Elly

I agree with Kaz completely. You have another topic speaking about the shivering part is this while he is in the cage with your existing bird or have you separated as advised?

Budgies will shiver when they are very fearful. Is your budgie in the corner, very straight, and shivering? Have you tried to interact with it with your hand since you brought it home? Most sick birds will be fluffed up, you may see discharge from their nostrils and may shiver. But I am having a feeling you are speaking of fear and not sickness especially since you just got your budgie.

Yes that did traumatize him, that can take a bird back several steps. Birds are not domesticated so when they are first hatched if they are to become very used to humans they need to be handled quite soon. I saw the difference in both my birds. One was a pet shop bird that was Pretty and he did tame but he didn't tame as easily as Merlin whom had been handled from the begining. Saying that you can tame them to a certain point and will have to accept that each bird tames different and takes different times lengths to do so. I have seen people on this forum say their bird tames down in 2 weeks whille others like myself took me 9 months to get Pretty to really start to trust me. It is really all about trust and not taming the bird. It is about the bird knowing that you will not hurt it. Have you read my taming article in the FAQ section? If you could do that you will find many pointers. Patience is a virtue and what you will need here to help him come back around. Birdluv did a great post on taming her birds if you do a search on her you will come up with that post too. Keep us posted if you have more questions.

Sorry to hear this , by the way I love your signature photo you could add that for budgie of the month photo contest .

I agree, it is very disheartening in this economy but like they say they have you by the $#@ because peeople won't stop driving.

Very nice Catherine, congrats :bluebudgie:

Mine does it while he is getting settled, that is so cute.

Have you read the taming article, I believe many of the suggestions you need are there .

Wow that is an incredible amount of snow I have never seen it piled and in chucks like that even here where we get tons ourselves, the last picture is beautiful. Thank you for sharing Cathy.

:rip:

I would remove the mirror it is not healthy anyways to have them in there but that there is a difference of opinion too. As long as he is not showing sign of illness I would keep an eye on him. He might be going into a molt I know Merlin becomes much quieter during this period of time. Keep us updated.

All very beautiful birds, I do hope you submit one of your photos in the Budgie of the Month contest

Love it Dave, maybe talking is sex-linked then

Kaz is right but males are consider better mimickers and that is why they will pick up faster. No budgie male or female is ever guaranteed to talk.

I sounds like he is on his own most of the time and you have not spent the time to hand tame. When you have a budgie they don't become tame by letting them out to fly around they become tame by spending a lot of time working with them by teaching them to step up on your finger, sitting on your shoulder and being by you. My grandmother had a budgie, talked to he all the time, ran up to the cage and even gave her kisses but was never hand tamed so if you put your hand in there he would bite. Budgie if they can't bond with their human will become obessed with balls, mirrors or objects that give them comfort. Merlin has balls in his cages loves to play with them but he is not obessed with them. I don't have a mirror at all. We have a taming article in the FAQ that you can read if you are interested in taming him more. This behavior will not change if you don't put the time into making it change through patience. Budgies are not cats or dogs they don't remain tame and they are not born tame they have to have consistent effort on the part of the owner. . I hope that helps a bit.

congrats Dave

If you go into the FAQ and then click on the Welcome Center there is instructions on how to post pictures.

He is tamed? Like does he step up for you or do you just let him out of the cage and let him fly around? It sounds like he is not tamed and he is being very defensive if he is out right biting you and making squawking noises. If that the type of biting you are talking about? Fear biting? If so you will need to start working with him to tame him.

so cool, thank you very much for posting the article :rofl:

Just a note with the Violet gene it is a single factor or double factor added gene so if both are single factor then you do have a 25% of just a sky blue with no violet factor, 25% double factor violet and then 50% single factor violet.

That is awesome is that paper on-line by chance?

I don't live in AU but are interested, what does it say Kaz?

That is good to hear and he will probably get grumpy again they usually do around their hormonal stages and molting. Just 2 weeks ago Merlin wouldn't get on my finger to come out because he was going through a heavy molt now he is all about coming out and flirting with me and singing sweet nothings in my ear

Yes there is a chance but I still think cobalt personally that is my opinion though. Why do you think sky violet? Kaz, would know best she seems to have a knack for picking them out . You may want to ask her to review this thread.

When you first get a new budgie it is best to let them settle 3 or 4 days and let them get adjusted to their new enviroment. I would suggest sitting by the cage, talking to him but not handling as much just moving to your new home is stressful and though he may seem okay with it many birds will tolerate handling in the beginning because they are too fearful to react back and then in a week or so you may see more fearful behavior like bitting back, the dolphin noise etc... My suggestion is to keep him covered on all 3 sides for the next 4 days, let him get acclimated to his cage and you will see him come around and eat. Budgie drinking is different for every budgie. Merlin I never see drink Pretty I saw drink all the time. So as long as the poops are firm, white and black in the middle everything should be okay.