Dante

Hi All, I have recently taken in two budgies and told they were both male - can anyone confirm? Unfortunately I'm not very good at determining genders yet. Also, can anyone tell their approximate ages? Bird 1 (no colour on any feathers at all, even on back or tail). Bird 2 Thanks for your help

Thank you I have taken the remaining egg away as I couldn't see any red glow, or evidence of fertility, after candling the egg a few times over the last two days. I have now separated the budgies into two large flights, one for males and one for females, to give the budgies a break for a while. I'll leave the budgies for a few months at least before thinking about possibly letting them breed again. I want to make sure they're really ready next time. On the plus side, both Audrey and Tank seem quite happy in their respective cages and Audrey is eating on her own again and looking healthier already

Welcome

Thought I'd give an update. Audrey is now sitting on just 1 egg. Found all the other eggs broken this morning in her nest. It didn't look like any of them were fertile. Given there was only Audrey and Tank in the cage, I'm not sure how the eggs got broken. The one egg that was left had a small crack it in, which I fixed with a tiny piece of tape, and now she is back sitting on it. I have no idea if that egg will even still hatch, given that it was damaged. Should I leave her to sit on this one egg or remove it, give them a break, and let them try again another time? Clearly my budgies are not doing well at this breeding thing, though it was their first time, so maybe that was the issue?

Thank you Much appreciated.

Thanks for that. Hopefully I can get better at picking the genders of my budgies! It's great that you've been breeding for a while now. People that have continued with breeding budgies over a number of years gives me hope that I can get better at it too, over time Will just keep reading, asking, learning and hoping my budgies stay healthy and happy. Have read a lot of great tips on this website already, so thanks to everyone that has posted!

Thank you for that Yes, some of my pets are not doing so great, but hopefully it's just temporary. The cockatiel spends all day whistling 'oh my darling Clementine' to my dog, who loves it, and sits by the cage wagging his tail. It's good that the two of them are keeping each other company with their joint woes. Green budgies would be great. Will be interesting to see what I end up with, though am really just hoping for any at this point, given that Audrey is a first time Mum. I stopped my other budgies from breeding a second time as I didn't really want more budgies right now, given that the other female has 9 eggs currently. I was worried I'd end up with some sort of 'baby budgie explosion', and then I wouldn't be able to bear to part with any of them! By the way, does anyone know if there a post somewhere on this website, or any good reading, which gives a description on pairings and possible colour outcomes?

That's okay that Scout is a female. She's still very sweet. Funny that the breeder didn't know... either that or he just told me it was a male, knowing I was hoping for one and couldn't tell the difference! Oh well, I'm still learning. Maybe, if the eggs from Tank and Audrey's pairing hatch, I'll get some males from there. I'd love to have a large aviary but, unfortunately, living in a rental property they won't allow it. Most of the birds I have weren't hand raised, but they were able to be tamed pretty quickly, so I guess it doesn't really matter. Do you mind if I ask - how long ago did you start breeding budgies? How do you decide which babies you'll keep (if any)? Do you have a limit on the number of budgies you will keep in your aviary at any one time? Thank you for answering my questions, by the way, as I know there seem to be a lot!

If Scout is a female that would be funny as I got it from a breeder who assured me it was "definitely" a male. One of my female budgies, Neo, chose Scout, and I was trying to balance out the genders in my cage, but I guess that didn't quite work out! Thanks for letting me know about the colouring I looked up a few pictures on the internet and Scout definitely looks like them. Just curious - you mentioned you don't tame your birds, is that because they live in a larger colony and it's not practical?

Thanks for letting me know. Maybe it's just this hen and, like you say, I'll have keep a close eye on her and make sure she's getting the right foods. I know she hasn't bred before either, so I have no idea what she'll be like as a first time mum. I did have another pair sitting on eggs but, the other morning, I came in to find their eggs broken on the floor of the cage. They were in a cage on their own, with a breeding box, so I'm not really sure what happened. It looked like they tossed the eggs out. Have returned those budgies to the main cage, with no nesting boxes, to stop them breeding again so soon. Am now just left with two breeding budgies, Audrey and Tank, so I won't be able to foster any of their eggs out unfortunately. By the way, any ideas what colourings might result from the offspring of these two? Just curious as the hen and cock are both so different. I think maybe I'm worrying more than I should as, at the moment, I'm also looking after a cockatiel with a respiratory illness (that someone else couldn't take care of anymore) and my italian greyhound dog fractured his leg late last week, so I'm busy carrying him about with me everywhere as well. Hopefully the hen will be okay. I'll keep you posted.

