Hello Everyone! This is my first post so i apologize if i do something wrong. A week ago i have purchased a young budgie from a pet shop (I know you are not supposed to do that but it is a very lovely shop and all their animals always look lovely and healthy), it is a girl i think and supposed to be a partner for my budgie boy . I was told that she is about 6 weeks old but it looks like she is older than that. She had problems with poops (they were abit runny, from stress i think) but they are fine now. However i have noticed that she has slightly crusty cere. I don't know if it could be face mites or is it normal for young budgies?

I dont know how to insert the images in here so just posting the links to two images of my budgie and her cere :hap:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24864949@N05/2348911237

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24864949@N05/2348911235/

 

I hope you can see them.

 

Thank you!

Hi there and welcome

 

Your budgie is fine. She has a crusty cere from being in breeding condition and now NOT.

No way is she a baby...sorry. Could be up to a year old or older.

She hasnt scaly face as her beak is clear from any of that so all is well

 

Cheers kaz '

Global Moderator

Thank you for your reply! That is great to know that there is nothing wrong with her.

As for her age, she has a black band on her leg and i looked it up and it says it is for 2008. Doesn't it mean that she as born this year? But either way, it doesn't really matter whether she is young or not for me, i just hope she is going to be a good friend for my other budgie:).

I agree with Kaz she is not a baby you can also tell by the bar lines they don't go straight down to here cere. Many pet stores will sell "adults" as babies and it is buyer beware. Either way she is a cutie and welcome to the forums.

Thank you for your reply! That is great to know that there is nothing wrong with her.

As for her age, she has a black band on her leg and i looked it up and it says it is for 2008. Doesn't it mean that she as born this year? But either way, it doesn't really matter whether she is young or not for me, i just hope she is going to be a good friend for my other budgie:).

Big surprise if she is a 2008 bird as she has come into breeding condition way too early and she doesnt actually look that young. But the legring tells the story ....unless someone put it on her ............... check to see if the legring has split in it

Edited March 21, 200817 yr by KAZ

Ah yes, it has a split. Also she has very pink legs:) but i don't know if that can show age anyhow. Oh well so we have two grown up budgies, hope it will still be possible to tame her abit.

Thank you very much for your help!

.

Ah yes, it has a split. Also she has very pink legs:) but i don't know if that can show age anyhow. Oh well so we have two grown up budgies, hope it will still be possible to tame her abit.

Thank you very much for your help!

.

If it has a split and going by the photos she is not a 2008 bird...someone's idea of a trick, fraud. a way to get more money from the petshop for a baby budgie instead of an older bird.

pink legs mean nothing (Laughing out loud) so I think the pet shop tried to pass her off as younger it is sad but you have a wonderful companion

Welcome to the forums. Her white cap, cere and iris rings tells us she is older than the shop people said.

Lovely budgie, make sure you post lots of pics as we love them around here.

Don't forget to quarantine your new bird before putting her with the others

Edited March 21, 200817 yr by Chrysocome

What is the breederscode on the ring,that will help help as to who is cuting the rings &

useing them on older birds.

She has just such lovely pink baby feet i thought it could mean she is younger )). She is on quarantine now but i can't wait for them to get together, they even match in colour )) he is all blue and she has blue bits too

 

There are his photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24864949@N05/2349278385/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24864949@N05/2349278391/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24864949@N05/2349278379/

 

And again thank you very much for all the answer! It definitely is the best forum for all budgie lovers:)

He is a lovely boy A Yellowface type 2 skyblue. They will make a good pair when quarantine is over

He is very lovely remind me of my Merlin

Thank you:) i will pass all your compliments to Boris (that is his name:) )

:D

Hello and welcome to you, Boris and his new lady friend (name???). They are both very nice looking birds. Congrats. Feel free to check out our FAQ's. They have a wealth of information. ALso feel free to ask us anything. We all love our budgies and are here to help! :hap:

Hello and welcome

 

Your budgies look lovely.

 

I am sorry they are not the babies you thought they were . Petshops :hap:

With the leg ring.. are they metal or plastic. If its just a black plastic ring, it means nothing. If its a metal breeding ring with numbers on it, then someone has been very bad in putting that ring on your little sweety.

It might be plastic but it is hard to say because she is still scared of us so i cant really get close to touch it. But why would they put a plastic ring on her leg? what is that for?

It might be plastic but it is hard to say because she is still scared of us so i cant really get close to touch it. But why would they put a plastic ring on her leg? what is that for?

People put a plastic ring on a budgies leg to identify it or a family line. Plastic rings are plain and mostly do not have lettering on.

I bought rings from my local pet shop (a good one if there is such a thing). I used them to help me identify between clutches as my babies were different shades of grey/blue. It helped me tell the difference, esp when they were little and I was naive :hap: Maybe that's why the rings were put on and not so much for record keeping.

Hens can go through a few trial runs before being bred ready. A brown cere is not always a good indicator as to a birds age or condition.

Does this plastic ring need to be removed then or can it stay there for good? I noticed that she is biting on it from time to time but not obsessively.

The rings can stay on. Mine bite there's from time to time but they don't seem to be too worried about them. If you want to remove them, I'd get a vet or experienced breeder to do it. Budgie's wriggle around when they don't want to be held and trying to cut something off their legs while they are doing this would be quite hard...