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Post by Liz on Nov 18, 2007 3:07:16 GMT
You aren't being annoying! The only dumb question is the one not asked. (and that is a good thing for me, because I ask questions all the time ) It is great that you are learning all you can! The difference between male and female is in the color of the cere. The cere is the fleshy part right above the beak. In boys, it is usually blue, and females are whitish to dark brown. There are exceptions with certain mutations of budgies, but you don't have to worry about that with grey or skyblue. About the other question... I know the whole budgie/parakeet name thing is confusing. The birds US pet stores call parakeets are the same kind of birds that some breeders, people in the UK, and people here on Bird Crazy call budgies. So technically budgies and reg. parakeets are the same species. There are some kinds of parrots that have parakeet in their name, like lineolated parakeets, grass parakeets etc., but they are different species and probably won't be with the budgies/parakeets. They are usually larger, and won't be just be called parakeets. Hope that made sense, and sorry if I misunderstood your question...
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Blaine
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Post by Blaine on Nov 18, 2007 13:05:42 GMT
You aren't being annoying! The only dumb question is the one not asked. (and that is a good thing for me, because I ask questions all the time ) It is great that you are learning all you can! The difference between male and female is in the color of the cere. The cere is the fleshy part right above the beak. In boys, it is usually blue, and females are whitish to dark brown. There are exceptions with certain mutations of budgies, but you don't have to worry about that with grey or skyblue. About the other question... I know the whole budgie/parakeet name thing is confusing. The birds US pet stores call parakeets are the same kind of birds that some breeders, people in the UK, and people here on Bird Crazy call budgies. So technically budgies and reg. parakeets are the same species. There are some kinds of parrots that have parakeet in their name, like lineolated parakeets, grass parakeets etc., but they are different species and probably won't be with the budgies/parakeets. They are usually larger, and won't be just be called parakeets. Hope that made sense, and sorry if I misunderstood your question... People on other websites were telling me a parakeet had many different species inside the parakeet and budgie was one of them. My question was how do you tell a budgie from a regular old parakeet in the cage marked parakeet at a regular pet store. If what the people told me on the other websites is true then i'd need to be able to tell a budgie from a normal old parakeet. My mom is taking me to Petco today to look (maybe get to hold) at the parakeets they have there. I've made a cart on Pet Smart.com just to see how much all the supplies would add up to. I got around $200 (that does not include the budgie it's self) With the budgie and tax, i'd be around $250 as the final cost. Is that anywhere around what you spent on everything?
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Post by Liz on Nov 18, 2007 22:48:07 GMT
Technically, yes, there are different birds inside the parakeet family. The word parakeet really just means "long tailed parrot". And yes, a budgie is technically, a kind of "long tailed parrot". However, people in the US don't use the term parakeet that way. (don't ask me why, I think it is ridiculous myself... ) They just call budgies reg. parakeets for some reason. In a pet store, a cage of birds labeled simply "Parakeets" has budgies in it, and only budgies. They are the same bird, the term just get twisted around. If they aren't budgies, then the label will say something like "Lineolated Parakeets", "Indian Ringneck Parakeets", "Grass Parakeets", or something like that. Those birds ARE NOT budgies. Reg. Parakeets ARE budgies. So read the labels, and you'll be fine. If you are still confused, say so! If the label isn't clear, ask someone at the store. These are reg. Parakeets/budgies. They are the same thing. About the price, that sounds about right. I haven't been out and bought a complete birdie outfit in a long time though, so, I'm not sure.
