krosp

Update: We talked it through a lot more, and are going to apply! Even though it's ready four weeks before we want it, the rent is $30 a week less than we expected and budgeted for. So we did the sums and assuming that the rent doesn't go up in 6 months (or, if it does, that whatever other place we may have got instead would also go up by the same proportion)... then technically we break even by renting a cheaper place a little earlier. So yay- my husband is keen on it too! Although he is not getting his hopes up as much as I am lol. We will apply, and if we don't get it then I guess that just means we'll find something with better timing for us. But I have never seen anything I love this much and have been looking obsessively for a while now so many many fingers crossed :bliss:

That is incorrect. Parakeet is not a North American term to describe parrots with long tail feathers, that is the definition. They are not unrelated, by being in the same category (parakeets) that implies a relationship of some sort between each species. It has nothing to do with locale. Your first definition of parakeet was more correct. I think you may have confused something there as your post is at odds with itself. :0 I agree, Jimmy, they are classed as parakeets first, then more specifically they are budgerigars. Although I've never heard budgie being a nickname for a parakeet??? I've only seen budgie as a nickname for budgerigar. That is not an American misconception, I have never heard that we Americans think budgie is a term Australians use for parakeets. To follow up on what krosp has posted as a typical conversation: I think much of the problem lies in discussions between what people feel a passion for - in this case those that love parrots and those that do not share our passion for them. Those that do not probably would not know or care whether they used the correct terminology or not. That is the case though, with anyone who does not share a passion with someone else, not only regarding parrots/parakeets/budgerigars in this case but regarding anything someone is not overly interested in. I'm sure there are many topics out there that groups of people share a passion for that I could care less about - and would not be able to carry on a conversation about using all the correct terminology with someone who loved it. My lack of knowledge on the subject wouldn't be because I live in America or anywhere else for that matter, but because I may not have the same level of interest about whatever the topic is. Once you start lumping a group of people together in a category you cease to be impartial and begin to be sucked into an us against them mentality. I thought we were here sharing a common passion for these little birds... This thread has been an quite an eye-opener, to say the least. Actually I have never had that conversation with Americans, so it must not only be in America that they call them parakeets. Maybe part of the reason that Aussies get so annoyed about the terminology is because there is a sense that they're our native birds so everyone should call them what we call them! That shouldn't be the case though, but as different countries adopt different things from all over the place, the way people refer to things of course differs between countries too and that is perfectly normal. I don't know, I'm just guessing here. Probably a bigger issue is the fact that this question even gets asked - "what is the difference?" which shows that there is some misunderstanding out there that they actually aren't the same thing.

I'm in Brisbane too so it's the same as Boris' Slave.... it is hot and the air feels heavy, but I wouldn't have it any other way I just came back from three days in Melbourne, which I had never been to before... it varied from 14 to 36 degrees in the time I was there and the weather would change from cold to hot and cold again with no warning. Made me appreciate the constant heat and mild winters we have here.

Cosmo is in love with his (especially the bell part). He actually can climb through the rings though, and he does flips through it.

Yes it sounds pretty normal to me, and I would consider getting another male only if you have the space and time for it. But they may not automatically form into two pairs but might still fight over Dave and ignore the new guy, so you might find you'd have to separate them into two cages until they bonded into pairs before putting them back together again.

Cosmo is so funny now that he has two feathers on each wing. He seems to take the opportunity to "fly" even when a little hop or walk would do the job better. I don't know if I'll clip them again. I'd love to let him have the joy of flight, but I am afraid of ceiling fans so I might have to once he gets enough lift in him.

I have heard that a lot more are starting to ask for a week's rent as a deposit, and last time I looked for a rental there were a few that said the application was already considered binding - if you apply, you must accept. I hope the majority aren't like that. If we don't get this place, I'd like to have the flexibility to put in a stack of applications at once. Will have to wait and see with this one!

I think the reason mine's not expensive (haha, notice how I said "mine", oops) is because it's not close to the city, and also it might be small. But we're moving from a squishy townhouse that we also love, so it doesn't need to be big. And we love the location, even if it's not as convenient as other places it's a nice neighbourhood. Dave-- thanks for the suggestion, makes me have a bit more confidence in my decision haha. We have talked about it and decided that if there are no loop holes in the application form (e.g. having to pay a deposit that you lose if you don't get it, or the application already binding you to taking the offer, etc) then we will apply, and see what happens. But if it's one of those ones that we could lose money on just applying, or where we aren't allowed to change our mind before even signing a lease, then we will wait until April. The odds of us actually getting it are so slim anyway, so we might as well apply I guess. If we don't get it then there's no regrets and we move over Easter like we wanted. If we do get it, it's tricky to know if we should take it but maybe it's meant to be!

