Healthy flock behavior?

[Rico_Tiel]

I have 2 birds, a cockatiel and a budgie. The budgie is a recent addition to the flock (late May 2023), and she is maybe 4.5 months old? Just guessing from her eyes.

Anyway, she seems to pester Rico (the cockatiel) but never bites him, and he has never once bitten her. Whenever he is eating on the play stand, she comes right over and takes over his food bowl, or at least steals a bite. He will hiss and give warnings, but will never ACTUALLY bite as he will just walk away to the other bowl. When she’s done with the taken over food bowl, she will either go into the other bowl, or she will fall asleep. They never bite, fight, or do any harm to each other, they just bicker over food. Is this normal/healthy? He has food available in his cage at all hours, so if he gets fed up he can just go to his cage to eat, and cricket can’t follow him (she was clipped by the exotics store to prevent the budgies from flying up into the 100+ feet high rafters and getting stuck or hitting fans, etc.) they are monitored by me and if they seem to be getting a bit worked up about each other, I move them apart.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

My flock of budgies always bicker over food no matter how many bowls I have, so I think that's just a budgie thing. My other birds (conures and cockatiels) don't really bicker and eat from the same bowl. They all share a big bowl of chop though and there's definitely a hierarchy but no fights break out.

Cricket is still fairly new so they may be getting used to each other still but I don't think it's a problem unless they actually start fighting

 

[Keet_Krazy]

Do you get along with your sibling/s 24/7?
Girl budgies in particular are pushy and bossy, my girls rarely share a perch unless necessary. Because of their size difference I'd be very careful of Cricket crossing a line she shouldn't, especially once she matures. Other then that yes, minor bickering is normal.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

My flock of budgies always bicker over food no matter how many bowls I have, so I think that's just a budgie thing. My other birds (conures and cockatiels) don't really bicker and eat from the same bowl. They all share a big bowl of chop though and there's definitely a hierarchy but no fights break out.

Cricket is still fairly new so they may be getting used to each other still but I don't think it's a problem unless they actually start fighting

Ohhh I have never had my past budgies do this (both male seniors) so this had me a bit confused and a little concerned, but no two birds are alike! So it seems like I have a ‘normal’ budgie hen!

Sounds good then! When there isn’t any food involved, cricket just follows Rico around and copies him which is the cutest thing ever, and he doesn’t care at all unless she moves too fast at him or if she steps on his tail.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Ohhh I have never had my past budgies do this (both male seniors) so this had me a bit confused and a little concerned, but no two birds are alike! So it seems like I have a ‘normal’ budgie hen!

Sounds good then! When there isn’t any food involved, cricket just follows Rico around and copies him which is the cutest thing ever, and he doesn’t care at all unless she moves too fast at him or if she steps on his tail.

I definitely think it's the female budgies that bicker the most! I only have one male and three females so he's outnumbered bless him

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Do you get along with your sibling/s 24/7?
Girl budgies in particular are pushy and bossy, my girls rarely share a perch unless necessary. Because of their size difference I'd be very careful of Cricket crossing a line she shouldn't, especially once she matures. Other then that yes, minor bickering is normal.

That’s a good analogy! Haha, I get it now!

I have always heard how hens tend to be pushy and bossy, so I had a feeling it was most likely that, or she is just trying to show the gentle giant that she is the boss of him.

I do know how serious a bite from Rico could be, and I separate them if they seem to be getting a bit excessive, just for their safety. But he has not once bitten her, and she has never bitten him, so I’m not super worried about him biting her, but I know that there’s a chance of him biting her if she were to cross a boundary, and vice versa.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

I definitely think it's the female budgies that bicker the most! I only have one male and three females so he's outnumbered bless him

That explains it! Haha, bless your boy’s soul!

 

[Keet_Krazy]

I do know how serious a bite from Rico could be, and I separate them if they seem to be getting a bit excessive, just for their safety. But he has not once bitten her, and she has never bitten him, so I’m not super worried about him biting her, but I know that there’s a chance of him biting her if she were to cross a boundary, and vice versa.

Please don't think I am saying you're being careless, I am not! You're a good parront! I've just had budgies that get along fine for a year or more then one day there's blood. So I am very keen on being sure people are aware of the risks.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Please don't think I am saying you're being careless, I am not! You're a good parront! I've just had budgies that get along fine for a year or more then one day there's blood. So I am very keen on being sure people are aware of the risks.

I didn’t think you were saying that, I was just mentioning their behavior. So, no worries!

And YES! 100x YES! I have seen some nasty, and very disturbing cases of fights in parrots, especially small ones. I do think that some people are less aware of the risks of adding to their flock, especially if the birds are small. So many heartbreaking posts, pages, images, etc. of people introducing small parrots and fights occur. Like lovebirds mangling budgies, conures killing tiels, Quakers killing/maiming conures, etc. so I 100% see where you’re coming from! And I appreciate it!