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Blaine
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Post by Blaine on Nov 18, 2007 23:40:40 GMT
Technically, yes, there are different birds inside the parakeet family. The word parakeet really just means "long tailed parrot". And yes, a budgie is technically, a kind of "long tailed parrot". However, people in the US don't use the term parakeet that way. (don't ask me why, I think it is ridiculous myself... ) They just call budgies reg. parakeets for some reason. In a pet store, a cage of birds labeled simply "Parakeets" has budgies in it, and only budgies. They are the same bird, the term just get twisted around. If they aren't budgies, then the label will say something like "Lineolated Parakeets", "Indian Ringneck Parakeets", "Grass Parakeets", or something like that. Those birds ARE NOT budgies. Reg. Parakeets ARE budgies. So read the labels, and you'll be fine. If you are still confused, say so! If the label isn't clear, ask someone at the store. These are reg. Parakeets/budgies. They are the same thing. About the price, that sounds about right. I haven't been out and bought a complete birdie outfit in a long time though, so, I'm not sure. Ok. Now that I have that question answered I need 3 more answered. 1. If the pet store doesn't put a foot label (whatever it is) saying the date of birth how can you tell how old the bird is? 2. Can you take off the foot label? 3. Woould you recomend getting a bird that was "hand fed?" There was a cage labeled "hand fed" and I didn't know what it meant or what it had to do with birds. By the way, are those your birds in the picture?
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Post by Berserka on Nov 19, 2007 0:39:11 GMT
If by foot label you mean the little metal ring? That is a breeders reference. A young bird especially in the grays and blues will have little black bars running down their forhead - have a look in the budgie breeding section of this forum for pics of baby budgies. If you want to remove the leg ring - only get the breeder who put it on to take it off or a vet as you can severely injure the bird if you don't know what you are doing. It is not recommended to remove them anyway. Hand fed could mean hand raised which means the breeder took the chick from the parents and raised it themselves to make a calmer and tamer bird.
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Blaine
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Post by Blaine on Nov 19, 2007 2:12:18 GMT
Thanks. I'd prefer a hand fed/tamed bird personally.
This question has been bugging me for days but I just couldn't seem to remember it. (thankfully I finally remembered and can ask)
I've heard people tell me if you get 2 or more budgie the'll bond with each other and not you. Is this true?
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Post by Berserka on Nov 19, 2007 5:19:30 GMT
It can be. Ideally it is better to start off with 1 bird and gain it's trust and bond. Then when you have successfully done this, you can get a second bird. They will still bond with each other but also with you - only problem with that though is you need a separate cage & will need to keep the new bird with you until you bond with it. I handraised a budgie & a peachface together, they bonded to each other but also to me - now they are both like velcro and stay attached to me whenever they can! So if you want 2 birds but don't want to buy 2 cages - get 2 handraised birds from the same clutch ie: 2 brothers, don't get brother & sister as they will mate.
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Blaine
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Post by Blaine on Nov 19, 2007 13:16:20 GMT
It can be. Ideally it is better to start off with 1 bird and gain it's trust and bond. Then when you have successfully done this, you can get a second bird. They will still bond with each other but also with you - only problem with that though is you need a separate cage & will need to keep the new bird with you until you bond with it. I handraised a budgie & a peachface together, they bonded to each other but also to me - now they are both like velcro and stay attached to me whenever they can! So if you want 2 birds but don't want to buy 2 cages - get 2 handraised birds from the same clutch ie: 2 brothers, don't get brother & sister as they will mate. Thanks. My mom said if I got 2 birds she'd only allow me getting a male and a male or a female and a female. She doesn't want any baby birds in the house. I went to petco yesterday. Their birds looked pretty poor. Half of them looked sick or inactive, the others didn't have the signs of being young so they of had to have been older birds. I'm going to have to go with boutique pets, or neighborhood pet store owned by breeders. (almost all the birds in the store were breeder and hand fed by the owners) Their birds always seem to be slimmer and more active. I hear them chirping and ringing their toy bells right as I walk in the door. I did happen to find a good cage at petco. It's a tiny bit bigger than the smallest size cage you recommended. What I really like about it is it has 4 places to get access into the cage from. One on the roof, one on either side, and one main door in the front like most cages. It also fits in the part of my room that the bird will go in. I have 1 more question. Is it better to have the wings clipped or not? I know it's better for if the bird gets out, but I just don't want to cut off it's wings. I know it's only temporary, but I want them to be able to fly freely. What are the benefits/non benefits of getting the wings clipped? Will it make it harder for the bird to exercise?
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Post by Berserka on Nov 20, 2007 1:00:20 GMT
It is far better to have a fully flighted bird rather than a clipped one.
