Hi everyone! My name is Erin and I've just sort of stumbled across this forum, for which I am glad!

 

I'll tell you a little bit about myself and my bird history!!

 

I'm 18, currently a full time uni student, and working as well. But it's flexible, and I live with my parents. In terms of birds, I started out years and years ago with one nasty female show x normal aviary budgie, named Buddy who eventually was put to sleep after a nasty cancer developed in the gland at the base of her tail. She also had a 'friend' - another female budgie, Woodstock, who relished in her passing. After this, i acquired Monty, a long suffering disabled male budgie, who was tiny and unable to fly. Monty and Woodstock produced many lovely little babies, all whom have gone on to populate an aviary of a friend of my mums. I also have some experience in Burke parrots (who managed to breed once) and very a-sexual turquoise parrots. Later on i hand raised two rosellas who were returned to an aviary when their mean streaks developed (apparently they are not very good parrots to have as pets), and later raised 3 rainbow lorikeets, two of which were returned to an aviary, and one whom i kept on with a bitter and twisted lorikeet who i was given from a friend who is a vet nurse, and she came into the clinic, nearly bald...and remained that way! Recently, these two lorikeets - the last of my birds, have been returned to the avairy at my neighbours house, and I am birdless.

 

I was thinking that over summer I would love to hand raise a baby budgie, having not done so before, however having had some experience in bird raising. I was wondering a couple things:

1) At what age do you think is best to start hand rearing a baby budgie? I have access to a heat box however I would rather not use a crop needle.

2) I do not want another female budgie, as I know through my attempts they are impossible to tame, so what is the youngest age at which it possible to sex budgies and determine if it is a male?

3) Are there any significant things I should know about the differences between hand raising a budgie as opposed to something like a lorikeet or a rosella, despite the obvious size difference and the difference in a lorikeet's diet?

4) Do you know of any reputable AUSTRALIAN books that I could get hold of that would assist me in reading up on raising a baby budgie?

5) Is hand rearing a better starting off point to having a budgie that is very tame in the long run?

 

Thanks heaps for your consideration, I look forward to (hopefully) acquiring a new baby in the new year. If there is any breeder in the Melboune/ Mornington Peninsula area (i dont mind a bit of a drive, im from the peninsula myself), who might be willing to give me a hand down the track, or even sell me a baby at some point, I would love to hear from you...I'm ONLY after ONE (i must stop at one this time!!) so I want him to be pretty...haha...!

 

Regards,

Erin

Edited November 7, 200816 yr by Neat

I would say that unlike larger parrots, there is no real benefit of hand raising budgies. The temperament of a hand raised bird is actually sometimes worse than that of a parent raised one. The vast majority of people on this forum favour co-parenting, allowing the parent to feed but handing the baby as much as possible while in the nest. Birds raised in this way often wean better and are more well adjusted as pets. There are a number of us breeders in Melbourne, myself, Angelic Vampyre . AV and I are probably the closest to you (I think Dave is out in the Western Suburbs but if I was buying I would happily buy of any of us as we are all great I haven't got any chicks available at the moment as I have finished my first round for this season (next chicks will be in a couple of months) but I think AV has a few coming up, not sure about Dave

 

Should have said that a good breeder can tell the difference very young (at even as young as three weeks), it is near on impossible to raise a baby budgie without using a crop feeding method as they are so small, I use a tube in preference to a needle as I feel it's slightly gentler

Edited November 7, 200816 yr by Neat
Dave Mc Minn is in NSW

Wow. Thanks very much for the quick response. Really interesting about the co-parenting thing, it must be a trait of smaller parakeets because I do know that lorikeets become more tame without parental intervention! Sounds good though, im about to move house now so I dont think that would be the best thing for a new baby anyway...and then im in a rental for a while so I'll probably pass on getting it then too, just because it wouldnt be fair on the poor thing! Maybe when I get into the new place (i think mid feb) ill consider it all more seriously! But I'm super keen...they are so pretty...Wish they stayed babies longer though!

