Budgies
Shown in the picture to the left, the male budgie has a blue cere (the part above his beak, where his nostrils are) and the females cere is plain brown or just white. A budgie is perfect for a first pet, they have great personalities, not too small or too big. If you are going to get a budgie you should get one about 6 weeks old so you can tame him/her because if you get one too old it is much more difficult. I suggest that you get a budgie from a local bird breeder because normally pet shop birds get nasty habbits whilst in a cage with alot of other birds. When you get a budgie 6 weeks old it is very hard to tell male from female so that is another reason why you should get them from a breeder, they will know. What i have learnt is that the babies don't have throat spots depending on the Type of budgie. Also babies have fully black eyes (Except for recessive pied budgies, their eyes stay black). Another good sign is if you want a baby male then he would have no white on his cere as a baby whereas the female usually has white around her nostrils. Even though budgies are fun, colourful, playful and tame they can cost abit of money. The birds themselves aren't too expensive but the requirements they need arn't cheap. When taming your budgies, you might want to clip their wings. This doesn't hurt them and because they can't fly you can then tame him/her. You can take them to a vet and they will do it for you. DO NOT try to clip the budgies wings yourself as you can seriously harm your bird, only do it yourself if you know how. You can get youtube videos of how to clip their wings. The wings will eventually grow back so just keep cutting them until your bird trusts you.
For ONE budgie you need:
- A cage big enough for him/her to fly
- 1 water dish
-1 food dish
- 3-4 different toys that are normanly $10 to $20 each
-wooden perches at different hights and sizes
- budgie seed mix
- cuttle bone or calcium block
- shell grit
- Spray bottle (to give them a bath)
- Fruit as a treat (some fruits budgies can't eat!!!!)
If you are getting two budgies than you need a bigger cage and double everything listed above.
How to care for your budgies
Budgies are great pets, they are very playful and if you get a male you can teach him to talk (ONLY the males talk).
Caring for a budgie is simple if you have all the requirements they need. Like many other pet birds, you can tame a budgie.
They need to be let out of their cage at least once a day to get excersise. Budgies, once tamed will sit on your shoulder and hand and become your best friend. To tame a budgie is easy, just get a young budgie and as soon as he is at his new home let him settle and get used to his sounds then let him out of his cage but make sure no other pets are around, all doors and windows are closed so he/she can't fly away (they will if they get the chance). Everyday put your hand inside the cage so he/she can get used to your hand, once he/she is used to your hand they will hop on your hand and you can slowly bring him out of the cage. You never want to rush too fast at the budgie or he will get spooked. Make sure your budgie has access to food, water and a cuttle bone/calcium block at all times. The cuttle bone/calcium block is very important, if a budgie doesn't have one than it's beak can grow into it's own chest and die, so be sure they have it to shorten their beak and to receive the nutrients.
How to breed Budgies
Breeding budgies is also easy but can have some difficulties.
You need:
-1 Nesting box with concave (shallow hole in bottom of nest box)
- doubled from the list above
- hand feeding formular
- very shallow food/water dishes on the ground for the babies when they fledge
- wood shaving's in nesting box
- 1 TOY
- wooden perches
- egg and biscuit mix
When breeding budgies you need to make sure the nesting box is on the outside of the cage, shown in the picture below.
For ONE budgie you need:
- A cage big enough for him/her to fly
- 1 water dish
-1 food dish
- 3-4 different toys that are normanly $10 to $20 each
-wooden perches at different hights and sizes
- budgie seed mix
- cuttle bone or calcium block
- shell grit
- Spray bottle (to give them a bath)
- Fruit as a treat (some fruits budgies can't eat!!!!)
If you are getting two budgies than you need a bigger cage and double everything listed above.
How to care for your budgies
Budgies are great pets, they are very playful and if you get a male you can teach him to talk (ONLY the males talk).
Caring for a budgie is simple if you have all the requirements they need. Like many other pet birds, you can tame a budgie.
They need to be let out of their cage at least once a day to get excersise. Budgies, once tamed will sit on your shoulder and hand and become your best friend. To tame a budgie is easy, just get a young budgie and as soon as he is at his new home let him settle and get used to his sounds then let him out of his cage but make sure no other pets are around, all doors and windows are closed so he/she can't fly away (they will if they get the chance). Everyday put your hand inside the cage so he/she can get used to your hand, once he/she is used to your hand they will hop on your hand and you can slowly bring him out of the cage. You never want to rush too fast at the budgie or he will get spooked. Make sure your budgie has access to food, water and a cuttle bone/calcium block at all times. The cuttle bone/calcium block is very important, if a budgie doesn't have one than it's beak can grow into it's own chest and die, so be sure they have it to shorten their beak and to receive the nutrients.
