Caring for my Budgies & cockatiel

Our new additions to the flock 🦜

I’m so glad my blog has helped you!

I really haven’t been very active over here on tumblr but I’m going to try to get back to posting a bit!

We are Patiently awaiting our new Aviary to arrive so the budgies can hopefully all move in together again!

Am considering maybe getting another budgie as we’ve only got the 3 now- Mac (female), Kiwi (male) and Sunny (Male). Unsure whether to add another female or another male tho!

Welcome Mac to the budgie family 💕

L

She’s just settling in so im not changing her cage perches for now (I know plastic is not great) but at least it’s not her only option.

Mac was owned by a work colleague who could no longer care for her. She was gifted to them about two years ago as a baby (why you shouldn’t gift people pets). They were told she was a boy but obviously she’s a pretty girl! We thought about changing her name but decided to keep it as Mac as it’s been her name these past two years & we think it suits her!

A crust beak or a crusty cere?

I have two new budgies, one male and one female. Neither of them have been hand trained and were scared of me when we first bought them. However, they are now more trusting, and the male will even step up on my finger to eat the millet that I'm holding in my other hand. The female doesn't want to perch on me just yet, but will take millet, and even seeds, from my hand or between my thumb and forefinger. My problem is, is that she seems to 'enjoy' biting me. It doesn't appear that she's biting out of fear. She will be eating something from my hand, or the male will and in this case she's trying to get where he is, and she will just start biting, softly at first and then harder until she decides to just flat out chew on my finger or hand. It hurts to be honest and I'm not sure what to do to break this habit. I've tried ignoring it, but that's just out of the question for me, because it's not just one bite but a series of painful chews that leave red marks and little bruises at times. And I've also tried firmly (not yelling) saying 'no' and gently blowing at her. Nothing so far seems to get through to her. Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to get her to stop biting me? I only have the one cage and I'm not comfortable taking either bird out of it just yet as they could still hurt themselves. 

ANSWER:

hello,

This is quite common especially with female budgies who tend to be a bit more feisty!

I do find that when budgies are gaining confidence they may be more likely to bite and test boundaries. It’s also common that budgies use their beak kind of like a third hand, you’ll notice they use it to assist them to climb around the cage and even to test perches etc before they decide they’re safe to climb onto.

Personally when my birds used to hop onto my hand and bite me I would move my hand up and down sort of quickly not enough to really startle them but enough to make them lose focus on the biting as they’re trying to regain balance or sometimes they’ll just hop off your hand.

If she’s hitting when just near your hand and not actually on you then I suggest you move your hand out and move the treat away straight away. Wait a minute then bring the treat back- each time she tries to bite you move away. Eventually she’s going to catch on that when she bites you the treat disappears.

The blowing on her face gently is also a good option and something I used to do with my birds who were very tame and would get too playful and begin chewing on my hands/rings and start biting my skin. Again it’s just a tactic to distract them from what they’re doing as usually this kind of biting is more from exploring and not actually being aggressive.

Its been a while since I’ve been on here! But I thought I’d pop on and share a few pictures for anyone that’s still following!

For anyone wondering we share photos quite often over on our Instagram page called @ sarahandpets

This year we had Kirby passed away on the 4th of may which was really sad as she was my first ever budgie :(

Kiwi now lives by himself right next to bandit & the other two budgies Bluebell and Sunny who have now paired up.

They all seem fairly happy although I’m sure Kiwi misses Kirby.

Our little girl Imogen LOVES to feed the birds every morning and spends plenty of time trying to help me sweep up all the feathers and bird seed that ends up on the ground 🤣

Hi they are likely just moulting, budgies will loose feathers and grow new ones. You will notice lots of little feathers and even wing and tail feathers falling back. The new feather will grow in with a shaft around it to protect it and your budgies will preen themselves to keep their feathers clean and help open up the shaft of the new feather when ready.