Cam

I don't want a male specifically to breed with. Absolutely no intention of this, however I would like a male as Ernie was "supposed" to be one and I've always wanted to train it to talk. I've read that if you have two budgies in a cage they will never talk. So I guess either way I won't be able to have what I want. I've now decided that I'm happy with one. On a side note, I've noticed that she is "chirping" (loudly) in the morning when we are getting breakfast ready. Her cere is starting to go quite brown and flakey now. And boy, does she go rnuts when I play a youtube vid of another budgie chirping or singing. Poor thing must be hanging out for a friend. We have lots of native parrots and lorikeets where we live so when I put her outside she loves to talk to them all, they talk back as well!

I take it the link is working now? I didn't fix it though. Ollie is only ever inside when we are home so the two are never left alone. I make sure Ernie is back in her cage whenever there are other dogs around. But yes, there is a risk and I am always around and watching when she's out of her cage. He sometimes gets excited and tries to "shake" Ernie's hand... gently, but a gentle shake is still probably not very healthy for a little budgie. Brushing him is an effort but it's fun and the reward is a nice soft cuddly dog. Quick question guys, do budgies lay eggs even when they haven't mated? I want to find her a mate as it must get lonely during the day as noone is home until about 5-6pm. First I need a bigger cage and a new little boy. I'm in Melbourne, so if anyone has any budgie bundle of joys available soon, please let me know. Would love to have a green one.

Hi guys, So Ernie is about 10 months old now and loving life. She's (yes, Ernie is definitely now a female) very tame, likes to sit on your shoulder, nibbles hair and ears and hates getting taken out of her cage after dinner. She went through a biting phase where she would try and bite hands (not hard, more like a head butt with her mouth open) even when she was sitting on the finger but this has now become excessive nibbling just like they do when the see millet. Here's a video of her playing with her best mate, Ollie. Ernie loves to stir him up, flies to the window sill where Ollie just can't reach her, and then head butts him when he puts his nose up to her. Ollie loves it too. When he's calmed down a bit, she'll fly down to him and start picking through his fur. SO CUUTE!!! He's a video I got of them both when they thought they were alone. Hope you like it! Cam

I think when they are most calm would be best to minimise the stress. Our little Ernie is probably most calm just before sundown. Ernie gets grumpy at night, if you try to give her a chest rub or neck scratch after dark, she gives you a little headbutt (not bite thankgod) telling you to leave her alone. This morning she couldn't wait to get out of her cage...

Thanks for the replies. Ernie still has her blue cere, when does this change to brown? Ernie now has a new housemate. Ollie the Samoyed. And I'm hoping they get on well. So far I've sat Ollie down and held Ernie on my finger about half a metre away and let him talk. I want Ollie to think that Ernie is DEFINATELY not food. Also, did anyone have any advice for painting a cage black?

Hi All, Our little girl, Ernie (we just couldn't rename her as we gre so attached to the name), is going well now. She's eating plenty of fruit and veg with her favourites being rocket and celery. She's pretty much fully tame now. Will always step-up and comes out of the cage easily on first attempt. She used to just turn around on my finger and just flap back to her perch. This was fixed by always feeding her some millet every time she did come out and she learnt quickly. She gets grumpy in the morning when we sleep in and can hear morning noises with her night cover still over her cage. Just started chirping until someone takes it off. She'll then settle and wait for the finger that brings her out. She still loves her cage and after about 10 min will always try and make her way back to it. And just sit on top until someone opens the door to let her back in. I've taken her outside without her cage and she loves to walk through the tall grass picking through the leaves and dirt. We've clipped her wings so I'm not worried about her flying away, just have to keep a keen eye out for the neighbours cats. I'm trying to get her used to the perch on on of the hanging plants and feed her millet there often. My theory behind this is that when her wings grow back and she, touch wood, finds an window accidently left open, that she will immediately fly to this spot for comfort. Hopefully, I will never have to test my theory. I never realised how much budgies love music. We have the iPod next to her cage and play it quietly when we are out and about. We'll sneak up and find her singing along to the music, bopping her head. In fact, she only seems to make warbling sounds when there is music in the background. I rarely hear her make other sounds (apart from loud chirps) when there is no music. I'm also thinking of painting / spraying her cage black as the white makes it more difficult to see through as she is a light coloured bird. Can this be done safely as to not hurt the bird (she does use her beak to climb around the cage). Any recommendations of paint/spray type if it can be done. Lastly, her beak is still light blue and hasn't changed at all since we got her. She's definately got white iris's now (has for the last 3 weeks) but still has the bars on her head. At what age does the cere change colour? What age do they lose their bars? I realised that I have no idea how old she is. I'll post some more photos soon of our little Ernie... thanks for listening Cam

