michellet

Well done on the rescue It sounds like you're doing everything right so far...and this forum is a wealth of information, so you've come to the right place. Just a quick tip...you mentioned that you're new to birds...budgies hull their seed and leave the husks behind in the bowl...so be sure to offer fresh seed daily as it may appear that theres plenty left in the bowl when really its just husks. Or you can gently blow across the top of the bowl to remove the husks...but be warned! It goes EVERYWHERE so do it outside. Good luck, and once again well done on rescuing the little cutie

Just a little something i didnt mention before...Budgies are very social flock birds...so we keep our tame birds in our living area...Charlie and Snowy's cage is in our loungeroom and their playgym is on our coffee table so that when we are home they are always included as part of our 'flock". Their cage is usually left open so they can hop onto the playgym or go back to their cage at will, and they often jump down off of the playgym and run accross the coffee table to us..if anyone has their feet up on the coffee table they will hop on, use our legs as a bridge and come running up onto our lap. They seem to love being a part of our busy, noisy little flock...they even enjoy chirping away to video hits when my kids have the tv blaring...and have no problems with the busy comings and goings of our house. I'd recommend that you keep the cage in the area of the house that you are most often in and dont be too worried about noise and activity...even during these early days while they are aclimitising to their new home.

it is possible to tame 2 baby budgies at the same time, but it will take longer, and in my opinion they wont be quite as tame as if they were obtained/trained individually. Our first baby budgie, Charlie, is increadibly tame and does a few tricks. He was bought as a birthday present for my sons 11th birthday, and they bonded almost instantly. He'd been handled quite a bit by the breeder before we bought him, so he wasnt quite as shy as a previously unhandled bird. A few months later we got another budgie, Snowy, for my daughter. Snowy was purchased from the same breeder and had been well handled, spent the first 2 days in a seperate cage, but soon joined Charlie in the bigger cage. Snowy is quite tame, but not as eager to spend lots of "people time" as Charlie is. Snowy is more "flighty" and prefers to do his own thing, and just "be a bird"...while Charlie is much more people orientated. Both birds are much more receptive to being handled if the kids take them into their rooms and away from each other, but they continually call to each other. Both Snowy and Charlie were clipped when we got them, which i believe makes them easier to train and handle, but we are now in the process of wating for their flight feathers to grow back. Snowy is almost fully flighted, and can sometimes be a bit difficult to catch if he doesnt want to be...but peoples heads are one of his favourite perching places Close friends of our family also have 2 budgies, bought as babies at the same time, and housed in the same cage. Both of these birds are more bonded to each other than to their owners, but are reasonably tame. Like our 2nd bird Snowy, their birds are more flighty and prefer to do their own thing, but they can be held and played with. Good luck with your babies!

Today, after attempting to fly off of the top of his playgym, our fave boy Charlie (who is clipped) crash landed. My 11yo Thomas, who hand tamed and trained Charlie, picked him up to give him a cuddle and noticed a protruding lump on his lower breast area. On closer inspection there was a crusty, dry lump. It obviously wasnt a recent injury, but we werent sure what it was, but it looked nasty. Thomas instantly thought the worst and went into panic mode and began crying at the thought of possibly losing his precious pet and companion. We jumped in the car and raced to the breeder we get all our birds from, as the closest avian vet is quite some distance from us, Instantly he knew what had happened. Charlie must have crash landed previously and had broken his breast bone, almost breaking the skin on his lower breast. Our gorgeous boy just lay quietly in his hand while he gently felt him over, and showed us the small space where the break is. We left the breeder a short time later with Charlie comfortable in a small holding cage without any perches for him to fall from, antibiotics to put in his water as a precautionary measure for the next 10 days, and instructions to keep him quiet for the next 10-14 days to give the bone time to heal. I have one very relieved 11yo son, who is being very loving, attentive, and protective of his little friend. I'm hopeful he'll make a full recovery, but i'm also trying to prepare both Thomas and his sister for the possibility that it may not end well. Charlie showed no sign of illness or injury before the lump was noticed this morning and has been eatiing well, moving about normally, playing in his cage with his pal Snowy, and climbing all over the playgym with our green cheek conure....so that keeps me hopeful and optimistic. Does anyone here have any experience with birds that have sustained this type of injury? Do you have any further advice?

