Hello i'm new here!!!!!

 

My family has always had birds, when i was little we had a great big aviary. But when we moved we didn't And I know have my own budgie :bow: I hope to breed her one day. We need to get her a friend as it stands at the moment, but those are my intentions. Plus I want to learn alot more about it before I start Well really, they start!!!!

 

Now first off i'm fairly sure she's a she. But not entirely. I've never sexed a bird before but i've done a heap of research and purple/blue cere with white rings around the nostrils is female yeah? She's only 8 weeks old said the pet shop!!! This is a picture of her, she doesn't actually have a name yet though

 

 

I'm also hoping to build my own portable aviary (because we're renting). Maybe something on legs! So hoping to grab some idea's on those as well

 

She is an unbelievable colour, i couldn't really afford her but she is a stunning colour i couldn't pass her up. At first i thought she might be a pied budgie but she doesn't have that spot on her head, so she must just have very light markings. She loves lettuce but she doesn't like the apple I gave her. I also want to train her, she never has freaked out if i put my hand in her cage and i can literally stroke her without her flinching so she is very smart

 

Well thats it from me, just thought I would introduce her Oh and any name suggestions would be cool. I want something to do with the sky/water etc because of her colour. And any suggestions if anyone thinks i'm right or wrong about the sex too would be VERY helpful to stop her getting a complex or a friend of the same sex

Edited October 11, 200816 yr by Neat

Hello and welcome

 

She looks like a female to me too

 

You are in the right place to get all your questions answered

Hi and welcome to the forum. She is very pretty indeed. :purr: I noticed you said she loves lettuce.... Please don't feed her lettuce. It has no nutritional value and can actually give them the runs and make them sick. Bok choy, Pak choy, corn, silverbeet etc... would be much better for her . Once again, welcome and I hope you feel at home here and learn all you are hoping to!

Hi and welcome to the forum. She is certainly a pretty little thing!! :bow: My guess at her colour is possibly sky blue dilute clearwing, but I will wait for others with a more knowledgeable answer to confirm or correct that for you She is very sweet, no wonder you fell in love with her

Lettuce isn't that good for them? Wow!!! I read it was! my boyfriend will be happy the bird stops stealing all his lettuce now :bow: How long does it take for them to try different foods? If you leave it in their cage for them and they dont touch it should you try it again another day or assume they don't like it? Because she didn't touch the apple but touched the lettuce. What else can you give them? We don't eat vegetables in our house so i'd be buying it just for her!!!!

 

We have lots of animals here. To be specific:

5 cats.. Syra, Zhore, Tabby, Squeeky and Kinki(has a kink in her tail)

1 dog.. Patch is a border collie

 

And now birdy (or so she has been called so far).. So now we know its a she, and its not just me making things up!!! I might call her Skye because she's the colour of the sky Perfect I think!!!!!

 

I also want to note that my grandparents have had budgies for as long as i can remember. Only ever one at a time. But they all were free to fly around the house during the day, you could get them to sit on your shoulder etc and I have many fond memories of them pooing on me

 

Because we have so many cats, her cage is in our study with the door shut. But I don't know if this is healthy for her. I want to get her a friend eventually when finances say I can, but i'm worried she'll be lonely until then because we only spend maybe half an hour in there every day. But I do go in as often as i can and spend time talking and playing with her, cleaning up her bird seed from around her cage etc. Also I want that room to be a place where she can eventually (once trained a little) can fly around. Never unattended though. If we are in there do you think it is safe to leave the computers etc uncovered? I don't want her chewing on the cables and getting hurt We could just put sheets over the desk but then i think she would be a little bored having nothing to look at etc.

Edited October 11, 200816 yr by **Liv**
changed BF to boyfriend - please dont use shortcuts for those who dont speak english as their first language

Most birds, particularly birds that are popular pets, tend to be very social and if they dont have feathered friends to rely on for their social activity, then you are it. It is generally advised to keep birds in a busy area of the house, so they feel a part of things and are entertained. I am not sure what you can do, having a lot of cats around, but I think she will get very lonely locked in a room all day with only half an hour's attention. You do need to be aware of cables etc, as budgies love to chew things also.

I'll get her a friend next week :ohmygod: I'm excited thinking about what colour I want!!!!! Or what colour might compliment her I may get an albino budgie.. they are so beautiful!!!!

And Welcome ....

 

There are great information sections in the FAQ's on breeding and what is needed to before you consider breeding

It is great to have you here :ohmygod: ... She is one pretty girl ....

