PJ wants to mate?!

[LadySaphine]

So our newest addition to the flock, PJ the male budgie, is very sweet towards humans. He's been taught to step up and is overall okay with humans He hasn't once bitten us, only nibbles and birdie kisses.

But when it comes to the other birds, it seems PJ wants to be with them over anything! He actually slipped into Peanut's cage while she was still inside to get to her! (that entrance is now blocked). At first, I thought he was being aggressive. On Peanut and PJ's first meeting, it went well until Peanut gave him a bite on the beak (it bruised, but nothing serious). In fact, he preened Peanut until he his a pin feather that hurt Peanut, who then bit him in retaliation.

But today and yesterday, Peanut was at the food bowl on the playstand and PJ landed next to her He then attempted to get on her back. I moved him of course. He had landed on Peanut before, but I thought it was because he was a bit clumsy.

I'm not too sure how old PJ is (I think a few months) but I'm suprised. What should I do? He has made no attempts to try to mate with any of us, only Peanut (Steve is terrified of him, the poor little guy! He runs away whenever the other birds get close!).

Any suggestions? I've never dealt with mating before (in fact, I'm quite confident Peanut herself is going through her 'terrible twos', as her hatchday is in May and she's been a bit bitey. She'll be turning two in May)

Thanks in advance!

[Pajarita]

Yes, some budgies are VERY pushy when it comes to mating. I've seen them literally pushing the females inside the nests -LOL- But, for one thing, you do not want to try it with a bigger bird even if this bird is still not sexually developed (GCCs don't have a whole lot of patience for that kind of thing and she can bite him hard and hurt him) so I would suggest you do not allow them to come out together until this problem is resolved because supervising them doesn't do it. They can bite a beak or a toe off much faster than we can react, trust me on this, I've learned it the hard way!

The other issue is that no bird should be hormonal now because the days are so incredibly short there is no way they could be producing sexual hormones so make sure their light schedule is strictly solar (I am giving mine dinner and turning off their lights at 3:30 pm these days). Now, budgies are known for been extraordinarily opportunistic breeders and even when one shortens their days to, say, 12 hours of sleep (mine actually sleep more than that this time of the year), they would still get hormonal if fed too much protein so make sure he is not getting seeds or pellets all day long (it's called free-feeding and no parrot -finches and canaries can- should be under this method, it's completely unnatural and unhealthy for them). Feed him a tablespoon of cooked cereal grains (oats, wheat, barley, etc) mixed with corn, peas, carrots, chopped broccoli, etc; fresh leafy greens (they love them!) and a piece of fruit (but don't worry too much if he doesn't eat it, budgies are not big on fruits) for breakfast and all day picking, and one tablespoon of a budgie seed mix (or pellets -I don't like them but I realize that most people feed them) for dinner when the sun goes down. This should get his endocrine system back in tune with the season.

[LadySaphine]

Thank you Pajarita, and I did notice he didn't like the apple I gave him so much. When this happened, I was rotating the birds out (only one out at a time) and PJ decided to go meet Peanut. They haven't met since.

Plain oatmeal is okay, right? I have some.

And the birds have been on their solar schedule, but lately it hasn't been as strict. My mom gets home late and wants to play with the birds, but they don't stay up past 7.

[Pajarita]

If they go to bed at 7 pm, they are missing dusk (sunset) completely (they need to be fully exposed to the changing light spectrum as the sun sets for their internal clock to be set correctly) so it's no wonder he is hormonal, my dear. Budgies, plets and lovies are a doozy to keep from getting hormonal and the only way is to follow the sun strictly and reduce protein intake during the resting season (winter). You can be flexible with a macaw or a gray because they are low hormone birds but you can't be flexible with the little ones. It just doesn't work.