We have 2 lovely little tame boys that are my kids pets. They have both been regularly handled and tamed since we got them as babies, and Tom's budgie Charley is a particularly lovely boy. He's always happy, loves being handled, and does a few tricks....just an alround lovely temperment, and lovely colour and markings too (the blue/green one in my picture). I'd love to use him for breeding but I'm afraid that he may become less tame if we put him into a breeding cabinet with an untame hen. Has anyone tried this? How did it work out? Did your tame budgie even know what to do? LOL Was he/she still tame after breeding? Did you still regularly handle him/her whilst they were in the breeding cabinet? Would we be best to get a baby girl, tame her and raise her as a "pet" in the house with the boys... and then try breeding with 2 tame budgies when she's old enough? Any advice would be much appreciated

Hi all I'm just looking for some different ideas to help our budgies, that are housed outside in a patio aviary, deal with our current high temperatures.... 39Cdeg today, and 43cdeg forecast for tomorrow. I've done all the obvious things... fresh water in a few different places/containers...misting them with cool water every hour or so...a wet blanket covering about 1/3 of the front of the aviary to provide a primitive form of evaporative cooling.... and i also suplied extra fruit and moist food this morning to increase their fluid intake. Any other tips?? thanks, Michelle

thank you Dean

Thanks Kaz, i also thought she appeared to be moulting but wasn't sure. They're both a little over 1 year old (what we were told). What sort of time frame are we looking at before she will again be in breeding condition? Or is it just a matter of "wait and see"? Cheers, Michelle

Hi all, New to breeding (well, attempting to) and looking for some advice. These are the newest addtions to our little flock...they are a little over 1 year old, and seemed to be quite bonded from our observations at the place we bought them (a local home-based shop). They were in a cage with another 10-15 adult birds, and these two wouldnt leave each others sides...if 1 moved the other followed...lots of "kissing" and mutual head touching. Even my 11yo son noticed how close and clingy they seemed to be....so we have our fingers crossed. We also thought they were independantly quite pretty birds, and the fact they seem bonded was a bonus. Now for the questions .... 1. Are they in breeding condition? 2. What colour/s are they? 3. What colour babies can we hope for? Cheers and thank you, Michelle

I think she's beautiful Kaz

thank you

Hi Ciana, and welcome I'm newish too...only been on here a few weeks, and have been absorbing as much information as possible....these people on this forum are GREAT! They are a wealth of information and support and truly love their birds. I owned budgies as a teen, loved them all and learned so much about bird care and basic genetics. It actually helped when i started biology later in high school... at least i knew about recessive and dominate genes! LOL Now as a parent, i'm rediscovering my love for budgies through my 11yo son.... we started with a hand tamed baby for his birthday early this year, and now own a total of 6 budgies. Four of them are in a smallish patio aviary and we're hoping they might start to begin breeding sometime soon. Have fun, and good luck, and learn all you can

Hi again Just curious..can anyone tell me what colour/s, variety our 2 boys are? Before his first moult Charlie was more bluish than green...and Snowy has a small patch of bluish/purple on his lower belly and lower back. Thanks

Thanks Robyn

Hi Jack, I'm only new to these forums, and have only recently returned to "the flock" and budgie ownership after many years of not owning birds, but it sounds to me like they're moulting (losing their feathers and growing new ones....the "spikey" things are in fact new feathers). It's natural, not illness, and they just need a little TLC....good food etc...to help them out. Growing new feathers takes extra energy and nutrients so extra fresh food and unlimited good quality seed is what I'd recommend There are some great posts on here reguarding moulting, with pics, so have a look and see if they're similar to how your birds are looking, and follow the advice of the other wonderful, more experienced people on here that have a lot more experience than me Cheers, Michelle

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone Elly, i'd love to enter my photo in the monthly competition...but i'm not entirely sure how to. (i know, i know...i'm going to be one of those painful newbies that asks lots of dumb questions for a while! hehehehe) I'm sure i'll eventually, and probably acidentally, work it out...unless someone would like to give me some step-by-step instructions

Hello all ! First I must say "thank you" ... i have been browsing this site and all the forums for some time and have found a wealth of information! I owned and bred budgies as a teen and didnt realise I had forgotten so much! Earlier this year my 11 year old son asked for a pet budgie, so "Charlie" joined our little family, and then a few months later followed by "Snowy" for my 14 year old daughter. Both birds were bought as parent raised and hand tamed and are gorgeous, funny, entertaining and loving little members of our family. I believe both are male, but after reading a few forum posts i'm now not so sure and welcome conformation or correction. Not that it really matters either way... they are companion pets only and we love & adore them and it doesnt really matter As soon as i can work out how I'll upload some pics. Today we added to our feathered family and purchased 2 adult birds from the man my kids call "The Bird-man"... where we also purchased Charlie and Snowy. He's a fantastic breeder and bird shop owner, and has become a great friend since re-igniting my passion for all things feathered! We are hoping to breed with these 2 new birds, but I'm taking things slowly, and using the process to not only delight my children, but to inform and educate them too. Anyway, thats enough rambling from me for one night! haha Michelle lets see if this photo thing works....forgive me if it doesnt!