Budgies- boring or unappreciated?

[futurebirdmama]

Hi there!

I've spent so much energy thinking about what kind of parrot to get, but I'm wondering, why does no one mention budgies? I've heard they're not good talkers from some people, while I've also heard that they're fantastic talkers. Can they be social? Do they like to cuddle? Why do you love budgies?

 

[Flboy]

I know this is a parakeet, but!

[ame="https://youtu.be/ldawsDDuoPo"]Disco The Talking Parakeet Talks to Daddy - YouTube[/ame]

 

[GaleriaGila]

I've met a lot of birds in my life, and I think budgies are fabulous. YEAH, they talk!
Some better than others, bug I think this one's typical...
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk6bNG4WMHc"]Bird cuddles up and talks himself to sleep Video #11 | Liz Kreate - YouTube[/ame]
And... they're beautiful, sociable, space-saving, and all around fabulous!
I suspect that their eons of domestication help make them genetically amenable to living with people.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Disco is an international PHENOM! He's been on the BBC and other media. Isn't he amazing????

P.S. I wish the Rickeybird would let me have one or two!

 

[Loko]

I think theyre overlooked because of their tiny size and because the way people perceive them as kind of beginner, unsophisticated, cage birds almost like finches. That is not true though as they are intelligent and interesting little birds, forming pretty complex and interesting social families and they can talk, I believe mostly males though. They also have a reputation for being less hands on then other birds, and while it is somewhat true, it does laregely depend on how well you socialize them. A budgie can be way more cuddly than a cockatoo if one is socialized and the other not, though if both are socialized well, the budgie will never be as hands on as the cockatoo just because of their general temperament. They certainly can be hands on, but how much so depends on the bird and there is a good chance they wont be extremely hands on like some other species. I think they are indeed a good bird to start with though, you will learn a lot about parrot ownership and certainly have a bird with personality, with less of the big bird problems like hormones and such, and also not such a big beak to learn with.

 

[SilverSage]

I love budgies! Many people don't like them because they are inexpensive and thus don't seem as exotic (how dumb is that?) but also because they are usually sold wild. I know there is at least one aviary that hand raises them (cute little birdies aviary I think) and here and there you find breeders who co parent.


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[LeaKP]

I love budgies! If I could have a hand raised one I'd jump at the chance. My parents gave me a hand raised budgie as a child and I loved him so much. The sweetest bird. Have wanted another for many years.

 

[EllenD]

I bred budgies for 16 years, and have 7 that I hand raised from 2 weeks old. They are the sweetest, funniest little birds ever. But I think in recent years the reason the popularity of budgies as pets is because it's very hard to find hand-raised ones. Most parakeets that you can buy in pet stores are parent raised, mill birds that are scared to death of people, and even if you work with them for months and months they are never really tame. Even most budgie breeders, if you can find one, don't hand raise them but rather let the parents do it, so they aren't tame either. Most ads I see from budgie breeders say something like "will need to be worked with" or "used to be tame but not now"...as a breeder I can attest that the problem is the money they bring in comparison to the money and time you spend hand raising them. Hand raising a clutch of parakeets is no different at all in cost or time required than hand raising a Macaw, African Gray, Senegal, conure, etc. So you can hand raise budgies and at most get $50-$100 a bird (and that's for English budgies), or you can do the exact same thing and hand raise green cheek conures and get $250-$400+ a bird...

Also I think that people just want larger birds and this is a factor as well...

As far as being good talkers, some are, some aren't. If you want a good talker you need a boy, as the girls generally do not talk. And then it's just hit and miss on how well the boy talks.

"Dance Like Nobody's Watching"

 

[EllenD]

By the way, here are some of my guys, they hang out every day with me and the rest of my flock, and are ever bit as intelligent, funny, and cuddly as my Quaker, my green cheek conure, my cockatiel, and my Senegal...

"Dance Like Nobody's Watching"

 

[sonja]

I love them! I have some bigger "fancier" parrots, but I'll always have a couple 'keets, too. In fact, I'm considering another right now!

 

[SilverSage]

I've had several tame budgies that were wild when we got them. Some were as tame as rocks, others never really decided to love us. Here are some pictures of my sisters and one of my brothers; the blue and yellow budgie that is in every pic is my first bird, Saphire.

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[AmyMyBlueFront]

At age 14 or so, my mom bought me a 'keet for my birthday..my first "exotic" bird..He was finger trained/tamed in two days..he learned to talk fairly quickly. He went to anyone in my family,would land on the cats back (an indoor kitty that had no clue what a bird was) and ride around the house with her.
He didn't really "cuddle' but I didn't really try to either..He would except head skritches.
He ate from our plates..took baths in my cereal bowl "helped" me with homework by jumping on my hand and fighting with the pen or pencil..threw my papers on the floor.. He was beautiful and funny..
IMHO 'keets/budgies are highly underrated!


Jim

 

[Kentuckienne]

I've wanted a budgie for a long time. Watching the Disco videos on YouTube is torture... What a bird!

[ame="https://youtu.be/hNavxvvN9QI"]https://youtu.be/hNavxvvN9QI[/ame]

 

[Emperor]

I think budgies are the best pet to get because they require very little work compared to dogs, aren't smelly like cats, aren't insanely annoying like bigger parrots, and will play with you a lot more than fish or rodents or reptiles. People look down on them because they are so cheap, but society and fashion are extremely stupid.

 

[SilverSage]

The only part of that I disagree with is the work; my birds are way more work than my dog! lol I don't know if that means I have terrible birds or an amazing dog?


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[EllenD]

The only part of that I disagree with is the work; my birds are way more work than my dog! lol I don't know if that means I have terrible birds or an amazing dog?


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I agree, my birds are definitely more work than my dogs...cleaning cages completely once a week, checking food and water at least twice a day, chopping up veggies and fruit every day, making oatmeal, grits, eggs, pasta, etc. all the time, giving them showers/baths, clipping nails, and of course, vacuuming up the mass of food and feathers from around their cages 20 times a day. I swear my Quaker waits until I vacuum, watches me while I'm doing it, waits for me to put the vacuum away, and then throws or somehow manages to dump out his entire bowl of pellets and seeds...then he does his evil genius laugh..."mwah ha ha"...

"Dance Like Nobody's Watching"

 

[IndySE]

I love budgies <3 My first birds in life were budgies and in fact my first budgie, Blueberry, is part of what turned me on to birds for the rest of my life. They're a little more skittish than, say, a conure (what I have no for comparison, haha), but if they are properly socialized they love people. A well socialized bird will enjoy hanging out on your shoulder and maybe some occasional head scratches. I've seen many become target-trained, on top of that. They have sweet dispositions, too, and aren't near as fiesty as birds in the conure family haha. They'll still bite if you scare them, of course But remember, they are prone to skittishness, so if they are ever mistreated it will take them a long time to trust again.

 

[SilverSage]

I have never found them to be any more prone to being skittish than any other species of bird that was raised wild. Sapphire was as tame as a rock, nothing phased her


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