We are so used to called her Ernie now that I think it will stick... (I'm sure she won't mind) Anyway, these days gender specifity for names is going out the door... but her full name will be Miss Ernie to avoid any confusion. Do female budgies get more or less active as they grow older? Miss Ernie is just so placid and relaxed which we love, happily sits on anyones finger until she either a) glimpses her cage where she get all excited again or b ) someone starts playing the budgie videos on youtube to which so goes bananas! Disappointed I won;t have a talking budgie as I've spent hours repeating words to her already but wouldn't replace her for the world. Cam

The last photo was the only one of the four that I used a flash, which does make it appear lighter than it really is. I'm going to modify the cage so we can open the roof as she still is quite stubborn about letting my take her out through the small lift up door at the front. Cam

Hmm.. I think I've convinced myself that Ernie is a boy.. or is this just wishful thinking... Anyway, here's a few more photos of his second week at home. Ernie the Budgie 1 Ernie the Budgie 2 Ernie the Budgie 3 Ernie the Budgie 4 Over the weekend i am going to make him a perch that is eye level as he now demands to be able to climb from the shoulder to your head and now that he knows he can't fly he is very determined to climb up using hair as rope :grbud: Cam

Thanks, Ernie is settling in very well to our home. He loves music, especially a bit of Lionel Ritchie in the morning He has been out of cage quite a bit now and at the start he would step-up and would sit there as i took him out of the cage. He's very calm outside and will happily sit on your shoulder and then try to climb on top of your head. Once there, he proceeds to groom you, very cute. The problem is now he won't happily come out of his cage easily, he knows whats going on when i get him to step up and as soon as he gets near the cage he flys back to his perch or grabs the cage above the door with his beak and climbs off. How can I train him to come out on command. He now has his white iris but hasn't had his first moult yet. I'll put up some more photos in the next few days. Cam

We've just come back from the vet and Ernie has had his wings clipped. The vet seemed pretty sure it was a boy, as she said that the cere was too blue to be a girl. However, she said that sometimes it still can turn brown as the budgie gets older, so for now its Ernie until it goes brown... Last night he was also warbling to himself for a few minutes. Do females talk to themselves or is it just the males? I'll try and get some more photos up over the weekend. Cam

I took her (I'm leaning towards a girl simply because the bit around the nostrils are lighter than the rest) outside today, and she is a lot more placid when I put my hand in the cage than she is when the cage is inside. She absolutely loves the birds chirping in the background and keeps looking and running around the bottom of her cage to try and find them. I am thinking the comfort level may be better for her because outside i am sitting down and at eye level with the cage on the table, whereas inside I am taller than where the cage sits (about 1.6m high). She sat on my finger eating millet for about 15min, though she is still very reluctant to get on it consistently... she'll nearly always put on her left foot then when i nudge a bit more she quickly moves sideways along the perch. I took her inside a bit later and tried the same thing, and she fluttered around the cage avoiding my hand. I was a bit upset as I thought we'd made some good progress... but then I've always been an impatient person Cam

Hi, Thought I would now say hello as I've read some fantastic information and tips on this website. We bought our budgie last Sunday from a petstore and are still not 100% sure if its a boy or a girl. It has a bluish cere but not all one colour its a bit lighter at the top. I have no idea how old he/she is but I am guessing less than 3 months as he/she still has the black bands on her head. Have has a lot of progress so far with the taming. He/she was eating from my hand very quickly and yesterday sat on my finger while eating some millet. If I just put my hand in the cage, he/she most of the time will move away from it but occasionally he/she will stay still to let me brush the feathers on her chest, and hasn't tried to bite once. She absolutely loves celery and cucumber but wont touch fresh bread when i put it in there. We'll be taking her to the vet tonight to get his/her wings clipped and a general health check. Pictures of Ernie (or Missy) here: Budgie 1 Budgie 2 Can anybody give me an indication of whether our bird is a boy/girl and how old you think he/she may be. Thanks and look forward to many more posts in the future. Cam and Penny

Hi All, Great info on this site. Its fantastic. However, I wish I had seen it before yesterday. On Sunday, we bought a budgie for a cage that had been gathering dust. We cleaned it out, got some seed, millet and grit and went down to the pet shop in Queen Vic market to buy a budgie... I know that males *can* talk, and think they are generally better to keep if you are just having one in a cage (let me know if i'm wrong). So we let the lady know that we only wanted a young male budgie. We saw one that we were told was a boy, that had a beautiful blue coloring (like Burt, our family budgie when i was growing up... RIP) bought it and called it Ernie... But lookng at the FAQ, I am almost positive that its now a girl... renamed to Miss Ernie My question is, if i am planning to only have one (i do not mind if it doesnt talk really) should I keep the hen. Or should I take her back to the shop and swap her for a boy... I am slowly bonding with it... Its only been one day and she will eat millet from my hand... She even let me stroke her belly for a few minutes before she moved away. My only goal is to have a budgie that will be affectionate, can behave ourside the cage and will interact with people. Let me know if you think Miss Ernie might be too old from that. So far, I have checked her iris, it is still black and she has all her bars on her head. Miss Ernie 1 Miss Ernie 2 Thanks guys in advance. Cam