bren

Hi everyone, Just a quick question regarding budgie rings, I've read all the links on rings but I can't work this out. I have a budgie that I got from a pet shop and his gold ring reads "BCV x2 1706". I know that BCV stands for Budgerigar Council of Victoria, but what about the rest? All I really want to know is my budgies age. Does the x2 mean he is a really old bird born in 2002? I'm not breeding him or anything, I'm just curious to his age. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

I think they are cool. Love the blue one.

Hi there! Welcome to the forum. I would recommend having a good think about the kind of budgie you want. If you want a mate for the budgie you allready have, it might be best to get a male. In my experience with my own and other peoples birds, two females will not usually be great friends (my opinion), they probably won't hurt each other - just squabble a lot, where as a male and female will get along fine. You are probably trying to do the right thing by not breeding them, but they won't breed anyway unless you give them a breeding box. Even if you get a budgie from a reputable breeder you will still have to quarantine your new bird. There is a lot of quarantine information on this site, so i strongly suggest you research that as much as you can. On this site 'english' budgies are referred to as show or exibition budgies (you might get heckeled for calling them 'english'). I dont know where you are in Melbourne, but I know Bird City in Coburg always has bush budgies and never seems to have many show or pet budgies, but give them a call before you drive out there. Good luck! Budgies are heaps of fun, and this is a fantastic site!

So sorry for your loss. He was a really good looking bird, and a wonderful personality.

Hi everyone! I tragically lost my beloved Polly late last year and I still shed tears because of the way it happened and because I loved him so much. I have been searching for another pet budgie for a while but either couldn't find the right one or I wasn't ready yet. I actually resigned myself to the fact that I might not ever be ready again because what I really wanted was Polly back, not another budgie. It would be hard to get another one like him afterall, and it takes time, effort and a passion from the heart to get them to love you. Well today I went to the pet shop to get some rabbit accessories and I walked past some young budgies. They were all the same colour and very cute. I watched them play for a while and I became focused on a little male ( I hope, I have been wrong before ) that was playing with a rope, while all the other ones seemed to be in couples snuggling up to each other. I thought $27 was a reasonable price so "Cheeky" ended up coming home with me. This was only a few hours ago. When I got him home I cleaned out Pollys old cage again ( I allready cleaned it thoroughly a while back ) and let him settle. I kept talking to him continuously and kept trying to gently pat him on the cheek. He seemed to be getting tired around 6 o'clock, so I put a cover over his cage. To my suprise ( and delight ) he started to call out to me, and when I took the cover off and went to pat him he stuck his neck out because he wanted to be patted. Now he loves pats on his first day, within a few hours of bringing him home! Maybe I'm just extremely lucky but I think what I'm doing is obviously working and other new budgie owners might want to follow. We are allready bonding and he has come along way in just a few hours, I really can't believe it! Sorry, no photos today but I'll try and post one here in the next couple of days. I'm really happy and excited to have a budgie again ( for a while I thought it would never happen ) and while I know he is not Polly, I'm confident we will have a happy future together.

Lol, definitely no promise, and I am glad you have not run away from the thread despite all the opinionated people like me (shows you have guts to stand up for what you believe, and I respect that quality). And like I have said I know you have a good heart, but understand it is an issue that will definitly cause a lot of passionate debate. And despite all I have posted I am still curious as to how it all turns out, and I hope you keep posting updates. No hard feelings. But I think your case is probably an isolated one and I just don't want people to start releasing budgies into the wild.

One last thing Pops, the information your fellow members have given you is based on facts, not emotion as you have stated. You would be well advised to not be so stubborn and listen to the knowledge you are being given from many, many years of experience.

Sorry if I have offended anyone and yes Maesie I totally agree with you. And Pops it can not be denied you have a good heart. I don't want to get in a slanging match with anyone. Just my main concern is that there might be copycats and this may start a trend of releasing budgies into the wild. I was fuming yesterday and I will probably refrain myself from posting further on this thread due to my strong opinion.

Congratulations! A really cute budgie and good choice of cage. I'm sure you will get alot of enjoyment out of each other. Oh, and I think it's a male but definitely don't take my word for it.

