Are my budgies bothering the nesting zebras?

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:08 pm

We have a pair of zebras with babies on the way. We also have a pair of budgies that fly around in the same room and will sometimes sit on top of the finch cage. The budgies seem mostly just interested in the finches. But I'm wondering if the budgies might be disturbing them. The female spends most of the day sitting on her eggs while the male hops around and chirps all day. She doesn't appear to be bothered.
Do we need to do anything special since she is nesting?
The eggs should be hatching early next week.

Post by **Sally** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:44 am

If they are used to the budgies and they don't seem to bother them, they should be OK. Just watch them after the babies hatch, just in case the parents think their babies are in danger.

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:47 am

i know that when my zebras are sitting on eggs, they like to be left alone. they like it to be quiet. but there are a few pairs that i have that dont mind. i have 8 budgies and they talk all day long and there cage is about 5 feet away from the zebras in the flight cage, but they just act as if the budgies arent there. they eat and go back and sit on the nest and then they go out for a little while and talk to other zebras in the cage.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 3:13 am

when I first started with birds I had budgies and zebras in the same cage and it didnt stop either from breeding. the cage was 7' high x 9' wide x 3' deep and held 4 pairs of budgies and 4 pairs of zebras

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:28 am

I was getting a little concerned. I guess they'll be ok. The zebras don't seem to mind them right now but I'll keep an eye on them after the babies hatch. Thanks.

Post by **Hilary** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:07 am

As long as the parents don't mind I think you're ok for now, but I'd be cautious when the chicks fledge - I'd hate for a budgie to get curious and grab a youngster through the cage bars.

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:42 pm

I have my pair of bourke parakeets in with two nests of nesting finches... they sometimes pick at the material at the bottom of the finches nests, but they don't seem to care. One pair of my finches happily raised a clutch of 5 who are now 4 weeks old. My other pair of finches has ten day old chickies in their nest and they are fine too. Although my bourkes tend to live in the bottom and my finches tend to live in the upper portion of the flight.

Another interesting thing to watch with these clutches and having parakeets in the same flight was that the babies didn't fledge as soon as they used to when their were no parakeets in the flight. My finches used to fledge and hang out on the bottom... this time the fledged once they were really able to fly better and stay on the upper perches. I wonder if this has to do with the fact that their are parakeets in the flight now.

rkn · Post by **rkn** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:54 pm

What are bourke parakeets? How are they different from budgies? I was told by our local pet shop owner that parakeets and finches can be houses together in the same aviary. I asked around and most don't think they would do well together so am curious how your's are doing overall. How large is your aviary?

rkn

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:05 pm

Mine are doing great. Bourke parakeets are the nicest parakeets you can get. They never bite, ever! They also don't need daily out of cage time, etc... normally you shouldn't house regular parakeets with finches, b/c they can be aggressive w/ the finches

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:44 pm

Hilary wrote:As long as the parents don't mind I think you're ok for now, but I'd be cautious when the chicks fledge - I'd hate for a budgie to get curious and grab a youngster through the cage bars.

I never thought about the fact that they might try to grab a baby. They might think it's a new toy.
Thanks for the heads up.

livinonaprayer · Post by **livinonaprayer** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:51 pm

EmilyHurd wrote:Mine are doing great. Bourke parakeets are the nicest parakeets you can get. They never bite, ever! They also don't need daily out of cage time, etc... normally you shouldn't house regular parakeets with finches, b/c they can be aggressive w/ the finches

I never heard of Bourke parakeets. I had to Google some pictures. Odd colors and very pretty.
I wouldn't even consider housing my budgies with the finches. In fact the male budgie is very jealous of his female partner. So there's no telling how he's going to react to babies. We'll have to keep a watchful eye on them.