Louise

That's what I am thinking Robyn. He settled really well last night with the cover over his cage. I'm wondering whether I should leave the cover over him for the next day, so he feels a bit protected. There are some droppings on the newspaper on the ground. I can't get much of a view of his bum at the moment (lol gross) as he is up on the top perch still waking up lol Hopefully it is just from the stress of the sale and move. Before he was taken yesterday the breeder clipped his wing for me also, so he has had to deal with a few things in the past 18 hours LOL Will keep an eye on him!

Thanks Kaz! A veryyy odd statement..... I am going to give it a good try, with bonding with him. Another issue that has arisen.....he seems to have his poo sitting outside his bum (no other nice way of saying it lol)....and I have read online that that can be common for english bred budgies as they have more feathers around that area.....is this true? And how should I approach this to check that it isn't a sign of other problems? I hope that he isn't sick......He is still realllly skitish at the moment (only 2nd day being in his new home), so getting him out of his cage and sitting still long enough to sort out what is happening with his poo will be 'interesting' lol Edited to add that he was eating well yesterday. He doesn't show any sign of sickness at all. He actually looks really healthy. His feathers, his beak, everything looks fine. Just this poo around his bum.

Okkk. So you are saying that I am doing the wrong thing by him? Trying to bond with him? I find that a little astounding sorry. Are you saying that budgies not hand raised from the start can't be bonded with? A little confused...

Have just removed the mirrors....am going to add some different toys instead *sighs* I can't help but feel a bit disappointed that he is 6 months rather than 3 months. Now I'm worried that it is going to be MUCH MUCH harder to hand tame him and bond him with me. The breeder must have just gotten confused, as he is well respected in the budgie society. I just had my heart set on a baby baby budgie, so we could go through the initial stages of bonding with him. No turning back now. Just really disappointed.

Do you reckon Kaz? The breeder said he was born in January of this year. If he is 6 months old, will I still be able to hand tame him? Gawd I hope so!! I'll be a little annoyed if he is 6 months and not 3 months old..... if it makes it harder for me to tame him. Yep, I am going to put in some smaller branches, as I suspect that that is also the reason why his legs are sitting apart a little. He seems very healthy, and a bit of a cheeky little thing He is starting to get more used to his cage now.

Well, I went to the Ipswich Budgie Show today, to meet with some breeders and see what they had available. I came across a gorgeous little (not so little) 3 month old boy budgie that I just loved So now we have him home......he is a bit freaked out lol I am paranoid about budgies' feet as our last budgie had problems with blood clotting etc. Just hope that this little one doesn't have splayed legs.... The perches we have can be a bit slippery....because we have cleaned them a lot over the years.......Not sure if that is the problem or if it is just because he is still quite young. The breeder I got him from was wonderful and high up in the budgie society out there, so I trust him. I'm thinking about calling him Vinnie hehe He has a spunky attitude and very fluffy when he isn't freaked out by a brand new cage LOL

Kaitlyn! Do they sell individual seeds at all? or just mixes? I went to City Farmers at Underwood, but all they had mostly was mixes. The mixes did have in it most of the seeds I was after.....but I wanted to get individual seed packets and mix it myself....based on the budgie seed mix I read in this other thread: http://forums.budgie...showtopic=31386 I ended up buying a budgie mix from City Farmers but it is only temporary until I can get individual seeds.....from somewhere!

okay, I am stumped. With all of my past budgies (pet shop bought) I have only ever bought Trill....I know.....bad bad bad.......I refuse to buy Trill anymore, especially since our last budgie had all sorts of trouble supposedly due to the diet he was on. I have NO idea where to go to in Brisbane to get seed that is appropriate......I am guessing I need pellets also? I don't have a budgie yet, but when I bring one home I want to know that I have at least a little here to start off with until I hear from the breeder what they are feeding it. I have no idea what shops are best to visit. I am on the south side of brisbane.

I think that that breeder was telling me about the disease aspect because they only had 3 month old budgies available..... Good to know about aviaries or breeding cages. I just want to do the right thing in getting a budgie from somewhere that looks after them. I hate ANYTHING to do with mass production of animals, hence why I am wanting to source one from a breeder this time around. Such a steep learning curve though lol Have contacted a few of those breeders on the gumtree list..... Thanks so much Kaz for all of your help!!!!

