I am curious to know how you all came about having an interest in Budgerigars and for most of you to go on to become breeders?

 

I used to have a pet budgie when I was 7, my mum bought it for me from a friend who was a breeder, at the time my Aunt was very ill and Mum was looking after her so thought a bird would be company for me.

He was called Peter and blue, that was the limit of my knowledge at 7, but he was a great bird he talked and played and was a constant friend for me.

After I got married I also bought birds for my children, but they never talked and didnt amuse the childreen as much as Peter had me, and they always wanted a dog instead, so we had two dogs that took over 27 yrs of our lives.

After the last dog we decided now there was just me and hubby that we wouldnt have any more dogs, but I couldnt stand the house being so quiet and desperatley needed company again as hubby works away and so we got Bruce.

 

When I was little everyone seemed to own budgies as pets but now I find not many people do here in the UK (well not in the area that I live), in fact we stuggled in our area to find a nice bird.. all of the birds where in pet shops and didnt look very healthy to my untrained eye, but eventually I came across a local pet shop that I had not used before, so we went in to look and yes they had some budgies, and you could tell they were only young and they looked healthy. The shop owner explained she only dealt with one dealer and all his birds had been good, so we purchased Bruce and he has turned out to be a smashing pet bird. But still I find not many pet shops cater to budgies needs, they only sell a limited amount of stuff, but happily I have found another shop that seems to cater predominantly to birds so I can now get a variety of supplies. (trouble is their birds dont seem as good to me but that is just my opinion)

 

So I am really interested to know is it much more common to keep budgerigars especially in Australia than it is in the UK, and how did you all get interested and aquire so much knowledge?

Hi, growing up my grandparents had a very friendly, tame, talkative budgie...also named Peter. Apparently I lost major points in the family when I let it out one day, and it flew off. I was only about 6 years old, but interestingly enough I still get reminded of it even now, some 50 years later, by my 81 year old father! Interestingly enough, they had several budgies after that, and every one of them was called Peter, and every dog they had was called Roger! I guess it was easy to always remember their names!

 

We had a few budgies growing up, but what prompted me to get one this time was a friend got one, and I thought what a great idea, some noise around the house, and me talking to someone/thing, rather than to myself!!!

 

I started off with one, and now have 4 adults, and 4 chicks. Chicks and their parents are in one cage, and I brought the others in this weekend from the aviary into another cage inside, as it is getting quite cold. I am hoping to tame at least one of the chicks, to have inside.

 

My first bird Harry, I purchased from a pet shop, but was very resistant to training, I think he must have been a bit traumatised. I then bought another 3 birds off GenericBlue, from this forum and was spoilt for choice, as she had so many gorgeous birds. I don't show, and only intend to breed the other pair once, as I have promised my friends kids two birds in spring/summer.

 

My knowledge is limited compared to most on here, I read lots of posts, and when in doubt, message GB, who is always extremely helpful. So in this Australian family it was common to have budgies!

My interest came recently, when a friend of mine decided to start breeding budgies. She had set up a small aviary with 4 pairs and 5 breeding boxes (colony breeding). She didn't have a clue about how many eggs, incubation period etc. She doesn't have the internet so i offered to do some research for her. Instantly i became fascinated. My mum had two empty nice sized aviaries that she said i could have and its started from there. Yesterday i bought a second hand 6x3 meter shed to start building my bird room. I hope to start breeding at the end of July. Can't wait.

I got Pebbles when I was eight. She ( I think it was a she ) was a dom sky pied ( opaline ). I'm surprised I can even remember that. She was never tame but she was let out around the house. I lost her due to not quarrantining (I didn't know!), but not after her new mate died. I found her at the bottom of the cage ( she slept there and I didn't know any better ) and new something was wrong. She lived! A friend looked after her when we were away and I didn't see her again. My interest probably got started unconsiously at the age of three. A friend was colony breeding in her aviary and I was allowed to come over to hold some three week old chicks. I fell in love lol. Then she showed my some eggs and a day old chick.

After Pebs I lost a lot of budgies to not quarrantining and a friend letting them escape. Finally I got my large cage. In it was Alfie, Theodore and Marigold. I went to the bird fair. I bought two birds off a breeder. His exact words:

You can just put them in the evening and they'll be fine.

I had still not caught on to quarrantine. So I had five budgies in my cage with a nest box the breeder gave to me. Then three of the budgies died. Only Marigold and Boofer were left. I thoroughly scrubbed my large cage with discenfectent. Then Boof succummbed.

