Hormonal Female Budgie Attacking Me

[DonnaBudgie]

My female budgie, Rocky, is acting really obnoxious lately. She's now eight months old and I hand raised her from hatching. Over the past few months her cere has changed from bluish white to deep brown and she's gone from being very tame and constantly seeking out our company- flying to us and hanging out with us- to attacking our hands quite aggressively. Rocky has always used her beak a lot to explore and chew things including our skin but I've always been able to handle her without her objecting.
This past couple weeks she's been getting pretty obnoxious when I approach her to put her back in her cage. She refuses to step up, bites my hand, and runs or flies away. She does this when I try to use a short dowel rod perch to put her back too. She seldom goes back inside her cage by herself. This behavior has gotten much worse since I let her play with Beau, one of my te male budgies

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

It definitely sounds like she's hit sexual maturity! I don't have much advice for you as my budgies all live together in one cage so when one goes back, they all go back. I manage their hormones through their diet and by making sure they have no nesting places so they don't really lay eggs or get aggressive with me. I have one male and three females so those dynamics probably help a lot. I know I'd have trouble if I separated them as they like to be with each other as they're a flock.

Do you feed her outside of the cage? One way I get my birds to go in the cage without problems is by only feeding them their food in their cages and waiting until they need to go in to feed them. They eat 2-3 times a day this way. I try feeding them only what I know they'll eat, and don't leave food out all the time for them so that they're hungry enough when I need them in the cage.

Could you let her and Beau share a cage? That might help with her going back in the cage, and you can prevent egg laying through diet and environmental factors. My budgies are still fairly tame despite living together, especially my bonded pair for some reason. They're much more friendly than my other two budgies and will come and spend time with me and I've taught them to do a few tricks. Sometimes they want their own space too and won't want time with me but I don't mind as I want them to be happy more than I want them to just do what I want all the time.

 

[Jcas]

With Fay, twelve hours of darkness is very important. Even though the household is still up, I cover the budgie cage. She doesn’t get as hormonal as young Rocky, though!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

My female budgie, Rocky, is acting really obnoxious lately. She's now eight months old and I hand raised her from hatching. Over the past few months her cere has changed from bluish white to deep brown and she's gone from being very tame and constantly seeking out our company- flying to us and hanging out with us- to attacking our hands quite aggressively. Rocky has always used her beak a lot to explore and chew things including our skin but I've always been able to handle her without her objecting.
This past couple weeks she's been getting pretty obnoxious when I approach her to put her back in her cage. She refuses to step up, bites my hand, and runs or flies away. She does this when I try to use a short dowel rod perch to put her back too. She seldom goes back inside her cage by herself. This behavior has gotten much worse since I let her play with Beau, one of my te male budgies

Oops.
Her behavior has gotten much worse Since I started letting her play outside the cage with Beau, one of my tame male budgies. They get along great.
I think Rocky is

It definitely sounds like she's hit sexual maturity! I don't have much advice for you as my budgies all live together in one cage so when one goes back, they all go back. I manage their hormones through their diet and by making sure they have no nesting places so they don't really lay eggs or get aggressive with me. I have one male and three females so those dynamics probably help a lot. I know I'd have trouble if I separated them as they like to be with each other as they're a flock.

Do you feed her outside of the cage? One way I get my birds to go in the cage without problems is by only feeding them their food in their cages and waiting until they need to go in to feed them. They eat 2-3 times a day this way. I try feeding them only what I know they'll eat, and don't leave food out all the time for them so that they're hungry enough when I need them in the cage.

Could you let her and Beau share a cage? That might help with her going back in the cage, and you can prevent egg laying through diet and environmental factors. My budgies are still fairly tame despite living together, especially my bonded pair for some reason. They're much more friendly than⁶ my other two budgies and will come and spend time with me and I've taught them to do a few tricks. Sometimes they want their own space too and won't want time with me but I don't mind as I want them to be happy more than I want them to just do what I want all the time.

