Hi,
I have two budgies, Riven and Kiwi, both girls. Riven is more dominant and Kiwi is very shy, but Kiwi doesn't back down from Riven and will fight back if Riven gets too rowdy. I've been told not to interfere with budgies when they fight, as they usually fight and then make up 10 minutes later. Recently, however, the times they fight have outweighed the times they get along, and when they were separated they were usually distressed, but seem to care less and less, but this isn't exactly what I'm asking about.
Riven often bullies Kiwi away from food when she's trying to eat. There's no shortage of food in their cage, they have two food bowls and two water bowls that are refilled daily, but when Kiwi goes to eat, more often than not, Riven will jump down and push Kiwi away from the food bowls, and try to scare her off. Kiwi usually fights back, but recently she seems like she doesn't feel like it's worth the trouble to fight back and just stops eating whenever Riven tries to scare Kiwi off. I'm not sure what the average weight for budgies are, but I can very easily tell that Riven is much bigger than Kiwi. I can't tell if Kiwi is underweight or Riven is overweight, but either way, it's a problem.
I always leave their cage open so they can roam around the room, and I've thought about closing the cage with just Kiwi in it for a period of time during the day so that she can eat in peace, but I'm not sure how effective that would be. Any advice would be highly appreciated. Thank you
You need to separate the two budgies into individual cages.
I recommend that you do so as soon as possible as the bullying you are describing is obviously affecting Kiwi's health and well-being.
Both budgies need to have a period of time each morning and each evening when they are in their cages so they can eat in peace.
I would only give them out-of-cage time together when they are supervised to ensure there is no bullying going on during that timeframe.
If you notice Riven trying to bully Kiwi during out of cage time, then they will need to be given separate out-of-cage time as well.