Comment: hi,is it true that male budgies learn to talk better and faster than female?and how do you tell female and male budgies apart?thanksElly

Hi Elly,

This is a very good question, and probably the one most asked by people when looking to buy a pet budgie.  Most books say that cock budgies make better pets and are easier to teach to talk, however we have spoken to many people who have successfully taught hen budgies to talk.  A definite fact worth noting is that hen budgies can peck much harder than cocks, which can mean they are more difficult to tame in the early stages.  The reason they can (and do) peck harder is not necessarily because they are more nasty than cock budgies, but because in the wild, it is the hen that chews the wood to make a nesting site – hence they have stronger beak muscles.

The easiest way to tell male and female budgies apart is by their cere (the fleshy nostrils just above the beak).  As a general rule a cock budgie’s cere is blue and a hen’s is brown, however there are some contradictions to this rule.  Albino & Lutino males have pink ceres, and an out of condition hen can sometimes have a partially blue cere !!!  The best advice is to try and buy your budgie from a reputable breeder who should be able to talk you through and show you the differences.  After all, pet shop owners and members of staff can’t all be experts on every animal they sell.

I hope this answers your questions.

Comment: I'm writing from Australia where we're going into our cool - but brief - Winter. Our nights are getting cold but the days are remaining warm. However, my budgie is pulling out her back feathers no real reason. I keep her by a window away from the draft, regulate the lighting and keep her to a good solid routine so that she's happy. However, we've had a cat around that killed a Rainbow Lorikeet in the backyard in the last fortnight and that's never happened before. We've had cats around and she's been stalked by them, but we've never had a cat attack wildlife at my townhouse. I'm not sure what to do. I noticed the lack of back feathers today and she losing more smaller ones all the time; she just pulls them out - hurting herself. I don't know if it's because she's lonely or if it's because of the stress of having a cat nearby.

Comment: I have large new flat on 4th floor of building near harbour front, often very windy with all rooms facing harbour and 2 balconies in open plan living/kitchen area. 4legged, furry pets are not allowed, but landlord will permit quiet birds.  I live alone and home much of the time, but spend most hours in living room area.  I am worried about the long list of hazards and requirements in budgie books.  Lifelong animal lover,many pets in past,need advice on whether I can reasonably provide good home for budgie.

Hi Joanna,

It sounds to me like a budgie would make an ideal pet for your needs.  I’m always amazed when I go abroad at how many apartments and flats have budgies out on their balconies singing away (it always makes me think of home!).  I’m not sure what the long list of hazards would be, but keeping a budgie should be quite simple compared to almost any other pet I can think of.  That's probably why budgies are the most popular pet bird in the world!

Kind regards, Darren.

Comment: Do you have any budgie boredom ideas? For caged budgies indoors

I guess the obvious answer to relieve the boredom of a single caged budgie would be to introduce a partner (another budgie), however this could be tricky due to the age of your existing bird and its willingness to accept another budgie into its environment.  If your current budgie talks, then it is likely that this will stop if it has another budgie to talk to. 

There are many products on the market that also help to relieve boredom although I would urge you not to fill the cage with too many of these as to prevent your budgie from being able to move around and exercise freely.  Two or three toys should be sufficient and you could possibly rotate them with new toys every few weeks.  It’s also worth noting that if you have either a mirror or an artificial budgie in the cage, your budgie is far less likely to talk as it will chatter to either the toy bird or the mirror. 

If it is practical to let your budgie out of its cage, this should also help to relieve some of the boredom.

Comment: My budgie nuttie is 11 1/2 years old. For the past year she has lived on the top of the cage as her claws arent working too well and she sits on her 'forearms'. She is now getting unbalanced on her legs and is falling over alot but once she gets her balance shes ok. Her breathing is getting more difficult now ie. when she flys her chest is going so fast and noisy but she still is happy and chirpy.Is this normal for her age and is there anything I can do to make her better or more comfortable?

Congratulations!  Your budgie has obviously lived a long and happy life to reach such a great age.  Unfortunately breeding budgies and those kept in flights rarely live to this age and hence we tend not to see the symptoms that you are describing.  However it is my opinion that there is probably very little extra that you can do to make your budgie any more comfortable than she already is.  The chances are that any veterinary involvement could probably serve more harm than good.  The most important thing is that Nuttie can still manage to eat and drink and whilst she remains chirpy, this is a good sign.