Beau already has a cagemate, Hunter, another tame male and they grew up together and are bonded. I don't know what would happen if I housed all three together. Probably nothing good. I know Rocky isn't biting out of fear. She's not afraid of anything. She's just very headstrong. I don't see how I can train her to not bite because she only does what she wants when she wants.
Rocky eats chop, pellets, a little seed and anything else she gets her beak on. No fruit or sweets. I read that feeding such an abundant diet encourages breeding but I don't want to deprive her of all the nutritious food she loves to get her hormones under control. I don't give her any potential nesting sites but when I cover Beau's cage wirh a small light blanket Rocky crawls right under the blanket to talk to Beau. I don't want to put Rocky in the only other room we have away from the rest of the budgies because she would be lonely and could still hear them calling.plus we don't hang out inthe other room so Rocky would be all by herself.
Rocky isn't motivated by food treats like millet (she can take it or leave it).
She's being a real witch lately and I hope she calms down and act nice again but I don't know if her puberty has ruined her. We are going away for five days and taking Rocky wirh us (Beau and the others stay home). I'm hoping that getting away from Beau and the others for a while will help her attitude.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Oops.
Her behavior has gotten much worse Since I started letting her play outside the cage with Beau, one of my tame male budgies. They get along great.
I think Rocky is

Beau already has a cagemate, Hunter, another tame male and they grew up together and are bonded. I don't know what would happen if I housed all three together. Probably nothing good. I know Rocky isn't biting out of fear. She's not afraid of anything. She's just very headstrong. I don't see how I can train her to not bite because she only does what she wants when she wants.
Rocky eats chop, pellets, a little seed and anything else she gets her beak on. No fruit or sweets. I read that feeding such an abundant diet encourages breeding but I don't want to deprive her of all the nutritious food she loves to get her hormones under control. I don't give her any potential nesting sites but when I cover Beau's cage wirh a small light blanket Rocky crawls right under the blanket to talk to Beau. I don't want to put Rocky in the only other room we have away from the rest of the budgies because she would be lonely and could still hear them calling.plus we don't hang out inthe other room so Rocky would be all by herself.
Rocky isn't motivated by food treats like millet (she can take it or leave it).
She's being a real witch lately and I hope she calms down and act nice again but I don't know if her puberty has ruined her. We are going away for five days and taking Rocky wirh us (Beau and the others stay home). I'm hoping that getting away from Beau and the others for a while will help her attitude.

Perhaps this is just her personality then? I know female budgies have a much bigger personality than the males. My females always squabble over everything, no real fights but it's just how they naturally are. They also regurgitate to each other and feed each other so they do get along still, they just like to have a go at each other and chase each other at times. One of mine was notorious for grabbing other birds tails and not letting go. She even had an obsession with one of my conures at one point and was like a little shadow to her. Luckily she's calmed down as she's gotten older.

Her diet sounds very similar to mine, what's her sleep schedule like? I had mine on 12 hours night, 12 hours day and covered them up at night but it made all of my birds much more hormonal and so now I've stopped that and they're on a natural cycle which has helped a lot. Perhaps she doesn't want to be on her own either? I know my birds would much rather hang out with each other than with me. I rescued another conure when I had to start housing mine on her own as she hated being on her own and would constantly contact call and pace around her cage for a couple of months before I got another conure. When I rescued my first budgie she also hated being in the cage alone and would try and sleep with my other birds in their cages instead of being on her own in hers. When I got her a mate she started to go into her cage much more easily. And like I said before, she's still tame, still likes to hang out with me and will still do tricks and is sociable with people. I know people always say not to buy a bird for your bird, but with budgies especially they're so social and really do benefit from having a mate. If you can prevent egg laying and can look after another bird then I don't think there's too much issue with it.

Other than that, could you put the cages next to each other? That might help her if she just wants to be close to Beau. How is Hunter like with her? I agree with not putting her in a separate room. How many other budgies do you have?

 

[Keet_Krazy]

I personally think a lot (if not all) of it is due to hitting maturity and wanting to "leave you".
I am really not trying to be rude.
She considers you her parent, and now she is ready to "leave the nest" and go off with her new mate, Beau. I know you're not keeping them caged together, but I think they're bonding and bonding fast.
This is all very natural instincts for her, and that's why I am not a fan of people handraising birds that are to be pets for themselves.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Perhaps this is just her personality then? I know female budgies have a much bigger personality than the males. My females always squabble over everything, no real fights but it's just how they naturally are. They also regurgitate to each other and feed each other so they do get along still, they just like to have a go at each other and chase each other at times. One of mine was notorious for grabbing other birds tails and not letting go. She even had an obsession with one of my conures at one point and was like a little shadow to her. Luckily she's calmed down as she's gotten older.