Yep! Which makes it hard to make an informed choice lol They said that it is because Brisbane's humidity can cause a lot of disease in cages if they aren't insulated properly from the heat etc I had my heart set on a smaller budgie, to tame and bond with, but now concerned about the timing of it being in summer and height of humidity here.... Would I need to feed a 7-8week old one differently to say a 3month old budgie? I have only ever gotten mine from the pet shops, and I am sure that they have been older than 6 months when I have gotten them! So I have no reference point. Gawd i must be annoying with all of these questions at the moment lol

THanks Kaz! Will check out the other link! The other breeder I spoke too told me that it isn't advised to get babies that are ready at this time of year, and been through the heat and humidity of summer.....that they are more prone to disease and problems..... I'm not really familiar with young young budgies, so not sure if a 3month or 6month old would be better for me? I want to be able to tame it, but sounds like there is a more details feeding process with baby budgies.... Just want to be fully informed before I head into getting another budgie.... Off to check out the other link!

I thought the same Kaz! Surely it would fly away....very weird.... This one costs $20 more than the others. The breeder told me that the colour is rarer to breed....hrmmm Problem I have is not knowing the reputation of the breeders.....very frustrating! Just spoke to another breeder who has 3 month old white ones.....might be a better option...? Arghhh frustrated lol

One other question, are purple budgies rare to breed?

Just got an SMS from a breeder with a photo of a potential budgie I could buy. I'm not sure about the colour yet.....I can get picky with colours lol and have a different looking budgie each time. But was hoping for a boy budgie... This one is only about 8 weeks old.

That's why I want to buy from a breeder. As I don't trust the pet shops anymore. Problem is finding a breeder and finding one that has any available to buy.

I agree Maddy. My preference is to buy from a breeder. In the past I have always bought from pet stores, but starting to feel less and less impressed with them. I was just asking how old they usually are in pet stores as I have had a few breeders tell me they have budgies available, but are not babies any longer.....moreso around 6months old etc. I just have no idea whether that is the type of age I have gotten budgies in the past (from stores), or whether they have been younger. I'm also not having much luck finding many breeders in Brisbane. I am sure that they are out there, but I can't find many.

Out of interest, how old are baby budgies when they are sold in pet shops? Just working out a point of reference for when chatting with breeders about what I am looking for. Are they 'technically' baby budgies when sold in pet shops?

Robyn, I was always dubious about the seed mix being blamed for the issue. I have fed all of my past budgies on it and none had an issue. To be honest, they kind of guilt tripped me trying to make out that I wasn't looking after him properly......When I was..... They sold their own seed mix in the vets so maybe that was the intention to get me to buy that instead. I was certainly convinced it was the trill mix after the 2nd time that he had to go into surgery....Probably spent a good $1000 at least on surgery and tests etc....He was such a part of our home though so we couldn't imagine NOT doing anything for him. A lot of people would probably think we were nuts lol But I don't care! Yeah, will have to search out some budgie clubs, as I'm not having much luck finding any breeders.... Thanks Robyn!

Awesome idea Kaitlyn! Thanks so much!

Hi there! I'm looking for a breeder in Brisbane that would have a young male budgie available to purchase? Can't seem to find many breeders online when searching. Thanks, Louise

Hi everyone! I'm from Brisbane. I have had budgies as pets for most of my life. Ever since I was a kid we had budgies, once as a pair and the rest of the time just individual budgies. My latest budgie Frankie died about a week ago I was heartbroken. We had him for about 6 years. He had had a realllllly rough time of it. Several years ago he started developing a darker toe on his right foot. We rushed him to the vets at Mt Gravatt and he ended up losing that toe. The vets told me that it was because I was only feeding him seed (Trill) and that something was going wrong where his body was throwing out blood clots into his leg/foot. This was a shock for me as we had alwayssss fed out budgies in the past with Trill, and then supplement with vegies. The vet likened trill to maccas for humans.......that put it into perspective. So we tried to get him onto other types of food.....but he was majorllllly fussy....and stubborn.....We ended up going back to trill as he just wasn't going for it....he ended up getting sick again last year with another toe on the same foot going dark in colour....and him struggling to breathe......The vets again put him through surgery and removed another toe. He spent weeks with a 'cast' on his foot...and us hand feeding him medication..... Recently he had realllly improved in himself and was so happy and full of energy.... Then last weekend I went out to his cage like any other day, but he had passed away during the night. It was sudden....no sign of problems with his foot......not sure what happened. Lots of tears..... The house is really quiet without a feathered friend here.....so we are thinking about getting a new budgie very soon. Learning from previous mistakes, we will be concentrating a LOT more on the food side of things with this next budgie......NO trill will be in this house lol We have only ever bought our budgies from pet shops in the past.....but I have been turned off pet shops more and more over the years......so we want to go through a breeder this time..... I've been looking online, but there is hardly any info on budgie breeders in Brisbane......1 or 2 come up on google.....arghhhh where is the best place to contact to get some names of people I can contact? I am in the south-west side of Brisbane. Thanks, Louise