tales from a budgie owner

[lovleeko]

My little guy or gal is a peach. It's still a baby and loves to preen my hand. Or even more so my husbands ruff hands. On me it can get a bit uncomfortable. LOL I thought the wings were clipped well until yesterday when my little lovable budgie flew over to sit on my husbands shoulder. It was half way across the room. Now he never stays on the top of his cage, he comes over to us. It is kind of cute though becuase he never goes to get into trouble. He just wants to be near us. Yesterday it was like something out of a movie. I said here he comes Corey (my husband) And he stuck out his finger and two seconds later there was a budgie on it!! :) When I TRY to put him back in the cage he crawls up my arm to come out. It's so cute!! He doesn't like us to touch his back yet but we'll get there. It's pretty funny that my husband had to be talked into a bird and now every evening there he is sitting down to watch the tube with a budgie on his shoulder! :) So that's my update. Thought I would let you guys know how my little guy (I think) is doing.


Sorry for the dark pics I was trying not to flash him LOL

http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/oo161/retrokid2002/budgie012.jpg Think I already posted this one


http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/oo161/retrokid2002/morebudgies003.jpg

http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/oo161/retrokid2002/morebudgies005.jpg

And one on the hubbys shoulder http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/oo161/retrokid2002/talesofabudgie003.jpg

[lovleeko]

Here is another of him dancing in front of his cage door saying let me out mommy!! Which he always does when we go over to him.

http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/oo161/retrokid2002/talesofabudgie008.jpg

[Deleted User]

He / She is cute lovleeko

The nostrells above the beak. If that area turns blue you have a boy. If it is pink you have a girl. He / she maybe too young yet to tell. :ssmile:

Great pics. thumbs2:

[Northernguy]

Thats a great sized cage! It looks like a happy bird!thumbs2:
Very pretty budgie!:22:

[lovleeko]

Thats a great sized cage! It looks like a happy bird!thumbs2:
Very pretty budgie!:22:


Thanks NG. A lot of good a big cage does when he is barley in it. LOL How are your guys doing?

[Sharon]

Awwww! Now I want a bird!!!:19:

[lovleeko]

Awwww! Now I want a bird!!!:19:



Get one Sharon. What's stopping you? You know what, I expected it to be worse. I was expecting this insane mess and noise non stop. My budgie gets a little bit of seed on the floor. Just a bit not much. and he communicates with us but it is not a loud screeching and he really doesn't do it for no reason. MAybe when he is playing or wants attention. We have figured out how to make certain noises that he likes and he likes to chatter back when we make them. I am a bit of a clean freak so I do clean his cage three times a day or so but there isn't much there to clean. Once a day would be plenty. I go to the extreme when it comes to cleaning (I can't help myself) LOL It's a great experience. I am loving it. I went to a bird expo yesterday. It was great. I would get more but really would like to concentrate on my little guy since he is a companion and doesn't have a buddy besides us. :)

My friend just bought a tiel from this lady and she had a macaw. Now that thing could make your ears bleed. And probably take off a finger if he wanted too. :hmm3grin2orange:

[Northernguy]

Thanks NG. A lot of good a big cage does when he is barley in it. LOL How are your guys doing?
Mine are doing great! I am having trouble getting them to trust me but I know they will come around in time!
They talk to my dog more than me!lol
They are very young still.I have my hands in the cage as much as possible tinkering with stuff.
Sharon if you have a cage set up properly they do not make that much mess.Mostly just cracked seeds and the odd feather.They make great pets/friends!

[Sharon]

NG...you're having trouble getting them to trust you? Take off the hat!!!:hmm3grin2orange:

[Red]

Wait, they call these parakeets in the US right? cool looking bird :)

[troy]

It must be one happy bird.:19:

[lovleeko]

Wait, they call these parakeets in the US right? cool looking bird :)


Thanks guys!

Sev they are parakeets. Mines an english budgie. They were bred for show and are larger and fluffier (for lack of a better word). Normally people call english keets budgies and sometimes people call the american keets budgies too. Kind of confusing. LOL Since they are neither from the states or england. But there are lots of parakeets. Quakers and bourkes and so on. So most call them budgies from their scientific name budgerigars. I used to hate using the word budgie. But now that I'm into birds when people say parakeet I wonder what type of keet they mean. I guess it's like when you think of bettas you think of betta splendons but their are actually lots of types of bettas besides splendons. So when you picture a parakeet in your head you are usually seeing a budgie although there are lots of parakeets. :) Sorry for the long explanation. :) Thanks sev.