Her diet sounds very similar to mine, what's her sleep schedule like? I had mine on 12 hours night, 12 hours day and covered them up at night but it made all of my birds much more hormonal and so now I've stopped that and they're on a natural cycle which has helped a lot. Perhaps she doesn't want to be on her own either? I know my birds would much rather hang out with each other than with me. I rescued another conure when I had to start housing mine on her own as she hated being on her own and would constantly contact call and pace around her cage for a couple of months before I got another conure. When I rescued my first budgie she also hated being in the cage alone and would try and sleep with my other birds in their cages instead of being on her own in hers. When I got her a mate she started to go into her cage much more easily. And like I said before, she's still tame, still likes to hang out with me and will still do tricks and is sociable with people. I know people always say not to buy a bird for your bird, but with budgies especially they're so social and really do benefit from having a mate. If you can prevent egg laying and can look after another bird then I don't think there's too much issue with it.

Other than that, could you put the cages next to each other? That might help her if she just wants to be close to Beau. How is Hunter like with her? I agree with not putting her in a separate room. How many other budgies do you have?

I think you're right about pretty much everything. I keep all my budgies' cages close together so Rocky doesn't get lonely. I have eight budgies, two in three cages, Rockys mama alone in one (she's not very sociable and she 's old and has very fragile bones) and Rocky has her own cage. I don't want Rocky to even try to breed and fear she would if given the chance.
Bedtime is about 9pm and I uncover them at about 8am.
I think Rocky has a very strong personality. I've never has a male budgie with her level of "birditude" . I don't think there's much I can do to change her I to a "sweet" budgie. She has no reason to be such a witch other than hormones and her personality. We raised her with so much attention and loving care. I noticed that she was developing a strong personality before she was even weaned at six weeks. I really just want her to be happy and not lay eggs.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I personally think a lot (if not all) of it is due to hitting maturity and wanting to "leave you".
I am really not trying to be rude.
She considers you her parent, and now she is ready to "leave the nest" and go off with her new mate, Beau. I know you're not keeping them caged together, but I think they're bonding and bonding fast.
This is all very natural instincts for her, and that's why I am not a fan of people handraising birds that are to be pets for themselves.

I agree for the most part but I only hand raised Rocky because her mother couldn't. It was that or she would have died in the egg. I would put her wirh Beau if I knew she would lay eggs.

 

[Keet_Krazy]

I agree for the most part but I only hand raised Rocky because her mother couldn't. It was that or she would have died in the egg. I would put her wirh Beau if I knew she would lay eggs.

Had her egg even started incubating? It doesn't matter though your birds, your decision. Years back when I was uneducated and let my budgie breed I had a similar situation. My Snowflake's mum was quite sick and insisted on laying eggs even when I closed off her nestbox. Her last egg I was going to throw out (completely un-incubated, there was no life in that egg at that time), but decided to give her a chance and "fostered" the egg to my other pair. They did fabulous and now I have my beautiful Snowflake.
That comment was more about people buying unweaned birds and being encouraged to handraise.

I have kept a mixed gender flock since I first got budgies. After I stop letting them lay I haven't gotten a single egg since Snowflake, she turned four in May.
It's just about management. I have a very hormonal hen right now but I am starting to suspect there may be something health related going on because being hormonal for 4 months and not laying a single egg is a little odd to me.
We cannot stop birds having hormones, it's their instincts to reproduce. So we just have to manage them. I personally think sometime we blow the whole breeding risks out of proportion (which we sometimes need to), if our birds are healthy there is very little risks. Breeders' birds don't just drop dead constantly.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Had her egg even started incubating? It doesn't matter though your birds, your decision. Years back when I was uneducated and let my budgie breed I had a similar situation. My Snowflake's mum was quite sick and insisted on laying eggs even when I closed off her nestbox. Her last egg I was going to throw out (completely un-incubated, there was no life in that egg at that time), but decided to give her a chance and "fostered" the egg to my other pair. They did fabulous and now I have my beautiful Snowflake.
That comment was more about people buying unweaned birds and being encouraged to handraise.