Being so young, you will have to wait 12 months for her to breed, and just another word of warning - if you are looking to have a pet budgie that will sit on your shoulder, you wont get one by introducing another budgie with no training that you only get to spend half an hour a day with. I am not saying it is a bad idea to get her a friend, I am just letting you know what you will be in for if you do :ohmygod: A pet budgie needs LOTS of time, particularly in the beginning stages, to learn to trust you and be comfortable with you. If you add another baby budgie, who also has no training, chances are, they will look to each other for company and when you come along, they will both be afraid of you, reacting off each other

If you are getting a new friend for her you will need to seperate them from each other for a 1 month quarantine to make sure they aren't carrying anything to make each other sick. Where in Aus are you located?

I'm in Melbourne. So if I train Skye first.. Then get another budgie to be her friend and train him over the month that he's in quarantine that should be okay? Skye's been a very fast learner. I got her only yesterday and she'll already hop on my finger, but if i take her too far away from her perch in her cage then she jumps back onto the perch but i'm amazed how well she is doing :ohmygod: Very bright she is!!!!

 

I know i'll have to wait to breed her. There was a post on here that explained the do's don't and whens of breeding. I read that, and I want to do ALOT more research before that happens. If I think its too big of a task i'll just keep her and her friend when I get one as companions After all, the last thing I need to do is run a zoo when i'm really not able to!!!! Its still something i'm looking into She's only 8 weeks old (or so the pet shop said, i don't really know how old she is, if anyone is able to tell be my guest lol).. i've got alot of time up my sleeve to make some decisions

 

But as i do work a full time job, have to spread my time over many animals and a partner, i think getting her a companion is the best bet. I don't want her to get lonely. Let me know what you all think about training her then training her friend when he is in quarantine

Edited October 11, 200816 yr by Neat

I will have tame babies at the start of December, which is a pretty good gap for taming if you are interested. I sell tame babies for $20 each :ohmygod: I will have some ino babies, definately lutinos but maybe albinos if my male is split blue.

 

That would give you two months with just Skye plus an extra month while the other is in quarantine for her to get used to you.

Edited October 11, 200816 yr by melbournebudgies

That sounds like an AWESOME idea!!!! I may have to take you up on that :ohmygod: Do they get attached to you because you train them or do they respond to ANYONE? That really is a good idea. It also gives me time to get another cage for quarantine

I don't hand raise them, I parent raise them and handle them from a young age, they also get handled by my little boy as well (he's 4) so they are pretty well used to kids too. I find this is the best way as they don't develop any of the bad habits that handraised birds sometimes get but they are still quite sociable. You can expect them to be a little shy for the first week or two when you get them to a new home but they generally settle down after a bit of TLC :ohmygod: I am located near Heidelberg and if you give it about three or four weeks I can give you an idea of what chicks are hatching and you can come and have a little look if you like

 

I can possible help you out with a cage to borrow for quarantine if you like too.

Well I'm actually hoping to build a small portable aviary. If I can do that then I can move Skye into that and use the cage as quarantine. I'll need to have like an indoor aviary because of my dog he'd just eat the whole cage. So it'll be more like a big cage or hutch or something. Hopefully!!!! We have a spare entertainment unit, if i be super nice to my BF then maybe he'll let me put some wire on it and cut some holes in the panels and put some cute little steps and stuff in so its like a modular kind of thing

Edited October 20, 200816 yr by Neat
spelling

Sounds very cool to me

Welcome you have received alot of good advice.

 

Sunnie said she was a skyblue dilute clearwing CLOSE she is a Skyblue Dilute.

They can't be both they have to be 1 or the other because clearwing and dilute lay on the same gene allele.

If you wanted to breed more that look like her you would have to pair her with another dilute OR a bird that proven to be split for dilute. Dilute is a recessive gene.

 

Again welcome.

I have a dilute hen sitting at the moment Her chicks will be split for dilute and split for fallow

Thank you Elly for your correction. I am a bit unsure as far as dilutes are concerned

I think your plan to wait for a hand tamed budgie from MB is great and then another month of working with them both seperately might even give you two tame babies!!

