#budgie ask

[flock-talk]

Do you know much about english budgies? It seems to be a bit difficult to find stuff on them online that isn't obviously biased. I know some budgie 'breeds' like the long-feathered ones are clearly unhealthy and shouldn't be bred, but I've been trying to find if english budgies were in much the same situation or if they were better in health generally.

There’s not a ton different medically speaking but if will vastly depend on the specific individual.  Many are bred specifically for feather length and looks over their health which may put them at risk of breathing problems or becoming overweight due to the lack of movement with excess feathers, longer feathers where long feathers really shouldn’t be may also make seeing more difficult or cause the feathers to get dirty easily which can stress them out or cause plucking behaviours, there’s also a slightly greater risk of them being inbred just to get the right colours and builds people want out of them.  Many of them can be healthy, just really depends on their genetic history. English and American budgies are the exact same bird, the only difference is that one has been bred to be different than what they naturally should be, being modified for something they aren’t adapted for will always cause problems to some degree since their bodies just aren’t designed to handle these design changes in such a short time span but that doesn’t always immediately mean that they’re extremely unhealthy.

[flock-talk]

My female parakeet is about 3 years old and for the past 2 years, she's always had a really, really dark brown cere. Just recently, maybe a couple weeks ago, I noticed that her cere is now a light brown. Does this mean she finished going through puberty?

Puberty itself is just an increase in hormones which causes cere colour changes, along with behaviour, etc. etc. it’s possible she may have just had a really tough year with her hormones (maybe there were things in the environment stimulating her, dark spaces, hours, diet, etc.) which were making the cere stick or it just happened that year round.  Her cere will likely go through that colour change again next spring when breeding kicks up and hormones are all over the place. Doesn’t really mean it’s over per say, could have been over ages ago, just that her hormones may be settling down for now until next year.

[flock-talk]

Are air conditioners safe for budgies or do they make fumes? And what cage is big enough for 1 or 2 budgies, what would you recommend. and could popcorn or hair deyre be used a couple rooms over or would the whole house have to be purged?

you can use a hairdryer/ popcorn assuming they’re teflon-free, if they’re not teflon free I would not consider risking it, fast dry hair and instant popcorn isn’t worth their lives.  Air conditioners are safe for birds so long as you aren’t directly blasting them with it or dropping the temps too low, as far as I’m aware they don’t emit fumes but I’d always look in to specific brands, if it’s a really old air conditioner you just never know since half the things in the past weren’t even safe for people. The biggest cage you can afford, birds will appreciate as much space as you can possibly give them, with two budgies you need to make sure there’s enough space for both birds to get some short flight and easily be able to evade one another should they decide to squabble. 40x20x30 is the usual minimum for two budgies (again, the bigger the better, minimums are usually meant as short-term housing or sleeping cages) with 1/4 - 1/2 inch bar spacing.  When working with two budgies always make sure you have a second cage available should they decide to not get along and need to be housed separately.

[flock-talk]

I got a budgie a couple days ago, and yesterday she started having a black beak on the tip. what could it be? I'll send a picture and what her diet is. there's a picture of her cage on my blog btw

If the budgie is young the beak will have some black on it, as they age the black grows out and it will become one yellow-orange-brown beak colour.  Beaks may also gain dark discolouring when it’s bruised, typically by flying in to something or playing too rough with a toy. Blackening beaks can also be indicative of a few diseases such as cancer, if the black doesn’t start to return to normal after a few weeks then they should get seen by a vet.

[flock-talk]

Do you happen to know how old budgies are before their first molt when they lose the bars on they're forehead? My budgie still had them when he was in the pet store before I bought him

They usually start to lose them at around 3-4 months

[flock-talk]

Hey! I have a couple questions. -I bought two of my budgies with very clipped wings. After a few months one of them can fly without problem but her poor friend is still stuck on the ground. Do you have any idea why his feathers haven't grown back? -My three budgies all peck at each other and have been fighting over food, toys, etc. I thought about getting a bigger cage so they could separate but they sit close together most of the time anyway. No injuries, but is this normal? Thanks a lot! :D

Clipped feathers take longer to moult out than regular feathers, no one particularly knows why that is just yet, it likely has something to do with the cleanness of the cut and the body not recognizing the feather as damaged.  The rate at which they moult out will depend on plenty of factors, the age of the bird, the quality of the feather, and their overall health/ diet.  Older birds will moult out feathers slower than young birds because young ones have to go through a huge baby moult which replenishes every baby feather in a short period of time while adults will be regulating feather health throughout the year and moulting out at a slower rate.  If a bird has poor nutrition the feathers would also be moulting out a lot faster as the body will replace feathers as they become weak, poorer the nutrition the weaker the feathers the more frequently they’ll need to be replaced.  It can also depend on when the bird was clipped, if one budgie had them clipped right after a moult he’ll have to go through a whole moulting cycle to regrow them than a bird who had them cut prior to a moult.

