Budgies can usually grow to like several different people. However, they can sometimes become one-person birds, ignoring other household members.
Budgies live in large flocks, so can get along with more than one person. So, other people can bond with budgies through their involvement in daily activities and feeding sessions.
Do Budgies Bond to One Person?
Budgies can turn into one-person birds due to a deep connection with the person who spends the most time looking after them.
The following factors determine a budgie’s ability to bond with one or more humans:
- Personality type
- How the budgie was raised (wild vs. captivity)
- How many budgies live together
- How its human owner meets its basic needs
Some budgies are friendly no matter what, while others may have behavioral problems.
Budgies’ bonds aren’t set in stone. Like human relationships, their relationship with the various people in a household can change over the years, improving or deteriorating.
A budgie could be loyal to one person and inexplicably prefer another person in the future. So, if your budgie doesn’t like you right now, it doesn’t mean that it’ll never grow fond of you.
Why Do Budgies Only Bond to One Person?
Budgies tend to bond with just one person due to how they’re raised in captivity.
Bonding to a single person isn’t normal behavior for social animals like budgies. It indicates a problem in the way pet budgies regulate their emotions.
Wild budgies live in flocks. They’re raised by their parents, grow up with siblings, and are dependent on the flock to survive. A chick learns to bond with many of its flock mates during its early years.
However, once it becomes an adult, it’s free to forage, fly, and explore on its own. It eventually pair-bonds with another budgie, mates, and has offspring.
A budgie can’t always form multiple bonds with different birds in captivity. Hand-reared budgies imprint on their human owners, which means that it confuses the human for its mother.
If the budgie is bought as the sole pet and doesn’t get the chance to form bonds with other birds, it’ll direct all of its emotional energy toward the person who takes care of it.
The same happens if the budgie pairs bonds with a human household member. Humans unwittingly touch their budgies on parts of the body that only mates touch, such as the vent, underneath the wings, around the tail, and down the back.
Caressing your budgie in those spots will signify that you want to mate, so it sees you as its partner.
Can Budgies Bond with More Than One Person?
Budgies can bond with more than one person. Budgies are social creatures that live in large flocks in the wild, so they’re more than capable of learning how to love more than one person.
Having complex emotions and bonds with multiple people or birds is more natural for a budgie. This is why you should get two budgies so that they can keep each other company.
Can You Bond with Two Budgies?
Many people wonder if a second budgie will change their relationship with the current budgie.
Assuming your two budgies get along, you may notice that your first bird isn’t as obsessed with you. The budgie won’t solely depend on you for social interaction with a second companion around.
It’s healthy for the budgie, and it’ll help prevent feelings of isolation, rejection, and boredom.
The bond between you and your first budgie won’t change. It’ll still consider you part of its flock, and with another bird added to the group, your budgie will be happier than ever if everyone gets along.
Are One-Person Budgies Bad?
Having a one-person budgie may be a problem because of the stress and behavioral issues that can arise.
Naturally friendly budgies will ignore anyone they aren’t bonded with. However, many budgies exhibit jealousy and aggression toward anyone where a bond doesn’t exist.
If your budgie is overly aggressive toward everyone, save for one person, it’s not unusual. According to Applied Animal Behaviour Science, hand-reared parrots (raised and fed by humans since birth) grow up to be more aggressive than parrots that their parents reared.
Aggressiveness and jealousy can be stressful for the budgie, yourself, and the other household members. You should seek to resolve this because it indicates a socialization problem.
Even if your budgie doesn’t seem aggressive, it may still be stressed. Budgies often bond with humans because they think of them as mates.
Humans can’t communicate like budgies, so while budgies may be trying to mate with us, we’re exhibiting behavior that may come off as a rejection.
This frustrates the budgie, leading to long-term stress and emotional problems.
How To Get A Budgie To Bond with Other People
To encourage a budgie to socialize with others, you need to do the following:
- Allow others to care for your budgie
- Start with small interactions
- Talk to the budgie
- Don’t delay getting started
If your budgie clings to whoever feeds it, allow others to care for them so that the budgie knows who it can trust. Start by letting others give it treats, and once it’s more comfortable, the others can routinely feed it during mealtimes. These sessions should be routine, not one-offs.
If possible, have these interactions while the budgie is outside the cage, so it feels less threatened. If the budgie is inside the cage when the person approaches, it may feel scared due to lack of space.
Budgies like to hear human voices. The person that wants to bond with the budgie should speak to it frequently in a light, friendly voice. This lets the budgie know that the person wants to be social.
Also, the younger you start socializing with a budgie, the sooner it’ll learn to trust you.
