upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Hi, brand new here, glad I found this place!
I have a question, or rather an odd situation I hope you might be able to give me a little insight on. One of my birds is a budgie, I got him as a hand fed baby and was told he was a male, he is an odd color combination and his cere has never been any defined color but I have never had any reason to doubt he isn't a male. He is almost 9 years old now and just my best friend and the sweetest little bird. His name is Lovie. I had been noticing some minor changes in his behavior the past couple of days, he has been ravenously tearing up any and all of his toys, something he has never done before. he has also never been a big fan of the mineral block or cuddle bone but has almost torn through both in a matter of days, he has been eating normally and has normal poop, then yesterday morning when I uncovered his cage I found him in a strange posture with his tail WAY up and his back arched and he was straining and making weird chortling sounds I had never heard before. I panicked and thought he was having a seizure or something similar, I was worried he would fall off the perch if it was a seizure so I put my hand in and made sure he was OK and gave him a good looking over, and while he was doing this weird straining thing his vent I noticed was swollen and pulsating (sounds gross but I don't know how else to explain it) and just behind it was distended and bulbous, Now I am thinking omg he has a tumor or whatever horrible thing my mind could think of, but he stopped and began to act normally, I sat and observed him for a long time and noticed he kept squeezing between the edge of his water dish and the cage bars and going under the cup onto the floor, on careful inspection I noticed all the torn up pieces of wood and toys that he had tried to stash there but fell through the grate. This is when I noticed he was exhibiting female nesting behavior. Baffled I got online (where I found this site) and did a little research. I decided to tear up some paper and place them inconspicuously in his cage and just wait and watch. Well it took about 5 seconds for him to joyfully and excitedly drag every piece under the water cup and arrange it just so and he now has been sitting there in the nest he made all hunched down with his tail up, he will come up every so often to eat or drink and gnaw on the cuttle bone a bit and then go right back down...SO is my little boy Lovie a girl ready to lay an egg??? I have 2 other birds a female budgie in her own cage and a male quaker, but Lovie has never been in contact with another male bird and I have had him since he was a chick and he has never done this before. I am waiting to take him to the avian vet as it is a long drive and the weather here has been in the neg 40's this past week , the schools have even been closed and I do not want to risk taking him out in this unless I am pretty sure something is actually wrong. sorry for the novel, but I do appreciate any help or advice, I personally have NO experience with brooding budgies, I have had doves and pigeons who layed eggs all the time, but never a budgie.
Thanks!
~Jolene

Jolene

Your golden face, sky, dominant pied is indeed a hen. You also have a special and not so common relationship with your hen. They are NOT known to be sweet or stay sweet (even when hand fed) once they hit sexual maturity at one year of age. If you look at her cere it has become a bit crusty (with out a coral pitted look) - this is one sign she has come into breeding condition. Also during this time the breeding "organs" of both the male and female fill out. The hen's are more obvious. She does indeed get a bit "lumpy" near the vent and the cloaca will also swell.

Birds are quite efficient. In the off season the breeding organs shrink up very tiny, this saves weight that the bird does not need to be carrying around when it is not needed.

Since you are not set up to start breeding I would encourage you to try and bring her out of breeding condition, do NOT encourage her to start laying eggs. Some hens become little egg producing machines and become extremely difficult to get stopped. Especially when they are at the age of your hen. When this happens getting enough calcium into them to can also be difficult. If they don't ingest enough calcium their body will take it from their bones.

To bring her out of breeding condition shorten her day light hours. Stop feeding her soft foods. Also moving her cage to a different area of the house every 2 days can also upset her security enough to bring her out of breeding mode.

Hope this helps.

Kerry

Oh yeah, that's a girl. My "Betty" didn't start laying until she was close to 10 years old.I would recommend getting some liquid calcium for her water to at least prevent her from bgetting egg bound...

Oh my!! It's a GIRL!!!
I am in such shock and awe ..my little boy buddy has been a little lady all along!!
and a golden face, sky, dominant pied....wow that sounds so fancy I'm sure Lovie will feel like royalty with a title like that
Well I guess I'm glad I picked the name Lovie as it is appropriate both ways
I just feel like such a ding bat for not realizing this sooner..being the bird lover that I am, I just never had a reason to assume Lovie was a female...until now that is.

oh my oh my....Is it 5'o clock yet?!! I need to sit down and have a drink!

I am gonna post a picture of our other budgie "buttercup"..she is technically my son's bird by title, but I am her care giver of course since he is too young for that responsibility, she is the most unfriendly little bird I have ever met, and I have met quite a few, but she has sweet eyes and is really beautiful. We adopted her from a bird rescue in Hubertus, Wisconsin last December. Who knows what she has gone through before she came home with us, So I feel she is entitled to be as mean as she likes, I really don't mind.
Thank you so much for the help, I am relieved that it is just natural behavior, but still shocked as all get out, I feel like I just found out my son is a really girl LOL

Buttercup is a dark eyed, light green, recessive pied.

Sounds like Buttercup has the typical budgie hen personality.

Both are very pretty girls.

Well she did indeed lay an egg or try to early this morning. I had to take her into emergency as the egg got stuck and she prolapsed. They have removed the egg and are just waiting now for the swelling to go down and hopefully she is strong enough to pull through this...
Please send your prayers for my baby

I got the dreaded call....my baby did not make it through the night
I am truly beside myself, I don't know who else to talk to, no one can understand how just a little bird can be so heart breaking

Oh Jolene,

I am really sorry to hear of your loss. It's amazing how a "little ball" of feathers can working their way into your heart. These things can happen with a novice hen that does not ingest enough calcium, drink enough water or even if there is not enough humidity in the breeding room. As a breeder I've lost good birds over the years, even though those were not pets, there have been a few that have worked their magic to become special.

I lost my pet Moustached 'keet last Labor Day weekend. I hand fed that guy out about 20 years ago and he was my baby.

If you were/are close to Texas I have some nice English budgies up for sale if you decide to give breeding a shot later down the road. It will get better and you will have room to love another special bird again.

Oh no! I am so sorry about your loss You must still be in shock--first to learn you baby was a hen, then to lose her so quickly. You are in my thoughts and prayers.