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Original poster

Help! My budgie is destroying my house, I think in protest!

30 replies

fucksticks · 21/05/2009 10:54

Does anyone know anything about budgies? and how to stop them eating my entire house bit by bit???

My budgie is an old lady now. Must be about 8 or 9 years old - ancient in budgie terms.
We rescued her when she was a year old from my Mum who bought her but didnt get along with having her and ended up keeping her covered in the cage lots.

With us she has always had freedom. She never has the door of her cage shut. She flies around as she pleases. In the summer we leave windows and french doors open and she never ventures out. She's been through two house moves with us too. She loves the kids and sits on their heads and hands - always pecks strangers though

Anyway, we recently decorated and in the process removed our lounge curtain poles, which were one of her favourite sitting places (she sat up there watching the world go by and pecked on the coving)
Since then she's been having a bit of a protest and is pecking at EVERYTHING!
She has pecked away a whole corner of my nice wooden photo frame, she's put many many holes in a massive lampshade on the lamp on my sideboard.
This morning I went out and when I got back she'd destroyed most of 2 magazines I left on the side!
Now I've noticed a corner of my expensive sideboard been chipped away!!!

She has planty of food, toys and things to peck in her cage.

Help!!! How can I stop her eating my house??

OP posts:
ahundredtimes · 21/05/2009 11:06

How extraordinary.

Do people normally let budgies fly around? Aren't you scared?

I don't know how you'd stop her eating your house. Or you.

ahundredtimes · 21/05/2009 11:11

I think you'd better put the old curtain pole up.

Or put it in the cage. That's what I'd do.

What do the visitors do when it pecks them? I'd scream.

ahundredtimes · 21/05/2009 11:12

Actually the more I think about it, this budgie is clearly very territorial isn't it?

YanknCock · 21/05/2009 11:13

Mine used to fly around, but not all day. How do you deal with all the droppings? Couldn't stop them munching on stuff, sorry, no advice there! Mine destroyed pictures, magazines, etc., so usually only let them out if I was around to supervise.

Original poster
fucksticks · 21/05/2009 11:15

She doesnt come out of her cage when visitors are here. She's more scared of them - she only pecks them if they put their hand in the cage to try and get her to come out!
She's tiny. and friendly - no, I'm not scared!

We do shut her in the cage when my Mum visits with the dog or if anyone visits who is scared of birds.

It just seems such a shame to shut an OAP bird in her cage permanently when she's had the run of the lounge for 8 years

OP posts:
Original poster
fucksticks · 21/05/2009 11:16

She's house trained - always goes back to her cage for a poo!

OP posts:
YanknCock · 21/05/2009 11:22

Now that is a lovely budgie! Mine crapped on everything! Miss them, but would have been too traumatic to bring them over from the U.S. though. They were rehoused with another bird lover. Would love to have budgies again, but DH is very allergic.

ahundredtimes · 21/05/2009 11:23

Right. I have been googling on your behalf (peering at budgie chat forums through my fingers).

It seems that if your bird is possessive - like biting people who come near her cage too, (girls exhibit more of this behaviour than males) then you have to move her about a bit. Put the cage in different rooms, put toys in different rooms too so they don't get too hung up on one space.

I think you'd better try putting this bird in another room and putting the old curtain pole in there too for a bit?

I can't imagine having a bird fly about the room, sit on poles and peck the coving.

This bird thinks it OWNS your house! OMG. I'm telling you - this bird is part of an advance warning. All birds think they own everything, they want to take over the world.

Original poster
fucksticks · 21/05/2009 11:28

ahundredtimes - you'd hate it... she's flying back and forth over my head as I type. I barely notice it anymore.
Sometimes people phone me and say 'What is that noise?!' and I realise its the bird screeching on my shoulder and I hadnt even noticed. Its going to be quiet when she goes!

OP posts:
Original poster
fucksticks · 21/05/2009 11:29

Are there really budgie forums???

Thanks for looking. Will try the moving her around thing and report back!!

OP posts:
ClaphamOmnibus · 21/05/2009 11:30

She sounds lovely. Could you buy her lots of overpriced peckable budgie accessories -- seedsticks and toys and wot-not?

ahundredtimes · 21/05/2009 11:32

Don't you hear the sinister flap of her wings? The bird heart going boom boom inside their puffed out chests? The black snap of her beak? The. . .

I'm scaring myself. I actually slunk down in my chair when you said she was flying about over your head.

