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Everything You Need To Know About A Parakeet...
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Budgerigar = Parakeet
The budgie (aka budgerigar) is the most popular cage bird in the world. The
inexpensive little budgerigar can become a most faithful companion because of
its cheerful personality, its adaptability to new surroundings and the ability to
chatter in a very short time. It can be easily trained, has a great talent for
acrobatics and has an incredible capacity for mimicry of many sounds, including
the human voice. The budgie will generally learn to talk (both sexes have the
ability to talk), and become more affectionate if it is kept by itself, due to the
attachment formed with family members.
The sex of mature budgerigars is easily distinguished. Adult birds have a waxy
skin around the nostrils, called the cere, which is a rich blue color in the male. In
the female it is whitish, tan or brown. Young budgies can easily be distinguished
from adults by their coat feathers. Young birds have striped markings running
from the back of the neck extending over the crown of the head to the top of the
bill. When their first adult plumage appears (between 3-5 months), the
immatures moult out these barred patterns, replacing them with a clear colored
mask, yellow in the green birds and white in the blue birds. The ideal purchase
for an indoor pet should be a healthy male baby bird, one around 6 weeks of
age and still in its juvenile plumage. With proper care, your budgie may live 12 to
15 years.
Housing and Safety
Cages should be a large as possible, since the
budgie is a very active bird. Even the smallest
cage should at least allow for complete
clearance of the tail and open wing feathers;
one in which it can flap its wings, fly from one
perch to another and have room to explore. If
your bird will be spending a good deal of time
outside its cage or on a playgym, the cage may
not need to be as large as one for a bird that
will be spending most of its time inside. Birds
fly back and forth, not up and down. Keep this
in mind when looking for a cage. Avoid tall,
narrow or round cages even though they may
be appealing to the eye; your budgie will do
better in a cage that is longer than it is high.
The cage should be at least 15" wide, 17" tall and 14" deep. A cage 24" by 18:
by 24 inches is the most suitable. It must be equipped with wooden perches and
preferably have a sliding metal or plastic tray at the base to enable easy
cleaning. Budgies like cages with horizontal bars since they love to climb. The
cage should contain the basics: food and water dishes (or a drinking tube), a
treat cup, a cuttlebone and perches. Budgies should be allowed a daily
minimum of 2-4 hours outside the cage. However, be aware that a variety of
tragedies may befall budgies because of their small size and bold, inquisitive
nature. They can be stepped on or sat on, shut in a cupboard or refrigerator,
drowned in the toilet of even in a narrow, partially filled drinking glass. For your
budgie's safety as well as to aid in taming, have its wings clipped evenly on both
sides by an experienced person. Watching this being done, it is an easily
acquired skill for the owner.
Diet
Budgies, like small children, are notoriously resistant to a
change in their diet. However, they must eat a varied
menu as youngsters to avoid becoming fixated on seed.
Seed provides only about one-half of the nutrients that
budgies need daily. The Association of Avian
Veterinarians recommends that fresh seed, along with
other grains and legumes (bread, cereal, peas, beans,
rice and corn), make up no more than 50% of the
budgie's diet. The next 45% should consist mostly of
dark green, yellow and orange fruits and vegetables
(grated carrots, yams, sweet potatoes, winter squash,
cantaloupe and carrot and dandelion greens, Spinach,
Chickweed, and even broccoli which provides nutrients
as well as beak activity). The remaining 5% of the
budgie diet should consist of meat or meat substitutes,
eggs and dairy products.
While not hearty meat eaters, they may accept water-packed tuna, raw tofu,
some hard-boiled egg, and low fat, low salt cheese. Alternatively, avian pellets
for small hookbills contain a balance of nutrients in every bite. One successful
method to convert a budgie to pellets is to mix them with a favorite table food
and/or add diluted fruit juice to pellets that aren't already sweetened.
General
Thereafter, it may be taught to step from one hand to the other, or to step on an
arm or shoulder. When giving these basic lessons, one must move slowly close
to the body and talk with a soft voice so the bird feels secure. Then, allow your
budgie to come out of its cage to explore, play and interact with you. Speech
training lessons should be short, frequently repeated and concentrated on the
same material until the budgie masters it. The first lesson should be restricted to
words of one and two syllables such as "Hi" or "Hello". It is easier for the bird to
duplicate high-pitched sounds like the ones in a woman or child's voice. Training
records or tapes may be effective also.
After you bring your budgie home, tame
it. Training sessions should be held
early in the day when the bird is fresh
and eager. You can tame your hand-fed
young budgie in a relatively short time,
especially if its wings have been
clipped. For initial trust, a training perch
may be used prior to fingers. Once the
budgie is familiar with perches, it will
then be ready to step on your fingers. At
the beginning the budgerigar may be
scared enough to bite, but it is
important not to retaliate, its reactions
must be ignored.
For entertainment, home-made toys are equally appreciated as the commercial
ones. Budgies love shredding computer paper strips and loofa sponges. They
entertain themselves with simple items such as paper-clip chains, marbles,
natural wood toothpicks, thimbles and other colorful household objects that
"shake, rattle and roll."
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