New to owning budgies. Advice please

[morgz66]

Hi,
Im new to owning budgies and i am going to buy one as soon as i find the right one for me. I was just wondering how big a cage needs to be for one budgie ( i will be getting 2 soon but will just start off with one) And do i need a nesting box for them to be in at night? Also what toys, food trays and water trays work the best for you? How much do i need to feed them and what type of food? Whats the best age to get a budgie that i can train to be held etc? Also how much should i pay? I don't want it for showing, really just a pet and maybe breeding later on.
Thanks for any help. ;D
Cheers
Morgan

[vankarhi]

Morgan I was 13 when I got my first bird and it was a budgie ........ a blue boy and guess what I named him?? Blueboy........original hey. LOL

I would recommend you try to get a male baby budgie from a good breeder. You can tell them you are not interested in show quality but you would like a male. It is not hard to sex them when they are babies about ready to wean and fledge. The male has a pinkish/purple cere (the nostrils above the beak) the female baby budgie has a whitish cere. When adults the male has a blue cere and the female has a brown cere.

Hopefully Gooka (Katie) who I am getting my little boys budgie from will post a couple of pics so you can see the difference.

I have bought a cage and some toys for our new family member ....... in anticipation of getting him in a couple of more weeks. I am going to post a pic of his cage for you. Be back soon.

[vankarhi]

ok back again.

The cage I have bought is approx 18 inches high, by about 15 inches long, by about 12 inches wide. I just should measure it. ;D

But I feel it is big enough for 1 budgie........if you plan on more than one then I would advise a bigger cage like the one I have my baby canary in.

the toys I bought are from Big W and were all $10 or under. Most of the budgie toys were around the $5 mark. I bought him a ladder, a fancy swing with little dangley bits on it and bells and stuff on it. and a couple of pretty type little toys for him to chew on or hang off........budgies can be little clowns. This new bird that we are getting will also be allowed out every day to sit on Cailleans shoulder or my shoulder or even Rhianna (she is the only other person who would bother).

Hope this helps. You will be able to teach this bird to talk especially if a male, you will even be able to teach him tricks (even if a girl) and they love to be patted and scratch too.

Good luck and hope the pics help too. ;D


The new budgie cage


Singa's cage (the baby canary.........this cage is much bigger than the above one). Both these cages were bought from Silly Sollies or as it is known now "the warehouse".

as you can see this cage is more than big enough for two budgies........you can hardly see Singa in it. ;D

[vankarhi]

I forgot to tell you..........click on each picture and it will enlarge so you can see them better.

[morgz66]

Thankyou so much for the advice it will help me alot ;D
How much do you think a cage for one budgie will cost? I actually didnt know that budgies can talk, is it very hard to teach them?
Cheers
Morgan

[vankarhi]

no budgies especially the males are little copy cats. The intial words you will need to keep repeating. Like every time you go near his cage you say "hello" ........ and say it a few times. Once he learns to say hello then teach him another word........then the words will just get easier........if he is a good talker, he may just pick things up. I had a budgie who was a very good talker and could talk quite clearly. He would say Kiss kiss and kiss kiss spunky and he also barked like a puppy and many people said they actually thought i had a puppy (I had dogs but no puppies at that stage LOL) he wolf whistled too.

Just remember not all birds talk well and some will not talk at all. They also learn at their own pace. Some are very quick and others might take "forever" to learn anything even to talk.

My eclectus (the red and blue girl in my signature) was saying two or three word phrases in 3 weeks of me owning her. Where as my Alex boy (Takoda) is only now starting to talk very clearly and now just picking up so much. He was talking at about 5 months though, just not clearly. My other alex is a girl and she talks too, just not as well as Takoda............well actually she talks well, just that Takoda says much more than her.

