• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Female budgie bossy towards male budgie

atancred

Moving in
Joined
5/18/20
Messages
13
Location
Lausanne, Switzerland
Real Name
Alex
Hello everyone.
3 weeks ago I took home 2 budgies from the pet shop. 1 male and 1 female both born end 2019.
In almost 3 weeks they already eat on my hand and they even fly from their cage to my arm outside the cage.
So I have no issues regarding the taming process so far. However, the female budgie is letting things to get a bit more complicated. She often push away the male budgie if he gets too close to her. Also, I sometimes see the female budgie putting the male budgie into a corner as she wants to dominate over him. I feel like he’s singing less these days and I hope he is not getting depressed.
Just to clarify: this is not a costant but it happens sometimes during the day. I also see some loving behaviour such as cleaning reciprocally and passing food one to another.
But I am afraid this situation will get worse over time. Any suggestion?
I do not have space in my apartment for two decent cages :( thank you.
 

parakeet12

Moving in
Joined
6/1/20
Messages
6
Location
Tulsa,Oklahoma
Real Name
katie
well, that's sort of what our budgies do. they will get fussy at each other for literally no reason. but if I know how long you have had them I can try and help you find out why your budgies are displaying this behavior
atancred
 

Kiwi & Co.

Rollerblading along the road
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Joined
6/4/19
Messages
3,637
Location
New England
@Fergus Mom has a good video of the "squeaky gate" noises that her female makes when being bossy. Based off of everything I've read and experience, females budgies are natually bossy and are always dominant over the male in any relationship. It probably won't be a huge issue, but if it becomes one you should be prepared with a second cage for seperation.

EDIT: I just noticed how you don't have space for two cages, can you get a plastic divider to put in the cage? I just looked at your cage in the other thread, could you get another of the same cage and stack the cages on top of each other?
 
Last edited:

atancred

Moving in
Joined
5/18/20
Messages
13
Location
Lausanne, Switzerland
Real Name
Alex
@parakeet12 I have them for 3 weeks now. And only in the last 2 days she started to be quite frequently bossy and dominant. She targets his feets and follows him everywhere in the cage with a dominant and threatening posture and behaviour.
@Fergus Mom I was thinking to first add a separation in between to give both of them some rest, and let the female calm down, hopefully. I guess that if it does not get better with time I will have to add another cage!

Thank you for your answers :thanks:
 

mak

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
5/21/20
Messages
1,403
Female parakeets are known to be more bossy / aggressive than the males. If there is constant chasing or biting, it might be a problem for them to be in the same cage.
Do you have 2 food and water dishes?
 

parakeet12

Moving in
Joined
6/1/20
Messages
6
Location
Tulsa,Oklahoma
Real Name
katie
that's what baby does! yet they are both female. at first for the first few months 2-4 months after we got them from PetSmart they would get mad easily, fight, bite, and knock each other of the perches but by the 5th month it stopped and they started to get along with each other. I hope this helps solve the dilemma between your budgies
 

Lady Jane

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
8/25/12
Messages
26,574
Location
Maryland
Real Name
Dianne
All normal behaviors for females budgies but you should have a back up plan if things get too rough. Something like a smaller cage for temporary housing or transportation to vet.
 

parakeet12

Moving in
Joined
6/1/20
Messages
6
Location
Tulsa,Oklahoma
Real Name
katie
All normal behaviors for females budgies but you should have a backup plan if things get too rough. Something like a smaller cage for temporary housing or transportation to the vet.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
my grandmother insisted we don't enroll them in a vet clinic and they don't get to go out at all.
 

Fergus Mom

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
11/23/17
Messages
5,099
Location
Texas
Real Name
Elly

Fergus Mom

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
11/23/17
Messages
5,099
Location
Texas
Real Name
Elly
Oooh - I think I was able to get the video of the 'squeaky gate' naughty female in this link - HOPE SO!
Fiona's Squeaky Gate bossy sounds!

 

Ripshod

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
12/6/18
Messages
7,529
Location
UK
Real Name
Linden
Completely strip out everything then build the cage again with a totally different layout. Two food dishes, two water sources.
My reasoning:
This was not a truly bonded pair when they went in the cage. Now the hen is claiming everything as hers (inbuilt behaviour, defending the things she'll need later if she breeds). Changing it all around will make it all 'new' again. Two of everything allows them both to claim what they need.
What's his weight like? If he's not eating she doesn't care, he can die as far as she's concerned.
 
Last edited:

Zara

♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
1/8/18
Messages
31,373
Location
Reino de España

Gribouille

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Joined
7/10/17
Messages
2,399
Location
Norway
Your birds do need time to get to know each other. Even if you bought them from the same store they weren't friends before that, and they were possibly not even in the same cage so they are new to your house, to you, and to each other.
Now after 3 weeks, they get more comfortable in the house and cage, it is time for them to establish how to behave toward each other. They are also about 6 months now, which means they are teenagers. You have to monitor them closely to make sure the male doesn't get hurt but bossy girl is the norm in the budgie world.
I have a male that is at least 3 year older than the female, when we got her she was a baby and he didn't like her, she was expecting him to be her daddy and he didn't like it. It took some time before they got to accept each other, but when Nova became an adult -over 1 year- there was no doubt she was the boss, although she is a nice one and not really aggressive. If you notice that your male isn't eating and that his weight goes down you should separate them for a while.
Weigh your birds today and again in a week at the same time of the day. Try to drop some millet on the kitchen scale so your bird can step on it.
 
Top