I would say that unlike larger parrots, there is no real benifit of handraising budgies. The temperament of a handraised bird is actually sometimes worse than that of a parent raised one. The vast ajority of people on this forum favour co-parenting, allowing the parent to feed but handing the baby as much as possible while in the nest. Birds raised in this way often wean better and are more well adjusted as pets. There are a number of us breeders in Melbourne, myself, Angelic Vampyre and a Dave McMinn are a couple. AV and I are probably the closest to you (I think Dave is out in the Western Suburbs but if I was buying I would happily buy of any of us as we are all great I haven't got any chicks available at the moment as I have finished my first round for this season (next chicks will be in a couple of months) but I think AV has a few coming up, not sure about Dave

 

Should have said that a good breeder can tell the difference very young (at even as young as three weeks), it is near on imposible to raise a baby budgie without using a crop feeding method as they are so small, I use a tube in preference to a needle as I feel it's slightly gentler

 

Dave McMinn is in NSW MB

 

I'll just add welcome and good luck. I tend to agree with MB about letting the parents raise them and just handle the bubs lots... but I'm not expert.

That can be true regarding larger parrots but if you think about many of the bad behaviours that larger birds can exhibit many come from being handraised as single birds rather than as a group, they don't get the chance to gain an understanding of 'pecking order' so they may become bossy and then you get the problems of biting, etc. I have resolved than even with larger birds I will only handraise if it can be done with more than one bird at a time (eg a clutchof two or three chicks together) so that they develop healthy social dynamics

 

 

Aaaargh your right, am I thikning of Jimmy Banks?

Edited November 7, 200816 yr by melbournebudgies

That can be true regarding larger parrots but if you think about many of the bad behaviours that larger birds can exhibit many come from being handraised as single birds rather than as a group, they don't get the chance to gain an understanding of 'pecking order' so they may become bossy and then you get the problems of biting, etc. I have resolved than even with larger birds I will only handraise if it can be done with more than one bird at a time (eg a clutchof two or three chicks together) so that they develop healthy social dynamicsAaaargh your right, am I thikning of Jimmy Banks?

 

 

Yeah... JB is in Melbourne but hasn't started breeding yet, as far as I know

Just wanted to pop in and say welcome .

Wonderful advice everyone and thanks for the warm welcome! I am led, however to question whether it would be beneficial to the baby to hand rear it (from syringe stage - i really dont like the idea of poking needles in places, just a person affliction) with another baby, and then a little further down the track the other baby is returned to the breeder?

 

Or is my best bet really waiting until they are about 4 weeks old, getting it then and doing the last bit of rearing/weaning. ORRRR just wait until its nearly done with the parents and has been handled a lot?

 

Thanks again!

Seriously a handled budgie which is parent reared will be very tame when you get it

Seriously a handled budgie which is parent reared will be very tame when you get it

Agreed. Timing is also key...once this baby goes into an aviary and acchieves independance they dont want to be held much. In conjunction with a breeder who times it right and you get your baby at the right moment and has been handled a lot...you will have the right kind of tame baby.

Wonderful advice everyone and thanks for the warm welcome! I am led, however to question whether it would be beneficial to the baby to hand rear it (from syringe stage - i really dont like the idea of poking needles in places, just a person affliction) with another baby, and then a little further down the track the other baby is returned to the breeder?

 

Or is my best bet really waiting until they are about 4 weeks old, getting it then and doing the last bit of rearing/weaning. ORRRR just wait until its nearly done with the parents and has been handled a lot?

 

Thanks again!

 

 

sometimes if you hand rear it they may not eat in the future or other health issues may occur. i suggest getting a handtame budgie from a breeder as you know its backround and you know ther is someone you can ask questions if you need to close by.well this is jsut whati have learned i could be wrong so if any one says anything against what i said belive them because they are more experienced im just learning.

We had some we handraised because the hen mutilated them. Most of them ended up as untame but relatively normal budgies. One did end up tame, but he was also a very aggressive biter and was unable to have a proper bond with another budgie and somehow, he never actually worked out how to mate properly. I don't know if that had anything to do with it. But others we had which weren't handraised, were a lot tamer even. So I didn't see any difference handraising, and it's a big effort anyway with a lot of risk involved. I'd feel pretty bad taking a chick away from a nest and handraising it if it died, if it was fine with its mother. The only ones we handraised were because they had no alternative - their mother tried to kill them - and a few of them died anyway.

Excellent. Thanks so much to everyone who has helped me out. I look forward to getting my new baby, and when I am getting closer to being ready I will have to track down one of you breeders and start putting wheels into motion. I'm not a fan of taking babies from their mother, the rosellas i raised were abandoned as was the single lorikeet. I do believe there was a reason why the other two were taken however I cant rememer it now! It was a while ago!

 

Ahhh cant wait until the new year now!

 

Thanks again everyone

 

Erin

Just popped in to say and I agree do with MB and Kaz on this subject but in the end it is your choice good luck.