- They have a Vision double cage which they sleep in, then the door to that is open for around 6-7 hours a day (sometimes more) for them to have access to the large living room to fly and explore.
- They have a UV light right next to the cage that is on for the daylight hours.
- There are toys, I added in a couple new ones for Crikey(she particularly like to rip things so I have put in toys with safe destructible components)
- I have added in another large food bowl in a different part of the cage, so there are now 3 large food bowls, but they have a preference for the one that she guards.
I'm wondering if anyone can give advice on what else I can try do to allow Billy time to eat?
Other things I've thought of but am unsure if they would help:
*Changing around the cage so she's less confident/cocky and she will need to learn a new layout?
*Get a new flight cage so there's more space that is their home area?
*Rehome another pair of budgies (and I would need a bigger cage for that) or another species of bird as a distraction (when I had Pepe my parrotlet, Joey who also used to be very intense with the more elderly birds I had would show off for Pepe and that would give them time to eat etc)? I think it would also potentially help Billy confidence wise as he is used to a larger flock.
What do you guys think? I've attached some photos of them below
Crikey is the green and Billy is supposed to be a rainbow buuuut I'm not convinced. He is also missing toes but he's very mobile.
