Budgies should be kept in pairs or more, they can be kept alone but unless they are around people 24/7 they can get lonely and depressed and start showing bad behaviours such as feather plucking or just being unhappy.
They also need a friend to help them preen their head and places they can't reach when they are moulting.
A budgies cage is very important.
never house a budgie in a round cage, budgies often get scared and like to go to a corner to feel safe, when a budgie is placed in a round cage there is nowhere for it to go and the budgie will become stressed and pace up and down the perch.
this cage(two cages joined) is housing my two budgies Kirby and Charlie:
If you're going to house more than two budgies its best to have a larger cage
The larger cage the better, and the width of the cage is more important than height, since budgies fly across and not up.
In the cage you should have:
feed and water cups: more than one if you have two budgies, because they will fight over food.
toys: budgies are very smart and its important for them to have something to do, there are many different toys available. Preening toys: with string bits hanging so the birds can preen (this helps prevent them over preening themselves or feather picking behaviour) toys for their beaks, bells, mirrors, beads, wooden toys and much more.
Perches: its important for budgies or any birds to have a variety of different size and texture perches, this is to help exercise their feett and prevent bumble foot (sore's on their feet) which happens from perching on the same thing every day.
different perches are: wooden dowel perches, rope perches (or swings) calcium perches and natural perches can be bought from pet stores or found in your garden (if you use tree branches, make sure they are free from bugs and haven't been sprayed with any chemicals) also make sure the branches are safe for budgies to chew.
food: budgies should be fed a commercial budgie seed, or budgie pellets. Too much seed is actually bad for you're budgies health, many pellet mixes are healthier for your budgie but may take time for them to eat if they have been fed seed previously. Also fresh fruit and veg should be offered for your budgie to be in best health.
clipping budgies wings:
some people like to clip their birds wings, this is a personal choice and up to the owner.
Clipping your birds wings does NOT hurt them if done properly, but this shouldn't be done unless you know how, so ask your vet or someone who knows how to safely clip the wings of your bird.
there are pros and cons of clipping wings.
The pros:
your bird will be safer when out of the cage, it won't be able to fly into mirrors,walls or windows and hurt itself.
you can easily handle your bird, and it can help tame your bird.
cons: your bird can't exercise properly.
they can actually get into trouble if they get into somewhere and can't fly out.
if in a large cage the bird can fall and hurt itself.
birds can't fly out of harms way (from being stood on etc)
if you are going to clip your birds wings don't assume your bird wont get away, there's been many case of clipped birds still flying away, when outside the wind can take a clipped bird very far.
I have clipped my birds wings before, because I wanted to introduce them outside of the cage, when one of them was still not very tame and I was worried they would hurt themselves.
After my birds were introduced and their flight feathers grew back they have not and won't be clipped again.
It is easier to deal with two birds when their wings are clipped but now that they are tame I no longer have any issues and they are great at flying around the room and its great to see them happy and flying.
this is what clipped wings should look like:
SEXING BUDGIES
telling the sex of your budgie is fairly easy when they are mature, but at a young age it can be difficult.
A female budgies cere will either be pink/white or brown when they are in breeding condition and a males will be blue.
When budgies are babies, a males cere will be purple pink, and a females light blue or white which is what causes confusion!
There are some exceptions to the blue and pink cere, in Lutino budgies and Albino the males cere does not go blue, but stays a pink/purple colour and the females will be white or brown.
This is my young male's cere as a baby it looks pink like a female (this is how people are easily confused)
then this is him now matured with his blue cere:
my female kirby as a baby has a white/light blue cere:
and as an mature adult with brown cere:
To tell a budgie is young there are several things you can look for:
The budgie will have all black eyes, with no iris ring (the white iris ring develops after 4 months of age) but in Kirby I can still hardly see it.
Baby budgies beaks are often a blackish colour
and they will have baby bars down their forehead until their first moult (which happens between 4 and 6 months of age) A moult is when budgies lose feathers are grow new ones.
Both of these budgies are babies, the one on the left the youngest still with the black beak.
(yellow budgies will not have baby bars)
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