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The budgerigar
also known as a shell parakeet or just parakeet originates back
to the driest parts of Australia living and breeding in large
colony's amongst there favorite eucalyptus trees although they
maybe slightly smaller than captive budgies bred in the uk. A
parakeet is classed as a long tailed bird in which there are more
than 130 different species of parakeet, A lorikeet is classed
similar but with a smaller tail and body.
They mostly feed on seeds and millet but also
like vegetation such as spinach,lettuce,broccoli etc, Also they
like different types of fruit such as apples sometimes banana
and mango, they will try and nibble most things. They will almost
certainly chew lots of different types of wood for just fun and
also they devour any plant or shrub inside an aviary. Some people
say don't feed your budgie lettuce but i believe this is nonsense
my birds thrive on it and i have used lettuce for nearly 25 years
ish, I have NEVER had a budgie die from eating lettuce. I wouldn't
recommend feeding lemon or avocado as these fruits are very acidic
and poiseness. besides i don't think a bird would go near them
anyway.
(Don't get to attached to your new shiny nest
box you have spent 2 days building because that will also be chewed)
They have fairly good behavior in groups. A group
of separate females will tend to fight a lot, though compared
to a group of males which can live together without an argument
( same applies to humans i believe). It is believed that young
males are easier to tame and speak with a lot of patience than
the females but I've seen different in my years i would class
them as equal. each to there own i say.
LIFESPAN
Budgies live a very good life between 7 to 10
years and some birds have been reported to live between 15 and
20 years. Sometimes a bird can die young with un noticed symptoms
which is a blow but has a breeder you have to get on with it.
There are a lot of factors involved such as breeding, a hen birds
life will be drastically reduced if she breeds for the best part
of a year also diet is a consideration and homing, For example
a bird living indoors may live longer than a bird outdoors in
an aviary , Basically you just never know, I think 8 years is
the average.
HOUSING
Budgies will live together in a purpose built
aviary just make sure there's plenty of room for them to fly about
and don't overstock it they are very inquisitive and also like
to climb about and chew on most things in sight it's not a good
idea to plant shrubs or flowers as these will get eaten in no
time beside some plants are poise ness.
they don't tend to mix with other birds especially
when breeding although you could have a pair of cockatiels or
quail or perhaps a few zebra finches, smaller birds don't seem
to be a threat to budgies.
budgies will not mix with canary's or lovebirds
as far as i know if you do mix these birds in an aviary you will
only have lovebirds left because there hard and sas trained be
warned.
CAGES AND PETS
Budgies make very good pets indoors in a cage
but if you intend to train your bird to be tame or perhaps talk
then it's best to keep just one bird, A lot of people seem to
think a male would be better for a pet.
You need to acquire your pet at a very young
age but make sure you have 1 or 2 toys in the cage for it's own
amusement when your not there. They like a lot of attention and
chat, When you first bring your bird home it may be very quite
and fed up looking for a few days until it settles down in to
it's new home and surroundings, It's probably best to coax it
up to you from the cage using tit bits before you try and get
him to sit on your finger
this way the bird will start to get use to you,
Some young birds will just sit on your finger from day 1 but there's
a lot of work involved to make your pet talk and in some cases
it wont talk at all, I read an article about one particular bird
that had over 1700 words in it's vocabulary.
SEXING
The main difference between male and female,
if you look around the nostril area which is a waxy tissue above
the beak called the cere, if that nostril area is blue then this
will be a male if it is brown then this is female, a good crusty
brown indicates that the female is mature and will breed although
you budgies can start to breed from around 3 months old with success,
Although this is not really recommended it is just like a human
having a baby in there early teens, in some cases the young will
suffer neglect,malnourishment etc and just not being looked after
the way they should be, but saying that i myself have had a lot
of success in young breeding.
Younger birds are particularly harder to sex
than adults as soon as they leave the nest the cere is a pinkish
color sometimes in a female it will develop chalkie white rings
around the nostrils and within a male this could be pink with
purplish tinge around the edges i will see if i can find some
pictures of this because I've seen some around somewhere.