Scout is very cute and loves to spend time just sitting with me getting scratches, so I guess I don't mind so much about the regurgitating. With any luck he'll grow out of it and attach himself to another budgie friend instead. I like his colouring but haven't seen another one like him. Went through a few websites looking but he doesn't quite fit anything that I could see. Thanks for letting me know, it's much appreciated

Hi, I have two show budgies breeding for the first time (both budgies are 18 months+ old) and I need some advice, as I haven't bred budgies before. The hen (Audrey) appeared to be in great condition when she started laying unexpectedly, but she now has 9 eggs and is looking a bit frazzled/tired/thin to me. The male (Tank) appears to be doing the right thing - he feeds her constantly and sits in the nest box with her a lot, but any time she comes out for a break, he is still trying to mate with her and just won't leave her alone. She spends less than a minute out of the nest being hassled constantly, before going back in, and she doesn't eat anything on her own. Is it normal that the hen appears so tired, before the eggs have even hatched? I guess I'm worried how she is going to go if she potentially still has to look after up to 9 chicks. I've attached some photos, maybe she looks normal for a hen at this stage of breeding and I'm just being over-concerned?? Having not seen any other hens mid-breeding I really don't know. Any advice would be much appreciated, as I would like to put her health first. Thanks Audrey before breeding: Tank and Audrey today: Audrey today: Tank:

Hi, I have a baby budgie, Scout, who is 4 months old now - I have had him since he was 10 weeks old. He is hand-tame and, ever since I got him, he has been happy to sit on my finger and let me scratch him around the head and neck. He always chirps happily when I do this, and tilts his head to each side so I can scratch him. The last two times I have done this, he has bobbed his head and regurgitated seeds onto my finger after I finished scratching him - is it possible he thinks I'm another budgie? I've only ever heard of budgies doing this with other budgies and not with people. He's not sick and it's definitely regurgitation and not vomit. He chirps away quite happily after he's done it. Is it just a sign of affection? By the way, is anyone able to tell me a little more about his colouring as well? Thanks

Thanks Glad to know they're both males. Such different little personalities though! I had Dee first and took him along to a breeder, so he could choose himself a friend, and he chose Yoshi. There were 6 other baby budgies there of various colours and I sat Dee next to each of them, but he only wanted Yoshi and just kept flying over to him. The two of them were inseparable from their first meeting. I thought that meant they were male and female, but I guess not! I let my budgies choose each of the new additions to their family (except for the budgies I took in from other people), and they all seem to get along famously. It means I didn't get choose the colours of my budgies, the budgies chose for me, but it seems to have worked out well

Thank you I've been reading through all of the information on here to help answer as many questions as possible. Want to try and avoid asking things that someone has covered before, if that's even possible! To be honest, it's a bit daunting having some of my budgies breeding already and not having been through the process before. I want to make sure I'm doing all the right things to give them the best chance. They get fresh food daily, a selection of: sprouted seeds, egg food, millet spray, spinach, broccoli, sweet potato, bean sprouts, grass seeds, chickweed, kale, parsley and budgie pellets - in fact it's probably way too much variety, but I want to make sure I cover everything to keep them healthy. I have my own vegetable garden, which certainly helps! They also have calcium blocks, iodine blocks and cuttlefish in their cages. One of the female show budgies, Audrey (1 1/2 years old), has now laid 9 eggs, which seems like a lot to me. She's looking quite frazzled and kind of thin, even though the male is really good and feeds her all the time. I am just assuming this is normal for her having laid so many eggs. At least she is sitting on them all the time now. I decided to clean her up today with a cloth and some warm water, as she had food caked all over her head and cheeks, presumably from the male feeding her. She seemed to perk up a little after that. I'm worried, if she's already tired, how she's going to go raising and feeding 9 chicks, assuming they all hatch. I guess time will tell. Anyway, thanks for your support, it's much appreciated I look forward to hearing from everyone and seeing pictures of everyone else's beautiful budgies!

