Male budgies fighting

[unequalcanoe]

Hi guys, I got my budgies several days ago and probably made a mistake on buying two young males. One is 1 year old and another one is 3-month old. They used to live together with several other budgies and according to their previous owner, they were fine together. So now they are alone with me and would fight for about an hour every afternoon, with some loud screaming and violent flying-around. They do get along well at other time of the day though. There's no real damage done as far as I can tell, except for a few fallen feathers. Is this something I should worry about? Would introducing a female help or make things worse? I could also have two more females, but I afraid the cage, which is 45 * 34 * 92 cm, would not be big enough for 4 birds. Thanks a lot for your answers!!!

 

[karen256]

Male budgies are usually friendly and non aggressive, although they might squabble a little.
I'm thinking some of the problem might be cage size.
Do you know much about their previous home? Did they have a bigger cage or are they used to being let out to fly a lot?

I'm guessing the 92 cm of your cage is the height. Height is really not a dimension that is very useful as they get most of their exercise flying side to side, not climbing. The 45cm width isn't wide enough to allow actual flying, and they may just be getting really restless in there. I know the cage probably looks big, especially considering what pet stores sometimes sell for budgies, but it's really the minimum size for tame birds that are let out for exercise a lot. I'm sure you plan to let them out once they settle in, but for now they are probably not happy in there.
Budgies are just incredibly high energy birds and it seems like they don't have enough outlets for that energy. If they aren't tame birds that can be let out to fly daily, you really want to get a cage twice as wide as what you have now (height doesn't really matter). Until then, you might be able to reduce squabbling by always providing 2 food dishes, or food spread out on a plate or large dish, so there's room for both to eat at the same time. They should have a variety of perches including some natural branches with bark on if possible. Try hanging some wet greens like lettuce in their cage sometimes, too, most budgies will enjoy leaf bathing and that's a good way to burn off some energy.

Don't add more budgies unless you get a bigger cage.

 

[unequalcanoe]

Male budgies are usually friendly and non aggressive, although they might squabble a little.
I'm thinking some of the problem might be cage size.
Do you know much about their previous home? Did they have a bigger cage or are they used to being let out to fly a lot?

I'm guessing the 92 cm of your cage is the height. Height is really not a dimension that is very useful as they get most of their exercise flying side to side, not climbing. The 45cm width isn't wide enough to allow actual flying, and they may just be getting really restless in there. I know the cage probably looks big, especially considering what pet stores sometimes sell for budgies, but it's really the minimum size for tame birds that are let out for exercise a lot. I'm sure you plan to let them out once they settle in, but for now they are probably not happy in there.
Budgies are just incredibly high energy birds and it seems like they don't have enough outlets for that energy. If they aren't tame birds that can be let out to fly daily, you really want to get a cage twice as wide as what you have now (height doesn't really matter). Until then, you might be able to reduce squabbling by always providing 2 food dishes, or food spread out on a plate or large dish, so there's room for both to eat at the same time. They should have a variety of perches including some natural branches with bark on if possible. Try hanging some wet greens like lettuce in their cage sometimes, too, most budgies will enjoy leaf bathing and that's a good way to burn off some energy.

Don't add more budgies unless you get a bigger cage.

Thanks for your reply! As far as I know, their living space before is the same if not even smaller. I guess the cage is smaller than it needs to be, so I leave the cage door open and hoping that they can get some exercise outside. They are not hand tamed though, but other people let their budgie out this way, and said they would go back to the cage if they are hungry. I bought a bird stander and put it outside, plus several other landing spaces so I guess they should be fine in that perspective. Do you know how can I encourage them out?

 

[Lady Jane]

Did you post this before? Male budgies fighting | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

 

[unequalcanoe]

Did you post this before? Male budgies fighting | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

Oh yes, I wrote the same post in many different places lol. I thought no one was gonna reply me but people turned out to be so friendly and helpful! BTW I feel like their fighting was reduced to some harmless squabble. I did put two food dishes but they still eat from their old one together. One of them was a bit sick this morning and I saw the other feeding the sick one. They are both alright now! Maybe they are actually friends and were just playing?

 

[Garet]

Birds don't exactly playfight like dogs do.

 

[unequalcanoe]

Birds don't exactly playfight like dogs do.

Oh ok... But if they fight, does that necessarily mean they are hostile to each other?