 

I watched Marigold carefully for about 3 months before I got Skye. Then you guys told me abot quarrantine. I did that, with some difficulty from dad ( he believes that they should be treated like dogs ) and you know the rest.

I just wish I'd known about quarrantine before because now I fell soo guilty!

hi Bruces mum

my story's fairly long so anyone wants to give it a miss just scroll past

 

when i was little i always had my backside sticking out from under a rock or out from a bush bucket by my side collecting anything alive

this was from aged 3 up

my mum in dad were tad concerned as we lived in country and snakes spiders all that so they i was told off quiet often

dad would always tell me animals no matter how small or big needed their own space and they needed to be able to be free

his advice was solely to save my mum from having to buy new Tupperware i think when i think about it

at age 6 i started bringing birds home ingered or just fallen from nests

at first dad would make me show him where i found it and wed take them back see if we could find the nest return it to its place

the injured birds dad would always whip up a mix of feed depending on what type bird it was and attend to its wounds all while telling me off and giving me a lecture on life cycles and food chains extra

most birds i found had broken wings dad would splint them and he made up a cage for them to go into while i was at school and when i got home i would take what ever one was their and go to the block next door and dig worms for them turn rocks for bugs and stuff and toss them at the bird for it to eat

dad told me the first thing in bird rehabilitation was not to handle them to much feed them food as natural to

what they would get themselves and most importantly let them eat it my job was to dig and turn the dirt not much more

i couldn't help but toss worms right in front of them

most the birds while getting better had a rope clipped onto their leg dad made a lead out of rope and a stick this way intill the bird could fly completely it could not fly away and get hurt again

dad and mum got bit worryed though as instead of friends i just wanted to be around all the animals

looking after them and setting them free

most the birds were maggies and crows so they mostly came back and id get out their early morn before school and dig worms surrounded in birds :rofl: when i think about it it must have looked pretty funny i started to get teased at school id get called crow gal and the wild colonial boy but i didnt care i must have looked like one thoughs old men in the park feeding the birds at lunch and recess tossing my breed out to the crow who had befriended my for helping him he followed me all the time

even when i was in class hed sit outside the window of certain rooms making my tormentors worse

so at age 8 dad and mum got me a budgie

i was told i wasn't allowed to touch wild birds or go near them as they could make my budgie sick

they said that my budgie can sit with you inside and on my shoulder he could live in a cage in my room and come out when i get home he could even learn to talk if i spent enough time with him

so at first i wasnt to interested

my budgie was a goldenface df cobalt normal but i didnt know that

it was just green and half blue to me

my unkle breed birds so when we went their mum and dad told him all about how they got me a budgie

he could see i was not overly thrilled so he took me out side to miss back yard which was not unusual and led me to a big shed

we were never allowed to play off the back-patio and never to go through the part that led to the shed

when he opened the door i was :what: their was budgies everywhere

it was bird haven he walked me over to a nest box and showed me inside their was babys in their they were very small but he told me to put out my hand and he-placed a small chick in them

you like that he said i just nodded with a big grin

i asked him could my budgie have babys he said it could but id need another one to have babys and that their was lots for me to learn before i could even think about looking after babys

he asked me what colours i liked and asi pointed he would say its mutation and colour which at that point ment nothing

when we went back inside i was full of words telling dad and mum all about how i wanted to have babys mum was like thanks little brother

:rofl: and dad was dont even think about it my unkle came out from a room with a book and gave it to me and said when you finish reading this and you can tell me all the variety of budgies and their colours then maybe i will give you a pair of birds

 

 

so thats what got me started but it was not my unkle whom gave me my first birds as i wanted to breed show birds when i had finished reading the book and studying

my unkle taught me all he knew evey time i went to his house we would spend time in the shed

one day he said i was ready for my own birds i was 11

yes three years latter

but i did alot of things and dad and mum didnt think i had the time they said if i still wanted to breed budgies when i was 15 dad would make me an aviary

i was very upset and stopped talking to them as id put so much into learning just to be told not now

i didnt talk to anyone after that i just walked around with a frown and told them it wasnt fair that i did what i was asked and told them they were lairs

poor mum n dad

as i was doing this my dad was staying up every night when i was asleep building my a aviary for Christmas birthday combined

as well as putting up with a vry angry stubborn young annoyed girl whom was very angry a promise was broken

 

