New Owner / preening question

[Randomguy28]

Hello everybody, my name is Matt. I happily brought home 2 awesome parakeets about 5 months ago. Love them. I understand that preening is a normal function of their everyday lives. About an hour or so a day from what I've read. But I notice one of my little guys is preening very often (Much more than an hour a day) and losing his small feathers. Not sure what those feathers are called but they aren't the flight feathers. I give them attention, they have toys and a nice big cage. But one thing I often notice lately is he seems to be getting bullied a bit by his cage mate. They're both males. I've notice them playing before and sometimes they annoy each other, but it seems to be bothering the one little guy much more now and I think that could be the reason for his excessive preening. I do notice he is molting currently too so maybe he is a bit more irritable? Thanks for any input! Just want both of my little buddies to be happy!

 

[noodles123]

You can never be sure if 2 will get along-- I'd get a second cage of the same kind if you can.

 

[LaManuka]

Hi Matt, welcome to the Forums to you and your precious little budgies!

I concur with noodles here, in that you might want to think about housing these guys separately. Some birds use preening as a self-soothing mechanism if they're feeling threatened or stressed, and unfortunately you can never guarantee that any two birds will get on if they are housed together. This may be a sign that one of your budgies needs a safe place of his own to retreat to, particularly if they don't get a lot of out of cage time. Your budgie may not actually be a bully, but as my bird vet is fond of saying, some budgies can be like that pesky little brother who just continually makes a pest of himself and does not know when to quit!

You can of course still keep the cages side by side so they can see each other and interact, and they can still have time together outside the cage too. I hope you will tell us their names and post some pictures of your little cuties too - baby photos are pretty much the price of admission around here!

http://www.parrotforums.com/technical-support/6287-how-post-pictures.html

(this is a subtle hint )

 

[Randomguy28]

Thanks so much for the help to both of you! And i DEFINITELY seems like he is being the pesky little brother who doesn't know when to stop. He's not hurting him, he's just not giving him space when the other tries to get away. Ill look into another cage. I may not be able to get the same exact cage since its a floor standing cage but I will certainly look into another cage that give him ample space. And Im starting to get them out of the cage now. I was unable to for the first couple of months due to the fact that I wasnt able to put up my curtains and I didnt want them to get hurt by trying to fly into the windows. The best way is to just let them be out of the cage and relax and get comfortable right? I cant wait until theyre comfortable enough to be out of the cage and hang out with me on the regular. Hopefully soon!

And as for baby pictures Ill get on that as soon as Im home from work tomorrow!

Again thanks for the help and the welcoming message!

 

[LaManuka]

You're more than welcome! You are wise to cover up windows too - I have net curtain and/or flyscreens and/or timber venetian blinds over all of mine. Doesn't guarantee they won't fly into one if they have a bit of a panic like my Val did the other week, but it does mean they don't hit at full speed and there's less chance of doing real damage to themselves. Looking forward to those baby photos