The Eternal War between Budgies and Cockatiels

Image © bleedingcrow

More on this topic: can budgerigars and cockatiels live together?

Can budgies and canaries live together?

As a general rule, it can be quite risky to house two kinds of birds together in one cage. In this case, however, the budgie doesn't play the weak part. More likely the canary will be in danger. Budgies can be quite pushy to other birds, they are even bold enough to attack a cockatiel (even though the cockatiel is more likely to win from the budgie). Don't confuse cockatiels with lovebirds though, because lovebirds can't stand budgies and will kill them when they come too close.

After some research on the internet, I confirm that I don't recommend keeping budgies together with canaries or any other domestic finches because:

• Finches are smaller than budgies and are not able to defend themselves, should the budgie decide to attack
  
• Budgies can hurt the canaries badly: they can take off their beak or feet

Budgies can suffer the same fate if they are put together with bigger parrots, so putting together different kinds of birds is definitely not a good idea.

IF you still want to give this a try (after all, canaries don't eat the budgies' food and are almost the same size as them), then you should do the following things:

• Make sure the budgies and canaries are raised together as babies
• Supervise them frequently, see how they are getting along. From the moment they attack one another, put them apart forever.
  
• Provide a big space for both species so that they don't start fighting over who is allowed to sit or sleep where.
• Keep an extra eye out when the budgies or canaries start breeding. Females tend to be more aggressive when they're in breeding mood.

But from time to time, you can find real friendship between them :)



The canary is like "Dude... chill out!"

Other posts in this series:
Can budgerigars and lovebirds live together?
Can budgerigars and cockatiels love together?

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?

Can budgerigars and cockatiels live together?

As a general rule, people advise not to mix any parrot species at all, due to various reasons.

The majority of people who've had both cockatiels and budgies in the same aviary, say the following things (based on personal experience) :

• Cockatiels have a different diet and need more space than budgies
• Budgies would play with the cockatiel, while cockatiels prefer to be left alone (this may result in a fight)
• A weak or breeding bird of one species will be teased by the birds of the other species
• Any conflict between a cockatiel and a budgie is in the budgie's disadvantage, since cockatiels are bigger and generally more aggressive (one example is the horror story of a cockatiel who bit off a budgie's foot during a fight)

So it's probably not a good idea. Of course, each bird has its own personality and some are more peaceful and tolerant than others. If you want to take the risk to keep budgerigars and cockatiels together, you should introduce them slowly to each other on neutral ground. This way, none of the birds will see each other as an intruder and start a fight. Keep them in apart cages and take them out together so that they can play and become friends. When everything goes well, you could risk putting them together, as long as you make sure there is plenty of space in the cage. When they fight, you will have to keep them apart because they might not stop and hurt each other. But it's not all bad news. Some people had a budgie and a cockatiel. The cockatiel loved to preen the budgie and talked to it a lot. He even taught the budgie to sing a little. So it really depends on the personality of the bird, and how careful you are as an owner.

Other posts in this series:
Can budgerigars and lovebirds live together?
Can budgerigars and canaries live together?

"Parakeet" vs. "Budgerigar"

From the encyclopaedia Britannica:

"PARAKEET, also spelled PARRAKEET can refer to any of numerous seed-eating parrots of small size, slender build and long, tapering tail. In this sense, the name is given to some 115 species in 30 genera of the subfamily Psittacinae (family Psittacidae) and has influenced another parrot name, lorikeet." The Loriinae (lories and lorikeets) are also considered to be a subfamily of the True Parrot family - the Psittacidae.











Left: the True Parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family
Right: a Lorikeet drinking. They have specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar and soft fruits.

"PARAKEETS occur worldwide in warm regions; they are abundant from India and Sri Lanka to Australia and the Pacific Islands, throughout Southeast Asia, and in tropical America. Typically they form large flocks and may be serious pests in grainfields. Most species lay four to eight eggs in a tree hole. Dozens of colourful kinds are kept as pets. All are highly active and need much room; most are pugnacious—notably when paired—toward other birds; and a few become good, though small-voiced, mimics. Many colour varieties and intergeneric hybrids are known in the wild as well as in aviaries."

Picture: a trained Indian Ringneck Parakeet plays basketball with his owner

"The most popular caged PARAKEET is the BUDGERIGAR, or shell parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus). Mistakenly called "lovebird", this 19-cm (7.5-inch) parakeet has hundreds of colour mutations from the green and yellow basic stock; but cheek spots and close barring on the upper parts usually persist. Sexes look alike but may differ seasonally in colour of the cere, the bare skin at the base of the bill. Budgerigars are seed eaters; in the wild, they form large flocks in Australia’s grasslands. They breed colonially, in tree holes, laying six to eight eggs twice a year. Most budgerigars are hardy, surviving for 5 to 10 years."

Picture: a budgie and a lovebird, sharing a meal. These birds are often confused with each other, and in most cases they are even enemies.

"The Australian parakeets, or rosellas, Platycercus species, have scalloped backs and underparts, black shoulders, distinctive cheek and throat markings, and long, broad tails that are centrally greenish or bluish with a blue and white margin. The seven species, averaging 26–36 cm (10–14 inches) in length, are also called harrakeets. The smaller broad-tailed parrots are the five species of Psephotus, which have no specific group name."












Left: Platycernus Eximius or Eastern Rosella
Right: Psephotus Dissimilis or Hooded Parrot

Information (c) Encyclopaedia Britannia
Pictures (c) Wikipedia

Smallest parrot species in the World

The small colourful birds that we know as budgies are thought to be a sub-species of the parrot. Though budgies are often also called parakeets - especially in American English - the term "parakeet" may also refer to any of a number of small parrots with long flat tails. I'll come back to this later.
Budgerigars can proudly claim their place as one of the smallest parrot species in the world. Their natural shape and agility makes them hard to catch.



















The smallest parrot species in the world, however, are not budgerigars but yellow-capped pygmy parrots (photo on the right). The tiny bird is not much bigger than an adult person's thumb and smaller than some of the insects with which it shares the forest.