ErinFerg

Excellent. Thanks so much to everyone who has helped me out. I look forward to getting my new baby, and when I am getting closer to being ready I will have to track down one of you breeders and start putting wheels into motion. I'm not a fan of taking babies from their mother, the rosellas i raised were abandoned as was the single lorikeet. I do believe there was a reason why the other two were taken however I cant rememer it now! It was a while ago! Ahhh cant wait until the new year now! Thanks again everyone Erin

Wonderful advice everyone and thanks for the warm welcome! I am led, however to question whether it would be beneficial to the baby to hand rear it (from syringe stage - i really dont like the idea of poking needles in places, just a person affliction) with another baby, and then a little further down the track the other baby is returned to the breeder? Or is my best bet really waiting until they are about 4 weeks old, getting it then and doing the last bit of rearing/weaning. ORRRR just wait until its nearly done with the parents and has been handled a lot? Thanks again!

Wow. Thanks very much for the quick response. Really interesting about the co-parenting thing, it must be a trait of smaller parakeets because I do know that lorikeets become more tame without parental intervention! Sounds good though, im about to move house now so I dont think that would be the best thing for a new baby anyway...and then im in a rental for a while so I'll probably pass on getting it then too, just because it wouldnt be fair on the poor thing! Maybe when I get into the new place (i think mid feb) ill consider it all more seriously! But I'm super keen...they are so pretty...Wish they stayed babies longer though!

Hi everyone! My name is Erin and I've just sort of stumbled across this forum, for which I am glad! I'll tell you a little bit about myself and my bird history!! I'm 18, currently a full time uni student, and working as well. But it's flexible, and I live with my parents. In terms of birds, I started out years and years ago with one nasty female show x normal aviary budgie, named Buddy who eventually was put to sleep after a nasty cancer developed in the gland at the base of her tail. She also had a 'friend' - another female budgie, Woodstock, who relished in her passing. After this, i acquired Monty, a long suffering disabled male budgie, who was tiny and unable to fly. Monty and Woodstock produced many lovely little babies, all whom have gone on to populate an aviary of a friend of my mums. I also have some experience in Burke parrots (who managed to breed once) and very a-sexual turquoise parrots. Later on i hand raised two rosellas who were returned to an aviary when their mean streaks developed (apparently they are not very good parrots to have as pets), and later raised 3 rainbow lorikeets, two of which were returned to an aviary, and one whom i kept on with a bitter and twisted lorikeet who i was given from a friend who is a vet nurse, and she came into the clinic, nearly bald...and remained that way! Recently, these two lorikeets - the last of my birds, have been returned to the avairy at my neighbours house, and I am birdless. I was thinking that over summer I would love to hand raise a baby budgie, having not done so before, however having had some experience in bird raising. I was wondering a couple things: 1) At what age do you think is best to start hand rearing a baby budgie? I have access to a heat box however I would rather not use a crop needle. 2) I do not want another female budgie, as I know through my attempts they are impossible to tame, so what is the youngest age at which it possible to sex budgies and determine if it is a male? 3) Are there any significant things I should know about the differences between hand raising a budgie as opposed to something like a lorikeet or a rosella, despite the obvious size difference and the difference in a lorikeet's diet? 4) Do you know of any reputable AUSTRALIAN books that I could get hold of that would assist me in reading up on raising a baby budgie? 5) Is hand rearing a better starting off point to having a budgie that is very tame in the long run? Thanks heaps for your consideration, I look forward to (hopefully) acquiring a new baby in the new year. If there is any breeder in the Melboune/ Mornington Peninsula area (i dont mind a bit of a drive, im from the peninsula myself), who might be willing to give me a hand down the track, or even sell me a baby at some point, I would love to hear from you...I'm ONLY after ONE (i must stop at one this time!!) so I want him to be pretty...haha...! Regards, Erin