moglet

Possum looks grey to me, but then when I look at other's images of grey birds I see she isn't. I'm a Graphic Designer and I would have called her a Cool Grey rather than a Warm Grey like the proper grey birds look. Around her tail is very dark definitely grey tone, and when I'm allowed a closer look I see she has very feint purpley blue tinge underneath her tail area but it is not prominent at all. I am still a bit confused between the difference between the whole Mauve/Violet/Grey classification idea. This is Possum (she's a bit of a fatty at the moment).

A friend helps rescue Battery Hens and rehome them. She asked me to take on two hens last week as they were not far from me and their owner was ditching them. It has turned out one is a young rooster. He's quite lovely, not aggressive at all, but he can't stay here as the council won't let him. The other hen is a beautiful old girl and can retire here gracefully with my own hens. I wish the boy could stay too, but I just can't keep him. Can anyone give him a safe home? I refuse to let him go anywhere where they intend to eat him.

Ahhh! Thank you. That makes a lot of sense... Possum is too young and Sparkles has a dark brown cere at the moment. We've not had her very long, only about 4-5 weeks maybe? It was darker brown all over when we got her and it has lightened right up to just a very dark strip area in the centre of her cere the rest is quite pale now. Does that mean she is in better physical shape now than when we got her, or is just a natural cycle? That's probably why she nearly ate poor Cosmo alive when I tried to bond them when she first came!!! Oh dear. Now I feel bad. She knew and I didn't. I will watch their behaviour and see how it all develops. Whizzbang is sooooo in love with Possum it hilarious. All she wants to do is a bit of a smooch every now and then and play with her toys all day (and eat! see the weightwatchers post in Nutrition!) Thanks!

I have two pairs that have bonded. Cosmo with Sparkles, and Whizzbang with Possum. I know they have bonded as I have seen them feeding the females, and I do see them snuggled up and grooming each other at times. My question is about the girls ignoring the boys a lot. It seems both boys spend a huge amount of their day sidling up to, landing next to, crooning their little hearts out whenever possible at their respective loves, but mostly the girls seem to either ignore them or make that crabby noise at them when they get too in their faces. Just now Possum was sitting on the water bowl on the side of the cage playing intently with a toy that dangles from the perch not far above. Whizzbang was doing THE most amazing bat impersonation, totally upside down barely hanging on with his tip toes, head fluffed up singing his heart out to her. As far as Possum was concerned he didn't exist!!!! Are they just not that interested as they aren't in season, or is that just the way it is normally with other pairs?? Is there any behaviour I should look out for to start putting them in breeding cabinets? I'm not ready with the cabinets yet, and Possum wont be old enough until about September anyway. Cosmo and Sparkles are of age, but I wanted to leave it off until I was truly ready as this is the first time I've bred for a very long time, and it was colony breeding so they kind of just did their own thing anyway.

Hi Cheeky, I live in Brisbane, Australia. I grew up in country NSW though. Wow, Scotland! Are budgies very popular??

How sweet! Don't you know it's much tastier when you can steal it from someone else! Our Gizmo used to go insane trying to look over the top of the tall berakfast bowls. When you showed her she wouldn't want it, but would still go bananas until you showed her again... and again. Little tyrants! At least he's trying stuff!!

That's really cute. I love the way budgies are so tiny and sooo bossy! These ones get cranky when I work late in my office. Even with the cover on if I make too much noise rustling papers I get that cranky snippy noise at me.

Oh dear! I'm still laughing.... as I have the same glasses problem. Budgies seem to love them!!! Maybe put a shiny metallic hair clip in your hair on top of your head (always a good look lol) to keep his interest away from the glasses?? He sounds like an absolute darling!

Thanks, they just looooove the grass heads. I might take the advice here about the carnary/finch mix and use that. They also have a container of pellets in there, but I don't see it go down very much so I don't think anyone is really bothering with it. They don't get stick treats, all I give them is the seed mix, fresh fruit or veg – whatever I have going that day that is safe, a bowl of pellets and a bunch of grass heads most days. Possum is ALWAYS first over to investigate the fresh stuff or grass heads. She seems to love anything that doesn't run faster than her!! Maybe someone needs to invent a little budgie rowing machine!!! LOL.

Gee Possum will just loooove me doing that. I will attempt to feel and wet her down this weekend. I don't think I'll be popular. I might do Cosmo too, he's always been a huge boy so I'm not sure if it is just his body build or if he's a fatso. I have been putting seeded fresh grass heads in every day. Should I knock it back to just every few days? I just assumed they'd only eat what they needed. I really do think Possum is a porker though.... This is Cosmo.

Brill, I looove the pictures. I can't wait until spring and I get my pairs into breeding cages. It's been a long time since I had baby budgies, but I still remember being awed every time.

I wondered about the violet/mauve thing too. In real life I would have said she looks very grey. On the back around her tail she is definitely a very deep grey. We have a houseful of oddly named pets. We used have a a duck called Duck Vader, a chook called Chickzilla, and now one of the hens we have (ex battery girls) is a huge big monster of a rescue hen that towers above all the others (I don't know what breed she is) and has enormous muscular turkey legs.... we called her Attilla the Hen.

She seems to be really porky around her chest and back of her neck. We have been calling her mate, Whizzbang The Terrible, a chubby chaser!! LOL. He just adores her.

Oh dear! I think I have a big fatty too. Possum is getting like a tennis ball... she is in an aviary of six and they have loads of flying space. She does love to get out so I might let them out to fly a whole lot more and is quite active. She loves to eat ANYTHING. Fruit, veg, seed heads. Her beak starts watering at anything she sees me bringing over. Do you think I should be concerned about her?? She is just coming up for a year old soon.

