Budgies attacking each other is not something that any bird owner wants to see, but unfortunately, this can sometimes happen between your budgies.
If you want to know why budgies pull each other’s tails then this article is for you
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Why do budgies pull each other’s tails?
While budgies may be sweet and gentle to us they can viciously attack each other and pull each other’s tails.
Here is why one of your budgies may be pulling the tail of another budgie:
Showing dominance:
Birds don’t always see themselves as equal to others and they show it.
If your two budgies share a cage, and one of the birds wants to show its dominance towards another bird, then the bird may pull on the other bird’s tail.
The aggression may also be expressed in defense of a spot in the cage, toys in the cage, or food in the cage.
If you’ve just introduced your birds to each other then one bird may be pulling another’s tail to show that it is dominant.
What to do:
While some budgies generally get along and may be able to live in harmony in one cage, other birds may despise each other and not want to share a cage.
If this is the case with your birds then you’d need to give each bird its own cage, food, and toys.
You can alternatively give the birds a bigger cage to give them both more room to stretch and fly, play, and generally enjoy life.
Fighting for the best position:
If your budgies only start picking at each other’s tails late at night and not all day, then they may be fighting over the best place to sleep.
These birds like to sleep as high up as they can. If there is only one perch that is high up then they will fight for the perch by pulling each other’s tails.
What to do:
The solution to this issue is as simple as putting more perches high up so both birds feel as though they have great spots to perch on.
Expressing destructive behavior:
Another reason why your budgie may be pulling the tail of your other budgie is because it is stressed out and are thus displaying destructive behavior.
Birds damaging their own feathers is an example of destructive behavior but so is birds’ damaging the feathers of other birds.
A bird who does this may pluck or completely pull out the tail feathers of another bird.
Your budgie may do this out of boredom, or a lack of interaction. The tail pulling is a way of pacifying themselves.
It’s a habit that is formed when the birds are not mentally and physically stimulated.
What to do:
While this behavior may seem odd and worrying, all is not lost, there is treatment.
The treatment for this condition is stimulating the birds.
You can stimulate your budgies by making sure that the birds have enough toys to play with when you are away.
Playing budgie sounds from youtube, for your birds, may also help.
If the bird’s cage is too small then this can also lead to feather plucking. So, increasing the size of the cage may also help.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Parrot Making Noise While Sleeping, My New Parrot Is Very Quiet, Budgie Shaking Head Side To Side, Why Is My Bird Making Whimpering Noises?, Why Is My New Budgie Always Sleeping?, Why Does My Budgie Chirp When I Talk?, Conure Biting Other Birds Feet