Yes, do report back. You'd better double check the advice too. I'd hate to be responsible for the bird being frightened by having been moved and then TOTALLY SAVAGING everything and everyone who has got in the way of her wrath.

ClaphamOmnibus · 21/05/2009 11:38

Have you been watching Hitchcock 100x? You would not like it at my house just now. The housemartens have all started to build nests at exactly the same time, on a secret signal. They are hunched on our washing line, looking shifty and swooping in and out of our two sheds. They've claimed thm for the season. They are trying to nest-build by our bedroom window too. If they succeed, they will keep flying in to the house, 'accidentally'.

ahundredtimes · 21/05/2009 11:41

Fgs! You mustn't tolerate this. Can't you shoot them or something?

GodzillasBumcheek · 21/05/2009 11:43

We have recently got a budgie. It is quite possessive of DH...doesn't like anyone else much though.

We let him out too. Only for short periods though cos he tends to poo on things and then we have to find it and clean it up.

sorry 100x, there seems to be lots of us with free-roaming budgerigars!

ClaphamOmnibus · 21/05/2009 11:44

When they fly into the house I have to capture thm in my hand, and they all have a hideous nightmare-parasite perched on their backs - half spider, half evil spirit.

ahundredtimes · 21/05/2009 11:44

Seagulls land on a skylight at the top of our house and they THUMP their feet. It's the most disturbing thing ever. If you go up the top and look up the skylight you can SEE them, making this awful din and THUMPING and STOMPING like they are trying to break in.

I have the council on speed dial. I ring them up and shout 'SEND THE HAWK'

wannaBe · 21/05/2009 11:44

Budgies are actually very inteligent birds and have a tendency to become very dominant. And nine isn't that old for a budgie - they can live up to fifteen years.

It seems that what has happened here is that the budgie has become teritorial of your house and thinks that everything in it is fair game. So what you need to do is to teach her boundaries. Birds should never be given total run of the house - they need to learn that there is a time when they can come out, and there is a time when they need to be in their own space, i.e. their cage. Giving her the run of the lounge means that she doesn't have any of these boundaries and doesn't distinguish the difference between her space, and yours.

It is totally possible to teach her.

You say she is friendly, will she actually allow you to put her back into her cage if required? If not then this needs to be the first thing you need to teach her. You need to be able to pick her up and put her in her cage and shut the door, without it causing problems for you. You can do this by means of rewards if she will take food from you - birds are very responsive to reward training.

Secondly, I wouldn't allow her to have run of the house while you are not there. Because if you aren't there there is no way for you to manage the destructive behavior. So when you are going out I would put her in her cage and close the door. As long as she has plenty of toys and things to occupy her in her cage she will be fine. And then let her out when you come back.

If you notice her biting things you can go to her, pick her up and say "no" and then take her away from the scene of destruction. If she persists, put her back in her cage and close the door for a minute, then let her out again.

Similarly with biting, budgies can learn to respond to "no."

I have a budgie and an African Grey parrot, and believe me, the destruction the parrot could cause if he wished far out-weighs that of the budgie.

hth

ahundredtimes · 21/05/2009 11:45

OMG. Tell more of the half-spider, half-evil spirit. WHAT IS IT?

ClaphamOmnibus · 21/05/2009 11:50

I don't know. I've tried googling unsuccessfully - unnerving number of hits have the phrase 'bites from housemartin parasites'.

It looks like a hunched spider, but fewer legs. It sits, sometimes hidden by feathers, on the top of the bird's back - just like a black accusatory conscience, or like the old man of the sea.

wannaBe · 21/05/2009 11:51

omg that sounds horrible.

ahundredtimes · 21/05/2009 11:52

I can't believe you still pick them up, knowing this creature is there, nestling in the feathers, WAITING FOR YOU.

I googled it too! I am utterly in thrall to this thread. You are going to get bitten by a house martin parasite! OMG.

WannaBe's was a good post wasn't it. That budgie needs boundaries!

ahundredtimes · 21/05/2009 11:53

I think it is the birds spirit. Their avenging conscience or something.

ahundredtimes · 21/05/2009 11:54

Also how do you catch them? In detail please

wannaBe · 21/05/2009 11:56

I could never pick them up.

I am an avid birdlover and would have no issue handling any bird and have even tried my hand at falconry (sp?) and have stroked a golden eagle, but the parasite ... .