Loud male parakeet

[Melora]

Hello
My bird back story:
My daughters friend gave her 2 male parakeets (probably around a year old). One green and one blue. The green one was always in love with inanimate objects such as the ladder or a toy and would spend the day cooing and bobbing up and down to it and ignoring everything else.
About a month later another friend gave me 2 females.
I put everybody together in a large cage (maybe 3' x 2"). Everyone basically gets along with no fighting. All 4 birds are very tame and can be handled without them biting my older kids who interact with them daily.
The blue male immediately became attracted to the larger part English budgie girl and will not leave her alone. He keeps trying to be friendly with her and mostly she hops away but once in awhile she will sit with him and "cuddle". The little green guy spends his day (all day) screaming and squawking and driving everyone within earshot crazy.
I am trying to figure out what would be the best course of action since I have only had single or 2 female parakeets over my life.
Should I separate out the green male and his chosen mate and give them a nest box? Should I separate out the 2 males from the girls? Will my little green guy be forever unhappy if he doesn't have a mate?
Can I keep both pairs in the large cage and give them a next box?
If the girl finally allows him to mate with her will he quiet down?
Mostly I want to end the screaming which he didn't do before the girls were present.
Also the girls are eating a lot of gravel (either eating or playing it it...it's all over the floor as they toss it out of the dish all day long). Is that a sign of them trying to get into condition to mate?
Thanks for any advice!

[Shelby]

First off, welcome. Also, it's not really that important, but I am a little bit confused if it is the blue one or the green one that is chasing after one of the females?

I think you should NOT allow them to breed. There are thousands of budgies in rescues and shelters. If you want more budgies in the future, I think you should adopt some that need a home, not breed more. Also, there is a LOT that is involved in raising chicks. There are a lot of variables and if you don't know what you're doing, it's pretty easy to kill them accidentally or cause psychological damage. So I would avoid putting any nesting materials (like paper), happy huts, or hiding places in their cage.

You don't need to feel bad about not letting them breed. For birds, it's more instinctual than it is about love or happiness. In the wild, they feel a need to have babies so the species doesn't die out. In our homes, they still have the same drives, and sometimes it gets them in a bit of trouble with their humans... Since the female keeps avoiding the male, then it sounds like they aren't bonded and you can try putting them in separate cages again to see if that reduces the squawking.

Do you use the gravel as lining in their cage or as a supplement? I think black and white newspaper or paper towels is a better material for cage lining (easier cleanup), and they don't need gravel in their diet as they can't digest it and it can cause and impacted crop. The only birds that need gravel are the ones that eat seeds whole (hull/shell and all). Parrots take the hulls off. So you can get rid of it and not have to sweep it off your floor all the time.

Since they are hand tame, I would also recommend flight training your birds.
Here is an example of a flight trained budgie: Parrot Wizard: Parakeet Recall Flight Training. A parrot that gets plenty of exercise has gotten rid of some of the excess energy that it usually spends on vocalizing. Also, parrots are built to fly so it's just way healthier and increases their mental ability when you keep them flighted.

Start out with clicker training: Clicker Training Made Easy. Next teach them to target. Michael covers this in his Basics of Taming and Training guide. Then you can target them back and forth between two perches. Michael has an article on teaching recall. Basically, as you target them back and forth, you gradually increase the gap until they have to flap a bit to get across. You can also include going to and from your hand. Keep the sessions short as they are building muscle and you don't want them to get tired and bored. Flying should be fun!

Good luck and please keep us updated!