Differences between budgies

[Laraine]

Hi

Can anyone tell me the difference between English budgies and Australian budgies. Is it size, colouring etc.? Are English budgies hardy in the Australian climate. Thanks.

[vankarhi]

The english budgies are bigger with boofier heads. There is a lady down the road from who breeds them so they must be ok in our heat. I haven't seen her birds yet.......but will get around there one day to have a squiz. ;D

[robert]

Laraine.The English budgie is a show Budgie and is larger than the American or bush Budgie.It also behaves a lot differentley than the bush Budgie.The American Budgie is the budgie normally kept as a pet .Both of the above have many colours. The bush budgie is the budgie found in the wild. Recently there has developed a greater interest to keep them in Aviculture. The American Budgie behaves more like the bush budgie.All the budgies should survive in our weather. from Robert and Angel Ps Hope this might be helpfull en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budgerigar

[vankarhi]

that is an excellent link Robert ;D

[abby-oldaccount]

From what I've heard the American and bush budgies are alot more hardy then the English. The English have been purpose bred for the boof head and size. They are apparently a little more placid too. Personally I prefer the little guys with the their bright effervescent personalities. Just can't take to the English. That's just me and we all have different tastes of course.

[megzly]

we get little bush budgies here and everynow and then i get to have the experience of handraising them, theyre happy little chaps and make great little pets, they have lots of energy and are really hardy too. I did have some other budgies (not sure what they were but) and i found them not to be as hardy, they got sick easier even though they were treated the same

[vankarhi]

I am not sure what Peppa is (but he definetly is not an English budgie). He is small and just looks like a normal budgie.....possibly a bit smaller........but he has such great personality and is always on the go. He is such a cutie and just loves to play. ;D

[Karen]

I have kept and bred both SHOW budgies and PET budgies and they are the same in temperament and hardiness.
The only difference is their size and the show budgies are stockier.

[avril]

There are two different body types of budgies to choose from. The American budgie is the most popular and is the one that is most often seen in pet stores. The American budgie is around seven inches long, the tail making up a lot of it's length. It's head is small and is proportionate to the body. The American budgie has a life expectancy of 10-15 years. The other body type of budgie is the English budgie. The English budgie is mainly kept as a show bird. The head and chest on an English budgie is larger than the American budgie. The English budgie has a life expectancy of 7-8 years. They are not as popular as the American budgie. The English budgie is more expensive than it's American counterpart. The American budgie has a reputation as being a better talker and being smarter.

[gooka]

I have both english and american budgies in y avairy and I have to say that in my opinion, the american ones seem to be a lot more active than the english. The english that I have were bred by a friend of mine to be show budgies but for one reason or another they didnt cut it (one has a woopy leg, one has a woopy eye etc) and they are lovely birds in their own right.
if I had to choose between them i would take the smaller, more active americans, but thats just because i think they have bigger personalities (but thats just my opinion!!)
I have hand raise quite a few budgies and have found that they have very differing personalities. most of them are extreamly cheeky and quite intelligent tho!!

PS: Tracey....Peppa is an american budgie...his mum is normal size but his dad is quite a small bird aswell. they throw a few smaller kids but the smaller ones are just as healthy as the bigger ones I have found

[vankarhi]

so why are they called American?? when budgies are actually australian??? The english ones yes I understand they have been purpose bred for showing, but what is the difference between American and Aussie......is it the colour???

[gooka]

as far as i believe, the true "aussie" budgie is the little grren ones that live out in the wild. They only come in one colour which is sort of an olive green, from what i understand, they are a little bit smaller in six=ze again to the americans.
there is a possibility that Peppa has some "aussie" in him as the man I bought peppa's dad from aussies and americans (maybe there was a cross breed thing hapening there or something, im not 100% sure!!)

[vankarhi]

oh ok. Because of his size I was thinking he was Aussie but wasn't sure. Doesn't matter he is a true blue dinky di aussie to us and he is loved anyway ;D

[Karen]

The reason is that americans like to claim everything as theirs. Budgies evolved in Australia and no amount of inbreeding to change colours etc in another country will make them anything else other than an Australian Budgie that comes in the Wild type, the Pet type and the Show type.
There is no such thing as an American or English budgie.
All dinki di Australians know that and get very pee'd off when overseas people call them anything else.
A point I raised recently to a couple Americans was: If we had some American Bald Eagles and bred them for a number of generations and changed their size & colour would the American people happily allow us to call them Australian Bald Eagle? Wouldn't they effectively become Australian Bald Eagles?

[megzly]

while on the subject a little flock of budgies flew over the house today ;D

[luisa]

USA people (to say in a diferent way) likes to touch averythink and changes something like size, color etc and then they say they have a new brand(?), I heard alot in dogs ejample: AKITA now they have American Japanese Dog, that is the same AKITA but bigger. Other example Collie if you see an American Collie its look very big sometime most than a german sheepherd if you put behind and Europe Collie you think Europe Collie is an ..... sorry now I don't remenber the name but its from Ireland like Collie same colors but very small.

this is very thrue
"The reason is that americans like to claim everything as theirs"
They must own everything etc.
I'd never heard before they have american budgies

[silvercloud]

Well said Karen, I agree wholeheartedly.

Yes Luisa you are right. They want to own everything, though, I should say, not all americans are like that. Are you talking about border collies or shetland sheepdogs Luisa?

[vankarhi]

Yes I was thinking the shelties as they are the smaller "lassie" dogs.

[vankarhi]

megzly said:

while on the subject a little flock of budgies flew over the house today ;D

Lucky you Megan ;D

Yes that was well put Karen. I always thought that budgies were an Aussie icon...... now they are "mulitcultural"

[robert]

Hi All. Glad too that the bush budgie has now become more accessable to aviculturalists in Australia. from Robert and Angel