New Bugie - Miss Ernie?

Hi All,

Great info on this site. Its fantastic. However, I wish I had seen it before yesterday. On Sunday, we bought a budgie for a cage that had been gathering dust. We cleaned it out, got some seed, millet and grit and went down to the pet shop in Queen Vic market to buy a budgie...

I know that males *can* talk, and think they are generally better to keep if you are just having one in a cage (let me know if i'm wrong). So we let the lady know that we only wanted a young male budgie. We saw one that we were told was a boy, that had a beautiful blue coloring (like Burt, our family budgie when i was growing up... RIP) bought it and called it Ernie...

But lookng at the FAQ, I am almost positive that its now a girl... renamed to Miss Ernie

My question is, if i am planning to only have one (i do not mind if it doesnt talk really) should I keep the hen. Or should I take her back to the shop and swap her for a boy... I am slowly bonding with it... Its only been one day and she will eat millet from my hand... She even let me stroke her belly for a few minutes before she moved away.

My only goal is to have a budgie that will be affectionate, can behave ourside the cage and will interact with people. Let me know if you think Miss Ernie might be too old from that. So far, I have checked her iris, it is still black and she has all her bars on her head.

Miss Ernie 1

Miss Ernie 2

Thanks guys in advance.

Cam