Budgie

Some Advantages

• Good talkers
• Playful
• Can like to snuggle
• Small cage
• Inexpensive

Some Challenges

• Doesn’t look like the “typical” parrot
• High-pitched voices difficult to understand
• Frequent chattering

Size
Under 9 inches

Weight
30 grams

Colors
The budgies you commonly see in pet stores are yellow, green, blue, or white. There are more than 20 color mutations and about 100 varieties. At about 5 months old, the male’s cere will be blue and the female’s will be tan (like a young budgie) to pink. The cere coloring can vary among the mutations, so it isn’t accurate all the time.

Life Expectancy
Genetics and diet play a strong role in the longevity of a bird. Budgies can typically live from 10 to 15 years.

It’s difficult to believe that the small and compact budgie is a parrot, but it truly is one. Like many parrots, it can talk, sing, and learn tricks. Playful, energetic and amusing, it’s no surprise that there are about 2 million budgies kept as pets in the United States. Budgies (short for “budgerigar”) are often called parakeets, which is actually a broad name for a number of slender parrots with a long, pointed tail.

History and Origin:
The budgie (Melopsittacus undulatus) is native to the dry interior of Australia, but it is now bred in captivity and is one of the most commonly available pet birds.

Budgies were brought to England in 1838 by John Gould, a painter who frequently visited Australia. Gould’s friends and business acquaintances began importing budgies into England and elsewhere in Europe to be purchased by upper-class bird hobbyists. They were rare and expensive at the time, and soon grew very popular. The birds bred easily once in captivity and their numbers grew. People continued importing budgies into Europe until Australia stopped their exportation in 1894.

Budgies were being imported into the United States from Europe by the late 1920s. Again their popularity grew quickly and it seemed every home had to have one—or two. Books about budgies were being published and they even appeared on radio shows and in advertisements. Another surge of popularity occurred in the 1950s, and they’ve been a hit ever since.

General Information:
Some budgie owners don’t mind buying an untamed budgie, because they are fairly easy to train. Other people prefer a budgie that has been hand-fed and already handled regularly, because it comes home ready and willing to join the family. Because of the time involved, a hand-fed budgie will cost more than one fed by its parents.

Because they are easy to breed and very popular, budgies are generally the least expensive pet bird you can buy, but that doesn’t mean caring for a budgie is cheap. It is important to spend the money on a high-quality cage that is safe and will last, so you only have to buy one once. Avoid any cage where the bars are covered in a cheap plastic or rubber that could be chewed off and eaten. Instead, purchase a stainless-steel cage, or a wrought-iron cage that has been painted with a “powder-coated” paint. This is a durable covering that keeps your budgie from chewing the metal bars underneath. Epoxy-coated cage bars are also safe.

A single budgie will need a cage that measures a minimum of 18 by 18 by 18 inches, though a cage measuring at least 24 inches in length will allow even more room for your budgie to roam. If you plan to purchase a second budgie in the future, 24 inches is the minimum length. Be sure that the bars are spaced no more than a half-inch apart, or your curious budgie may try to work its head in between the bars and get stuck. Look for a cage with a “seed guard,” which will help keep seed hulls and pellet crumbs inside the cage.

In the wild, budgies travel in flocks of hundreds. They love to socialize, so place the cage where they can be around people most of the day, like the family room. To keep a budgie in a bedroom, basement, or other usually empty room would be cruel. Along with spending time around their human flock, budgies love toys. Budgies enjoy swings, mirrors, and bells, as well as going up and down ropes. Select budgie-sized versions of these toys, and inspect them regularly for frayed ropes, flaking metal or plastic, or loose bell clappers.

Budgies spend much of their time chattering away. Their voices can be high and fast, so it can be difficult to know what they’re saying, but some budgies can develop huge vocabularies. Males may be more likely to talk, can be louder, and may have voices that are easier to understand, but there are exceptions to every rule. Not all budgies will learn to speak, and others may be more interested in impersonating household sounds, singing, whistling, and clicking.

Health:
In nature, seeds provide budgies with the high levels of fat required to fuel their travels from place to place in search of water. Even as pets, they will prefer seeds over more healthful foods, even though they won’t be burning as many calories. It’s true that your budgie could survive on just seeds, but it will become obese, could develop fatty tumors or fatty liver disease, and have a much shorter life. Instead, many pet owners offer their budgies a pelleted diet.

Pelleted diets come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, and many mixtures are manufactured specifically for budgies. They have all the proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals required. If you feed a diet that is eighty percent pellets, you should not add vitamin supplements to the diet. This could lead to dangerous or even fatal overdoses (called hypervitaminosis) of several different vitamins.

Budgies enjoy eating carrot tops, spinach and kale, which can be clipped to their cage with a wooden clothespin or a clip bought at a pet store. You can mist the leaf with water to make it even more appealing. You can offer other healthful options like chopped bell peppers (even the spicy ones), grated carrot, and small bits of cooked sweet potato. Fruits are high in sugar, so they should be offered just occasionally, and just as tiny bits.

The Ideal Owner:
Budgies are small, quiet, entertaining and relatively easy to care for, making them the ideal pet bird for just about anyone. These nearly perfect birds are often purchased for children, and a kid and a budgie do make a great pair. Even so, there a few things to keep in mind. Parental supervision is still required when it comes to caring for a budgie. You will need to remind your child to feed the budgie daily and clean and refill the water dish once or twice a day. It will be best to clean the bottom of the cage every day, and do a thorough cleaning once a week. Are you ready to remind your child about these chores, or are you willing to take them over?

You also have a commitment to the budgie’s safety. Children under 12 will need to be supervised when handling a budgie. A budgie may give your child a quick nip or scratch that won’t really hurt, but it may startle him or her enough to squeeze, drop or throw the budgie. Talk to your son or daughter about what a small nip or a tap of the beak will feel like, and teach them how to respond.