How to Stop an Aggressive Female Budgie From Flying Away & Biting

Budgerigars, or Melopsittacus undulatus, are small pet birds originally from Australia. Also called parakeets, wild budgies are nomadic birds found in different types of climates and landscapes searching for food, according to World Parrot Trust. Wild parakeets live in flocks and fly for long distances searching for suitable food. If you have a budgie as a pet, you need to be aware of the budgie's active nature and provide toys for it to be entertained. Budgies are social birds but sometimes you may come across an aggressive female budgie and need to stop if from flying away and biting.

Things You'll Need

  • Old towel
  • Scissors
  • 1-inch dowel
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Instructions

    • 1

      Catch the aggressive female budgie with an old towel. This will prevent any biting or scratching. Be gentle with the bird since she is small and you can damage her wings. Females are sometimes more aggressive than males especially during breeding season.

    • 2

      Open up a wing carefully and trim the last eight feathers or the primaries. This will clip her wings so she cannot fly away. You may need an assistant to help you do this. Cut roughly one-third off from the bottom of the wing below the blood feathers. Blood feathers are feathers which contain blood vessels and are found in the top half of the wings. You can see the red blood vessels of the blood feathers and avoid cutting this area. Repeat with the other wing and be sure the wings are evenly trimmed.

    • 3

      Place your female budgie back into her cage and leave her alone for 24 hours to calm her down. If she has cage-mates, you can place her back in with them unless she is showing aggression to them as well. By clipping her wings, she will not be able to fly away but you will still need to work on the biting.

    • 4

      Open her cage door at least once a day for one hour. You want the bird to at least come out and walk around the cage. If she will not come out, place a dowel as a perch into the cage. Come up from the bottom of the cage rather than the top. Coming in from the top may scare her. You want her to step up onto the dowel. Say "step up" to her so she knows you want her to step onto the dowel. By teaching her to use a dowel first helps gain her trust. Then you will teach her to step up onto your finger.

    • 5

      Catch your budgie with the towel again if she will not step up on to the dowel. Take her into a small quiet room like a bathroom or large closet. Close the door. Place her on the floor and soothe her with your calm voice. Work with her to step up onto the dowel by placing it near her while she is on the ground. Practice until she will do this.

    • 6

      Place her back into her cage. Let her rest. After about an hour, place the dowel back in the cage for her to step onto. If she won't step up, take her back to the small room to practice. If she will step up slowly take the dowel out of the cage with her on it. Hold it at your waist level, and offer her your index finger. Say "step up." Continue practicing stepping up onto your finger.

    • 7

      Offer a treat once she has stepped up onto your finger. Once she is fine with your finger, place a treat further into the palm of your hand so she must walk over to reach it. Stroke the breast area of your budgie if she takes the treat and offer another one. Some budgies do not like to be petted. If this is the case, practice having her on your finger only.

    • 8

      Shake gently your finger if she bites you aggressively. Some budgies may test the finger before stepping up to be sure it is a solid perch. Do not confuse this with biting. If your budgie does bit, you can twist or shake your finger while saying "no." This will let her know it is incorrect behavior.

    • 9

      Blow a puff of air into your budgie's face, if she bites you. This will let her know biting is incorrect behavior. Aim the air at her nostrils.