Saying Hello + a question

[Kile]

Hey, my name is Kile! I read on this forum for advice frequently so I thought I'd join it. My first bird was a Starling... not the most common pet I know, but I found her as a nestling fallen from a nest in the barn this spring and I planned on raising her for release thinking she was a blackbird, and what a turn of events that was. Now she lives with me . Later in the summer I thought she seemed a bit lonely so I decided to get her a budgie as a friend. Ended up integrating them into the same cage and it worked out pretty well. Got another budgie to join them recently too. The two budgies became fast friends and don't seem to mind the starling. Don't worry, I have a decently large flight cage they live in with a divider in the middle for breeding or other situations. Also have a separate flight cage for playing or in case of needing to separate a sick bird, more room to play when I take vacations, etc. I let them out to play in my room as well. Its nice to meet you all, and greetings from the birds!

- Booboo - Beebee/Bibi - Meemee/Mimi

Quick question also, what do you think about having a 3rd budgie join the mix? There was one I saw that was white with a pretty blue marking on its belly, almost in the shape of a butterfly. I feel like bringing it home, it's the cutest little thing, but not sure how the relationship will work out with the birds I have already and I don't want to get myself into trouble with it. Let me know what you think! The cage is 5-6 feet wide, around 3 feet tall and close to 2 feet in depth. Not sure if that sounds small without a photo reference but it is pretty big in person. When I use the divider in the middle occasionally the left side is used for the budgies and the right for the starling. Another thing to take into consideration is that if I have to separate the birds completely and put 1 or 2 in the separate flight cage, there isn't exactly room for 2 flight cages to fit comfortable in my bedroom for the next few years... we don't have a specific "bird room" but maybe I could figure something out. I've had good luck with the current birdies so far and don't want anything to go wrong. Thanks!

 

[Aves]

I don't recommend having an odd number of budgies. Just ask @AussieBird or @Ripshod

 

[Mizzely]

"Two's company, three's a crowd" is a saying for a reason I'm surprised they tolerate the starling to be honest!

 

[Ripshod]

I wouldn't normally recommend an odd number of budgies. But here we have a great situation of a very large cage, sounds similar to mine. We also have Booboo to consider - does he interact with the budgies?
I have an odd number of budgies right now, but this is only temporary. Budgies do pair up and the latest addition while being integrated into the flock is still just a single budgie. He's young and happy to play on his own but we know that will change as he gets older. For the time being I'm number 6 in the flock.

 

[Kile]

I don't recommend having an odd number of budgies. Just ask @AussieBird or @Ripshod

Thank you for the recommendation!

 

[Kile]

"Two's company, three's a crowd" is a saying for a reason I'm surprised they tolerate the starling to be honest!

It came surprising to me too, but glad its going well. And thank you for the suggestion!

 

[Zara]

Welcome to the Avenue kile!

@Feather also has a starling and a budgie

 

[Kile]

I wouldn't normally recommend an odd number of budgies. But here we have a great situation of a very large cage, sounds similar to mine. We also have Booboo to consider - does he interact with the budgies?

Booboo doesn't do much with the budgies, I think since she was hand raised she is a tad bit confused by them lol, but she will sit around them. She usually keeps to herself for the most part but they will forage on the bottom of the cage together and they will all sit on me when they are out to play. Bibi especially is always interested in what Boo is doing and trails around her. I have seen Bibi try to preen Boo after a bath but Boo doesn't seem to understand what it means. Boo will peck sometimes if she wants her personal space but she does it to me too and it is not usually something really aggressive, plus she can't do much hard biting with her straight bill. I put the divider in the cage every once in a while just to give her some time to herself. I've seen what seems to be Bibi chasing Booboo around but it doesn't happen often and usually Bibi likes to do whatever she is doing. They have plenty of space to get away from each other though and I can put in the divider when I see fit so I'd say all is well as of right now.

 

[Kile]

Welcome to the Avenue kile! View attachment 364055

@Feather also has a starling and a budgie

Thank you for letting me know! Nice to meet you

 

[Ripshod]

Do you think Booboo would do well in the flight cage? I ask because it'll open up a new option of adding another pair of budgies.

 

[JewellBird]

and welcome to the Avenue! I know that a lot of people don't tend to have very good experiences with having three budgies together and that even numbers are usually better, with three usually one gets left out, so if you are set on getting another budgie, getting a pair might be something to think about. I have three budgies and my two boys are bonded and then I have miss Pip who came to me with my cockatiel Milo and they were bonded. However, soon after meeting the budgie boys she decided she liked the budgies more than Milo and wanted to live with the other budgies and since Milo wasn't really very bonded to her anyway and likes his own space sometimes, I let Pip move in with the budgies. I have the three of them in a decent sized cage and they are out most of the day, but they get along fine and none of them really get left out. I haven't had any issues so far, but I think it also helps because Pip has always been a bit more of an independent bird anyways so she has always just done her own thing. But with most things relating to birds, I think it really just depends on the bird and the situation. I do think it might be a good idea to offer Booboo her own space though, especially if she gets aggravated by the budgies, as budgies can be a bit bossy with other birds.

