My two birds of different species keep regurgitating for each other. Should/how do I stop this?

[LyriumElf]

Hello everyone, I've been trying to find information on this subject for a while but all I can find is info for same species birds.

I have a female green cheek conure that is a year old and a three year old Male budgie. They have been on okay terms for months now but suddenly, summer comes (and what I assume is her heat) and suddenly my budgie will not leave her alone. It is literally almost every waking second out of the cage. He will stalk her everywhere she goes and bother her until they regurgitate. It is relentless and I've been trying to interrupt the behavior with a lot of bitten fingers in the process.

I dont want him inviting egg laying behavior in her and I certainly dont want them mating. How do I reasonably discourage this behavior? Is it just a matter of waiting it out until her heat is through?

 

[Serin]

There's really nothing to worry about with this, it's what budgies do with their friends, and it means they're bonded and getting along well - as long as the conure is not visibly stressed by the budgie, in which case you might be best off adding a second budgie to take the pressure off the conure. My late budgie Sam was bonded to a pair of cockatiels. He regurgitated to both of them, and then helped feed their chicks when they nested. He also tried to feed my doves, but the different beak anatomy stopped him so he'd end up throwing up on their necks lol...

Birds don't have a heat period like mammals. A female can ovulate at any time and the regurgitating is friendly, not necessarily mating behavior. So the behavior won't stop. Your conure is unlikely to lay eggs if she is not given anything enclosed to make a nest out of.