Parakeets - advice, opinions, guidance etc

[Callducknut14]

What is the size of the cage that you got? Pet stores often advertise "Parakeet Starter Cages". These cage are always way too small for a parakeet or any bird.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, pet store cages sold as starters are good for travel... and thats about it. Not only are bird cage's almost all entirely too small, so are the hamster cages. Many stores sell hamster kits that are smaller than a 10 gallon aquarium, and only have a 6 inch wheel in it... a Syrian hamster that they sell, will be over 6 inches in length as an adult!

 

[emryst]

I searched craigslist in my area and only found one listing for a parakeet. It sounded like they bred parakeets and wanted to get rid of her because she was not a good mother... I also looked at petfinder and most of the birds are larger parrots and the few parakeets they do have on there are not hand tamed.

The cage is pretty tiny, 14x16x17 1/2 but we definitely plan on taking him out every night and letting him mess around outside of the cage. There are also different sizes/textured perches in the cage.

Do they tend to poop all over when you do this?

I really like the idea of supplementing with fresh veggies and a little fruit! And I will definitely buy pellets instead of seeds.

What is their optimum heat range? What is too hot or too cold?

 

[jason_mazzy]

I have hand raised many many birds myself, and before my divorce had several large birds along with my budgies. I just have a few english and mutts now. My pied lavendars were hand raised and quite expensive compared to a normal petsmart type. I would like to caution here that a handraised young bird if introduced to wild type budgies is most likely to revert. While my hand tamed will allow me to get her, she will no longer step up, and acts very much like the wild parakeets. Birds are social creatures and learn from their flock. ''


'@ the other breeder in Lousiana:

I am interested in a couple pairs of hand raised budgies. PM me.

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
I let my 3 parakeets and 1 tiel free roam the bird room... and yes they do poop everywhere. Just go around once a week, deep clean the floors and walls of poop. It's not as bad as chicken poop at all. Just little jelly droplets. Just remember to close all blinds and doors to avoid accidents, and make sure everyone knows birds are out so no exterior doors are opened. The temp inside is between 65 and 75 depending on time of year for mine at least. Oh, and to keep dust down, I run a 600 sq foot rated hepa filter 2 hours a day.

As for pelleted feed.... I've never been able to get store bought parakeets to eat pellets, they would starve themselves after picking out all the seeds in a 75% seed mix, then 50% seed mix, and then 25% seed. By the time I get to 25% seed, the dish is empty because they threw the rest onto the ground. Perhaps 2 months wasn't long enough to try, but I gave up the battle with them and just let them have their seed with maybe 10% pellets that I just end up throwing away. There is not even pellet dust in the bottom from nibbling! As for fresh stuff, the birds I have from a bin-o-budgies just watch their daily cup of veggis/fruit go bad or have the tiel sneak in and eat it all. Pick the absolute youngest tiel you can from the pet store if you can. Personality over color any day of the week!

The tiel I have I hand fed for about a month. Sucker downs pellets like candy after I pretended to eat them, and will try EVERYTHING presented. If he thinks you're eating it, he'll eat it too. He thinks your throwing something away? He'll try that too. He knows where the parakeet fresh fruit cup is, so as soon as he can get to it, the dish will be cleaned out. By having him do this, my female parakeet has tasted the veggies, but continues to ignore them anyway

This is just my very limited experience with buddgies and my one tiel.

 

[Akane]

Craigslist and petfinder are not good places to find parakeets because they do not allow breeders. All you will find are people rehoming their untamed parakeets. Usually older birds. hoobly and ebay classifieds are where most breeders of animals advertise online. A petstore bird may not even come out of it's cage. They are too nervous to try it. If they do come out it may be such a hassle to get them in that you don't want to do it daily. I would suggest a bigger cage. You can get 30x 18 or 24x16" cages off amazon and lots of websites for pretty cheap. I get them in 4-6 packs off ebay for $100.
http://www.amazon.com/Brand-Aviary-...s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1301588751&sr=1-13
http://www.amazon.com/Brand-Aviary-...s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1301588751&sr=1-20

Different birds will like different pellets. I have some that won't touch TOP and others (even petstore bought) who turn them in to dust before their seed. I have some that love roudybush and some that won't touch it including the ones that eat the TOP. I've also given harrison's samples and had about 3 out of 8 eat it. Most of the companies will give samples. Giving fruit and veggies can also vary a lot. Lots of birds will not eat veggies in a dish. None of mine will even the handraised ones. They will eat it off a kabob stick or stuck inside a puzzle toy. Some want it suspended from the roof by string.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

See for me I'd rather buy from a petstore I've bought from breeders before and they turned out the worst then petstore that's why I breed my own that way I know there history.

 

[emryst]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I did look on hoobly and ebay classified but there was nothing in my area except larger birds... which we aren't ready for!

I agree with the CL statement. It seemed like it was people trying to get rid of unwanted un hand tamed birds.

