Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Can budgerigars and lovebirds live together?


Please take notice of this rule: all bigger parrots should never be kept together with budgerigars. Some of those bigger parrots only think of budgerigars as little pests, because they misunderstand their body language and behaviour. It takes no more than one hit with their beak to kill a budgie.

I sincerely hope that by the time you are reading this blog post, you have NOT tried to put budgerigars together with love birds. These two species don't get along at all and start fighting almost immediately, and the budgies can't possibly win the fight - they get hurt or they die.

Other reasons why you should look out with budgies and lovebirds:
  • Lovebirds are known to be extremely territorial and aggressive, especially during their breeding season. Any poor little budgie who even comes near them will be chewn to pieces.
  • Their beak is their most powerful weapon and the more bulky lovebirds won't hesitate to use it, which would cause deadly wounds to the budgies.
  • Lovebirds can be so nasty that even adult macaws are scared of them.
  • Budgerigars prefer the company of other budgerigars. It's that simple. You should never put their life in danger.


Providing a large aviary would offer your budgies a small chance to escape the lovebirds when they attack. Image (c) Foxlow Snapper on Flickr

While there are always exceptions in the personalities of birds, there are some generalizations that are often true. Not all small birds get along with each other either. There are budgerigars that bully eachother and try to keep others from accessing all the delicious food in the cage. Budgerigars are also known to dominate the more mild-mannered cockatiels. Luckily for the budgies, cockatiels are friendly and get along with pretty much all other small birds. But I repeat: this is NOT the case with lovebirds! They can be aggressive to both bigger and smaller birds.

In case you still want to experiment with putting two incompatible bird species together - despite all warnings - please make sure the following things are done first:
  • provide a very large aviary of minimum 10 squaremeters. This would offer your budgies a small chance to escape the lovebirds when they decide on having the budgies for lunch.
  • Birds that are raised together from the time they are babies can be the exceptions to these horror stories. Several people keep different species together without any incidents. But the birds are in a very large place with plenty of food and water, so there is no real need for competition.
Other posts in this series:
Can budgerigars and canaries live together?
Can budgerigars and cockatiels live together?

17 comments:

  1. It's good of you to put the tips at the end, but I get the impression that these species should never live together o_O Thanks for the info! We'll be careful ;) <3

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  2. No they shouldn't be put together at all. It's way too risky and the poor budgie doesn't stand a chance :s

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  3. how about this?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6R_3K1b5GY

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  4. Awww, that's a cute video :) I love it!

    Some lovebirds are very gentle (like the one in the video), but others can be territorial and violent. A lovebird and a budgie MIGHT be OK in the same cage, but maybe they won't be. You have to take the introduction in slow steps, on "neutral territory".

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  5. i have love bird and budgies fron 2 years and they live in one cage and love eachother so much
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHq_9FAHhqg&list=FLWSGZy13DNeSfBlaXYWNTvA&index=1&feature=plpp_video

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    1. Thanks for the video! It always makes me happy to see that it's possible to put these two birds together, without any of them getting hurt. It's the horror stories that make me doubt, so I would never let them be together unsupervised. Thanks again for sharing, I really appreciate this.

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  6. I want to get my love bird a friend and putting him with another love birds will turn him wild. I was thinking about a budgie. My love bird is still a baby so maybe they would work out? If I get a budgie. Their time together would be supervised just to make sure and if they don't get along I will just have to get another cage for the budgie.

    Thoughts?

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  7. I have a lovebird iv been trying to find a friend for, at the moment he is in a smallish cage near us, but i want to put him in a big empty avery i already have, though i dont want to put him out by himself, so iv been looking for a partner but cant seem to find any that haven't already paired up. Do u think if i was to just get a buddgie and introduce them to a big new terratory that they would get along ok!

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  8. I kept my 2 parakeets and love bird together and they were so completely happy together - but I just found my love bird dead! The one parakeet was all bloody - I can assume they were fighting and he was still attacking the dead bird when I found him. Shocked to think the parakeet could kill the lovebird - he was the sweetest thing and not aggressive at all.

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  9. I'm taking care of my neighbour's love bird for a couple of weeks while he's on vacation and I've set up his cage next to our budgie's cage. It hasn't even been three full days yet but it's quite obvious that they can't be left alone together. The love bird is bigger but the budgie insists on playing the role of aggressive tormentor. When the budgie is out of her cage she goes straight for the love bird's cage. And when the love bird comes to say hi, the budgie tries to peck at his feet as he lands on her cage. The love bird hasn't fought back but we're not taking any chances. Only one flies free at a time and only under our supervision.

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  10. It takes no more than one hit with their beak to kill a budgie. ... parakeetcage.blogspot.com

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    1. i have a cage cut in half and i should put the budgie with the lovebirds what will i do

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  11. i have a male lovebird and a female budgie,at first they seems to be friends..but later on i noticed the love bird keep on hurting the budgie..i just hope they would get along..am planning u get another male budgie..what can u suggest?thank u

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  12. I was given a love bird and budgie i 1 cage. Tonight I saw something that baffled my brains!!! The budgie was mating the lovebird and she willingly participated. A shock for my brains!!!

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  14. Can I keep my two budgie and get a lovebird and have them not in the same cage but in the same room?

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  15. Can a kakariki and 2 love birds in sepperate cages get on with each other?

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