 

[Kile]

Do you think Booboo would do well in the flight cage? I ask because it'll open up a new option of adding another pair of budgies.

Do you mean the flight cage they are living together in now or the spare that is empty? I worry that 4 would be a bit of a crowd for Booboo, I have considered it, but I'm not entirely sure. She hasn't been openly aggressive towards anything except my 5 year old cousin lol but even now I think she has gotten over that. I will just have to to think about it. Might end up nixing the idea altogether. And as for the spare flight cage she does well in it but the reason I got a budgie in the first place was to be a friend for her so I don't want to do a full 360 and put her back by herself again, though maybe she doesn't care about it as much as I do

 

[BirdWorld]

I wouldn't recommend having an odd number of budgies. They almost always leave one out.

 

[Ripshod]

I'd like to hear from @Feather in this thread, maybe a different angle on this?

 

[Kile]

and welcome to the Avenue! I know that a lot of people don't tend to have very good experiences with having three budgies together and that even numbers are usually better, with three usually one gets left out, so if you are set on getting another budgie, getting a pair might be something to think about. I have three budgies and my two boys are bonded and then I have miss Pip who came to me with my cockatiel Milo and they were bonded. However, soon after meeting the budgie boys she decided she liked the budgies more than Milo and wanted to live with the other budgies and since Milo wasn't really very bonded to her anyway and likes his own space sometimes, I let Pip move in with the budgies. I have the three of them in a decent sized cage and they are out most of the day, but they get along fine and none of them really get left out. I haven't had any issues so far, but I think it also helps because Pip has always been a bit more of an independent bird anyways so she has always just done her own thing. But with most things relating to birds, I think it really just depends on the bird and the situation. I do think it might be a good idea to offer Booboo her own space though, especially if she gets aggravated by the budgies, as budgies can be a bit bossy with other birds.

Thank you for the great feedback, I will take this into consideration. Sometimes I think that Bibi almost considers Boo to be a part of the flock, so they might consider a third budgie to actually just be a fourth addition. Who knows though, as you said it really does depend on the bird and since I've had good luck so far I'm bound to run into an obstacle at some point.

 

[expressmailtome]

Welcome, and enjoy the site!

 

[Feather]

Hi, there. Nice to see another starling owner on the site.
My starling, Marii, is a mature male, though, and I'm afraid I don't know much in regards to potential different temperament tendencies between sexes, ha. So I guess take my experiences with a grain of salt, but given Booboo a chick from this spring, you may be in for a rude awakening soon as she's very close to reaching sexual maturity.

Marii has a cage all to himself, and it's a fairly massive 4"x2"x4" that he uses every inch of. I personally would never dream of housing him with another bird. When he's out with the tiels and budgies, he's incredibly brazen... pulling their tails and wings, kicking (literally!) them off perches, pecking at them. He's a menace! They all flee from him in the open space, but enclosed in a cage I'd worry someone would eventually get fed up with his shenanigans and bite him.

An odd number of budgies is asking for trouble, imo.

 

[Kile]

Hi, there. Nice to see another starling owner on the site.
My starling, Marii, is a mature male, though, and I'm afraid I don't know much in regards to potential different temperament tendencies between sexes, ha. So I guess take my experiences with a grain of salt, but given Booboo a chick from this spring, you may be in for a rude awakening soon as she's very close to reaching sexual maturity.

Marii has a cage all to himself, and it's a fairly massive 4"x2"x4" that he uses every inch of. I personally would never dream of housing him with another bird. When he's out with the tiels and budgies, he's incredibly brazen... pulling their tails and wings, kicking (literally!) them off perches, pecking at them. He's a menace! They all flee from him in the open space, but enclosed in a cage I'd worry someone would eventually get fed up with his shenanigans and bite him.

An odd number of budgies is asking for trouble, imo.

Oh wow. Thanks for letting me know about that. If I encounter any fighting in the future I will make sure to move her to the other flight cage by herself. Its plenty big and she used to live in it before we got the new one. Glad to hear feedback from another starling owner!

 

[Kile]

Hi, there. Nice to see another starling owner on the site.
My starling, Marii, is a mature male, though, and I'm afraid I don't know much in regards to potential different temperament tendencies between sexes, ha. So I guess take my experiences with a grain of salt, but given Booboo a chick from this spring, you may be in for a rude awakening soon as she's very close to reaching sexual maturity.

Marii has a cage all to himself, and it's a fairly massive 4"x2"x4" that he uses every inch of. I personally would never dream of housing him with another bird. When he's out with the tiels and budgies, he's incredibly brazen... pulling their tails and wings, kicking (literally!) them off perches, pecking at them. He's a menace! They all flee from him in the open space, but enclosed in a cage I'd worry someone would eventually get fed up with his shenanigans and bite him.

An odd number of budgies is asking for trouble, imo.