Unfortunately we ended up going to the pet store route. But they did have signs posted all around in the bird room that their birds were from local breeders only who take very good care of them and the store is proud to use them as their breeders.

We bought one male 'hand tamed' parakeet. According to the guy they aren't really that hand tamed but they are used to people putting hands in the cage and occasionally getting held.

We got him last night at about 5 pm and the pet store said to only put one perch in in front of his food for about a week to ensure that he is forced to see his food at all times.

Wellll we have only seen him apathetically peck at his food once. We put him in our bedroom and spent the evening in the living room so we didn't disturb him with music/lights/talking/walking around.

But he is still breathing really hard. He appears quite afraid. I changed the water this AM and it didn't look like he drank anything. Is this okay??

 

[AquaEyes]

Quote:
I don't have budgies of my own, but I've been around them as a kid (grandmother's birds) and work with them at a lab at my university. I have an amazon parrot, the DYHA you see on my head in my pic. He just turned 20. I wanted to throw some info and advice your way.

Yes, "puppy mill" bird breeding exists, but it will be hard to avoid if you're getting birds from a pet store. If you want to know where your birds are from, you could try having their leg band ID's traced. Almost all leg bands used for cage birds come from L&M, and if you contact them, they can send you a trace-request form which (for a small fee) will locate the purchaser of the band (who will thus be the breeder of the bird). They contact the breeder first, and if the breeder grants permission to do so, L&M will send you the breeder's contact info. Here is some information on leg bands, including how to trace them:

http://www.avianweb.com/legbands.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_5848512_bird-breeder-tag-number.html



As for food, you will hear a wide variety of brands being mentioned. Yes, pellets are generally better than an all-seed diet, but an all-pellet diet isn't the best, either. Be sure to offer dark leafy green stuff daily. Clip a floret of broccoli, a leaf of spinach, etc. to the cage each day and let the birds go at it. Budgies come from an arid environment, and aren't generally fond of soft or juicy fruits (like citrus or bananas or berries). Give them dark greens, and veggies that are dark orange or red (like carrots, sweet potatoes, peppers).

If you want to REALLY give them something great, check out the "micrograin" mix at www.chinaprairie.com to use for making sprouts. I've been feeding China Prairie to my amazon since I got him when he was 7YO. You don't have to bother getting the sprout tower. Just get one jar and one lid (maybe an extra jar and lid in case of breakage), and the green supplement powder. Put some dry mix in the jar (it doubles or triples in volume after soaking/sprouting, so for two budgies, you won't need much), fill with water, and let soak for 8-12 hours. Drain, rinse several times, and drain again. You can start serving it after it's completely soaked, spooning out a little into a dish and mixing in the green supplement powder. Put the rest in the fridge (if you have more than a few days' worth in the jar), or leave it out (if you have only a little and want the sprouting to happen more quickly). Each time you want to serve, rinse and drain first. When the jar is empty, wash it and start again. I've been doing this for my bird for almost 13 years now. He gets a sprout breakfast every day, has pellets in another dish for snacking, and gets a dinner of whatever I throw together. He's not a budgie, but it gives you the idea of having variety in the diet.

As far as other advice, I'd say to keep the cage in an area of your home that is active, but not near a common pathway for walking. Budgies are tiny, and a big human rushing past the cage all the time will make them jumpy. However, they like activity, so find a quiet corner of a busy room. Rather than "force-taming", try making "being friends with you" an attractive option. By this I mean try feeding treats from your hand instead of offering them in a dish. Allow the bird to come to you. Also, if the bird is generally terrified, keep the cage close to you, and mostly ignore him/her for a while. Move around slowly until he/she is used to you (remember how much bigger you are from the budgie's perspective).

As far as the teflon pans...it's not just cooking pans that have teflon. It's commonly found in irons and hair-dryers, for example. If you are moving soon, perhaps consider getting a non-teflon pan that your roommate can use until you leave...then let your roommate keep it as a parting gift. Be careful about cleaning your oven -- don't use the "self-clean" option, and try not to use any cleaners (for anything) that say on the instructions "use only in well-ventilated area." That's another way of saying "caustic fumes."

Good luck, and have fun!



~Chris

 

[WoodlandWoman]

It can also help to very gently and slowly put a light colored towel over the cage, leaving just the front open. Having the top and three sides covered means he doesn't have to be afraid of being attacked from those directions. He should feel less worried. He'll only have to watch out the front. I also don't put a lot of toys or other objects in the cage at first, that could be scary. I also don't have a lot of scary objects right next to the cage. You can introduce things after they've had a week or so to adjust.

When you go into the room, speak gently, so he knows you're there and coming in. Don't just swing a door open suddenly, because that can startle them. Speak gently to him before you turn on the lights, as that can be startling, too. When he becomes less afraid, you can spend some time reading quietly in the room, not facing him. He can watch you and get used to you, while you're no threat.