Hi

This is my first time on this site and am really impressed with the wealth of knowledge that the members have.

My daughter and I have decided to venture into the wonderful world of budgies and are starting to feel a little scared that we won't get it right.

We already have a big family of dogs, cats and horses and are in the throes of setting up the aviary. We have selected a nice sheltered area and picked up a couple of tips, like putting some netting on door to stop escapes and some drop sides for when it is draughty.

 

I would love any advice you could give me....absolutely anything at all and probably all the really simple stuff that is taken for granted.

I am in a cold climate through winter and am concerned that they will get cold.

What do I use as nesting material.

etc etc

 

I would really appreciate any advice you can give me and I will continue reading postings and books.

 

Thanks

Karen & Ebony

 

Somehow I have managed a couple of mistakes on our profile.

 

We are not male.

We are Female.

 

We are not breeder and we don't own 10 birds

 

We are complete novices and have no birds............yet!

 

Karen

Edited August 27, 200816 yr by **Liv**

Welcome Karen and Ebony from another Karen alias Bubbles. Best place in the word this forum, to learn things. You can change your profile info by going back into that section and "ammend my profile" I think its says. Enjoy your time here....be active....ask lots of questions and read back through previous topics and postings on what interests you.........

Edited July 11, 200619 yr by Bubbles

Welcome

You can change the male to female etc...under My Controls which is under the big banner on the top

For aviary specific information you will want to go to aviaries forum and ask questions there you will get more response and also sift through the other topics to learn more.

 

If you have pics of your budgies we would love to see them.

Thankyou Bubbles & Lovey for your help

Look forward to many hours reading and getting informed

Karen

:ygbudgie:

Hi Karen and Ebony, it sounds like you are doing a great job, getting the information first and such.

 

What number are you planing to start with? sounds like more than one Also I see you asked about breeding, there are two ways of doing so avaiy breeding, which is adding boxes in the cage and letting them pick partners and boxes. This does work when watched closly as Bubbles does. OR there is select breeding where you take a pair of budgies and put them alone in a cage with a box. No other hens to break eggs or kill chick becuase she wants that box, and you know who the farther is of each chick which means following family lines is easier.

 

any question feel free to ask, and welcome again

 

oh about your nesting material question : wood shavings is great, you can get bags of it at petshops, some hens don't like anything in the box and will spend hours removed it all untill bare again, others will welcome it.

Thankyou Nerwen for your info.

We really do hope to get things relatively right.

We thought that we would start of gradually with a couple of birds and slowly increase our numbers when we feel comfortable that we can provide and care for them properly. We would be looking at a maximum of about a dozen birds.

We have been given about 6 boxes to put in our aviary, and wood shavings are certainly available as we use in the horses stables. We will look at purchasing a couple of caged boxes in case we are not diligent enough to watch closely enough.

Thankyou again for your imput and I will be back with lots more questions as time goes on.

Karen

Edited August 27, 200816 yr by **Liv**

the extra cages would also come in hand for problem breeders as well, also hand to have a few spare cages floating around

 

I look forward to hearing about the future flock.

I think it's great that you're looking for information before jumping into this. It shows a lot of responsibility on your part.

 

I'm going to play the other side for a bit and try and give you a little to think about as far as the morals behind breeding. These are, of course, my own opinions based on my experiences and I have never bred budgies and never will (though I did think of doing so for a while until I got more educated).

 

I had a little baby budgie named Pippin. I got him at what I thought was a very good pet store and he was about three months old. I had him for about a month. He died from a cancerous tumor. Given his age, the cause of the tumor was almost certainly bad breeding. This may seem like a "bad pet store" scenario but it isn't. The root is the breeder whether or not he/she knew that they were breeding unhealthy babies (and I'm sure they didn't know as they didn't take the time to do much more than sell them to a pet store).

 

I've watched two budgies dying on the floor of a pet store cage, rescued two cockatiels from a horrible breeder (not pet store, breeder), and rescued an eclectus parrot from someone who had it in a TINY budgie cage. That ekkie, those 'tiels, those budgies ALL start at a breeder's house. Some go to pet stores, like the budgies. Some go straight to new homes, like the cockatiels and the eclectus. Most don't just stop there, they keep being passed around and around and around until they die. Who keeps track? I've yet to meet a single person.

 

Some people breed budgies in huge aviaries as a hobby. They don't always sell the birds, they keep a good deal of them. Of course, if you're breeding you will eventually have to either STOP breeding or find homes for some of the birds seeing as no one has an unlimited amount of space or time or money. Where do those birds go? Pet stores? Directly to homes? Or is the space made by those who drop dead for some unknown reason?

 

I'm not trying to sound overly negative but do want to give you a dose of the bad part of breeding. There is good and bad to all situations. It is VERY easy for us to get enjoyment from breeding budgies for hobby. What's hard is doing it in a way that benefits them as well. Most people will say "well, they have a huge aviary to fly in!" but when I see most aviaries and the number of birds that occupy them I can only think of it as a glorified outdoor cage and those birds never get out of cage time. People often get preoccupied with "how many more will fit?" instead of concentrating on giving just a few budgies a mansion of a home to live in. It's a selfish hobby, though I understand the allure and am not going to look down upon those who do it.

 

It just saddens me. Of all the budgies out there wasting away in tiny cages, eating nothing but seeds with nothing to play with...well, think of how many could fit in an aviary and be happy rather than wait until their last breath under horrible circumstances.

 

Even if you do decide to breed (and it sounds like you're pretty certain that you will) please keep in mind that these are VERY smart little parrots that need a varied diet, mental stimulation (lots of toys!), and preferably, socialization with humans. Basically, they need everything our "pet" budgies need. Also keep in mind that if you breed, it should be done as closely controlled as possible. There are many Pippins out there and it breaks my heart. Inbreeding and/or careless breeding is incredibly easy to do. Responsible breeding is incredibly difficult.

Bravo Bravo Eterri,

 

Believe me I could not agree with you more. It is devastating to see what some people get up to and quite often it is lack of knowledge that leads them there, other times it is greed or stupidity.

 

I have a bit of a menegerie of animals at my property and have taken the time to educate myself on all of them before throwing myself into the deep end. Although some stuff you just cant learn from a book. The knowledge comes from people like yourself who are willing to offer information that can come from years of learning and experience.

 

I own 3 dogs... Zeus the Great Dane X was dumped as a puppy, Ben the fox terrier was left in a terrible condition on a chain till found by authorities, Chloe the "small, shaggy, bit of everything" was the unwanted gift that was dumped at the pound.

 

I have 2 cats... Yoshimitsu who was dumped as a kitten with his brother and luckily found and Eddie who was surrendered to the pound as an adult because they didn't want him anymore.

 

I also have 2 horses...Nugget who was not a bad case of neglect but he was just left in a paddock, far prefers the socialisation he gets now and Gypsy who was one of the worst cases of starvation I have ever seen who now is the sweetest pony anyone could ask for and definately a favourite of all the kids in the neighbourhood.

 

As you can see I have a penchant for the mistreated and have a disgust of people who can do this to any animal, including birds.

My aim is to have a few really good quality birds and to breed on a small scale, people are prepared to wait for good quality, well bred birds I am certain of that.

Anyway there is no rush and with knowledge, a good set up, a good avian vet and the advice of the lovely people on this website I think I will start off on the right foot.

 

My daughter seems to think that we will actually end up with every poorly treated bird in the district coming to live with us.......and......well if that is what happens we would still be happy if we never bred, just helped those that needed helping.

Thanks for your advice and it is nice to hear

Karen