I have kept a mixed gender flock since I first got budgies. After I stop letting them lay I haven't gotten a single egg since Snowflake, she turned four in May.
It's just about management. I have a very hormonal hen right now but I am starting to suspect there may be something health related going on because being hormonal for 4 months and not laying a single egg is a little odd to me.
We cannot stop birds having hormones, it's their instincts to reproduce. So we just have to manage them. I personally think sometime we blow the whole breeding risks out of proportion (which we sometimes need to), if our birds are healthy there is very little risks. Breeders' birds don't just drop dead constantly.

YES her eggs started incubating and I did NOT know that she wasn't going to be able to finish her job. I don't understand why you are trying to blame me for saving Rocky's life.
Please stop criticizing me for saving Rocky. It's mean spirited.

 

[Keet_Krazy]

YES her eggs started incubating and I did NOT know that she wasn't going to be able to finish her job. I don't understand why you are trying to blame me for saving Rocky's life.
Please stop criticizing me for saving Rocky. It's mean spirited.

I was curious, not rude. It's something I have never seen you mention before.
Why on earth do you think I am blaming you??
I am sorry for trying to help out, everytime I've tried to interact with you on this platform it's been clear to me you don't appreciate it. So I wish you the best with Rocky, I doubt I'll be replying to your threads again.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I was curious, not rude. It's something I have never seen you mention before.
Why on earth do you think I am blaming you??
I am sorry for trying to help out, everytime I've tried to interact with you on this platform it's been clear to me you don't appreciate it. So I wish you the best with Rocky, I doubt I'll be replying to your threads again.

Good.

 

[zERo]

Just thought I jump in here…

@DonnaBudgie I do not think @Keet_Krazy was being rude to you by asking if Rocky’s egg had begun to be incubated, it seemed just curious. I also want to point out that she took the time to type a long answer regarding her success with keeping a mixed flock of budgies.


I don’t not think this was an attempt to tell you that incubating Rocky’s egg was a bad thing to do, or a mistake.

I think this interaction was just misunderstood and can see the frustration both of you are feeling over it.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Just thought I jump in here…

@DonnaBudgie I do not think @Keet_Krazy was being rude to you by asking if Rocky’s egg had begun to be incubated, it seemed just curious. I also want to point out that she took the time to type a long answer regarding her success with keeping a mixed flock of budgies.


I don’t not think this was an attempt to tell you that incubating Rocky’s egg was a bad thing to do, or a mistake.

I think this interaction was just misunderstood and can see the frustration both of you are feeling over it.

As Keet-crazy pointed out our interactions (hers to me, read them) have been mostly negative. I have explained many times how and why I raised Rocky. I don't want to breed budgies again. I want helpful but positive interactions.

 

[zERo]

As Keet-crazy pointed out our interactions (hers to me, read them) have been mostly negative. I have explained many times how and why I raised Rocky. I don't want to breed budgies again. I want helpful but positive interactions.

That’s unfortunate hat you two don’t seem to mesh.

We can’t expect everyone to perfectly coincide but we try our best to get along with everyone around us and we all have to understand that everyone is different in the presentation of words and experiences.

I understand that you don’t want your budgies to breed, I don’t want mine to either but I feel as if your response to hers was very escalated compared to hers?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

That’s unfortunate hat you two don’t seem to mesh.

We can’t expect everyone to perfectly coincide but we try our best to get along with everyone around us and we all have to understand that everyone is different in the presentation of words and experiences.

I understand that you don’t want your budgies to breed, I don’t want mine to either but I feel as if your response to hers was very escalated compared to hers?

Please PM me so I can explain. I don't want to do this publicly.

 

[Keet_Krazy]

@DonnaBudgie, I considered PM'ing this to you as to not go off topic even further but the last few replies we made to each are not something I want to leave ended like that.
I truly do apologise for making you feel attacked, that was not my intentions! Re-reading my replies now I can see I made some comments that didn't need to be said, or I worded them incorrectly. I really struggle to put my thoughts into words, written or spoken, and this morning was not a time I should have been active on the forum.
I, in no way think you raising Rocky was wrong or a mistake, as zERo said. In fact, if in the same situation I likely would have done the exact same. I don't read every single post here, so I must've missed some of the details about you raising her.
It's clear we have very different views and opinions on budgie keeping, and that's alright. I truly doubt I'll come across someone who holds the exact same views as me, because every single person is different and has had different experiences in life. That's diversity
Again, I apologise and hope you get the help you need with Rocky!