I know... having a home you love is such an enormous thing, it would be nice to have more time to consider and prepare rather than the pressure you get from having to sign things quickly and have the money quickly etc.

I would breed it with the blue pied. You're likely to get a lot more variety in your babies than if you bred with a cock that has more dominant features than Bluebell has if that makes sense

We are planning on moving over Easter, but sometimes I look up real estate to get a good idea of what's out there. We will be looking for somewhere that allows pets, but there are a lot of other things that we want in a place too. Today I found somewhere PERFECT.... and not only does it allow pets, it has an enormous patio area that's well covered and fenced off, so that if we stayed there a while, we could easily start up our little patio aviary! And I reaaaally like the photos, it's just so nice- not only does it meet all our criteria, but it just feels like a place I would love to live. And it's not even expensive! The sad thing is..... it is available a month before we're ready for it The other sad thing is that they've already stopped advertising it because it had too much interest, but I'm still going to go for the inspection in Feb. Not only do I not like our chances of getting it (since it's so perfect and popular), but the sensible thing would be to not even apply since it's a month too early. But, I do love it *sigh*

Hehe the funny thing is that I actually spotted it on the weekend when I watched the DVD of the whole documentary (someone gave it to me as a birthday present)... and I was just going to come on here and ask anyone if they'd noticed it, but I forgot! Then a few days later here it is! Quite a coincidence.

hahaha I LOVE that last photo!!!!

I didn't even watch this link because I can tell from your comments that it comes from Australia Land of Parrots. I hate the bit where the poor baby gets eaten And I only watched that on the weekend! I spotted that it was a different mum and babies inside the hollow than when they showed them on the outside -- mum was opaline! And the babies weren't normals either.

I think you're putting yourself in unnecessary risk doing this. Yes it may work, but the chances of something going wrong are much higher without the dad being involved in raising them or knowing how to properly.

Thanks Kaz... I definitely want to keep it. It's really portable, and has a lot of memories too. I think my mum will let me keep it in their garage if I promise to take it eventually

Hi Tamara. Welcome to the forum! What beautiful babies. Make sure you update us with pictures once they feather up- I will be very interested to see what they look like.

I wouldn't colony breed. It does have a little shelf in there that one nest box can sit on. That's how we did it the first time when we didn't know better. I don't think it's necessarily because she was colony bred since there were no fights over the box or anything, but that hen was a terrible plucker. After that we just used that shelf for putting food and veggies on, and bred them in other cages. We were never really breeding a lot at once though. I think I would do things differently next time around though, and would research a lot even more. Just not sure what use this will be with my new and growing knowledge on what is good for breeding! But I would like to use it again for something even if only for sentimental reasons. Oh by the way... we usually had a lot of natural branches in there, but they all were obsessed with sitting right in the top (there are beams inside the roof) so I suppose there is just that little bit more space lol

My mum got me this for my birthday when I was 12, and we started off with 6 budgies in it. I can't remember what was the most we ever had inside at once... it would have been under 20 though for sure. Maybe 15 max? Anyway, my mum has no need for it anymore as the few budgies she has left are a lot older and in cages. She has cleaned this up and stored it in the garage, and insists that I must take it and start using it again :rofl: We can't yet though because we have no space in the townhouse we're renting. Our next move will be a rental too (around Easter) and although we are looking for somewhere that allows pets, I doubt we'd get more than maybe one more budgie for quite a while. But in the future, I will have this cage/aviary thing to use. Just wondering what you think of it as a starter for when I want to get back into budgies again? How many would you have in it? My thoughts so far is that I'd start out with it for just a few pairs and if I got enough budgies to have a proper aviary I could use this as a kindy cage or something like that. Not sure, just throwing ideas around. I don't have dimensions for it, but if it helps... that's a kid's bike on the right, and roof tiles underneath.

I wonder why they don't just sell them all to a pet shop then, since he's convinced that it would make more money? Trish it's a really tough one. I'm not sure what you should do. How long do the chicks need before they can leave the nest? If it's only a few more weeks you could just wait and hope that nobody else offers it in the meantime so that they have nowhere to move it to until after the chicks leave the nest. If someone else does buy it hopefully they will do their research and know how to look after them it is hard sometimes being caring! You can't rescue everything obviously, but in cases like these it's really hard to know where to draw the line.

They are beautiful and look like they both have a lot of character. Maybe you need to come up with a fake name for Bitchy that you can tell people like bosses and grandmothers, if it so happens to come up in conversation

But would that put Trish's chicks and their parents at risk of contracting something from the foster babies?

WHAT?? How horrible!! How many were stolen??

Sorry to hear that

Yes, and it's that pale clear/whitish blue of a hen.