Comment: i have just purchased 2 budgies whhich i thiught they were girls but they keep feeding each other and kissing so now it is making me wonder one has a purple cere and the other one has a lightish purple cere which is getting lighter so can anyone tell me what sex they both are please?

The colour of a budgie’s cere is the source of much confusion when it comes to sexing a bird.  Most people know that a cock budgie’s cere should be blue and a hen’s should be brown, however a hen’s cere is most likely to change colour throughout its life and even over relatively short periods of time as it comes into and out of breeding condition.  Different varieties (colours) of budgie can also have different coloured ceres, for example a lutino or albino (pure yellow or white with red eyes) cock budgie will always have a pink cere and it will never be blue.

It does sound to me like your budgie with the purple cere is a cock bird and the one with the lightish purple cere is quite possibly a hen bird that is coming into breeding condition.  If this is the case, the hen bird’s cere should also have quite a lot of white showing which will turn to a dark brown over time.  However, depending on the age of your two birds it could just be their cere colours are simply going through changes until the birds reach maturity.  I guess only time will tell for sure.  If you would like to email us some pictures of your two birds, we can attempt to make a more accurate assessment of their sex (and we can even publish the pictures here on the website for others to see).

Comment: HI, MY pure white female budgie wont lay eggs and she has been breeding with a green male budgies for a while, there is a nesting box ans she goes in2 it but has never layd, "why is this?"

Comment: I have just bought a new budgie from a pet shop. We were told it is between 8 and 12 weeks but it has a blue beak. Does this mean it is older? The budgie also doesn't make any chiping sounds and is quite thin. We have since found out it has mites and is being treated for this. Could this be the reason why it is not making any noises. Would it still be possible to teach the budgie to talk if it is older than 12 weeks? Thanks! Sarah

Hi Sarah,

It is possible that your budgie is only 8 – 12 weeks old, and it could have a blue beak (cere), but this could actually mean that it’s a hen!!!  This is the problem with buying young budgies.  Despite all that you read in the books and magazines, a young cock budgie (8-12 weeks old) will almost certainly have a pink or pinkish blue cere.  The problem comes from the young hens that tend to have a more defined white/blue cere.  I have just taken a look at our own birds of this age (about 40 in total), and almost all of the cocks are still pink and over 50% of the hens are blue and would look like cocks to the untrained eye.  It's very difficult for pet shop staff to accurately sex budgies at this age, in fact even the most experienced breeders sometimes get it wrong.

The fact that your bird had mites is worrying, as this is an easy problem to eradicate and should not be present in a well cared for stud.  I think once the mite problem has been resolved, your budgie should start to put on some weight and in turn will get happier and hopefully start to make some noise.  You could try placing the budgie in a room where there is a TV or radio playing, as they do like to compete with other noises that are around them.

Your budgie could still be taught to talk if it is older than 12 weeks, but it does get harder the older the bird is.  Does it have a closed ring on its leg?  If so, this should have this years date on it – i.e. 07, so you would know that it can’t be much older than 6 months.  I wish you good luck, and hope your budgie starts to chirp and talk soon.

Comment: hi chaps.
 
im a tad confused by our two budgies. we had a blue budgie called buddy and then we got a girlfriend for him. . . they had eggs but each time nothing happened , apart from lulu would go nuts and attack buddy when the eggs are laid.
 
when we got buddy he had a blueish nose but now its brown and so is lulus. they both had very brown noses at one point. .are they both girls ??? buddy does all the mating jump on jump off stuff. are they gay?? my daughter is quite put out by this. haha
 
we had to take buddy out of the cage as he/she was getting beaten up by lulu.

what do you think i should do. take out the box as the eggs in there have been about 3 weeks and last time lulu broke them up and eat the shells.
 
i feel quite sorry for buddie , if hes a girl hes very confused too.
 
thanks for your time , ive sent an attachment of buddy, lulus still sitting on the eggs so couldnt get her.
 
sue

Hi Sue,

On the strength of the photos, I can say with about 95% certainty that Buddy is a girl !!!  The reason for the 5% doubt is that some cock birds (usually older birds) can develop a brown cere if they are suffering from a liver condition.  But Buddy looks perfectly healthy to me, so he’s a she.  This would explain the eggs and the fact that they never hatched.  Sometimes hens will go through the process of mating with each other, but I don’t necessarily think this should be classed a gay activity, in fact I’m sure that if either of them were in the presence of a cock budgie, this would quickly sort out their sexuality!