okay, will do. Thanks

Yoshi is 7 months old & Dee is 8 months old. Here are a few more pictures that may help, though it was hard to get Yoshi to sit still! I had to try and bribe him with grass seeds: Finally got one of Yoshi and Dee sitting together, for comparison: Thanks for letting me know about the other birds

Yes the birds are inside a lot of the time and definitely sleep inside, covered up at night. If it's a nice day I'll put their cages outside in the shade. If her eggs are duds will she abandon them, or will I have to take the eggs away eventually? Thanks for all your help, it's been much appreciated

Thanks for letting me know Once both pairs have raised this clutch I'll take the nest boxes away. Quick question - The older female show budgie doesn't sit on her eggs at all overnight, even though she has 5 now, but she sits on them constantly during the day - is this normal? I didn't have any nest boxes in the cage originally, just some little coconuts with ladders attached so they could hide if they wanted to. They seemed to love playing in them... and sitting in them... then I found eggs in them. I quickly bought some nest boxes to put in the cage, so I could move the eggs to those instead. I figured they didn't really want to raise a family in a tiny coconut. They've been quite happy with their new nest boxes ever since. Now I know not to put anything in their cage that they can decide they might want to use as a nest. They should put warnings on those little coconuts. Oh well, live and learn! http://www.amazon.com/Prevue-Hendryx-62801-Naturals-Hideaway/dp/B007PO3AEC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426637391&sr=8-1&keywords=coconut+toy

Thanks, much appreciated Will definitely help when I have to separate them all by sex soon. I was getting confused with the two yellow ones, as their cere's look different. Dee's is a very bright pink/violet all over, while Yoshi's is pink but has a whiteish ring around the nostrils, which Dee doesn't have. I kept thinking that must mean they are different sexes. They are both totally different behaviour-wise too, though I guess that doesn't often tell you what sex they are. Dee is very quiet and peaceful, while Yoshi bounces around the cage all day long, whistling his head off. If I put Yoshi on my shoulder, he loves to sit and whistle directly into my ear, which is quite piercing!

Thanks Yes, the last two pictures were actually taken around 7 months ago - just some of my favourite pictures. I know not to breed budgies younger than at least a year old, and preferably older. The ones that have started breeding are well over that age. I actually have another large cage sitting empty in the room, ready so I can separate the younger budgies by sex once they start to show any interest in breeding or coming into season. It's just nice to watch the younger ones growing up and playing together for the moment I had put the much older 4 budgies in a separate cage a little while ago, but they only started breeding about a week ago. I guess I figured (wrongly) that they wouldn't be interested in breeding this time of year, with the colder weather!

Oh, I forgot to add that the budgies that are breeding are well over a year old and are ones I took in from other people. I know not to let my younger budgies breed. I guess I just wasn't expecting them to pair up so quickly and show an interest in breeding, given the colder weather of late!

Hi All, I need help confirming the sex of a few of my budgies, as I am fairly new to the budgie world! It is mainly the two yellow budgies (not sure of the correct name for their colouring) that I am unsure of. Yoshi: Yoshi (younger): Dee: Princess (the un-tameable!) Princess (younger): Neo: Neo (younger) My other budgies I'm pretty sure of their sexes now. Having looked at other people's photos, I've been going under the assumption that Princess and Neo are females, Dee is a male? and Yoshi is a female? Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks

Hi All, I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm quite new to owning budgies (9 months now) and have been largely learning as I go. This forum has been invaluable for helping me with my flock so thank you I started with 3 hand-reared budgies that I bought from a breeder 9 months ago, took in 5 budgie adoptees (including a show budgie) that others could no longer take care of, purchased a show budgie and also now have a sick cockatiel that someone couldn't take care of (he's being cared for separate from my budgies, but within ear-shot!). I started out with a medium-size cage, and have now upgraded to 2 large cages in my back sunroom. Most of the budgies are hand tame now and will quite happily sit on my hands and shoulders as I clean their cages (except for one, which seems totally un-tameable despite my best efforts!). I spend about two hours a day with them a day, including some supervised free flight out of their cages in the back room. If it's a nice day, their cages go outside in the shade. They seem very happy and I do love them all! Hoping for some advice on this forum as I have a few questions about confirming the sex of some of them (they are various ages), picky eating habits and also breeding, as their are now two breeding pairs with 9 eggs between them which, to be honest, I wasn't expecting so soon. Look forward to chatting with you all Here are some pictures: