My Budgies acting a little crazy

Question
Hi!

I've had my Budgie since he was young and it has been at least 3 years now. He is very use to my me and my wife but likes me better since I'm the one who spends more time with him.  He is  friendly and likes fly around land on your shoulders and respond to wistles.  He also likes ducking his head with you while he is in the cage.  However, we now have a 8 month old baby girl and I have not been spending too much time with him.  I still take hime out the cage and let him fly around.  Paco sometimes immitates the crys of our daughter but he also gets angry and makes that loud sharp quaking cherp.  

Yesterday, my wife let him out the cage and he insisted on tearing paper and trying to land on our daughters head.  He also kept trying to fly around and peck her in the face a little.  My wife swated him a few times but he keeped coming back.  When I let him out he lands on the table and starts getting into everything.  A few days ago he started doing tricks in his cage and getting really exicted.  He hangs upside down and drops to the bottom of the cage and starts going back and forth constantly.  Do you think he needs a mate or is trying to nest?  My wife does not feel our daughter is safe when he is loose in the apartment and wants to give him away.  What should I do?  

Answer
Hi, Roman.  Thanks for posting your questions.

Your budgie is jealous of your new baby.  Paco has been used to getting all the attention, and now he has competition.  This would be similar to you bringing a new baby into the home and you already had an older child.  Paco's initial attempts to regain some of your attention didn't work for him, so now he is going to try to get your attention a different way, by behaving badly around your daughter.  Don't be too angry with Paco...he just doesn't understand what's happening.  He most likely believes he did something wrong and you are taking it out on him by not showing him as much attention any more.  His behavior is similar to a child acting out just to get attention, even if this attention is "bad" attention (like a child getting a spanking for doing something wrong in order to get attention in any way, shape or form).  Paco sees you playing with the baby, he's not getting as much attention any more, and Paco doesn't understand this.

There are a couple ways to resolve this problem without giving him away.  You can try spending more time with Paco/giving him more attention one-on-one.  While doing this, you could let him become more familiar with your new daughter by giving them both attention at the same time...perhaps Paco wouldn't be as jealous any more.   However, your daughter is still too young to really become too involved with Paco, but this will change as she grows older.  They could become good friends later.  You could split your time between the 2 a little differently, giving Paco a little bit more of your time and/or giving up something else you do in order to give Paco a little more attention.  You could get Paco a female friend, but if you do, do not put anything in the cage where they might lay eggs.  Although single birds in the home make the best pet birds, and birds prefer other birds to humans, if you still gave Paco attention on a daily basis, he would probably remain tame.  A male friend might work out, but sometimes 2 males will fight...this depends on the individual birds.  Getting a young male friend would be best in this situation and Paco might really enjoy the company if you can't give him more attention on a daily basis.  The last resort should be giving him away.  He obviously loves you and your wife and your home.

If you need clarification or have additional questions, please let me know.  Thanks.

Chrys