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Conference 7.286::pet_birds

Title:	Captive Breeding for Conservation--and FUN!
Notice:	INTROS 6.X / FOR SALE 13.X / Buying a Bird 900.*
Moderator:	VIDEO::PULSIFER

Created:	Mon Oct 10 1988
Last Modified:	Tue Jun 03 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	942
Total number of notes:	6016

605.0. "Wild Child hits again!" by SALSA::DEFRANCO () Tue Sep 10 1991 20:26

    I have a parakeet behavior question.  Seems Tweety and Nicky
    (especially Tweety) have become more and more aggressive towards my two
    teils, Rosie and Sunny.  They chase Rosie and Sunny around the bird
    room when they are all out together.  
    
    I no longer let them out at the same time, but now I have noticed that
    the keets chase the teils from one side of their cage to the other when
    they are out in the room and the teils are caged.  I now have to remove
    the teils, cage and all from the bird room when I want to let the keets
    out to play.  This is becomming very cumbersome.
    
    The keets, especially Tweety are bent on harrassing the teils!  Is this
    normal behavior or is Tweety simply an over aggressive little bird? 
    She was supposed to be a baby when I bought her but I now think she was
    quite old as her attitude has always been that of a bully and she has
    been very difficult to tame.  I'm afraid that Nicky is picking up her
    aggressive attitude and that I may end up with two little bullies on my
    hands.  
    
    Am I expecting too much from my keets in terms of gentle behavior or do
    I have problem children here?  My husband is considering trading in
    Tweety for "an empty slot" as he puts it.  Actually I'm thinking of
    trading her in for a very young bird in hopes of getting a more gentle
    pet.  Then of course, if this is "normal" behavior, there's no sense in
    doing that now is there?  
    
    Advice please!
    
    Jeanne (mother of Wild Child Tweety)

T.R	Title	User	Date	Lines
605.1	Pushy parakeets	DNEAST::CHIMERA_DON	`Wed Sep 11 1991 16:06`	11
	Hi Jeanne, I have a female parakeet(Piper) that I purchased as a young bird and hand tamed. Whenever she can , she will fly to the top of the cockateil's cage and harass them... If they are all out together and I do not catch her in time she will get into the cage and chase them from side to side!I had chalked this behavior up to her being lonely and needing more bird type company. In fact, I was planning on getting a male keet to keep her company..guess I'll wait now.I can handle one bully bird, but two might get to be too much!Besides...I don't think I'm ready for a sixth yet. From my experience I'd guess that this is normal behavior..
605.2	COULD BE A MATING BEHAVIOR	ONESVC::BUCCIERI	`Thu Sep 12 1991 13:27`	14
	You didn't say how long you have owned the keets. I would suspect that if this is new behavior there may just be a possibility that your two budgies are at some level of sexual maturity. This could be a "turf war". I'd bet that if there were a nest box around .... you would have some additions to your collection real soon. The age of a budgie can be estimated by looking at the stripes on their heads. When they are very young, the bars are right up to the cere. As they get older the bars recede to the nape. If the bars are only covering half of the head, then they maybe a few years old. I hope this helps. Jim Buccieri
605.3	Don't give me any ideas!	SALSA::DEFRANCO	`Thu Sep 12 1991 14:53`	13
	re. 2 Nicky is about 9 months and Tweety is older (don't know exactly how much older). They do feed each other all the time and are inseparable. Baby budgies, now that's a thought! NO, NO, NO, NO! By the way, NIcky is a blue harlequin and Tweety is lutino. What color babies would they have? Could I keep one of the babies or would 3 in a cage be a case of "3's a crowd"? Jeanne (who must stop this crazy thinking RIGHT NOW!)
605.4	experiences	MR4DEC::CWHITE	`Thu Sep 12 1991 15:15`	12
	I used to keep keets, and had a blue harlequin male that mated many times with a Yellow female (can't remember what they called that color pattern, just had a 'hint' of blueish tint on the rump) and they produced several clutches of between 4 and 6 babies.... The neat thing was that they NEVER produced two the same color..... I had green ones, blue ones, even a brown one.....beautiful 'pups' so I guess what I'm trying to say is theres only one guarantee.... and thats NO GUARANTEES!!!! chet
605.5	BUDGIE BABES	ABACUS::BOURGAULT	`Fri Oct 11 1991 15:08`	19
	Jean, Chet is right! There are no guarantees, since most of the keets today are split in all directions. I had a lutino female and a pied yellow/green/black male and got gorgeous blue/violet pieds, lutinos, aquamarines, etc. each clutch was different, except that she always had a lutino baby. They are great birds to breed since you always get a surprise. And they make excellent parents! I now have a clutch of babies from a female grey (split to english budgie) and a male green (full english budgie), and I got a simply beautiful soft pearl grey baby with cinnamon wings, a green like the dad, and a very light soft baby blue with cinnamon wings (neither parent has cinnamon wings). The grey baby has a huge head with a beautiful large white forehead. He carries the full english budgie look and size and looks to be a fine specimen with a real sweet disposition. They are alot of fun especially for novice breeders like me! Good luck! Denise