Are English budgies cuddly?

[GailC]

I've been considering a english budgie and was wondering if they are a bit more cuddly then a regular parakeet?
I don't want a clingy velcro bird but cuddles once in awhile would be nice or at least tolerant to scratches and some petting.
My first parakeet was very tame and friendly but he didn't like being touched.

 

[Laurasea]

I don't know but I think they are neat, a d I kinda want one. I found a breeder near me that does parront assistance , the parents are the primary care givers of the babies and the breeder handling the babies, I can't remember it all cuz now isn't the right time for me to get one. But the breeder seemed excellent, and charged to reflect that. So research the breeders near you.

 

[LauraC]

I had a English Budgie that lived 5 years. He was cuddly. He used to lay on me every night. His favorite spot was to cuddle in my neck.

 

[EllenD]

I have owned/bred both American and English Bugies, along with hybrids of the two, for over 20 years...And I'd have to say that if your American Budgie wasn't "cuddly" it was simply your individual bird's personality, because both American and English Budgies can be every bit as cuddly and loving as any "Velcro Bird" like a Green Cheek or Sun Conure...You have to realize that each bird is an individual, and there are many Sun Conure, Green Cheeks, Jendays, Cockatiels, and every other species of parrot who are not at all cuddly and don't like being touched much, even though they are know to be very clingy, cuddly, Velcro-Birds in-general. It just comes down to the individual bird, just like it does with dogs, cats, people, etc. So you do occasionally come across hand-raised/fed parrots of all species who just aren't as cuddly and loving as others...

As far as English Budgies vs. American Budgies, honestly the only real "overall" differences between the two are their size, as the English Budgies are a tad larger than the American Budgies in-general, but other than that there aren't many other differences in personality, behaviors, vocalizations, etc. They were both origiinally bred over-time from the wild Australian Parakeets/Budgies, with the English Budgies being bred purposely to be a bit larger and to have the larger tufts on their heads...But there are actually many American Budgies that have a lot of inter-breeding with full English Budgies over the decades/centuries, and so you'll find some American Budgies that actually look like English Budgies...So they aren't that far apart in their genetics at all.

So it's just about the individual bird that you get, and that is true whether you bring home a Budgie, a Parrotlet, and Cockatiel, a Senegal, a Quaker, a Pionus, a Cockatoo, a Macaw, etc. Doesn't matter at all what their steriotypical behavior is supposed to be, each bird is an individual, and there is a nature vs. nurture component as well. So if you're looking for any species of parrot and you want your bird to be more on the cuddly, clingy, loving side, the best things you can do, especially if looking at either sub-species of Budgies, are:

#1) Try to find a private breeder to get your bird from (if you're going for a newly-weaned baby and not adopting an adult bird), one who hand-raises/hand-feeds their babies from the age of 2-3 weeks-old, and one who will allow you to spend time and interact with all of the babies they have available so you can get a feel for each baby's personality and which ones seem to like to be handled/scratched more than others (no reputable breeder will allow you to see or interact with their parent-birds, that's just good aviary-health practice, but they should have no problem with you visiting all of the available babies and interacting with each of them so you can get a feel for each of their personalities, and actually see if any particular baby "chooses you" instead of the other way around, because when a baby or even an adult bird chooses you, they are going to tend to be more attached to you and cuddly/loving towards at least you)...It's difficult if you're looking at baby parrots in a pet shop, ESPECIALLY BUDGIES, WHETHER AMERICAN OR ENGLISH, because they tend to buy them from large, mass-vendors if they don't breed them in-house and raise them themselves in the store...And even mass=raised babies that come from a large vendor that are said to be "Hand-Fed" aren't typically anywhere near as friendly or loving right off the bat like those who were actually "Hand-Raised" by a private breeder..."Hand-Raised" means they were pulled between 2-3 weeks old from the nestbox and raised/fed by the breeder, and handled/interacted with every single day, for a lot of each day..."Hand-Fed" simply means that they stuck a Crop-Needle down each baby's throat 3-4 times a day in a literal assembly line, injected the formula into their Crops until they look full, which takes all of 30 seconds, and then they plop them back into their large bins that contain dozens of babies at a time, and they don't interact or touch them at all otherwise. So you can see the difference is HUGE...

#2) If you're thinking of adopting an adult bird from either a Rescue/Shelter or from the bird's prior-owner who is re-homing them, the same principles apply...You need to visit their bird and be able to spend time with them to see if they are a good match for you, and you need to be allowed to visit them multiple times, not just show-up at the owner's house, spend 15 minutes talking to them and having their adult parrot step-up once and then go home with the bird. And if an owner is being pushy and insists that you either buy the bird and take it immediately on your first visit and they don't want to you make multiple visits, then that should be a good indication to you of how much that owner has cared about their bird from the start, and probably a good indication that their bird hasn't gotten much attention at all and probably spent a lot of time just sitting inside of their cage...