 

Good luck with all your endeavours, you sound like you are looking to do all the right things by your new babies :party0011:

Well I'm actually hoping to build a small portable avery. If I can do that then I can move Skye into that and use the cage as quarantine. I'll need to have like an indoor avery because of my dog he'd just eat the whole cage. So it'll be more like a big cage or hutch or something. Hopefully!!!! We have a spare entertainment unit, if i be super nice to my BF then maybe he'll let me put some wire on it and cut some holes in the panels and put some cute little steps and stuff in so its like a modular kind of thing

 

 

If you go to the Aviary forum on this site, there are some wonderful aviaries to see. Unfortunately, most are all outdoor designs and may not be in your near future. I live in the US and I don't have the space or weather to permit an outdoor aviary, so I built an indoor one. Take a look at my post and you can see an idea of what you can do for the inside. Good luck and let us know how you make out. By the way I LOVE THIS BIRD. It looks like a Skye... a real peaceful one!

I have an aviary style cage that is in my home it can house about 6 budgies and if you breed 2 budgies it would be big enough for that too. It is best not to colony breed but do closed breeding, you can also have breeding boxes too as a solution if you have more then a couple of birds.

 

You can check under our FAQ under Cages Example and you will see my cage and other aviary style cages along with those who bought 2 large aviary cages like mine and then members connected them there are many different solutions.

 

You can even build one if you like to your own size and standards and if you do that many members here would assist in you in advice and style.

Yeah I really love Skye If anyone can't tell i really am an animal enthusiast. I love all my animals and my flock keeps growing lol. To think, my flock started when I was 16, i had to literally BEG my mum to get me a kitten because she believed I wouldn't look after it and she would end up looking after it. She now can't believe how SPOILT that kitten was!!!!!!!

 

I'd get into the kitchen and make her real treats out of meat and fish and she'd sleep with me on the bed i'd clean her litter every day got her food and water whenever she wanted it (and she is VERY fussy, i guess thats a symptom from being spoilt, only likes PURE FISH flavoured biscuits.. doesn't like canned food.. and will only drink running water ie from a tap). And it grew from there. Got a friend for her another kitten called Zhore when i moved out because my mum was no longer there to keep her entertained when i was at school. From there me and my two darlings moved from perth to melbourne (they really hated going in the car, but for some reason after the plane ride over here they didn't mind the car at all!!! ). Moved in with my partner gained another cat as he had a cat already Tabby. Tabby had kittens, we kept two and named them Squeeky and Kinki. Gained a dog out of my pure insanity lol he was already named patch we got him when he was about 4 months old. Had fish but partner killed them by cleaning their tank with ammonia even when I warned him against it but he didn't listed. Then we found a bird cage during hard rubbish collection about a week ago. The plastic parts I soaked in warm soapy water for 5 days in the laundry sink changing the water each day and rinsing it every day. And the metal bit soaked in disinfectant in the bath for 5 days lol. Then I went and got Skye

 

I think she's lucky to come to a household like yes. Sure, there's 6 animals that would quite happily eat her, but the pets here become family So she's part of a family now, not a pet bird to someone

 

I do feel quite enthusiastic about making an indoor aviary! It gives me a great feeling making something and then seeing my friends use it!!!! We made our dog house, it took us 3 weekends, lots of time, lots of swearing and i nearly drilled through my hand but we got there and its awesome and Patch loves it! So i'm sure to enjoy making a nice big aviary for my feathered friend

 

What is a Skyblue Dilute? Like, where did it come from? Obviously Skye came from when one Skyblue Dilute loved another Skyblue Dilute But how did they originate?

Edited October 12, 200816 yr by Neat
Changed Avery to Aviary

Hi, Welcome

 

You actually can feed your budgie lettuce sometimes as a treat, it has to be a leaf lettuce or romania lettuce but not iceberg lettuce. Since iceberg lettuce is mostly water and it has no nutrient value.

Is you cage round? if it is, it is not a good cage to keep your budgie in. It has no corners and it makes birds feel stressful. A rectangular cage is better.

Where in Melbourne are you? I'd be happy to help out with some housing for your budgies. I actually have a box which already has wire on it which you are welcome to if you like. It just needs the doors cut

I think we better ask our real estate first LOL. We're renting, and aren't actually allowed animals. And if you'll see the list of animals i have this is a disaster lol. But dogs and cats can be put in travel cages and hidden in cars parked a street away. An aviary cant!!! I'm actually going to ask their permission to have a few birds, if they say yes, aviary goes ahead! If they say no, it will just have to be the cage, as a cage you can hide! Surely they can't mind a few birds, its not like they are let free to roam around and destroy things!!!!

Edited October 12, 200816 yr by maesie
Spelling