It sounds like Lulu is the dominant hen, hence why Buddy is getting beaten up by her.

With regards to what to do next; the breaking up and eating of eggs will repeat again if you don’t take the eggs away, although this will not cause any long term damage.  In fact it will indicate that Lulu has realised that the eggs are not going to hatch and it should provide an ideal opportunity to remove the nest box and break the egg laying cycle.  Longer term options include introducing two cock birds and splitting them off into pairs, preferably in separate cages, or you could simply remove the nest box and hope they loose the urge to lay eggs and they can then hopefully get back to living happily together again.

Kind regards, Darren.

Comment: I have a male budgie and we got him about 3 months ago from a pet store.He has always been really friendly and never bit anyone. Now for a week or so you can't even hold him he will bite you and not let go I don't know what has happened can you tell me what is wrong with him and how to fix it. My 2 little girls love the bird to death but now they can't even hold him now Thank you melissa and steve

Hi Melissa & Steve,

This is a tricky one.  We don’t often see major behavioural changes in our budgies due to us keeping so many of them together.  The two main areas I would advise you to look at would be the birds environment and your feeding regime.  If either of these have changed recently, it would be worth going back to how things were before to see if that improves things.  One thing to look for would be whether you have recently provided any new toys for your budgie?  A toy bird or mirror would act as a substitute partner, and that would make him possessive and aggressive to humans.  If there are any toys in his cage that he is showing an unhealthy interest in, I would remove them and see if this helps.

I wish you luck with this problem and would love to hear back from you if this advise has helped.

Kind regards, Darren.

Comment: Hi, i have a 8week old baby budgie. she's started knawing on picture frames when she's out flying. i was wandering if there is anything i could do to stop this, or if there is any way to stop her from landing on them?

Hi Paul,

Hen budgies are renowned for chewing wood.  It’s what they do in the wild to build their nests.  At 8 weeks old she seems a bit young to be doing this?  It usually starts a 6 months +.  My advice would be to make sure that she has natural wood perches in her cage.  We always recommend 1 round perch & 1 square perch, preferably in softwood (must be untreated).  If the round perch is doweling, she probably won’t be able to chew through it, but she’ll definitely have a go at the square perch.  It’s better to have to keep replacing a few wooden perches than your picture frames !!!  Good luck.

Regards, Darren.

Comment: Hi. I have a young budgie. I have been talking singing and reading to it. And always call his name. I would hand feed it. I then decided to take it out of its cage. The problem was when i took it out and held the perch beside it it would sit on it and than fly away! :S i tried letting it sit on my finger but it wouldn't. I don't know if its scared because it would eat out of my hand and it would let me gently touch it. Whats wrong with it? Thank you!

"There is nothing wrong with your budgie but depending upon his background will very much depend on how long it will take before he calms down.  My advice would be to firstly get your budgie used to sitting on your finger when he’s in his cage.  He should be more comfortable when he’s in his cage and obviously won’t be able to fly away and you can keep trying with him until he becomes comfortable being around your hand.  Obviously don’t make any quick or sudden movements with your hand whilst it is in the cage, in fact if you can just leave your hand in the cage resting there for a while, his inquisitive nature should mean that he will want to come and have a look.  He may also have a little nibble of your fingers but this would be a good sign and is all part of the training."

Comment: Helloo,im writing to you from Egypt,usually as i read from a book that the breeding season here starts in autumn ...we are now in the end of august (as u know) and breeding season is starting soon in september...I have had 2 budgies ,a hen and a cock for like a month or 40 days ....the male has a very dark blue cere and tends to peck over the perches, the water tube and the cage bars i guess he is in breeding condition ...the female had a chocolate brown cere when i bought her but now her cere is a very light pale blue one...i don't know why did it change...i can see the cock is trying to flirt with her by pecking her beak eith his and moving his head up and down and moving from perch to another ...i saw him try to feed her yesterday...they never fighted but again they never showed signs of mating...the nest box is hung in their cage since i got them but none of them ever looked inside it...i also spray bath them occasionally and give them fruits and veggies ..their seed diet is made up from 3 different kinds of seeds...im sure they are both old enough to breed well but i just don't know why don't the mate...their cage is big it's 55cm x 43cm x 33 cm , its like double size the common cages....do you suggest that I buy another hen and another cock and put them with them or will this cause alot of trouble?  im deseperate for help! please advice me Thank you =)

