Budgie in Food Dish

[WallyBirdie]

Piper has a tendency to kick half of the food out of the cup and then proceed to nap in it.

He has done this since I first got him (when he was 3 months old- he is now closing in on 4 months). He is not sick; he is active and he eats well.
I have done a bit of reading but was wondering what other people thought.

Is this some remnant of a young budgie's instinct to burrow? Is it an early onset nesting instinct? Or is he just quirky?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Looks like it's pushing it's bottom against the side? I see my female Amazon parrot do this when she wants to mate. Are you sure about the age? And that it's a male?

 

[WallyBirdie]

Looks like it's pushing it's bottom against the side? I see my female Amazon parrot do this when she wants to mate. Are you sure about the age? And that it's a male?

I think its tail-end is just at an odd angle in the dish, but I could be wrong. He usually sleeps in the dish when he naps.
As for age and gender- I've asked a few times on this site and the concluded (if not heatedly debated) result was young male. Pink cere, baby bars and button eyes- so he is young. If he turns out to be a female, that's no trouble.
But it does lead into the question on what to do if he/she is wanting to mate. Do I just let things go? Do I provide a nesting box?
My birds feed and groom each other, and there are random bouts of head bobbing, which I assume is an act of courtship- but I didn't think anything of it because I was under the impression that my birds were both male.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Usually males head bob, and feed each other. Young male pied usually have a pink cere until it turns blue at sexual maturity. Females ceres are generally a light blue when young with white around the nostrils. I'd guess yours if a female, but I'm going off a picture. You will know for sure when the cere changes color at around 6 months. Here a good reference website.

https://www.cutelittlebirdiesaviary.com/budgie-genders--3-weeks-to-adult.html
Generally you shouldn't let them raise chicks until the female is closer to a year old. I personally haven't had any lay eggs without encouragement. Generally you need to bring them into breeding condition by feeding things like sprouts, and higher protein seeds, and giving them a nest box.

You don't need to breed if you don't want to. Now if one uses a cup as a nest box than you'd have to decide what to do. Remove the eggs or give them a nest box.

 

[Quailobsessed]

My budgie goes in his bowl to eat and loves to sit on or in it. I wouldn't worry about nesting yet as you don't want to encourage breeding at such a young age anyway.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Some of mine do this too...scratch out the seeds in a similar manner to chickens scratching, then hanging out in the food dish. For seed control I got covered seed cups, but otherwise I chalk it up to just being quirky.

Of the young male budgies I've ever gotten, they've had pink or even pearlish looking ceres and all but one started turning blue at roughly 6 months old. I have a two year old male that still has a very pale pinkish cere but it is most certainly a sexually mature male with massive hormones.

I have never provided a nest, because I don't want to encourage egg laying, but I have also have never found an egg. The females are close to 2 years old, and I have another male who is 4. And I agree that this is too young to encourage breeding.