BREEDING
Budgies will make use of various types of nest
such as a hole in a branch any hollow or nest box or I've heard
that terra cotta pots with a hole in the side will do as long
as they feel secure there not at all fussy. They will also lay
eggs on a concave piece of wood or sawdust, fine bark chips, straw
or hay and they tend to lay between 2 and 8 eggs 5-6 being the
average. The eggs will be laid every second day until complete.
Incubation can be between 17-20 days normally
the eighteenth day, This is usually done by the hen while the
male will pop in and out the nest box to feed his mate, The hen
will appear from time to time to generally feed and have a stretch
also by instinct the hen will turn her eggs automatically through
the day until incubation has finished this will stop the embryo
sticking to the shell and dying off.
Budgies tend to breed in the spring time when
daylight is at its longest and the temperatures are warm
but with artificial lighting and some heat in
the winter cold months they will breed all year, With the lighting
i would say about 14 hours a day and temperature not below about
10 degrees c.
Its not recommended to let the hen breed more
than 3-4 times a year max, Otherwise this could put a lot of strain
on the bird and reduce its life span and well being, also make
sure the pair have a good balanced diet and plenty of calcium
based products such as cuttlefish or mineral blocks, this helps
with egg production finally clean your nest box out between clutches
to prevent mites and other unwanted bugs also this prevents the
chicks from clogging up the feet with there own waste.
Budgies will interbreed, in the animal and bird
world this is normal. In my experience 95% of the chicks look
as normal as any other budgie although some problems can arise
from this such has a short or improperly formed beak and occasionally
a toe missing but this could also be a mishap in the nest box
such as an aggressive parental feeding .
CHICKS
after the incubation period of about 18 days
the chicks will start to hatch on alternate days as well.
They will be very small,pink and totally blind
and totally dependent on the parents, the hen will feed her chicks
through the day and sit with them to keep them warm. After about
10 days the baby's eyes will open and also some down feathers
or pin feathers will start appearing, after about 4 weeks the
young chicks will start to leave the nest 1 at a time over the
following week, Once they have left the nest the male parent normally
takes over the feeding and well being of the young bird to show
them the ropes so to speak, After about 1-2 weeks they start to
feed themselves.
The baby's can be removed from the parents once
they feed themselves roughly about 2 weeks if you wanted to remove
them, by then the parent hen will probably be sat on her next
clutch anyway.
A young bird that has just left the nest will
be quite tame to start with and jump on to your finger if coaxed
gently
its flying ability may be very weak and could
crash land on to the floor and into aviary walls and meshing but
the young birds are fairly hardy and shouldn't harm itself. For
this reason I've built myself a kindergarten in my aviary for
the young to mature a bit before i let them out into the main
aviary. Another thing to watch out for is hard crusty excrement
on there feet generally this will be a small bit here and there
which will eventually fall off or be bitten of,
but with excessive build ups on there feet i
try to remove some myself while there still in the nest box
COLONY BREEDING
A lot of people colony breed where all the budgies
are in one area of the aviary where the nest boxes are, but breeding
with this method has a few risks such as chicks and eggs thrown
out onto the floor and a lot of squabbling between the hens to
get the best nest box, the only advice i can give here is to make
sure you have more nest boxes than breeding pairs and to have
them fixed at the same same height along the aviary wall, If you
have a nuisance hen then remover her until breeding has finished.
Sometimes when hens are fighting you do get damaged birds noticeable
by blood around the nest box and on the birds feathers sometimes
they could have a damaged foot or perhaps a bald patch on the
head feathers but so far in this method i myself have had no fatality's
BREEDING CAGES
For the rest of this year and next i will be
cage breeding after years of colony breeding, Simply because its
more controlled and i can see which young birds come from which
parents. I have got some photos of my cages on this site which
I've purposely built. There are downsides to this method of breeding
one is i have to fill more watering pots and seed tubs and the
other is restricting the bird on having room to fly around. So
some breeding planning is required so the bird can have the best
of both worlds between clutches.
More to follow>
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