Comment: I have a chatty budgie, who displays symptoms of being ill, he is not chirping anymore, and his "mess" is a green liquid color. His breathing seems faster, although he still has a fly, it really takes it out of him. Have you got any ideas what we can do. We are giving him vitamin drops in his water to try pep him up. But just wondering if there is a underlying problem. My other budgie in the same cage seems unaffected, but to be safe, has been moved to a separate cage. Any help is appreciated.

It’s very difficult to analyse these kind of problems from the symptoms you have provided.  Everything you have done so far sounds ok and my best advice would be to take him to the vets for a proper diagnosis.  We tend not to treat our budgies with any pills or potions so I don’t feel in the best position to offer you advice in this area.  We are quite lucky in that we don’t get many sick birds and the problems are usually stress related with either the very young or the very old and the first action we always take is to isolate them away from the flock and ensure they have easy access to good budgie food, millet sprays, tonic seed and obviously clean fresh water.

Comment: One of my beautiful budgies has just laid 5 eggs - the 1st one hatched yesterday. Should the tiny babies make any sound at all when first born please? I have not been able to look into the box since the baby was born as mummy is being over protective. I heard a very sweet little sound and just wanted to check if this is normal? Thank you Janice Shaw

Hi Janice,

Yes, everything sounds normal to me.  If the first egg hatched after 18/19 days then hopefully the others will follow every 2 days until they’ve all hatched.  The babies will tend to chirp when they first hatch and when they are hungry.

We give our breeding pairs something known as softfood, which is a mainly egg based product that you add water to, although it sounds like your current diet will probably be sufficient for their needs.

Good luck.

Dear Darren

Thank you for your very prompt reply.  Just out of interest what is the  egg based product that you use yourself?   The one I have is a dry product (perhaps I could add water to that too – maybe that would be better) but I have seen Applepie tucking into the dry product.   Another suggestion I was given from my avian vet was to hard boil an egg and crush egg and shell up and give for additional calcium.  They also get some brown bread added in at night.  Am I right that the whole egg should be given (shell and all?).

Again many thanks for your help here.

What is your advice about looking into nest box, as it is extremely difficult to do so as Mummy is in there virtually all the time and I do not want to upset anybody inside!!

Kind regards

Janice

Hi Janice,

The egg food that we use is Orlux http://www.orlux.be/Nutri/Nutrition/Pages/Products/index.jsp?ran=2593&pro=3659&fam=-1&ani=-1

You can use boiled eggs and when I was younger, that’s exactly what I used to do.  I would grate the eggs (including shell) along with grated carrot and bread crumbs to make my own soft food for the breeding pairs.  But when you have 300 budgies this becomes to much work so we changed to an off the shelf product with a good nutrient balance.

We check our nest boxes twice a day from the time the hens start to go in them, so it becomes a routine that they get used to.  There should be no reason why you shouldn’t move the hen to look at the chicks and eggs.  They’re pretty robust animals and we’ve never had a problem that could be attributed to us interfering with the hens in the nest boxes.  Bright lights shouldn’t cause any problems either, but I can’t say that I’ve used the flash on a camera in a nest box, so I can’t comment on that.

I hope this info helps.

Dear Darren

Thank you so much for your advice – it really does help.  I peeped in last night and there was my “first little chick” - - so so tiny and cute.  I heard the chipring later in the evening too so I hope this is a good sign for the future.  Second is due today.  Your idea of grating the carrot and adding the egg and bread is a good idea.  At the moment they get the whole bread and carrots to chew on !!

I myself have 14 budgerigars, 1 baby and 5 cockatiels.  I have  built an indoor aviary taking up one third of my lounge so I walk in and mix with them all like as if I was one of them.  They are now all used to me and sit on my head and hands and have become amazingly tame – it is incredible what patience can achieve.  They are my true little friends.   I have also treated many sick birds and brought them back to good health which always makes me feel so good inside.

How long ago did you start breeding? I am trying to imagine 300 budgies and the sound !!!! – incredible I am sure.

Again thank you so much for your help – really appreciated and very good luck to you.