The only time's I clip a birds wings is during initial training. My house budgie Boris (in my signature - yeah she's a girl with a boys name lol) was parent raised but I brought her inside when she left the nest. She was an unco-ordinated flyer and kept crashing & as I was afraid she'd hurt herself I gave her a light clip of the 3 longest flight feathers on either wing. She could fly a little to get exercise but not enough where she got into trouble. Even though she was parent raised she was an extremely tame bird and the clip helped her to gain confidance around the house so than when the feathers grew back she already knew the house and didn't crash.
Now, Sam the Peachface I handraised for my mother has never had his wings clipped. He was raised in the house and knew it and also likes to spend his time 'attached to his humans' so he isn't in alot of danger - he does go for a fly around the room but he doesn't explore.
The benefits of having a flighted bird is it is a beautiful sight seeing the bird fly around with it's wings outstretched. Flighted bird will fly to you & can get back to it's own cage for a feed or drink or sleep if it's had enough of being outside. Downside, if it gets outside - budgies are not loyal and will usually keep flying away.
I'd recommend initially when you get it/them to have to shop clip the longest 3 wing feathers on both wings - never let them talk you into only having 1 wing done as it has been proven to be dangerous to the bird. Then when the birds feathers grow back let them keep them.
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Blaine
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Post by Blaine on Nov 20, 2007 2:27:54 GMT
I think i'll take your advice and have them clipped for the first few months then once the're trained and won't fly away i'll leave the flight feathers alone.
I've been researching budgie foods. What bird feed do you feed you budgies and where might I get it? Are there any other brands or specific food mixtures for bbudgies you'd recommend?
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Post by Berserka on Nov 20, 2007 13:16:37 GMT
Basic budgie seed mix from pet store, feed approx 2 teaspoons per bird per day. Incude fresh foods every second day: carrot, celery, broccoli, cooked peas, little bit of silverbeet & spinach, corn on the cob, apple. Not all at once but a mix of 3 of these is sufficient - about a quarter of a cup.
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Blaine
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Post by Blaine on Nov 20, 2007 21:42:34 GMT
Thanks. These are all the questions I have for now. I'll ask more when I think of them.
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Blaine
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Post by Blaine on Nov 21, 2007 23:46:42 GMT
I have some questions I thought of.
How wide and long should a perch for a budgie be?
I recently went to Pet Smart today and got a a few bird items. In particular I bought the kaytee EggCite bird feed. Someone recommended it on yahoo answers. Since i'm new with birds and don't know what a healthy bird diet should be, would you say it's healthy? Do you feed your birds this feed? Here's a list of all the ingredients:
Canary Grass Seed, White Millet, Oat Groats, Dried Whole Egg, Red Millet, Ground Wheat, Flax Seed, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Corn, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Wheat Middlings, Dicalcium Phosphate, Soy Oil, Salt, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Brewers Dried Yeast, Wheat Germ Meal, Vitamin A Supplement, Choline Chloride, L-Lysine, Corn Sugar, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Oxide, DL-Methionine, Orange Oil, Artificial Color, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of vitamin K activity), Cholecalciferol (source of vitamin D3), Copper Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, Biotin, Mixed Tocopherols (a preservative), Rosemary Extract, Citric Acid, Dried Bacillus coagulans Fermentation Product, Dried Bacillus licheniformis Fermentation Product, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Product, BHT (a preservative), Cobalt Carbonate, Sodium Selenite, Beta-Carotene.
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Post by Berserka on Nov 22, 2007 1:18:17 GMT
Good grief! That sounds like a chemical cocktail! Don't go for all that rubbish! If you feed your bird a basic budgie seed mix along with fresh fruit and veggies there's no need for all those chemicals. I have varying widths for perches for mind from the thin 1cm ones up to an inch in width & natural branches for them to exercise their feet on and chew.
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Post by Scully on Nov 22, 2007 2:16:41 GMT
Eggcite is not really a main diet, its an extra food. Very good for when your breeding or a supplement. Its fed normally once a week.
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