Normal Baby Budgie Behaviour?

[Dante 0]

Hi,

 

I have a baby budgie, Scout, who is 4 months old now - I have had him since he was 10 weeks old.

 

He is hand-tame and, ever since I got him, he has been happy to sit on my finger and let me scratch him around the head and neck. He always chirps happily when I do this, and tilts his head to each side so I can scratch him.

 

The last two times I have done this, he has bobbed his head and regurgitated seeds onto my finger after I finished scratching him - is it possible he thinks I'm another budgie?

 

I've only ever heard of budgies doing this with other budgies and not with people. He's not sick and it's definitely regurgitation and not vomit. He chirps away quite happily after he's done it.

 

Is it just a sign of affection?

 

 

By the way, is anyone able to tell me a little more about his colouring as well? Thanks

[Budgie_Mad 0]

When my budgie was younger, he often mated with my hand and bobbed his head as if he was regurgitating, however he never did. It was just the mating and bobbing. As for the genetics, I actually have no idea, it is a cobalt/vi lot of some for, but not sure of much else, I even went through a long list and couldn't find what it was. I have had one exactly the same before, but I didn't know the genetics.

[Dante 0]

Scout is very cute and loves to spend time just sitting with me getting scratches, so I guess I don't mind so much about the regurgitating.

 

With any luck he'll grow out of it and attach himself to another budgie friend instead.

 

I like his colouring but haven't seen another one like him. Went through a few websites looking but he doesn't quite fit anything that I could see.

 

Thanks for letting me know, it's much appreciated

[BUDGIE L0V3R 0]

Looks like a female rather than a male, she is an opaline with violet gene.

I don't tame my birds but it sounds as though your budgie has become close to you and is now bonding and feeding you as though you were another budgie.

[Dante 0]

If Scout is a female that would be funny as I got it from a breeder who assured me it was "definitely" a male.

 

One of my female budgies, Neo, chose Scout, and I was trying to balance out the genders in my cage, but I guess that didn't quite work out!

 

Thanks for letting me know about the colouring I looked up a few pictures on the internet and Scout definitely looks like them.

 

Just curious - you mentioned you don't tame your birds, is that because they live in a larger colony and it's not practical?

[BUDGIE L0V3R 0]

The cere is way too white to be a male

 

I just don't have the time to tame the babies, my birds live in a large aviary. I sell the babies when they are still young and people have tamed the birds that they have purchased off of me.

 

 

[Dante 0]

That's okay that Scout is a female. She's still very sweet. Funny that the breeder didn't know... either that or he just told me it was a male, knowing I was hoping for one and couldn't tell the difference!

 

Oh well, I'm still learning.

 

Maybe, if the eggs from Tank and Audrey's pairing hatch, I'll get some males from there.

 

I'd love to have a large aviary but, unfortunately, living in a rental property they won't allow it. Most of the birds I have weren't hand raised, but they were able to be tamed pretty quickly, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

 

Do you mind if I ask - how long ago did you start breeding budgies?

How do you decide which babies you'll keep (if any)?

Do you have a limit on the number of budgies you will keep in your aviary at any one time?

 

Thank you for answering my questions, by the way, as I know there seem to be a lot!

[BUDGIE L0V3R 0]

When looking at a young budgie, if the cere is pink or purple, good chance that it will be a male. If the cere has any white on it good chance it will be a female.

 

In my breeding book, my first baby that hatched was on the 02/08/2011, so been breeding for almost 4 years now.

I kind of just pick the prettiest bird , i'm not a show breeder so I don't look for anything special in a baby. Just what ever looks nice and one that I think will suit some of the birds I already have for future breeding.

I always have around 30 birds, i like to get closer to 20 but I just can never get rid of my favorites

 

Asking questions is the best way to learn, so keep asking and reading

[Dante 0]

Thanks for that. Hopefully I can get better at picking the genders of my budgies!

 

It's great that you've been breeding for a while now. People that have continued with breeding budgies over a number of years gives me hope that I can get better at it too, over time

 

Will just keep reading, asking, learning and hoping my budgies stay healthy and happy.

 

Have read a lot of great tips on this website already, so thanks to everyone that has posted!

[Dante 0]

Hi, just thought I'd give an update on Scout. She's definitely a female and seems to have become quite close to me, flying over to which ever side of the cage I'm on and chirping happily whenever I give her head scratches through the bars She ignores the other male budgies whenever she is out of the cage, preferring instead to sit on my shoulder and chirp in my ear.

 

One odd thing she does is that when I put my hand in the cage to give her scratches, she rolls backwards off the perch until she's lying in my hand and then hangs onto my finger with one of her feet, chirping away happily. It's funny that budgies all have such different personalities, as two other budgies I got at the same time will not even sit on my finger yet.

 

Anyway, she seems to be doing really well, but I do find it strange that she doesn't appear to be bonding with any of the male budgies. She must realise that I'm definitely not a budgie?