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Conference 7.286::pet_birds

Title:	Captive Breeding for Conservation--and FUN!
Notice:	INTROS 6.X / FOR SALE 13.X / Buying a Bird 900.*
Moderator:	VIDEO::PULSIFER

Created:	Mon Oct 10 1988
Last Modified:	Tue Jun 03 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	942
Total number of notes:	6016

63.0. "henpecked budgie" by FSTVAX::WIMMER () Wed Nov 30 1988 14:22

    I have two budgies -- one is definitely a female (Smokey), and the
    second is probably male (Toby) -- his cere is "bluish".  Anyway,
    they have been with me for over a month now, and the female is 
    becoming quite aggressively dominant -- she is also the tamer
    of the two.  She is picking on Toby a lot. For example, he is not
    allowed to eat until she is through.  Also, I recently put a honey
    stick in the cage.  she likes it, and even if she is not working
    on it, she will attack him if he dares to go near it.  I had to
    put in a second one on the other side of the cage for him.  sometimes,
    she just pecks him for what appears to be no reason at all.  there
    are several toys in the cage, she plays with them a lot, but he
    just sits.  I think he is afraid she will get mad if he plays with
    them.  she's also far more vocal then him, she screeches and chirps
    and sings, he mostly is quiet.  question is --- is this normal?
    He sticks as close to her as he can, in spite of the bad treatment,
    and they still sleep next to each other. I feel kind of bad for
    him, but don't want to seperate them if this is normal behavior.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
63.1	Dear henpecked	GIAENG::PULSIFER	Doug Pulsifer dtn 296-3332	`Wed Nov 30 1988 15:30`	14
	I would put Smokey in a separate cage for a while. When you put her back with Toby you are introducing her to Toby's cage and she may be a little more reserved. I have heard of this working with a variety of different animals. Also I used to have a little plastic parakeet that went around the perch. My birds used to love to beat it up and knock it over. Maybe if you had one it would help to relieve some of her agression. Another idea could be to put some large peices of red pepper or other vegetable for her to pick at in the cage. Stick them through the bars or hang them. Doug
63.2	ready to breed	SVCRUS::KROLL		`Wed Nov 30 1988 15:43`	4
	your hen sounds like it is ready for breeding and he is not. I have known hens to severly damage their mates. suggest you separate them ASAP and or be prepared to get a breeder box. even this will not gareetee success.
63.3	too young to date?	FSTVAX::WIMMER		`Wed Nov 30 1988 16:40`	7
	She is theoretically only 12-14 weeks old. The guy at the store told me when I got her she was only 8-10 weeks. I assumed that might be right since she still has the bars going all the way down to the cere (which, according to my "reputable bird book" is the way to tell a young bird). Does the theory still hold? Would she be ready to breed that early?
63.4		LEDDEV::CALABRIA	reality is overrated	`Mon Dec 19 1988 14:34`	6
	I had the same trouble with a couple of older birds, and had to separate them, cause the female would attack the male daily, often drawing a sometimes heavy flow of blood. she would have eventualy killed him, I'm sure. From what I have read, female dominance, and aggression is normal, but this was too much.
63.5		LEDDEV::CALABRIA	reality is overrated	`Mon Dec 19 1988 14:36`	4
	you might want to check the old conference, I asked the same question there, and got some advice. . . John
63.6	where is it?	FSTTOO::WIMMER		`Tue Dec 20 1988 12:06`	2
	how do you get to the old conference?
63.7		LEDDEV::CALABRIA	reality is overrated	`Tue Dec 20 1988 14:37`	12
	add entry upnrth::old_birds then open it, then type dir/author=jon::calabria that will show you all the notes that I wrote. good luck John