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

I think you're right about pretty much everything. I keep all my budgies' cages close together so Rocky doesn't get lonely. I have eight budgies, two in three cages, Rockys mama alone in one (she's not very sociable and she 's old and has very fragile bones) and Rocky has her own cage. I don't want Rocky to even try to breed and fear she would if given the chance.
Bedtime is about 9pm and I uncover them at about 8am.
I think Rocky has a very strong personality. I've never has a male budgie with her level of "birditude" . I don't think there's much I can do to change her I to a "sweet" budgie. She has no reason to be such a witch other than hormones and her personality. We raised her with so much attention and loving care. I noticed that she was developing a strong personality before she was even weaned at six weeks. I really just want her to be happy and not lay eggs.

It sounds like Rocky is very loved and cared for! It can be frustrating when we give them everything we possibly can and they still hate us for it (I'm going through this with one of my conures, nothing I do is right and he wants to attack me constantly, as well as being generally unhappy with his life). I don't think Rocky is going to hate you forever either, it sounds like she's just growing up and we all know how teenagers can be
I think it would be a shame to stop her interacting with the other budgies completely. Maybe just stick to the routine you've got now, letting her play with the others but keeping her in a separate cage and see if she calms down in a few weeks. Giving her lots of foraging toys for her food in her cage might help her to want to go to her cage more, and only feeding her in there would also help a lot. I don't know how your routine is, but with mine they all come out together for a few hours until I have to go to work and then I'll feed them and put them all in and they go willingly since they're a bit hungry. Then I might let them out again depending on my shift patterns and again feed them only when I want them to go back inside the cages. It's a lot of management sometimes but I really hate spending an hour trying to chase a bird into a cage they don't want to be in like I did before I started doing it this way.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I agree for the most part but I only hand raised Rocky because her mother couldn't. It was that or she would have died in the egg. I would put her wirh Beau if I knew she would lay eggs.

Rocky's hormones must be on some wild roller coaster ride (poor thing!) because tonight when we got home from working 12 hour days her behavior was much better than this morning and the past several days. She came out and flew over to take a nice long bath in her cat watering fountain, stopped to visit us and play, and didn't pitch a fit when I had to put her back at bedtime. She did hang out on top of Beau's cage and my other budgies' cages for a while (she also has her hormonal eye on another pretty male, Nummie), but she lost interest in them after a while.
More than anything I want Rocky to be healthy and happy. It's difficult for her and for us when I know her body is telling her to mate and make more budgies. @

@DonnaBudgie, I considered PM'ing this to you as to not go off topic even further but the last few replies we made to each are not something I want to leave ended like that.
I truly do apologise for making you feel attacked, that was not my intentions! Re-reading my replies now I can see I made some comments that didn't need to be said, or I worded them incorrectly. I really struggle to put my thoughts into words, written or spoken, and this morning was not a time I should have been active on the forum.
I, in no way think you raising Rocky was wrong or a mistake, as zERo said. In fact, if in the same situation I likely would have done the exact same. I don't read every single post here, so I must've missed some of the details about you raising her.
It's clear we have very different views and opinions on budgie keeping, and that's alright. I truly doubt I'll come across someone who holds the exact same views as me, because every single person is different and has had different experiences in life. That's diversity
Again, I apologise and hope you get the help you need with Rocky!

Thank you for your kind words.
When I got home from work last night Rocky was much less argumentative and flew over to play and take a bath in her cat water fountain. I'm just going to need to be patient with her when she's in one of her moods, just like human teenagers can be. I just want her to be as happy and healthy as possible as a member of my feathered family.

 

[kme3388]

It is really hard as a birds grow up. They are little babies, and then they hit puberty (hormones). Hormones can be a lot to handle at times. If I find myself frustrated I just trick train with my parrots. It keeps them distracted, and out of trouble.

I have a male, and female conure. I cage them separately because I don’t want babies. I already have 3 parrots, and honestly they all would love nothing more than to have additional human time. I couldn’t take on more without hurting my current flock. My one conure is still hormonal regardless of having his own cage. My female conure can be hormonal. Hers is more of the a-typical once a year faze. It’s usually around spring when she starts to molt. Their cages are right next to each other. They both can be sassy if they don’t want to go back to their cages. They love their human time!