Budgies

PAUL'S HOME PAGE

Page was updated: 9/10/99 - sorry it took so long for an update!

Hello and welcome to my web page, this is the first time I have done this so it is a bit crude - sorry at the moment a lot of the pages are not finished and there might be spulling mistakes!

If you have any comments, suggestions or want advice then please email me at: [email protected] - I usually check my mail 2-3 Time a week, and I will try to help

This web page is mainly about Budgies and how to look after them, but it also has links to other web sites and will have info on other animals. I will be adding stuff all the time such as pages on Kickboxing, Singer Gazelle, The Beatles, computers, HI-FI, possibly a chat area and anything else I can think of!

You can either read about budgies now, or click on the links to other pages below:

COOL LINKS OTHER ANIMALS COMPUTERS BEATLES KICKBOXING ABOUT ME!

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BUYING A BUDGIE!

If you want a budgie you will have to ask some important questions first:

* Will you be able to look after it 365 days a year

* Will your partner/parents/flatmate etc. like it

* Can you afford it

As with all pets, they are a novelty at first but after a while they get boring, this is no reason to not look after them. Also never give pets as presents.

Budgies are quite intelligent, and should not be alone in a small cage for the whole of its life.

When choosing a budgie, try to go to a breeder, as they are normally cheaper and have better stock (most breeders sell their "crap" stock to pet shops)

When selecting the bird you want, make sure it is chatting, not fluffed up and eating and drinking, if still in doubt, it is best to ask someone who knows about budgies, because you don't want to get home and the bird is dead.

There are hundreds of different colour varieties of budgies and I can't be bothered to type them all down, as it would take me all day!

HOUSING

Budgies can be housed in various ways; I prefer them to be in an aviary if you have more than 3 birds:

But a lot of older budgie keepers keep them in "bird house", where they spend their life in a dusty shed, in small cages, I don't like this method it is old fashioned.

If you only want 2-3 birds (if you want 3 get one male and two females there will be less fighting that way!), and can only afford a cage get the largest one you can afford - you or the budgies will not regret it.

DIET

In your budgies enclosure there should be a food bowl, water bowl, grit bowl. Budgies eat large canary seed, small canary seed, white millet and panicum. The best choice for budgies is the mixtures packaged by well know firms (my faviroute is Spillers). If you have 4+ budgies then it is more economical to buy 25kg sacks. The seed will keep its goodness, providing you keep the sack in a dry, vermin free environment.

Budgies will also enjoy greenfood occanislly, such as chickweed, seeding meadow grasses and spinach.

Don't change the water bowl every day (unless their is no water left - this probably means there is not enough water though), change it every 2-4 days, this way it will help build up the budgerigars immune system.

BREEDING

Before you start breeding you should make sure that you know that the offspring will go to a good home.

The first thing you have to do is get nest boxes it works best if you use two per pair.

Above is a traditional budgerigar nest box with a removable concave bottom. When this is pushed in, a sliding panel completes the box.

The eggs are laid on alternate days and in a clutch of five eggs there will be about 10 days hatching of the first and last egg. As the chicks are growing the nest boxes should be kept clean and dry at all times. The young leave the nest boxes when they are about 4-5 weeks old and are able to fend for themselves seven to ten days later

I have just done an assignment on breeding budgies (3/6/99) click HERE to read it