can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

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Tish
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can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by Tish » Mon Mar 19, 2018 7:19 pm

I have 2, 1 year old male and female budgie and was wondering if I could add a third, or will one budgie become an out cast? My birds are new and did come from a petstore that had over budgies in with them. I would like to get a hand tamed budgie, but would like him or her to also live with my pair. Please help me with this, I don't want to make a mistake that could upset my budgies.
1 Cat ( Logan), 2 Rosy Bourkes (Pip & Kiki), 2 Guinea Pigs (Biscuit & Gizmo), 1 Syrian Hamster (Sammy), 1 Russian Dwarf Hamster (Peanut), 4 Gerbils ( Shiloh & Emma) & (Lilly & Rose)

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Re: can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by Sheather » Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:18 pm

Usually it will work but it depends on their temperaments.
A tame bird is best kept alone for a time to bond with you before introducing to the other parakeets, especially if it is under 4 months old.
~Dylan

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Tish
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Re: can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by Tish » Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:48 pm

Sheather wrote: Usually it will work but it depends on their temperaments.
A tame bird is best kept alone for a time to bond with you before introducing to the other parakeets, especially if it is under 4 months old.
what if I don't get a hand tamed budgie. What if I got 2 more budgies to add to my pair, would that work ok? Should I get young budgies or try and get more 1 year olds?
1 Cat ( Logan), 2 Rosy Bourkes (Pip & Kiki), 2 Guinea Pigs (Biscuit & Gizmo), 1 Syrian Hamster (Sammy), 1 Russian Dwarf Hamster (Peanut), 4 Gerbils ( Shiloh & Emma) & (Lilly & Rose)

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Re: can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by Sheather » Tue Mar 20, 2018 12:28 am

Adding two more of any age should be good.
~Dylan

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Re: can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by Gracie85 » Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:01 pm

If you have two, and get just one more, it is likely that two will pair up as best buddies, and one will be left out.

If you get two more, that should take care of the odd-man-out problem, BUT there is the possibility that the new one might cause the existing pair to break up and they argue over who gets to pair up with who else. Budgies have personalities just like people do.

If you get two more, keep them together in their own cage for a good while to make sure they bond with each other first, so they don't end up causing a lover's triangle with the existing pair.

HOWEVER....If your goal is to have a hand-tamed budgie, don't get any more. The more budgies you have, the more like a flock they become, and the less they want to have anything to do with people (other than wanting you to give them food.) If they have their own kind to hang out with, they have no reason to prefer people. Even if you have one started on hand-taming, then add it to the cage with the others, it will most likely prefer them and forget you. Best to keep trying to win over the budgies you have.

We started with 3 budgies because that's what our little town pet store had, and my kids didn't want to leave one all alone. Very quickly, two paired up, one was left out. So, we had to get another. We all tried to hand tame them, they just preferred each other.
Over time, as we got bigger, then a huge flight cage/aviary, we increased our number of budgies. Of course, new ones spent a month in quarantine before being added to the flock. Some got fairly used to stepping up on our fingers and hanging out, during their time in quarantine. As soon as they were added to the flock, that was the end of the hand-tame behavior. They had their own kind, they didn't need to perform for us.
The advantage, tho, is that with a flock, and a huge cage/aviary, you get to see them act like BIRDS, not just like pets.

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Re: can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by Gracie85 » Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:05 pm

Oh, and if you do choose to get more, age generally doesn't matter.

Do quarantine the new ones in their own cage, in a separate room, for a month, first. This way, if they happen to be carrying any germs or parasites or are sick, you can spot it and treat them before they get all of your birds sick.

Then, rather than just putting them in with the other birds directly, put the two cages near each other, then right up against each other, for a few days first, so they get used to the "new neighbors" rather than just having them move in unannounced, invading the existing birds' territory.

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Re: can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by Sojourner » Fri Mar 23, 2018 11:08 pm

It's a good idea to remove all birds from the cage you will be keeping them all in, rearrange everything in it so it will seem like "new territory" to the old birds, and then put everybody (old birds and new) into it at the same time. Cuts down on territorial disputes as it will all seem like new territory to everybody concerned.

It also gives you a chance to give it a thorough cleaning, hard to do when there are birds IN the cage, LOL!
Molly Brown 11/22/15
Pyewacket 6/15/17
Trudy 2/24/18

Turn towards home, and go there. Many overs, over woods and fields, streams and hills, many overs. Just turn towards home. How else would one go there? Perhaps it was a dream, and you have awakened from it. May the earth rise up beneath you, with home in your heart, and your person waiting.

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Re: can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by FinchLady » Wed Apr 18, 2018 10:47 pm

Will two Budgies still interact with owner or ignore people? Understand they may not become hand tamed but would they still enjoy people company? Leaning toward two Budgies to give them a buddy, keep them happy. But my husband hates a lot of noise. So, thinking of one male Budgie but read unless spend hours a day one-on-one socializing, single bird will be unhappy. Budgie cage will be in our office where we both spend a lot of time each day (we are retired). But there may be times Budgie is alone for a few hours here and there or possibly a weekend (with neighbor checking once a day). Any thoughts?