***Budgies in-general are tough in this day and age, because it's extremely difficult to find any private-breeders who are actually hand-raising them from 2-3 weeks-old forward, putting the same time and energy into raising them as they do with the other species of parrots, etc., because it's nearly impossible to make a cent hand-raising them, and you actually lose money 95% of the time. I stopped breeding Budgies and Cockatiels both around 2012 and kept breeding and hand-raising Green Cheeks and Suns because I was losing a large amount of money on the Budgies and Cockatiels. It's so much time, energy, and money (especially if you have them Avian Vet checked like I always did), and I was starting to get a lot of people who were unwilling to pay $60 for a hand-raised American or English Budgie, and the common response I got ALL THE TIME when someone would email me and ask their price was "I can buy a Budgie at the Pet Store for $20-$30."...And when I'd explain that those Budgies come from mass-breeding vendors and are not at all Hand-Raised birds, they might be Hand-Fed by Crop-Feeding them on an assembly line (even that is extremely rare for Budgies and Cockatiels sold by pet shops), but they are not very tame birds at all, and you're going to spend months and months to years hand-taming one of those Budgies to just get them to simply step-up, whereas my babies would fly to you on-command, step-up 100% of the time, cuddle and sleep behind your ear and against your neck, roll on their backs and play with you, etc., just like a Green Cheek or a Sun Conure...But they just didn't think that was worth an extra $30 (until they would email again about 6 months later asking me when I would have more babies because they'd been working with their $30 Petco or Petsmart Budgie for 6 months and it still wouldn't step-up for them)...

So again, it's all about the indiviual Budgie or any other species of parrot that you're looking at, not the actual species of the bird, when it comes to ensuring that you bring home a bird with the type of personality you're looking for. It's no different than choosing a puppy; you can pick out a stereotypically cuddly little lap-dog breed of puppy, like a Pug, and buy one from a breeder online and have them ship it to you, and you'll get a beautiful, pure-bred little Pug puppy, but it might be a holy-terror right off the bat who doesn't like to be held, picked-up, and won't ever snuggle with you at all. But if you go to the home of a Pug breeder and are able to interact with all of the Pug puppies they have for sale, you're going to see each one's individual personality and be able to pick out the docile little lovebug of the litter who just curls-up in your lap and falls asleep, as opposed to the other ones who are out of their minds crazy, running around and doing everything they can to wiggle out of your hands when you try to hold them...Same thing applies to parrots. So as long as you find a reputable breeder who hand-raises their babies and allows you to interact with all of their available English or American Budgies, or any other parrot species, you'll be much better able to find the right bird for you...

 

[GailC]

Thanks everyone. If I do decide on a budgie, I will seek out a breeder. If I can't find a breeder, there is a good bird store that hand raises all the birds they sell and will let you interact with them.
I'm also considering a bourke but I've never actually met one in person. I need to go to the above mentioned bird store and play with some, see how they are.

I actually feel very lucky that my little jewels was so friendly since he did come from a mass produced place.

He loved everyone and had a impressive vocabulary. He would let me scratch his face but he never did cuddle or nap against my neck. Really though, he was about as perfect as a little birdie could be, I loved him dearly.

 

[EllenD]

I think it's wonderful you're going to first spend time with the babies to find the right match for you...That really is the only way to get a feeling for what your new baby's personality will be like...

My mom bred a few different sub-species of Bourke Parakeets as well, and the only thing I can say about them is that they MUST be hand-raised by a very experienced and attentive breeder for them to be very loving, cuddly birds at all...Most Bourkes are not hand-raised, even the ones bred by private breeders, they are typically parent-raised for some reason, and they are a particularly stubborn parrot species...I have worked with several non-tame, parent-raised Bourkes over the years, trying to hand-tame them to make them better adoption candidates, and I can tell you that hand-taming a non-tame, parent-raised Bourke is the most challenging bird-training experience I've ever experienced...They are quite stubborn and it seems like if they are not pulled away from their parents between 2-3 weeks old and then hand-raised by a breeder who spends quite a lot of time with them every single day, they are just very, very difficult to tame...However, if you do happen to find a breeder or bird store who does hand-raise Bourke Parakeets from 2-3 weeks old, they are every bit the sweet, loving, cuddly little birds that any other parrots are. I actually really love the Bourkes, along with a lot of the other lessor-known Parakeet species, all of which make great companions...

Any of the sub-species of Bourkes, American and English Budgies, Lineolated Parakeets (usually called "Linnies"), and the Canary-Wing Parakeets (often called "BeeBee Parakeets") are all awesome little parrots!