And Pops, you said that if these budgies breed you will catch them and rehome them. So why are you giving them a breeding box?I think it's alot crueler to catch a wild born bird and put it in captivity than catching an escapee that has grown use to freedom. Even if you caught the babies very young the stress is likely to kill them. I think it's a shame despite all advice against, you thought you knew better. I do not think you have thought this through very carefully. And also to the moderators of this site I think you should condemn these actions even if they were made with good intentions. Personally I can not and never will condone this behaviour.

Hi Vicky, welcome to the forum. It's great that you are reading all the posts and preparing yourself to be the best budgie owner you can be. In regards to getting one budgie or two as you already know it will be a lot easier to teach and tame one rather than two. If you really want the bird to be a part of the family only bring one home. I know this is hard as they are all cute but try and restrain yourself! Also if you have not chosen your new budgie yet remember a male budgie will talk more and usually make a better pet.

okay, while I am glad it has worked out well so far for Pops and Gladiator, I think it has to be stated for people new to the forum DON'T DO WHAT POPS DID. It is very unlikely that if you released a domesticated budgie it would survive in the wild. Also Pops I don't think it is fair to assume Gladiators previous owner was a kid that didn't treat her properly, she may have been someones dearly loved pet. How would you like it if one of your spaniels was lost and someone just kept it for themselves rather than make any atempt to find the owner. Just because the bird struggled and shrieked doesn't mean it wasn't tame either. Another point to make is that birds bred in captivity can develop immunity to a disease but still carry that disease. It is a possibility a released bird could decimate native bird populations.

When you are home put the bird in the place where it is likely to see you the most and interact with it heaps. Don't stop talking to it and letting it know you are it's friend. If you really love it and pay it as much attention as you can it won't take long for it to bond to you. As for stepping up don't try too hard and stress the bird out, have patience. And when you are with him leave him in the cage but make sure it is open so he can come and interact when he wants to. Background noise might make him happy but I don't think playing a soundtrack of other birds will make him bond to you, probably the opposite as you want him to love you not other birds. Keep updating your progress and don't forget to read as much information on this site as it's awesome.

Have to agree. Very cute.

Thanks everyone. It's funny to think that I a 29 year old male but I never missed anyone or cried as much in my life as I have over my budgie. I read the replys yesterday but I couldn't reply because I was crying too much. If, okay, when I get another budgie I will throw out all the glasses in the house.

I love it! He is so cute!

I know this is long but I hope someone reads it. Okay, let me tell you about Polly, he was my best mate. I had been looking around for a hand tamed bird for a while, and I actually had in mind a more exotic bird but when I saw Polly on trading post online I knew I had to have him. After convincing my partner we took Polly home when he was 7 weeks old. My parents gave me a budgie for my 7th birthday and Sweetie lived for eight years and was a well handled and friendly bird but Polly well exceded my expetations of him. Pretty much as soon as I had Polly home he would let me scratch him and he loved it and I fell in love with him. Okay, now I'm going to brag a little and I know everyone thinks their pet is the best but Polly really was special. His wings were clipped when we got him but as soon as he could fly he wouldn't leave me and my partner alone. We had him set up in the loungeroom and as soon as I came home he would call out to me to let him out and then fly to my shoulder and stay there. He would sit on his perch and play with my finger while talking and he never seemed to get tired of this. He had so many phrases he could say - "what's in the fridge", "give me a kiss", "I thought I saw a puddy cat, I did, I did see a puddy cat", "I love you Brendon, I love you Lauren", "hello Polly", "hello sexy". When we talked to him he would give us his full attention and would look at us with a cute happy look on his face, he loved it. One time I was with Polly and he said "**** off Polly" after he said it a couple more times I confronted my partner and asked her if she had been teaching Polly to say this. She sheepishly told me it was unintentional as sometimes when Polly landed on her and wanted attention she would say "**** off Polly". He was a really good talker. Only me and my partner live here and about the home alone Polly would follow us everywhere. If we were making dinner he would be sitting on the fridge, if we went outside he would wait by the door for us, if I had to take a leak he would come too because it was more effort to get rid of him. When we had friends over Polly would land on them and be very socialable, we loved showing him off and everyone loved him. He was just so demanding of attention but that's why we loved him- because he loved us. Now here's when it gets depressing. It had only been two weeks since we had to put our two rabbits down after they contracted mixomitosis one was 5 the other 7 years old. That was really hard. A week before we had lost a third, we thought it was probably old age( over 8 years old ) at the time but obviously it was mixo too that killed him. They were so cute, loved pats and had a wonderful life playing in the backyard whenever we were home. Depressingly I had to work christmas day and boxing day. I wished I was with my family in the country but couldn't get out of work. On christmas day I got home from work and my partner got called into work a couple of hours later. Being christmas and lonely and sad I had a few drinks and put some music on and danced and sang while Polly lapped it all up and loved it. Being emotional at the time I actually told Polly how gratefull I was to have him and that at least he loved me when I was all alone. Polly drowned in a glass of water on boxing day. My partner had the glass and I saw Polly approaching it and told her to move it but she didn't and Polly climbed on top of the glass and dunked his head in. He got his head stuck and my partner tipped the glass out. He was fine and I told my partner off and cleaned up the spilt water but because I thought the glass was empty I turned it up. There was still about a centremetre of water in the glass and only about a minute later I looked down and Polly had drowned. I'm so sorry Polly. I am such an idiot. I feel so bad. It's been a few weeks but I still miss Polly with all my heart and just wish I could have him back. I'm going to end now because I'm crying again but I just wanted to share what a great bird he was. He was my best friend and I will always miss him.