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Re: can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by Flight Feathers » Thu Apr 19, 2018 4:33 pm

FinchLady wrote: Will two Budgies still interact with owner or ignore people? Understand they may not become hand tamed but would they still enjoy people company? Leaning toward two Budgies to give them a buddy, keep them happy. But my husband hates a lot of noise. So, thinking of one male Budgie but read unless spend hours a day one-on-one socializing, single bird will be unhappy. Budgie cage will be in our office where we both spend a lot of time each day (we are retired). But there may be times Budgie is alone for a few hours here and there or possibly a weekend (with neighbor checking once a day). Any thoughts?
Two budgies will usually play together but they can still interact with their owner. Mine generally don’t. (Only one of them will sit on my finger and only if I have food!) I have 2 pairs of budgies tho and they’re also in a reasonably large outdoor aviary with lots to do so it’s understandable that they don’t want to play with me! On the other hand I have a pair of cockatiels in an aviary and the female is about 12/13. The previous owner tamed her although hadn’t handled her in years when she was given to me but she will still sit on my finger or shoulder and play with my phone which is very cute!
~Flight Feathers Bird Home~

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Re: can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by Sojourner » Mon May 07, 2018 1:12 am

Mine were rescue birds, so - basically ZERO human socialization before they came home with me. Bird mill. And puppy mill. And kitty mill. And horsey mill. Seriously, these guys had a screw loose, HUNDREDS of animals were confiscated in sick and starving condition. So my guys were SUPER paranoid, eg paranoid even for parakeets which are normally a bit paranoid.

They're still that way, but better now. They watch me mostly because they DO NOT TRUST ME! LOL!

I'm good with birds paying attention to each other rather than me. They are WAY more fun to watch when they are behaving as "naturally" as is possible in a cage.

Really, nearly all parakeets/budgies in pet stores come from bird mills. I commonly see several dozen at any time in the pet stores, whereas they usually only have a half dozen or so of any other small breed (finches etc) at any given time (at least SOME stores here get their finches from small local breeders, but parakeets most often come from "bulk" breeders).

Parakeets are the most frequently sold birds at pet stores - and the most frequently discarded later on because improperly fed parakeets are loud and obnoxious. And feeding them parakeet mix every single day and NO GREENS/veggies - which at least 90% of owners rely on - is not proper feeding.

Anyway. If you get your budgies from a pet store, especially a CHAIN pet store, they are unlikely to be human-socialized. You need to get them as young as possible if you want to change that.

And please - it takes a LOT of patience but is well-worth it - get them onto fresh foods as quickly as possible. I started mine with a corn-free bird bread I made myself (no wheat flour either, not even "whole" wheat) and now these former millet-addicts eat a very wide variety of seeds, grains, and fresh greens. And their behavior is just enormously better. No more screaming! They actually have a very pleasant warble that I NEVER heard as long as they were on a cranky-making junk food diet of "parakeet mix" only.

They don't need us to socialize with to make them happy. They need a good diet, LOL! However getting them onto a good diet can take a significant amount of time and in the meantime, they will continue with the stereotypical screamy-screamy behavior.

And no. Pellets are NOT a "good diet". Fresh veggies/greens and a wide variety of seeds and grains (and a good corn free bird bread) constitute a good diet.
Molly Brown 11/22/15
Pyewacket 6/15/17
Trudy 2/24/18

Turn towards home, and go there. Many overs, over woods and fields, streams and hills, many overs. Just turn towards home. How else would one go there? Perhaps it was a dream, and you have awakened from it. May the earth rise up beneath you, with home in your heart, and your person waiting.

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Re: can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by FinchLady » Tue May 08, 2018 12:19 pm

Sojourner: After posting to you on another string, read this post where you already answered my Budgie questions. Thank you! (sorry about repetitive post)
I'm still considering one Budgie or two. One would cut down on mess/noise but two would give each other a buddy.
Looking for companion pet/s but do not want time/effort keeping them tame. Miss having birdies in the house but need to keep things as simple/low maintenance as possible due to health issues.

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Re: can I add 1 more budgie to my pair?

Post by Sojourner » Wed May 09, 2018 2:19 am

FinchLady

If you don't care about taming them or teaching them to talk, I would definitely go for the buddy system.

Parakeets aren't like finches. Finches tend to pair up as well as flock. Parakeet bonding is different, the flock is primary and pair bonds are secondary. EG odd numbers of parakeets can work out where odd numbers of finches rarely do. Mind you, its not something I would care to test, but it is a little different with parakeets.

However female budgies are a lot more aggressive sometimes. I can't remember ever having a problem (my mother was a breeder way back in the dinosaur age) but I've heard other people talk about having problems. I had cockatiels for a long time, then no birds, and am only getting back into having pet birds in the last 3 or 4 years or so. But I don't want to have to keep them "tame", I just want to watch them from afar (like from the sofa, LOL!) so - finches and parakeets, even a canary would be OK, but no more parrots (not even small ones like cockatiels) that need you to socialize with them.

Plus I'm getting old. There's a good chance my BUDGIES may outlive me at this point, LOL!

I wrote a really long response to your other post on that other thread. Basically, there are pros and cons. A PRO for budgies is I have never experienced or heard of them just starting to drop eggs out of nowhere. CONS are even quiet budgies may be louder than your SO would care for, and the feed issue takes significant time and effort to overcome. And I find them messier.

For finches, PROS are they are smaller and way quieter (except for zebras which are only somewhat quieter), CONS are the gentlest ones are NOT sexually dimorphic (can't tell the girls from the boys just by looking). And they can get started on an egg-laying binge even without a nest in the cage, EVEN IN THE ABSENCE OF A MALE.

That other post was so long I had to put the TL;DNR disclaimer in another thread altogether, LOL!

Let us know what you think.
Molly Brown 11/22/15
Pyewacket 6/15/17
Trudy 2/24/18

Turn towards home, and go there. Many overs, over woods and fields, streams and hills, many overs. Just turn towards home. How else would one go there? Perhaps it was a dream, and you have awakened from it. May the earth rise up beneath you, with home in your heart, and your person waiting.

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