Budgies may bicker from time to time but they should not be fighting, if they are they may require larger housing, more toys, more things to hide behind, multiple food bowls, or possibly separating the birds.  The budgies’ sexes and age will also play a role in this aggression, breeding hormones play a major part in aggression levels and females are more prone to fighting than males are. The season and lack of flight feathers will also affect this, seasonal hormones and general grumpiness from moulting will cause irritability and without the ability to fly away from one another birds are more prone to fighting as the option of flying away from an uncomfortable situation no longer exists giving them no other choice but to fight.

If you upgrade them to a larger cage, give them plenty more toys to play with and at least one food/ water bowl per bird and there is still no change it is best to separate them for their health and safety.  Even if the aggression just decreases a small bit but there’s still tension between them there will be unnecessary amounts of stress on the birds which can make them very ill.

[flock-talk]

Hey, I hope your recovery is going well! I have a question (surprise). Over the last 48+ hours my budgie has had a rapid and dramatic behavior change. I got her almost 3 months ago, and she seemed to settle in okay. She was pretty quiet, didn't like handling (but she steps up for food now), and spent a lot of her time being observant instead of a participant if there was anything going on. There have been some changes over the past week: a new budgie in the same room (1/2)

(2/2) but I'm not going to let them interact due to the newness of the situation. For the first several days, she resumed her usual behavior (quiet, occasionally talking to the other bird). I would take her out of her cage for about a half hour or so at a time before, and she seemed indifferent/uncurious, even if I left the cage door open. But she's like a totally different bird!! I wouldn't be so worried if it hadn't happened so fast. (I guess I need another ask)

(3/2) she went out by herself a couple days ago and now she is active and seems a little anxious. She spends most of her time pacing the front of her cage (it's Amazon sized) or darting between perches and chirping all the time. It's good that she's moving around, but she's still not comfortable with me picking her up. I know she wants out to explore, but if something bad happens she won't come to me. I don't know if I should be concerned. I do give her foraging toys and training. Thoughts?

I wouldn’t be all to concerned, the introduction of the new bird is likely what’s caused this sudden behaviour change, many times when they see another bird it helps them feel a lot more relaxed in an environment which is when their personalities will start to come out. I’d make sure that’s she’s got plenty of toys to expend her energy on and perhaps use this eagerness to your advantage to earn her trust. If she’s suddenly a lot more outgoing you may find that you’ll have better luck offering her treats and progressing than previously.

I’d just ensure that these reactions aren’t aggressive in any way, that she doesn’t seem to be getting nippy or presenting these behaviours to defend her territory, as female budgies are so prone to doing, but otherwise I don’t think there’s much to worry about.

[flock-talk]

What would be a proper age for adopting a birb? Im thinking of getting a budgie or a cockatiel (leaning more towards the tiel). Ty ^^

A bird should be brought home once it is fully weaned on to seeds or pellets and fresh foods, preferably a week or so after that.  The bird should be able to eat and drink on it’s own, and be capable of all basic birdy things (flight, preening, bathing, etc.) just to make sure the bird is fully capable of caring for itself.  How long that takes varies from each species and each specific bird,  as an example when Zeeby was weaning her brother was finished much sooner than she was, Zeeby had difficulty learning to drink water so she had to stay for a while longer to ensure she would be healthy.  After weaning I preferred to keep the birds for at least another week or two to ensure they wouldn’t regress in their weaning and to work on basic skills like step up, being gentle and socialization a little bit further, how long they stayed depended on the bird.

On average cockatiels should spend at least 10-12 weeks weaning, budgies are usually around 5-7 but as I said it really varies from bird to bird and how they all develop.  A reputable breeder may also keep them longer to really make sure they’re solid on eating on their own and working on basic skills.