6 months passed and it was my birthday i was very ungrateful when i was given my present and told mum and dad i didnt want it all i wanted was a aviary to breed birds and that i hated it and didnt want it to take it back i dont want anything

but a aviary

mum got very mad and i stayed in my room for the whole weekend with my budgie bobby

i was getting worse and worse so one day dad came home with some budgies

one show pair and a pet pairing he just put the cage infrount of me said their you happy now but you have to make your own aviary as im not making you anything as you dont desirve it

i was very happy but their was no joy in the situation no thank you no hug no nothing just acage with birds

i took them tomy room and stared at them all night

thinking about how i could make a aviary i turned to my book my unkle had given me

i was about to get tools from the shed when i got yelled at dont you go near that shed

your dads not home

never had i been told off for going in shed

i didnt think anything but mum was being nasty so i i got angry and stomped off yelling i cant do anything :rofl:

i went to fruit shop got two fruit boxes

i went to hard wear got some off cut wire

i dragged it all home

i tryed to make two breeding cabinets but failed very very big time after that i gave up

i was over it

i had no support and my determination had be shot

one month latter it was Christmas

id been told over last few weeks i was getting nothing as i had been being treating everyone with no respect and sooking for months

so when Christmas morning came and everyone got gifts but me i was very very hurt :ohmygod: i didnt belive they really would give me nothing

i just went to my room and cried

:raincloud:

dad came in that night no one had bothered to come see how i was i felt very hurt and alone but i knew i had been very hateful and grumpy for almost a year now so i was thinking i really did deserve nothing

he sat on my bed and said well you only have yourself to blame

he said if you come out to the shed i will help you make some breeding boxes since you did try very hard

come on stop your tears ill meet you out their

so i wiped my face and went out to shed dad was banging away at my poor excesses for breeding cages and i stood their looking

after he had done he said well we better go put them in your new aviry

i was like :question:

he picked me up and carried me out to the yard in the top corrner of our yard was a 6 x 4 half covered aviry with my birds in their and a big red ribbon

all i heard after that was do you really think id give you nothing

as i ran over and stood their in ore

 

the rest well the rest is history i started breeding and i tried to join a club

thats another story

i stopped breeding not long after due to disheartening event

( you can read about in my link in the blog section under the plan it was my first entry )

http://newchickontheblock.webs.com/apps/blog/

didn't think i would ever get back into it

but here i am today

im going to do my best to for fill my dream

my bird really are my world they keep me

theirs so much to them their lovely caricatures

GB that is a beautiful story. I have tears in my eyes.

I was always surrounded by animals when I was growing up. My parents used to put seed out for the wild birds and we'd have dozens of galahs and cockatoos turn up. Also as a result we'd encounter sick and weak baby galahs from time to time so we'd also rescue them and take them to the wildlife centre for rehab and release, though many didn't make it. This sparked my interest in parrots and how to care for them properly.

 

I got my first budgie when I was about 10. He was a normal green called Peach. My dad gave me a budgie book so that I could learn about how to care for budgies and I still have the book to this day!! The book sparked my interest in budgies and I seriously thought about breeding them. I talked about it at length with my parents, and they were supportive, but in the end I think I thought it was too hard at my age and gave up. I lost Peach to a tumor and got Esmerelda (Ezzy) who was a cinnamon olive green hen. Both budgies provided so much entertainment and loved to be with me, it was fantastic. I later lost Ezzy to a breathing problem and decided not to get any more birds.

 

Quite a few years later, when my husband and I built our house, my thoughts immediately turned to having pets once again, but there was one problem - hubby's allergies to cats and dogs. I thought long and hard to think of a suitable pet and budgies came to mind!!

 

I got Alfie and Sandy earlier this year and they have been a huge success, so we decided to expand the flock to 4. Well 2 turned into 6 instead!!

 

I knew a fair bit about budgies before finding this forum, but my knowledge has increased signifcantly and I've even invested in other books including The Budgerigar and the colour and mutations one that people refer to here. I'm not sure if I will progress to breeding, but it's certainly something I'm considering and even if I don't, all the knowledge I'm acquiring is still interesting and makes me appreciate budgie even more.

Firstly I must say if there seems a delay in replying to posts it is only because of the time difference between us, I do read every day but my day goes into your night.

 

I must thank you all for your replies, they are so interesting, I wasn't sure anyone would reply, just thinking I am a nosey old biddy from the UK

Your stories are fascinating, it seems like most of you are like me and got your first birds as children, unlike me your intrests grew to greater things, while I have waited until I'm a lot older to aquire another bird.

