New Jersey Finch Quest

ENGLISH AND OTHER BUDGIES

There are two types of budgerigars. The American budgerigar is generally called a parakeet. The English budgerigar is generally called a budgie. They belong to the broad-tailed tribe of the parrot family.

An English budgie has fuller feathering around the face and is larger than the American parakeet and is often used in shows and exhibitions. Most pet stores carry the smaller American parakeet.

Budgies originated in Australia. Their normal color in the wild is green with a yellow face and throat and black bars on their wings, back and head. The fleshy part around their nostrils, the cere, is pink in baby budgies, beige or tan in mature females and blue in mature males. Selective breeding has produced a wide variety of colors and patterns in budgies, such as blue, yellow, mauve, violet and many others.

Budgies get along well as pairs but will bond with humans better if they are not paired. However, when keeping a single bird, it is important to spend a significant amount of time with your budgie daily. It is also a good idea to allow your budgie to spend time outside of their birdcage each day, roaming the house or at least one room. It is probably a good idea to keep wings trimmed to prevent the bird from flying out an open door or window.

While budgies are quieter than most parrots, they can be noisy and they are extremely friendly, active and playful. Budgies can be taught to talk although they are not always easy to understand because they have such tiny voices. In fact, the world�s record for the number of words learned by a bird has been held by a budgie.

Budgies purchased from a pet store may be more difficult to tame and train than budgies hand raised from a private breeder. When choosing a budgie, look for a bright, sleek, active bird with clean, smooth and shiny feathers. Their nostrils should be clear and clean, their beak clean and well-shaped, and their feet should be smooth, their claws in good shape. Birds who sit quietly with their feathers puffed up may be ill.

Budgies are an excellent choice for someone who has never owned a bird before because they are so friendly and adaptable.

BEHAVIOR AND TRAINING

Baby budgies can easily be taught to become friendly, well-behaved and sociable pets. The first step to take is learning to keep your budgie calm, which is quite easily done. Budgies will respond to the mood of the person handling them so, you must be calm yourself in order to calm the budgie. Soft background music and low lighting may also help to set a calming mood, especially when your budgie is new to the household. Keep your movements slow and talk to the budgie in a low, quiet, calm voice.

In a calm environment, the budgie will willingly accept cupped hands as a perch because they offer him a hiding place. Once the budgie has stepped into your hands, you can close them to cover him completely and bring him close to your body and give him a chance to further relax. After a few minutes of cuddling and soft talking, open your hands slightly to allow the budgie to extend his head and neck out and then slowly begin to stroke his head.

Birds can not reach the feathers on their neck and head to groom them therefore, your budgie will accept your preening of his head and neck as he would from another bird. Preening and caressing the budgie�s head and neck will help to bond the budgie to you.

Learning to recognize a budgie�s body language will help you interact more successfully with him.

When a budgie is nibbling at his food or a toy, or your finger, in a fast, agitated manner, he does not want to be bothered. Give him some space.

When a budgie bobs his head up and down he is asking for attention and would probably like to be held or sit on your finger.

When a budgie lowers his head or looks like he is bowing, he is showing his acceptance of you and is asking to be petted or preened.

NUTRITION AND DIET

Proper nutrition is the most important facet of budgie care. Budgies want variety in their diet. While commercial formulated pelleted diets do contain all the nutrition the budgie needs, they can become boring for the budgie which can cause poor eating behaviors. Budgies that are used to a seed diet have a reputation for refusing a pelleted diet. Introducing the pellets gradually by mixing them with seeds can help prevent refusal of the pellets.

A combination of seeds and pellets can be beneficial and give the budgie variety in his diet. In addition, you can supplement a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. Budgies can be reluctant to try new foods so you will need to be persistent, offering the new food several times over the course of a few days before the budgie will finally accept it.

Spinach and broccoli, which can also help add calcium to your budgie�s diet, are excellent foods to supplement a pelleted, or combination pellet and seed diet. In addition try offering your budgie diced carrots, corn and beans, and a variety of fresh fruits, like apples and grapes. Remove the apple seeds as they can be toxic. Budgies will also like sprouted seeds.

