I'll always have a regect budgie...

[Naava]

I have 5 parakeets. The first two I got had been neglected (Kiwi (f) & Cobalt (m), so I got another budgie to cheer them up (Squiggles (f). Unfotunatly they kind of depressed that new budgie because they were so un-keet-like and not very social. So I got another pair (no worries, I havea huge flight cage with all the trimmings) (Dawn (f) & Mangoe (yes, with the E, f).

But now I'll always have a reject budgie. Kiwi is veeery shy and quiet, and she followed Cobalt around alot. Cobalt is most active, and Dawn and Mangoe are moderate. I fear that Squiggles, in a sense, is stealing Cobalt away from Kiwi. I always feel so bad for her, cause whenever I walk into the room she is either sititng on top of the cage (it's open all day in a bird safe room, closed off) or sitting on a perch in the cage or behind a wooden ladder. She always looks so depressed

I was just wondering if it was possible to help her out somehow? None of them are tame, they are all used to me in a sense that they start to get more vocal when I'm in the room, or chirp in greeting when I walk into the room. They all bite if I hold them, except for Mangoe who puts up with it until she gets tired of it and starts to gently nibble my hand.

I want them to be happy, but since I am a student with alot of school work to keep up my good grades I don't have all day to sit there and chat with them and hand feed them millet. Of course, if that's what it comes to, I will have to sacrifice some things.

Help? Thanks! And I don't want to take the risk of getting another budgie, and I don't think mom would let me :P

[Marrie]

You could try taking her into a smaller cage on her own if the other pairs don't have much to do with her and try to form a closer bond between you and her - if you can tame her, she can sit on you while you do home work and such to get her social interaction. It would be easier to tame her if she wasn't with the other birds when you tried to interact with her. Of course, if she is in anyway bonded with the pairs, you don't want to take her away from them, but if they ignore her she might enjoy the one-on-one interaction with you. Taming only takes short intervals, like 5-10 minutes at a time, you could take breaks from other things to do a training session a few times throughout the day.

[Naava]

Thanks! If I do that, should I keep her in a different room than my other keets? I'd really prefer not to, because I don't have any more bird safe room than mine.

[Marrie]

No, same room is fine, they just tend to be a bit more defensive/harder to tame if they can run to the other birds to get away from you.