Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 5/28/2007

Question
My two pet budgies recently mated and the female began laying eggs. The first three I found cracked on the bottom of the cage. Then, I bought the birds a nest box, and the female laid five more eggs in there. All five eggs eventually hatched; however, two of the babies sadly died soon after they hatched. The three remaining babies are doing fine so far.

However, after the second egg hatched, the female became aggressive towards the male. They used to fight a little before they mated, so I thought that it wasn't a big problem. Sadly, the next day when I came home from school, I found the male bird on the bottom of the cage with almost all of the feathers on his head ripped off - he had obviously been attacked. I tried to help him, but I think he was in shock (his leg and beak seemed broken). He died shortly after.

I have two questions. First, why would the female become aggressive towards the male all of a sudden, to the point of attacking him?

Second, the chicks are now about three weeks old. I was wondering if they will be okay without the male there. I know that the male takes over the feeding and care of the chicks once they come out of the nest box at around four weeks. Will the female be able to do this, while still taking care of the chicks remaining in the nest box? Is there anything I should do to make sure everything goes smoothly?

Your help would be greatly appreciated, as I am a beginner. Thank you!!

Answer
Hi, Adam.

I'm sorry to hear about the male.  Sometimes this happens because female budgies can be ruthless, but I'm not sure anyone really knows why.  Maybe he kept going in the nesting box and she didn't want him in there, maybe he started picking on her, maybe he was picking on one of the babies...could be lots of reasons.  With the male gone, the babies can still do OK, however, you may have to help out some here.  You'll need to ensure there's enough soft foods in the cage so the babies can eat on their own.  Their beaks won't be hard enough yet to eat seed or pellets, so you'll need to provide things like cooked brown rice, scrambled eggs, corn bread...soft types of foods.  You can put keet-sized pellets in their cage, but they may not be able to eat yet.  Place perches low, put food/water dishes low in the cage until the babies learn to maneuver around the cage/cage wire.  It would help if you could help mom with babies in the nest by handfeeding these babies once or twice a day, depending on how old the babies are.  Handfeeding meaning using a handfeeding syringe and baby parrot handfeeding formula.  It will be hard for the female to do all this on her own...your help wherever possible would be great.

Chrys