You can provide your budgie with a cuttlebone to help supplement calcium however, oyster shell or grit should not be provided to a budgie. Grit and oyster shell could be harmful if your budgie ingests too much.

As with all birds, do not feed Budgies, avocados, chocolate, coffee or salt. Chocolate and coffee contain theobromine, an alkaloid that is toxic to birds. Avocado is also toxic to birds. Foods with a high salt content are harmful to birds because they can not excrete salt.

By providing a balanced and varied diet, your budgie should not need vitamin supplements. However, if your budgie is a picky eater and will not each much fresh fruit or vegetables, you may want to add supplements to the water supply.

BREEDING

Budgerigars are easily bred. In the wild, virtually all parrot species require a hollow tree or a hollow log and because of that, they naturally require nest boxes for breeding. Female budgerigars will still lay eggs without a partner ; but they’ll be unfertilized, this is just like the eggs that hens lay, which are later sold at supermarkets. A hen will lay her eggs on alternate days; after the first one, there is usually a two-day gap until the next. She will usually lay between four to twelve eggs, which she will incubate (usually starting after laying her 2nd or 3rd) for about 19 days each. Budgerigar Parakeet hens only leave their nests for very quick defecations and stretches once they've begun incubating and are by then almost exclusively fed by their cocks (usually at the nest's entrance) Depending on the clutch size and the beginning of incubation, there can be anywhere from 5 to 15 day age difference between the first and last hatchlings.

Budgerigar Development
The eggs will take about 18-20 days before they start hatching. When they start to hatch, the hatchlings are totally helpless and their mother feeds them around the clock day and night. Around 10 days of age, the chicks' eyes will open, and they will start to develop feather down, which typically indicates the best time for adding closed bands to the chicks (These rings should be about 4.0 to 4.2 mm.)

They develop feathers around 3 weeks of age. (One can often easily note the colour mutation of the individual birds at this point.) At this stage of the chicks' development, the cocks usually has begun to enter the nest to help his hen in caring and feeding the chicks. Some Budgie hens though totally forbids their cocks from entering the nest and thus take the full responsibility of rearing the chick. Depending on the size of the clutch, it may then be wise to transfer a portion of the hatchlings (or best of the fertile eggs) to another pair. The foster pair must already be in breeding mode and thus either at the laying or incubating stages and/or rearing hatchlings. In about 4 weeks the birds are ready to survive on their own.

By the fifth week, the chicks are strong enough that both parents will be comfortable in staying more and more out of the nest. The youngsters will stretch their wings to gain strength before they attempt to fly. They will also help defend the box from enemies mostly with their loud screeching. Young budgies typically fledge (leave the nest) around their fifth week of age and are usually completely weaned a week later. However, the age for fledging as well as weaning can vary slightly depending on whether it is the oldest, the youngest and/or the only surviving chick. Generally speaking, the oldest chick is the first to be weaned. But even though it is logically the last one to be weaned, the youngest chick is often weaned at a younger age than its older sibling(s). (This can be a result of mimicking the actions of older siblings.) Lonely surviving chicks are often weaned at the youngest possible age as a result of having their parent's full attention and care.

Breeding difficulties

Often males will show courtship with males, and females will court females. It is easy to mistake them for opposite sexes, so you can’t differentiate them by this behavior. Breeding difficulties arise for various reasons. Some chicks may die from diseases or attacks by their parents (virtually always hens). Other budgerigars (virtually always hens) may fight over the nest box, attacking the hen while she is laying her eggs. Sometimes parakeets are not interested in the opposite sex, and will not reproduce with them. Another problem may be the birds' beak being underlapped. This is where the lower mandible is above the upper mandible.

It is very important to realize that most health issues and physical abnormalities are genetically inherited and are thus consequence of high inbreeding frequencies. Parasites (i.e. fleas, mites, worms...) and pathogenes (bacteria, fungi and viruses), however, are contagious and thus transmitted between individuals through either direct or indirect contact.

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