Freebee , tossing seeds.

[lovezebs]

Hello Budgie Buddies.

Has anyone come across this rather wierd behavior in Budgies?

Lately Freebee, ( who now shares a cage with Opie) has started this rather odd behavior, which is driving me nuts. She gets into the seed cups, and starts kicking the seeds out. She'll do this, untill the seed cup is empty, and my floor is covered in seeds. I honestly can't figure out what's got into her. This is such annoying habit, and I find myself tossing out lots of seeds this way as I vacume, or I slip slide across the floor (which she obviously finds amusing, but I don't).

Any ideas?

~Elana~

[Jen]

lovezebs
I find that my budgies are the "biggest wasters"....seed everywhere. I didn't have nearly half the seed on the floor when it was just Goulds and Waxbills as I have since I added my Budgies. I would welcome suggestions also! I have the seed hoppers in my flight cages, which help a lot. The waste is in my outdoor aviary where I moved my Budgies. Huge waste!!! I have a lot of birds out there, so I use a seed feeder that has a little tray at the bottom to "catch" seed, but these Budgies kick the seed way outside of the tray. So I put another tray under that feeder to catch the falling seed. That seed gets fed to the wildlife outside my aviary, since it gets soiled by all the birds. I would rather the wildlife get "cheaper seed" than all this extra thrown seed.

Any other ideas are very welcome!!!

[lovezebs]

Jen

I just can't figure it out. This is not just the usual browsing for favourite seeds, this is literally getting in there and kicking everything out.

If your a dog person, you will know exactly what I mean about kicking things back. When dogs pee or poop, they will very often step away from it and kick backwards with their hind legs one at a time, and scatter dirt, weeds and what not in all different directions.

Well this is exactly what Freebee does with the seeds. Crazy little thing.

~Elana~

[Atbird]

lovezebs
Is she trying to nest?

That is what my canaries do if they don't have a nest. I find using really deep dishes and a thin layer of seeds on the bottom prevents messes. The dishes are deeper than the birds, so that when they eat out of them their tails practically stick straight up in the air.

[KarenB]

I've had parrots who did this. They may be dissatisfied with the offering. Maybe try some different mix and put less seed in to begin with. I think it can be a sign of frustration, for whatever reason. Sometimes they do it to get attention. Sometimes they are just bored.

[lovezebs]

KarenB

Sometimes, they are just a pain in the butt I just swept again, for the umpteenth time today.

The seed mix, is a combination of Budgie/Finch mixes, with all the good things in there. There is spray millet offered, also egg food *which they love. They get veggies, but don't eat them. There are all sorts of toys ( mirrors, swings, ladders, bells and pull apart toys to challange the brain), which I change around periodically and some treats (although I don't over indulge them with treats). They have each other for company, as Freebee really doesn't seem to enjoy time out of the cage anymore.

Not quite sure what else I can offer her. Opie, seems to be happy and content. I think, that it's just something she's figured out she can do. When she does it, I raise my voice and tell her to stop. She just looks at me and goes 'gyek', whatever that means.

~Elana~

[lovezebs]

Atbird

Now there's a picture, seed dishes so deep that the birds have to do head stands in them just to get to the seeds, lol.

I'm thinking, maybe smaller/narrower dishes, that she won't be able to get her feathered butt into it.

I'm going to have to try different things, to see what will stop this, 'cause I really don't like this nonsense.

~Elana~

[MiaCarter]

I think she's bored or dissatisfied.
That's my guess.

I've seen it for both.

Dissatisfied is usually frustration. For instance, I had an African Grey foster bird and I tried to switch her to pellets.
She. Was. NOT. Having. It!
She would make that agitated squack sound while hurling them out of the bowl.
I'd call her on it, of course.
She'd hold eye contact while slooowly putting her head down into the bowl......pausing and slowing when I'd call her out......then she'd grab one in her mouth and toss it out onto the floor, holding eye contact the entire time.
A very clear: "THIS is what I think of your pellets!"

I've also had a few birds, including 'keets, who would toss out food when they're frustrated and angry --- almost always when they're in time out for being naughty.

I've seen parakeets do it because they don't like the food.
When I first got my current pair, they were seed eaters only.
I put fresh foods and other non-seed foods on a bed of seed so they'll eat those first. But the keets didn't like those unfamiliar foods for the first few weeks so they'd toss 'em all out, digging down to the seed.

It's usually pretty easy to tell if they're unhappy with the food. They won't eat it or they'll eat it really reluctantly, only after pitching a fit. (And usually, when it's displeasure over the food, they often do it mostly when you're present.)

The "gyek" bit....
Is that what I call "skatting"?
It's their standard happy sound. Often they simultaneously nod their head and their wings go out slightly?
If so, then that's a happy sound and that would tell me she's doing it because she's bored.

I might try adding some new toys.

Or better yet, give her a play box.
Get a tall-sided tupperware. Fill it with some good stuff. I've used everything from seeds, to pebbles, to grit (you could also use sand; I just didn't have any clean stuff available and I try to make sure everything is either edible or too big to eat). Often I'll give a mix of things, as they love playing with the different textures.

So give her a box with some fun stuff that she can root around in and play with. A tall-sided tupperware will contain most of it. I'll place it in the middle of the cage so it's harder to get stuff outside the cage.

[lovezebs]

MiaCarter

Thanks Mia.

I'll try a toy/busy box for the little prissy princess.
The 'gyek' sound is not skatting, which is a kchee-kchee-kchee sound.
This is a one time 'gyek!' Which if I didn't know better, would translate to the human equivalent that starts with an 'F...'

I get the sense that Freebee, is not happy, but I have no idea how to make her happy. Maybe the toy box idea will work (I hope). We shall see....

~Elana~

[Sheather]

Ha! My Sunny has done this too on the few times I've had to close her in a cage when she got too intrusive with finches with babies. She immediately runs to the food cup and flings it all out with that same displeasured grunt. It is so very annoying! XD

She stops when let out again, at which point she becomes a model citizen in regards to mealtime and eats like a dainty little mouse. She just does it to make her displeasure obvious I think.

[MariusStegmann]

Give her a nestbox and 10 to one this seedkicking will stop

[lovezebs]

Sheather

Hi Dylan.

Problem is, Freebee doesn't want time out of the cage. She used to come out every day, but now doesn't want to. If I open the cage, she won't come out, if I take her out, she just goes back in and sits there glaring at me.

~Elana~

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann

Thanks Marius,

But no nest boxes.
Two are quite enough for me.
There are a lot of budgies around here, so many in fact, that it's difficult to find homes for them.

One sees them listed on kijiji all the time for next to nothing. People buy them on a whim for 'the kids' and then try to get rid of them. Many are surrendered to the Humane society, where you can pick them up for $7.00.
Even in the pet shops, they are sold cheap. As an example, Budgie pet shop price ($23.00). Gouldian pet shop price ($140.00 and ↑) .

With that being the case, it just seems irresponsible to bring more of them into the world.

~Elana~

[Sheather]

A single female will also enjoy a nestbox and it will keep her occupied (or does this hen now live with the male? Last I recall, they didn't like one another much).

My female is too old to breed but likes to just sit in her nestbox. She's laid a few eggs a couple times. Duds. She sits on them for a few days and gets bored, repeats in a few months.

[Sheather]

Oh nevermind, just read the first sentence... no nestbox then. : P

She might enjoy chewing and playing in a cardboard box of some sort... my Gracie (teil) loves the long ones 12 packs of soda come in.