Yes Whizzy is hilarious and the ringleader of all budgie crime in the aviary. We love him.

On the days I clean out the bottom of their cage (it's a big aviary type), my six budgies all perch on the top perch in a row and make that crabby snippy noise at me!! They are used to me putting seed and water and stuff in every day, and they are in my office with me. They are really friendly and will perch on my hands and come out. But as soon as I pull out the old newspaper and start spreading out new paper it is ON. It is really funny, like the peanut gallery Like I'm touching their STUFF!!!

We lost Gizmo, a hand raised Lutino about 3 weeks ago, same scenaria, very very suddenly. I was devastated, my kids were devastated. People don't get how much it hurts to lose a friend even if it is 'only' a budgie. The decision can only be yours to make... but as I counselled my grieiving daughter, getting another bird is not about replacing the one you loved, it's about finding a new friend. Gizmo was one in a million. She will always be Gizmo. A new friend will be just that. Sometimes the brightest stars shine for the briefest time.

Do you know if it is a girl or a boy? Boys have blue ceres above their beaks, girls brown. I know my girls like to chew everything up much more than the boys, even when they are not breeding. Sounds like it needs to have a busy beak, so maybe lots of destroyable things. Cuttlefish, calcium bells, the toilet rolls are good too. Something to keep it's beak busy. Females get really chewy when they are going into season... I have a chewy dog too, so to keep her away from our undies (gross but true) I give her lots of interesting chew toys and switch them around from week to week. Just had another thought... what about putting in stuff like carrots, apples and celery.My birds adore fresh food, shuts them up like nothing else! I have a metal skewer thing I got from the pet store that is designed to clip onto the cage bar, it has a screw-on safety end, and I load it up like a kebab in the morning with chunks of fresh stuff and they just love it. They spend a lot of time chomping on it and it adds a lot of extra vitamins to their diet. It really sounds like a bored budgie that needs something to do with its beak other than chew on its cage mates.

Hey, Budgies are really addictive... beware! If you go to the pet shop to buy it, stay a while and observe the birds. I like to watch for a while and once they forget about you, you can begin to see their different personalities. I like the cheeky ones that come over to check you out. Put your hand near the cage (slowly!) and see if anyone comes over for a look or if they freak out. A good pet shop will give it a health check by having a look over the bird once they have caught it and checking it has a clean vent (butt) and will have a health sheet and food dos and don'ts to send home with you. I prefer a dark smallish box with lots of air holes as they don't have room to flap around on the way home and really stress themselves out. I usually put the box in the cage opened and let them find their way out. Depending on the breed the coloured bars of feathers on the head should extend all the way down to near their cere and beak when they are babies. Just depends on the colouring of the bird though, as lutinos, albinos and some light coloured birds don't have the bars on their heads. Their eyes somehow look big and soft in babies too. Good luck and have loads of fun. Don't forget some toys when you buy stuff, budgies are very playful little things. Mine love to sleep on their swings. If you want a really tame friend, don't get two, just the one and don't let it have a mirror. They can get obsessed with their reflection and just want to hang out with that!! Just remember a lone bird will need lots of love and attention from you so it doesn't get lonely.

Years ago we added a pair of lovebirds into an aviary of budgies (not knowing) and the lovebirds went for the feet and legs of the budgies. We separated them and built an aviary for the lovebirds. I sure wouldn't put lovebirds and budgies together again. Maybe some new and challenging chewy type toys might interest that budgie enough to forget about chewing the other budgie when you take the lovebird out? Or some special treat like millet spray or grass seed head. Something to do with his beak other than attacking others!? He might be bored? I like to change and also rearrange the cage toys regularly. The budgies seem to go on a mission to re explore everything, and find out what they can destroy or chew on the new things. I love watching them discover a thing about a toy and how they deal with it It's like when my kids were little, i'd put some toys away for a week or two, then when they came out again they were 'newish' and had new inventions and imaginations applied to them. good luck.

Thanks! I will. Will I be able to behave myself and not come home with a new bird.... hmm probably not!!!

Thank you. I gave them some washed seed heads this morning and they are going nuts. They've never been so quiet!! My birdies send very happy tweets!

.....and I am totally in love with him!! He sounds just gorgeous. I had a little guy who was obsessed with my mouse hand. I would put all sorts of cool and interesting things on the desk to interest him but he was so obsessed with preening my mouse hand and chewing me. He used to climb all over me to get my attention while I was working. Failing that he would jump on my laptop and run all over it to make me deal with him. He was supposed to be my daughter's pet but he decided I was the love of his life and would open his cage door to fly to me. We had to peg it shut for his own safety. Unfortunately he was still a very young when he died. Sometimes the brightest stars shine for just a brief moment. I was totally messed up for days after he died. You sound like you have a one in a million that chose you. There is a reason for that! You are very lucky.

Hey everyone, there is a Parrot show in Brisbane this weekend. http://www.parrotsociety.org.au/index.php?mod=Dynamic&id=68

Only as a kid in a colony set up. I'm not doing it that way this time. Too heartbreaking and awful when a hen gets nasty with another's chicks. It was just that she was so MEAN to him in the little cage and he seemed terrified of her, but now they are back in the flight aviary she's all lovey dovey and he's over the moon. Hah. I thought i would leave off until spring, she and Cosmo are old enough but I'm worried about it not being the right season and since she hated the small cage so much. Maybe it was just because she was new and unsettled. Go figure! Possum and Whizzy have also paired, but she is too young. So no boxes for them until later this year.