Kind regards

Janice

Comment: My friend has a budgie that is behaving abnormally. It is a yellow female, with red eyes - only a few months old. The budgie used to fly around the room, but recently it flew into a wall and fell onto the floor. Since that time the bird has been unable to fly! My friend has taken the bird to the vet, but the vet does not know what is wrong - probably not a bird expert. Do you have any suggestions please. The bird has been given all the usual food requirements to keep her in good health.

I can tell you that your friend’s budgie is what’s known as a lutino (all yellow body with red eyes) but as to her problem I can’t say that I have ever come across anything like this.  Providing the bird is in good general health, I would give it time to recuperate and hopefully it will regain the ability to fly again.

Comment: i dont know where you can get budgies please write back soon! thankyou from rosie

Many pet shops sell budgies, however my recommendation would always be to find a local breeder in your area.  If you drop me an email with your location I will check for you to see if I know anyone in your area.  Alternatively if you look at our budgie links page you will see a link to the Budgerigar Society’s website where they have a very useful pet locator for budgies.

Comment: I have a male budgie and lately he spends most of his time in front of the mirror I read that this was a sign of budgies being lonely. He's almost 3 years old and I was wondering whether it would be a good idea to get him a mate but i am worrying whether he would bully her because she would be much younger. Is this usually a problem? Kind Regards Laura.

Unfortunately this is one of the problems caused by having a mirror in a cage with a pet budgie.  It always seems like a good idea and they look cute whilst chatting away to the mirror, but my feeling is that they create an unhealthy bond with themselves.  What I mean by this is that the budgie will, for want of a better phrase, fall in love with itself thereby making it more difficult for you to tame your budgie or to introduce another.  I would try removing the mirror initially and see how your budgie reacts to this over a period of two to three weeks.  If he seems unaffected by the loss of his mirror you could then look to introduce a new mate after two to three months.  If after removing the mirror, he becomes miserable you may need to reintroduce the mirror but my advice would still be to try and wean him off the need for a mirror over a longer period of time.

Comment: Hello Darren, I am thinking about getting a budgie as a pet, but am a bit confused regarding if it is better to get one, or a pair of budgies. I am not that interested in having a budgie talk, but would like to be able to interact with him/her/them quite a lot, so would need to be tame. And if the advice is to get one, is this okay for the budgie? I want to make sure my budgie(s) are as happy as possible. And would a mirror make the budgie less tameable? Kind Regards, Ineke Warner

Firstly please see my comments above with regards to my thoughts on mirrors in budgie cages.  There are thousands of people around the world that keep only one budgie on its own in a cage and they seem perfectly happy providing they have a big enough cage and are kept in a suitable location, i.e. not in any draughts.  I think you will find that the question of having one or two budgies in a cage is always going to be a compromise.  I think one budgie will always be tamer than two but I can’t help feeling that two budgies together would probably be happier birds.  My best advice would be to buy a cage that is suitable for two but only buy one bird at first and see how he/she settles in over a period of around six months.  You could then take the decision to introduce a second budgie without the first one being too set in its ways as to not accept the new mate.  This will also hopefully have the effect that the first one will be relatively tame by the time you introduce the second one.  I hope this information helps.

Comment: We have two Budgies which are coming up to being a year old - I think one of each sex and the one we believe to be the male is constantly - what looks like arounsing / rubbing itself against its perch - usually when looking at itself in the mirror - any ideas is it just coming into being sexually active or could it be ill in some way ??? was concerned it may have an infection or something but to look at it it looks fine - they are both healthy and bright in character and get out to excercise everyday and are not short on vitamins etc - would love them to breed

I think your intuitions are correct and it sounds like the male bird is coming into breeding condition.  Unfortunately because you have a mirror in the cage it sounds like he is more interested in himself that he is in his mate!  I would try taking the mirror out and see if he turns his affections to the other budgie.  If this happens you will hopefully have a chance of them breeding together.  If things go well and he does show an interest in his mate, then I would advise that you never re-introduce the mirror or he may yet again revert back to looking at himself.

Comment: I have two Budgies. I am not able to tell if they are both boys, girls, or the opposite gender. Buddy(the first budgie)looks like a girl, although I can him a boy. Sunflower, the second budgie, looks like a girl as well. Sunflower has a mainly dark brown cere with alot of white on it. Buddy has a pal purple cere. Could you clear this up? Thanks.