Good luck and I hope we see some pics of your new birdie. Oh and prices of cages........... I bought the big one the canary is in for about $50 or maybe a bit more from Sollies and the one for the budgie was $49 (I think that is what it cost ......... I have written a post somewhere about how much i paid) but when I went through the checkout it must have been on a big sale as it was only $20 ........ and I even queried the checkout girl too. ;D

Just shop around and look for sales. Oh and you will probably pay around the $20 mark or more depending on where you get it from and what colour and if handraised etc etc.

[morgz66]

Thanks. Ill have to get a cage and some toys.
Should i leave the cage outside at night if i cover it over with a towel or something?
Your birds are so pretty i love the colours ;D
Cheers
Morgan

[vankarhi]

no..........there is no reason not have the bird inside. My birds were all inside but now I only have the baby canary and Takoda inside and my others are on the verandahs until I get their aviary built.........and hubby has been working very hard building it lately ;D

[gooka]

G'day Morgan, welcome!
I have been breeding budgies for quite a few years now so I hope I can help you out a bit
I am the one who Tracey (Vankarhi) is getting the hand raised budgie for her son from
I think tracey has covered most things about the birds already
I am going to post a few pics for you so you can hopefully see the difference between a male and a female.

this first pic is of a few of my breeding budgies. You can see that the yellow bird is brown on the crere (Just above the beak). that shows she is a female.
The yellow faced grey is very blue on the crere, this makes him a male...


the next pic is of one of the babies I am hand raising at the moment. You can see how it is fairly white on the crere? This bird ( I am almost certain) is a girl... (her name is Lilly!! )



The last pic is the babie that Tracey is getting. He is fairl pink on the crere..this will almost certainly show that he is a boy (hopefully, or both Tracey and I got it wrong!!!! :


I hope this has helped you out Morgan. If you want to know anything else or would like to see any other pics, dont be affraid to ask. I really am a nice person, despite what some people may say

good luck with your budgie when you get him!!

PS..I have found that most cheapie shops (the warehouse, waynes world, crazy clarks etc) all have reasonably priced cages these days. I saw one at a pet shop in Brisbane the other day for $49 and then saw the exact same cage at crazy clarks later that day (in the same suburb) for $25...so just shop around and see what you can find!!

[morgz66]

Thanks heaps to both of you, it has helped me alot. I really like the male in the first picture he is really pretty.
How old is the budgie that vankarhi is getting? Its really nice. Also how old should the budgie be that i buy? I would like a baby one that i can train myself. But im not sure how old it should be.
Cheers
Morgan

[morgz66]

Forgot to ask......If i want to breed 2 of them whats the best colours to breed with? Which ones are worth the most etc etc.

[gooka]

the baby that Vankarhi is getting is about 3 weeks old now..he wshould be fully weaned by about 5-6 weeks old (Budgies are heaps faster at weaning than most other birds!!)
After a baby fledges from the nest, The parents teach it to fly and eat etc for the next 10 days to 2 weeks. Straight after this time I find to be the best time to get one if you want to tame it (better option is getting a hand raised one but this isnt allways an option!)
If you take it from the parents as soon as it comes out of the nest it is still learning to eat and drink on its own so you may have problems with it.
I think the best bet would be to find a breeder in your area and tell them just want you want. Most breeders will be happy to help you out. You may pay a little more buying from a breeder but at least you will kow that you are getting what you want and the bird will probably be healthier than if you got it from a pet shop.
When you first get him home, it is just a matter of patients. You will need to spend as much time with his as possible and slowly get him used to you hand in the cage. Once he is ok with you putting your hand in with him you will be able to start getting him out. Clipping his wing at this stage may be an option for his own safety. It will stop him from flying too hard into windows etc and hurting himself. I dont clip the wings of my baby budgies but that is because they are hand raised and are used to me handleing them from around 2 weeks old.
hope this helps you out a bit more!!

[vankarhi]

Try to get one that has just weaned .......... around 6 - 8 weeks depending on the bird and breeder. Even 10 - 12 weeks isn't too bad either. Pet shops will tell you it is young, but I have not seen too many baby budgies in pet shops that in my opinion are straight out of the nest. Most to me look quite a few months old.