[Jellygirl]

Love those pictures lovleeko it looks so cute.

I have owned three budgies, not all at once. They do make lovely pets and are not particularly messy unless they have a mad five minutes and flap their wings sending the seed and feathers all over the place lol. This didn't happen very often though. The last one we had actually talked - very clearly too. Don't give him a mirror for a while otherwise he will chose his reflection as his friend rather than you. Just keep repeating the words and he will soon say them back. In my experience, males are better talkers than female birds, but in every other sense they are exactly the same.

By the way they love baths and running water. If you hold him on your hand and let some water run in from the tap he will thoughly enjoy it, he may even stand underneath it. You can also buy baths that can be attached to the door of the cage. If you do put a little water in the bottom (half an inch or so), put some dandelion leaves in it. This will encourage him to go in. During the winter months make sure that the room is heated well though.

Enjoy him our first budgie lived to be 15 years old.

Jellygirl

[lovleeko]

Love those pictures lovleeko it looks so cute.

I have owned three budgies, not all at once. They do make lovely pets and are not particularly messy unless they have a mad five minutes and flap their wings sending the seed and feathers all over the place lol. This didn't happen very often though. The last one we had actually talked - very clearly too. Don't give him a mirror for a while otherwise he will chose his reflection as his friend rather than you. Just keep repeating the words and he will soon say them back. In my experience, males are better talkers than female birds, but in every other sense they are exactly the same.

By the way they love baths and running water. If you hold him on your hand and let some water run in from the tap he will thoughly enjoy it, he may even stand underneath it. You can also buy baths that can be attached to the door of the cage. If you do put a little water in the bottom (half an inch or so), put some dandelion leaves in it. This will encourage him to go in. During the winter months make sure that the room is heated well though.

Enjoy him our first budgie lived to be 15 years old.

Jellygirl


Thanks jelly girl. That big square thing you see in the bottom is his bath tub for now. The ones you buy don't look big enough to spread the wings out. Or least not the ones I find.

He actually mastered whistling today. I Was so excited. Normally you teach them to talk before whistling but we couldn't resist. That is a long lived budgie you had! Unfortunately mine wont live as long. He is an english budgie and they have a life expectancy of eight years. And that is a really old english budgie. They usually average out at about six years. Which sucks. I love it already and it makes me sad that I might not have him for only six years. :( I will enjoy it while it last though.

[Jellygirl]

He is an english budgie and they have a life expectancy of eight years. And that is a really old english budgie. They usually average out at about six years. Which sucks. I love it already and it makes me sad that I might not have him for only six years. :( I will enjoy it while it last though.

He was an english budgie - I live in england and he looked just like your new baby. It was a grand old age, but I'm sure most of our families budgies live for more like 10 years.

see this link

http://www.birds-online.de/allgemein/alter_en.htm

Does your cage have a tray for sandpaper or any glass panels to keep the seeds in?

Jellygirl

[Rue]

Very cute!

Nice HUGE cage! Perfect!

Re: The mess - maybe one isn't so bad...but let's just say my daughter spent a good 20 min. yesterday scrubbing the WALL behind her budgies' cage...it was absolutely gross...

[defu86]

Aww so cute! My friend has a budgie but it doesn't like people, it always bites people's fingers

[lovleeko]

No he doesn't really get very many seeds on the floor. I thought he would but he doesn't. Are there more english budgies there than americans? I ask this because obviously american budgies aren't from America. You can't see the english in them as much when their little as when they get older. They look grouchy when their older.I think it's cute. LOL

[lovleeko]

Aww so cute! My friend has a budgie but it doesn't like people, it always bites people's fingers



Thank you!

[Sharon]

Very cute!

Nice HUGE cage! Perfect!

Re: The mess - maybe one isn't so bad...but let's just say my daughter spent a good 20 min. yesterday scrubbing the WALL behind her budgies' cage...it was absolutely gross...

OK, that makes me raise my eyebrows!!! May I ask, what was on the wall? I just assumed that poo would be on the floor of the cage...Silly me!