I recently bought a hand-raised baby budgie. She's a lutino and I love her already. I've called her Mango

 

I was playing with her the first day I got her and she seemed to want to snuggle in my hand cupped to my stomach. I have had babies before so I know that they like to snuggle when they're young. At first I thought it was just this but then she started pushing her head down into where my hand connected with my stomach and started flicking her feet almost like she was trying to flick my hand away, but when i took my hand away she stayed on it and just pressed her head into my palm and did the same thing. She's not scratching herself, just flicking her feet on my hands.

 

What is this?? Is there something wrong or is it just a quirky characteristic??

How old is she? I know young ones do this, but it almost sounds like she is newly out of the nestbox - which to me would mean she would still want to try and hide. Maybe she isn't so much trying to flick your hand away, but maybe trying to hide deeper into the crevice your hand and stomach make?

She is very young but her cere is starting to turn brown so i guess that puts her being either out of the nesting box a while or a fast developer.

 

I thought the same thing but she only does it when i cup my hands. The rest of the time she is quite happy to climb all over my shoulders or run around on my desk! she's soooooo cute!!!

She could be like a little pied hen I got from Kaz - she likes burrowing sometimes too. She did when I brought her home - burrowed underneath the others in the cage. And Kaz also said she burrows underneath her babies when she has them hahah Maybe its just her thing? I'm sure one of the more experienced members will come on here sometime and help out

Do you have a photo of her doing this?

Edited February 2, 201015 yr by Amy S

Is it really going brown like the crusty hen brown cere, or is it more a darkish purple brown wash-over colour?

She is very young but her cere is starting to turn brown so i guess that puts her being either out of the nesting box a while or a fast developer.

 

Does she still have little bars on her forehead?

 

Do you have a picture of her. Would love to see her all nuggled up

She doesn't have any bars anywhere- she's a lutino but she's definitely a baby still, her feathers are still really fine, ie: she hasn't had her first moult yet.

 

By going brown i mean it's going tan around her nostrils and white over the rest of her cere. I've picked the gender of all the budgies we've bought correctly for four years and I've had a lutino hen from a chick before too so i know what to look for, it's definitely a "hen" white-brown, not a recessive or lutino cock purpleish pink. The photos make it look like the pinkish cere thing for boys, but the nostrils and across the rest of the cere are turning white-brown.

 

This is her being brave:

 

This is her burrowing (sorry not a very good picture!):

"Eeef I hides likes zis, you can't see me"

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA sooo cute.

 

I think she is gorgeous!

She is!!!

 

She has a ladder fetish too! haha There a ladder in her cage and she loves to lift it up and drop it back down so it makes a lound banging noise and tinkles the bell! So cute. She was skittering over my keyboard today and kept pushing the "m" key down with her head, almost like she knows her name starts with M!!!

awww

 

I don't think she's very old at all.

Awww... she's cute. I agree about the age and the burrowing. I wouldn't worry. AND... Mango suits her to a tea

Thanks everyone for you opinions I'm glad she hasn't got anything wrong with her! I was worried at first but she seems normal apart from that. hahaha

 

I'm glad someone likes her name, my Dad said I should have called her Banana!! She looks exactly like my first budgie, Sunshine and I'm really trying to tame her before she gets too old so I have another budgie who doesn't bite! My fingers have been traumatised by one hen in particular!

 

Thanks from me an Mango