Here are 10 things I wish I knew before getting budgies
I know a lot of people can relate.
And hopefully, people who are thinking about adopting a new budgie, will learn something before they do.
The cage’s size
Almost always, whatever the pet store offers you, is not suitable for your bird.
They would usually offer you a small cage, and a design that appeals to your eye.
But it is actually your bird’s biggest nightmare.
Don’t look at how beautiful the cage is, rather look at how useful and vital it is.
Read this article to know the six features you need to look for in a cage
Perches
Whatever cage you have decided to buy.
More often than not, it will come with its own perch.
Which 90% of the times, it is really bad for your budgie.
However the dowel perch that comes with the cage is mainly bad when it’s the only option.
Because in that case, it doesn’t exercise the bird’s legs or help to trim its nails, and can lead to arthritis.
Also it is worth noting that Sand perches aren’t good either!
Sand perches cause sores on the soft flesh on the budgies feet which can cause infections as well.
Try to look for a natural tree in your garden, that you know there haven’t been any chemicals applied to it.
And the tree itself is non toxic to your budgie, you can take a branch from there to put inside your budgie’s cage.
This is great because it has a natural varying thickness and texture, so that the pressure is not always on the same spots of your bird’s foot.
Here is a list of toxic and safe wood for budgies
What I like to do, is mixing between natural branches, and wooden perches to keep my budgie’s options opened.
Kissing our budgies
While we all love our pets, and would like to constantly show them affection and kiss them.
But birds, are really sensitive to our saliva because it contains a bacteria that it is really harmful for our feathered friends.
Although it is never recommended to kiss your bird, but if you ever do kiss your bird make sure your lips are dry!
But then again it’s better not to risk it.
Budgie’s Diet
Budgies need more than seeds and millet in their diet.
When you are shopping for your birds, all pet stores will sell you seed mix for parakeets.
Which is really good and beneficial for them.
However, budgies and parrots in general, love a lot of different kinds of fruits and vegetables.
And it is actually necessary for them to stay healthy.
Now not all fruits and vegetables are fine to introduce them to your budgies!
In fact some of them are very toxic, and even kill your bird.
Check this list of all toxic and safe fruits and vegetables
Dirty
Budgies are really messy!
If you don’t have anything around the cage to cover their mess, be prepared for a real mess around their cage.
When they eat they will drop their food.
When they flap their wings, when they play whatever they do they will try to make as much mess as they can.
And wait it doesn’t end there!
Budgies poop as often as every 15 to 20 minutes.
And the best part is, you can’t really teach a bird not to poop outside the cage, like you can with a dog.
So yea, it’s awesome!!
Noise
While budgies aren’t as loud as bigger parrots.
But when they start chattering, they just keep going for hours non stop.
And the more budgies you have the more powerful of a conversation they would have!
I can’t lie and say they don’t make noise, but it is adorable believe me it’s worth it.
This video talks more about why do budgies keep chirping
Vet
One of the things that never crossed my mind before having budgies, vets!
Not all of them can treat birds, and the ones they do, you need to ask specifically if they have experience with birds.
You really need an avian veterinarian to treat your birds.
Most vets are more skilled when it comes to dogs and cats, but not all of them can treat birds.
Make sure you know where to go if something went wrong with your bird.
You don’t know when emergency will strike.
Intelligence
Budgies are really really smart birds!
Some of them can even talk!
a lot of the people that have owned budgies for years, didn’t even know their birds could talk.
Or even acknowledge how smart they are.
They just need patience and commitment and they will be your best friends!
You can teach them a lot of different tricks as well, and enjoy the time you spend with them.
Click here if you are interested to know more about taming your budgieÂ
Breeding
When it comes to breeding, they can breed all year long non stop.
In fact, if you don’t remove the nest box, they would keep having chicks over and over again.
Which may cause the hen problems and exhaustion.
If you ever want your budgies to breed, make sure to have enough space for the new born chicks, and enough food.
Because they really reproduce very quickly, and you need to be careful!
This video talks about how to raise healthy budgie chicks if you have a breeding pair
Life Span
The average life span of budgies is between 8 – 15 years.
Which is a lot of time!
You can form a very strong bond between you and your budgies during their lifetime.
They are not just a bird pet!
They are like cats and dogs, they live long enough for you to feel like they are members of your family!
An extra tip
Whenever you are buying budgies for the first time, try to keep an even number of budgies.
So non of your budgies would be left out.
For example if you buy 3, 2 of them might bond with each other, leaving the third one alone.
So if you are buying only 1 budgie, that makes you his partner.
So make sure to spend a lot of time with him, otherwise he would really get bored.
Because as said earlier they are very smart birds, and need company.
Love it
Is it ok to have 4 males and 2 Females Parakeet in a large cage? Thou you said EVEN numbers is better, Please advise.Thank you Sir!
Yes it is fine, as long as you don’t introduce nesting boxes in the cage.
Is this still an active site
I have 2 male and 2 female budgie baby’s roughly 3-5 months old (black eyes still stripes on the head for the blue ones just the stripes are becoming white patches or yellow respectively all in a 52 inch cage full of treats and a strawberry atm. the yellow budgie has neon green so his head stripes are almost impossible to see. Anyways my question is when do I have to separate them or do I have to separate them because I read the females can fight to the death and I don’t want that so thinking about breeder cages for the mating season and they all have there own cage for that time and possible socialization work? Because in the mini flawk they still don’t want much if anything to do with me and buying there love isn’t working in the pack. Mind you training may go better if I didn’t keep treats in there cage.