Bugies can be very interesting birds, and some of the behaviors that these birds express can seem quite odd and foreign to us humans.
However, there is always a reason behind why a bird would express odd behavior, and one of these odd behaviors includes one budgie putting its foot on the other.
This article explores why your budgie is putting its foot on another budgie.
Table of Contents
Why does my budgie put his foot on the other budgie?
Birds are full of personality, they are different and they will act differently towards different birds and different people. If your budgie is putting its foot on another budgie then this may be why:
Mating:
Many of the bird mating rituals are quite odd and one of the more odd mating rituals that birds take part in is when one bird puts its foot on another bird.
This odd behavior can be done by any one of the two genders of bird during mating, if it is done by the male then this means that he is trying to mate with the female,
If the female is doing this then this also means that she is trying to mate but is trying to get the male to feed her.
The male needs to feed her by regurgitating food from his crop into her mouth, this can be very demanding on a male who does not want to breed.
What to do:
If you have a male and female budgie in the cage, and both of the birds are ready to breed, then you can let the birds breed.
However, if one of the birds isn’t ready to breed then you’d have to remove the bird that is ready to breed and replace it with a younger bird that isn’t ready to breed, or, you would have to remove the bird that isn’t ready to breed and replace it with a bird that is ready to breed.
You’d need to quickly separate the male from the female if the female is the bird that is ready to breed and the male isn’t. Excessive regurgitation will eventually become very painful for the male.
Asserting dominance:
If you don’t have two birds of different genders in the cage, then one bird may be placing its foot on the other because it is trying to assert dominance over the other bird.
Birds who try to exert dominance can be as dramatic in some cases, they can start squawking and flapping their wings at each other, or, it could be something as simple as one bird putting its foot on the other
This will usually happen if you’ve just recently added new budgies to the flock and a pecking order needs to be established between the birds.
What to do:
You don’t have to do anything in this scenario, the birds are simply trying to establish a hierarchy between themselves.
Your intervening won’t make much of a difference, they will try to establish a hierarchy as soon as they get back together again.
As long as the birds don’t start fighting to a point where the birds are injuring themselves then the birds will be fine.
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: Cockatiel Signs Of Stress, Cockatiel Temperament, Baby Bird Heat Lamp, Hand Feeding Cockatiel Problems, Why Are My Conures Feathers Turning White?, Natural Anti-Inflammatory For Birds, Birds’ Feathers Curling Up