How to breed Budgies
Breeding budgies is also easy but can have some difficulties.
You need:
-1 Nesting box with concave (shallow hole in bottom of nest box)
- doubled from the list above
- hand feeding formular
- very shallow food/water dishes on the ground for the babies when they fledge
- wood shaving's in nesting box
- 1 TOY
- wooden perches
- egg and biscuit mix
When breeding budgies you need to make sure the nesting box is on the outside of the cage, shown in the picture below.
IMPORTANT!
Males SHOULDN'T be over 5 years old to breed, Females SHOULDN'T be over 3 to breed.
When the babies hatch you MUST check them over, so you need to pick them up, if the mother or father is in the nest box then tap on it and they should fly out. You should see that their is food in the babies crop (lump on their neck) if there is a lump than all is well but if their isn't than you need to get that hand feeding formular and feed it. Budgies have a very poor sense of smell so they don't care if you touch their babies. Avoid touching their eggs though! Also DON'T TOUCH BABIES IF YOU HAVE CHEMICALS ON YOUR HANDS, INCLUDING SOAP, IT WILL MOST LIKELY HARM THE BABY!
NEVER EVER GET THE BUDGIE SEED MIX WET! IT WILL KILL YOUR BUDGIE!
Signs of breeding are, Male will Hop from perch to perch, Tap like a woodpecker, feed the hen etc.
If you see the hen (female) throwing wood shavings out of the nesting box, don't worry she is just trying to make her nest so just re-fil everytime she does this. Try not to disturb the Budgies while in breeding process. Once the babies hatch you need to make sure the nest box is clean. You need to take the babies out of the nest box and into something soft, than clean out the old wood shavings and replace them with new stuff. Once that is done place the nest box back on the side of the cage and carfully place the babies back into the box. Make sure that when you take the nest box off the cage you have something to patch up the hole so the parents don't escape.
When the babies fledge (leave the nest) you should put a little dome on the bottom of the cage so they can hide from grumpy mama as she can get aggresive. When the babies are 6 weeks old and eating seeds, fruit etc you can either sell them or keep them in a different cage. After one lot of babies hatch you should take the nest box out so the parents can have a break, it is not good for them to keep breeding constantly. So after maybe one month or so you can put the box back and hatch some more babies. After the breeding process is over and the babies are seperated from mum and dad than you can let the parents out of their cage and you can hold them whenever you like, it is very important that you spend time with your budgie so he/she can trust you and doesn't become scared of you. If you do not wish to breed budgies then simply take the nest box off so they have no place to lay eggs.
When the babies hatch you MUST check them over, so you need to pick them up, if the mother or father is in the nest box then tap on it and they should fly out. You should see that their is food in the babies crop (lump on their neck) if there is a lump than all is well but if their isn't than you need to get that hand feeding formular and feed it. Budgies have a very poor sense of smell so they don't care if you touch their babies. Avoid touching their eggs though! Also DON'T TOUCH BABIES IF YOU HAVE CHEMICALS ON YOUR HANDS, INCLUDING SOAP, IT WILL MOST LIKELY HARM THE BABY!
NEVER EVER GET THE BUDGIE SEED MIX WET! IT WILL KILL YOUR BUDGIE!
Signs of breeding are, Male will Hop from perch to perch, Tap like a woodpecker, feed the hen etc.
If you see the hen (female) throwing wood shavings out of the nesting box, don't worry she is just trying to make her nest so just re-fil everytime she does this. Try not to disturb the Budgies while in breeding process. Once the babies hatch you need to make sure the nest box is clean. You need to take the babies out of the nest box and into something soft, than clean out the old wood shavings and replace them with new stuff. Once that is done place the nest box back on the side of the cage and carfully place the babies back into the box. Make sure that when you take the nest box off the cage you have something to patch up the hole so the parents don't escape.
When the babies fledge (leave the nest) you should put a little dome on the bottom of the cage so they can hide from grumpy mama as she can get aggresive. When the babies are 6 weeks old and eating seeds, fruit etc you can either sell them or keep them in a different cage. After one lot of babies hatch you should take the nest box out so the parents can have a break, it is not good for them to keep breeding constantly. So after maybe one month or so you can put the box back and hatch some more babies. After the breeding process is over and the babies are seperated from mum and dad than you can let the parents out of their cage and you can hold them whenever you like, it is very important that you spend time with your budgie so he/she can trust you and doesn't become scared of you. If you do not wish to breed budgies then simply take the nest box off so they have no place to lay eggs.