Thanks for the feedback guys, I havn't asked the neighbours if they would mind the noise but they are renting and I would have to be considerant to new tennants as well. In the summertime blackbirds start singing outside my window as soon as the sun comes up and it annoys me if I am trying to sleep. Our bedroom is upstairs so if the budgies made a lot of noise we wouldn't be able to hear it but the neighbours probably would. I might have to hold up on the idea for a while

Hi everyone, I allready have a cute male hand tamed budgie named Polly. I would love to get a few aviary budgies, and I have allready bought 2 large cages that can be joined together to make an even larger cage. I live in a unit with neighbours in close proximity and what I really want to know is if I get some budgies, will they make a lot of noise and upset my neighbours? I am not worried about a little bit of noise or a few loud chirps every now and then, but I have read some people have been driven crazy by the noise they make. My pet budgie Polly only makes a loud chirp when he wants our attention. This does not bother me at all because I love the fact he loves me. He is an inside bird and the neighbours don't hear him. When I first got him he used to call out to the wild rainbow lorrikeets flying above if I had him outside, but he doesn't even bother when he hears them now as he has become bonded to us. Will aviary budgies call out loudly to each other or other birds? Polly doesn't really make a lot of noise ( he is very talkative and can say heaps of phrases but this is not loud ) but are all budgies different? Does the amount of noise they make depend on their individual pesonallity? I am thinking of getting 4 budgies, 2 male 2 female not to breed them constantly, but in the future I think I might like to breed 1 or 2 clutches only. I just want to keep them happy and healthy. I have searched the internet and this website a lot but I can't find much on the noise levels of budgies, and when I have I have found conflicting information. Also I want to keep Polly completly seperate from any new addittions, but if he does come into contact with them will this change his personallity. That would be the last thing I would want. Thank you to anyone that takes the time to read this and pass on their experience.

The best way to breed king quails is in a large fish tank with lots of hay and soil. I have reared many quails to adulthood using this method, with little or no fatalities. I recomend marking each egg with a number and only letting the hen sit on 8 eggs. While I have heard cockbirds attacking the young is common, I have never experienced this untill the young are almost adults- with only the males being attacked. There are many problems associated with breeding quails in a large aviary with the young getting seperated from mum and dieing from the cold the most common, also mice and rat attacks are common. King quails are a great addition to a budgie aviary because they clean up all the husk left behind by other birds- but breeding in an aviary will not usally produce the best results. Anyway good luck because these little birds will bring great enjoyment!