I have 2 quick questions, does Marii do alright by himself in his cage and preoccupy himself with toys? Sometimes when Booboo is alone in the cage I wonder if she is bored or possibly lonely. She enjoys looking out the window and listening to music and she likes carrying rocks around but sometimes she just sits there and it makes me feel like I need to do something better. This is one of the reasons why we got budgies, thinking they would give her some company, which has gone fine so far (might not in the future considering your experience ) but I want to start giving her some alone time to play in the separate flight cage by herself more often especially if I am away and can't let her out to play with me. I do need to make some more toys / find some toys to buy for her that she likes more such as the ones you recommended me on my other post. Have you considered getting another starling? It's something I have thought about but one starling is messy enough that I don't know that I could handle it.

Second question, have you used a bird diaper/flight suit on Marii? I've wondered if thats a possibility or if they would just fill the whole pouch with poo within 10 minutes since starlings are such avid poopers . It would help with cleanup when she is out of the cage but I also considered it if I decide to get a harness and take her out with me... though I have no idea if you can put one on with a harness.. that may be too much . There may be some that come with a leash but I don't know how secure that is, kinda new to this stuff. I have a huge fear that if I'm using a harness I would let go on accident but that may be a bit irrational .... Also, I think the spare flight cage I have sounds like the same dimensions as your 4' x 2' x 4'. The one she is in with the budgies is about the same I'd say, but widened and flatter so the space is differently distributed. Though it's ridiculously wide and hardly fits anywhere I almost like it better than the spare one because it has more sideways flying space and it is on a stand far off the ground and out of reach of our cats. However the spare one was Booboo's first adequate sized cage before we got the budgies and the newer cage so she is used to being in it and could possibly like it better.

 

[Feather]

I have 2 quick questions, does Marii do alright by himself in his cage and preoccupy himself with toys? Sometimes when Booboo is alone in the cage I wonder if she is bored or possibly lonely. She enjoys looking out the window and listening to music and she likes carrying rocks around but sometimes she just sits there and it makes me feel like I need to do something better. This is one of the reasons why we got budgies, thinking they would give her some company, which has gone fine so far (might not in the future considering your experience ) but I want to start giving her some alone time to play in the separate flight cage by herself more often especially if I am away and can't let her out to play with me. I do need to make some more toys / find some toys to buy for her that she likes more such as the ones you recommended me on my other post. Have you considered getting another starling? It's something I have thought about but one starling is messy enough that I don't know that I could handle it.

Yeah, Marii does fine on his own. He's the only truly single bird in my flock, so he ends up spending the most time with me. I have considered another starling, but like you said they're so messy and one is already such a handful I'd be lost if he weren't able to become friends with a second.
He's constantly on the go, but I wouldn't say he plays with most of his toys so much as use them as a launchpad to jump from. He loves foraging, though, and spends a great deal of his time peeking in, around, and under everywhere he can get his beak, even when there's nothing to forage for... which is frankly a problem since he'll try to swallow anything he can fit in his beak.
The moments he does settle down, he's singing his heart out.

I'd recommend doing some flight-related training. I farm mealworms to give Marii as a treat, and he'll do just about anything for them. Prior to him wrecking his wings I'd taught him recall and was working on training him to take the bugs from my hand in flight without landing. He lacks the precision right now, but I'm hopeful we can pick the activity up again after he molts.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1240090907388473344

Mealworms are super easy to raise. I picked up a small three-drawer box for like $9 at walmart, and all they need to propagate is some oats and carrots.

Second question, have you used a bird diaper/flight suit on Marii? I've wondered if thats a possibility or if they would just fill the whole pouch with poo within 10 minutes since starlings are such avid poopers . It would help with cleanup when she is out of the cage but I also considered it if I decide to get a harness and take her out with me... though I have no idea if you can put one on with a harness.. that may be too much . There may be some that come with a leash but I don't know how secure that is, kinda new to this stuff. I have a huge fear that if I'm using a harness I would let go on accident but that may be a bit irrational .... Also, I think the spare flight cage I have sounds like the same dimensions as your 4' x 2' x 4'. The one she is in with the budgies is about the same I'd say, but widened and flatter so the space is differently distributed. Though it's ridiculously wide and hardly fits anywhere I almost like it better than the spare one because it has more sideways flying space and it is on a stand far off the ground and out of reach of our cats. However the spare one was Booboo's first adequate sized cage before we got the budgies and the newer cage so she is used to being in it and could possibly like it better.

Er... There was an attempt.

He was not impressed. I think I would have had more success if I'd introduced it when he was younger.
I do not like the FlightSuits brand or design, so this is a size 2 Flyper from Bev's Bird Boutique, which takes the same concept and improves upon it greatly (requires far less manhandling to get it on and off for starters). They can't be used in tandem with a harness, however, and I personally don't trust any diaper design to be inescapable enough to be used outdoors safely.

The leash they sell for the Flyper, as well as the built-in leash of the Aviator Harness, both have a wrist strap, so accidentally letting go needn't be too much of a worry so long as you're using it correctly.