 

I would love to have an aviary but hubby says an emphatic NO. I can understand where he is coming from though, as we have spent most of our lives tied to our own children ( well perhaps tied is the wrong word but you understaand what I mean) then looking after Grandchildren and our own dogs (we still baby sit our childrens dogs) and Hubby thinks it is time we had the freedom to go away for breaks and have our own time together seeing as he works away he wants our time together to be just us.

We have just purchased a touring caravan so can now travel around when he gets home on leave, and it is okay to take one budgie with us, Bruce has been with us a lot now when we have rented cottages in the UK and he loved it.

Having to arrange for someone to look after an aviary every month while we head off would be quite difficult, so I must be content on owning just the one bird "FOR NOW"

 

Generic Blue your story was great, I think you definitely deserved your aviary even after all your tantrums ohh if you had been mine :rofl: thats the Mum coming out in me now!

 

Some stories have been tinged with sadness as part of the learning curve but we learn by these things, I too learnt a hard lesson, after losing a bird.

We were taking the children out and they had me pretty pre occupied, our bird was always out of the cage when we were in the house and the dog we owned never touched it, you can see whats coming cant you Yes in all the rush to get out we forgot to put the bird back in its cage, and when we got back home the bird was dead on the floor. I dont think the dog had touched it but maybe frightened it to death... so one very important lesson was learnt.

 

Keep your stories coming I love reading them, and hearing about your lives so many thousands of miles away, so many similarities but so many diffrences in our lives, yet we all love our budgerigars.

Your stories are fascinating, it seems like most of you are like me and got your first birds as children, unlike me your intrests grew to greater things, while I have waited until I'm a lot older to aquire another bird. I am a kid I'm twelve! Yeah, I know a lot about birds.... I'm a junior ornithologist and my grandad is a senior.

 

Yes in all the rush to get out we forgot to put the bird back in its cage, and when we got back home the bird was dead on the floor. I dont think the dog had touched it but maybe frightened it to death... so one very important lesson was learnt. Dog and cat saliva is deadly to birds. It contains fatal bacteria ( not to humans ) so if a bird is punctured...... you may not be able to see a wound but even so it will usually die without immediate medical attention. Which is why if a bird is attacked by a cat and you bring it inside it won't survive.

I agree, GB, that is a great story!

Edited June 13, 201015 yr by Ratzy

Wow Ratzy so much knowledge for 12 years old, and thank you so much for that piece of information regarding the saliva, I will remember that seeing as I look after my grown up children's dogs, but I dont let Bruce out when the dogs are around, it was a lesson well learnt.

That's Okay. Lol, I'm the bird expert in the school.... so it really gets on my nerves if somebody thinks I'm wrong about them. For example, there is no Australian bird called hawk, it is either a sub species like say, grey goshawk or sparrow hawk or crested hawk ( another name for pacific baza ). I have been told otherwise.

PS. Bacteria also appears in the human mouth ( deadly to birds ) which is why I don't kiss my birds.

ratzy i am not saying what you said regarding saliva is not true

however im saying that i have saved many birds from cats and dog attacks so .... its all about how you go about tending the wound i think

some these attacks have been very server i think its the shock that truly kills one bird was that bad vet told me he wouldn't even charge me for bringing it in but couldn't save it even if he did try

i walked home and i worked my majick on this budgie

it was very bad could see its ribs cat had tor its wing almost off i didnt give much chance myself but regardless always do my best

i salt watered wound with warm salt water making sure it went in and around the open gash i then got cotton wool and soaked up exess water from inside open wound

i then benideende it with very mild watered down solution same method wrapped bird up patted it dry then put in a box next to heater

it started eatting the next morning

i didnt try to do anything else to wound and the bird had free range of house with seed and water in diffrent places

it somehow lived and wound healed in a months time

he couldnt fly again but could lift wing

you could see inside him when i found him in the cats mouth

i dont know whos he was but he was very lucky

so i think overal its shock that kills and dehydration from not drinking

just my thoughts

ps thanks guys i think looking back my folks weren't as bad as i think they had their good moments i guess one thing i know if i wasn't so determined i wouldn't have ever got it i would have got the second thing on my list

a fishing rod

Well , My mum told me about how she had a Budgie when she was little that used to talk & dance. So I told my mum I want a Budgie and it turned out we got 3 Budgies.

 

I Love My Budgie The Most. (Bullet)

 

The others are my brother's & my mum's.