New mate for female budgie

[Chalat]

My male budgie recently passed. My female seems lonely so I bought a new young, what appears to be male. I have them in separate cages next to each other now. How long should I wait to put them together? The female is very dominant. She recently had a clutch of 5 eggs, none of which hatched. Would this make her even more dominant? She discarded the eggs and I have removed the brooding box. She seems very interested in the new bird with a lot of head bobbing and climbing the cage side near his cage.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have always just added new budgies into the cage. If you see problems than separate, but budgies like company and live in large flocks in the wild. I have never actually seen any aggression in mine ever. I've kept some for 30 years now. Females in general are a bit bossy compared to the males.

 

[Kessel23]

I do what @oldhenlikesdogs does. I have seen males nearly kill each other though, I had 3 budgies in this massive cage on the wall that me and my dad built, 2 ended up being males and one was a female, those two males fought like crazy in the spring, one got a black eye and a cut on his beak. I tried to fix the problem by getting another female, it just made it worse, both of the males immediately ditched the old female and started fighting over the new one, I think it was because she was green and green is the natural color of budgies. Eventually the problem solved itself and now I have 7 budgies...

The cere on the budgies will change colors constantly until they get to be about 1 year old so you won't know for sure for a while. Either way I would put them together, they don't have a pecking order like chickens do, the only fights will occur during the mating season when males fight over females.

 

[Chalat]

I have always just added new budgies into the cage. If you see problems than separate, but budgies like company and live in large flocks in the wild. I have never actually seen any aggression in mine ever. I've kept some for 30 years now. Females in general are a bit bossy compared to the males.

Thank you for the information. I kept the new one in the separate cage for 2 days. My female, Lucy, was having a fit, head bobbing and climbing the side of the cage next to the new one. I put them together and after a few pecks at first, from Lucy, they seem to be fine now. I am keeping an eye out because I'm not really sure of the sex of the new one yet. Thanks again.

 

[Chalat]

I do what @oldhenlikesdogs does. I have seen males nearly kill each other though, I had 3 budgies in this massive cage on the wall that me and my dad built, 2 ended up being males and one was a female, those two males fought like crazy in the spring, one got a black eye and a cut on his beak. I tried to fix the problem by getting another female, it just made it worse, both of the males immediately ditched the old female and started fighting over the new one, I think it was because she was green and green is the natural color of budgies. Eventually the problem solved itself and now I have 7 budgies...

The cere on the budgies will change colors constantly until they get to be about 1 year old so you won't know for sure for a while. Either way I would put them together, they don't have a pecking order like chickens do, the only fights will occur during the mating season when males fight over females.

My former male was suppose to be a female. He was yellow with a tad of blue on his belly. His cere was pink. I have since learned he was considered an albino and their ceres are always pink or white. So imagine my surprise when I saw him mating with Lucy!! I wish the eggs had hatched so he would have a family line. But as he died shortly after she pushed the eggs from the breeding box, I think he may have been too old to fertilize or maybe it was to do with his being albino. I'm keeping an eye on this one to see what color the cere ends up being. It is green. Lucy is bright blue.

 

[Kessel23]

She might have pushed them out because budgies need their mates to help raise the chicks. When my budgie had eggs she rarely left the nest and would be fed by her mate, once the eggs hatched she was still only being fed by her mate and would only leave to poop. It took her a few days to come out and help feed the chicks.

 

[WhoDatChick]

I have three females and they live together fine.