[morgz66]

Thanks ;D
Is it best to take it to a pet shop or something to get its wings clipped or is it easy enough just to clip it by myself or mum?
Also is there an easy way to find a breeder near me in wodonga, like any sites etc?
Cheers
Morgan

[gooka]

about the colours to get for breeding.....you can put any two colours together so its not hugely important, unless you want to breed a particular type, and then you need to know the genetics of both of the birds that you plan to breed with.
For example, I have a common olive female who breeds with a normal every day sky blue cock and they thro lution hen babies, as well as blues, greens, black eyed whites!!
I have another pair that consists of a shy blue hen and a mid grey cock and they have albinos as well as all different shades of blues and greys.
What I am trying to say I guess, is that unless you know the exact genetics of the parents, breeding them is sometimes a bit of a lucky dip!
I have been told that green budgies can throw any colour chicks, so I guess if you wanted to vary the colours you get then a green one might be an option?
As for the value of different colours, unless they are show birds etc I dont think there is much difference at all in the values. though i do find up here that visual violets are asked for a lot!
I juat colony breed my budgies in the avairies so I pretty much have a bag of allsorts in there!! You saw some of my breeders here earler. I will go and try to find some pics of different birds that I have so you can see a few variations.
As for wing clipping, I think it is easy but I have been doing it for a fair while now. I remember when I first did it I was scared stiff! Maybe you could ask the breeder that you get it from to show you how to do it, or maybe even do it for you?

[Jane]

Check out our links section I'm sure Robert will have listed a budgie club in there if not he has put The Pet Directory which will have ads in it for your area.

[gooka]

you couls also try the petlink web site..there are quite often bugies on there... I think its www.petlink.com not sure if it has an au at the end or not...sorry

[morgz66]

Ok thanks. I would love to see some more pics when you get some.
I do have a walk in cage which is about 1 metre wide by about 1.70m high. Would that be to big? Could i just put it in that about once a week so it can fly around a bit. A smaller cage would be better when im getting it to let me pick it up wouldnt it? Do you think i would be able to catch it when its in a bigger cage?
Also what should i feed it when i first get it? Does it need special food when it is young?
Cheers
Morgan

[morgz66]

Thanks i will try petlink and the links section ;D

[gooka]

Tha bigger cage that you have sounds like it would be a good one for breeding a couple of pairs of budgies, but maybe not the best for keeping one in if you wanted it to become tame. I would suggest a smaller cage somewhere near where you (or other people) will be so it gets used to people being around.
The first avairy I ever had was about 1.5 meters sqare and about 2 meters high and I successfully bred 3 pairs of budgies in that for years!!!
As for what to feed him....babies eat exactly what older birds eat. there are no special diets for them once they are eating on their own. I would suggest a good quality budgie mix. If it is only for one or 2 birds then personally I would just buy a box of trill budgie seed from the supermarket. They also love greens like milk thistle (if you have any of that growing near you) or silverbeet. they also love millet heads if you can get them (thins is just basically bird seed but still in the head before it is harvested!!)
If you are going to breed them, then some form of calcium is also good. something like a cuttle bone or a calcium bell. In fact, I would probably give them one even if you werent going to breed them yet! these you can get from a petshop for under a couple of dollars each!
as a treat you could also give him one of those seed bells that youcan get from the supermarket. Dont give these to him all the time though because they are sort of like junk food for the birds. they are ok every now and again but not good for them if they have them all the time!!
A couple of things that you should never feed a bird is lettuce & avacado..these are not good for birds and will kill them. Other than that though, you can try him on any type of fruit or vegies. different birds like different foods. Snuggles (my hand raised budgie) absoloutly loves eating ricebubbles. we found this out one morning when he came up to the table while the kids were having breakfast. I dont let her eat them all of the time but as a treat I think they should be fine!!