Age and Sex
When you get your first budgie, it should be very young... about five to eight weeks old is best. The age will vary because baby birds, like baby people, develop at different rates. Some baby budgies will leave the nest box at four and a half weeks, while others don't fledge until they are six weeks old. The chicks are taught, by daddy, how to eat on their own. Once this is accomplished, the baby is ready for a wing clip and a new home. A young bird has stripes on his forehead that reach almost to his cere (the fleshy part at the top of the beak where the nostrils are located). These stripes moult out from the cere, up over his forehead, within the first few months. A young chick will not have a sclerotic eye ring... a white circle around the outer edge of the eye, which develops around the age of six months. There are a few mutations of budgies that never develop this ring, such as the albino and the recessive pied, but these are exceptions to the general rule. A mature male has a blue cere and a mature female has a white cere when she is out of season or a brown cere when she is in season. However, a baby budgie has a pink, mauve or purple cere whether it is a male or a female. The difference is that a female will have white on the cere as well, which may appear to be only a light white circle around the nostrils when it is very young, but will gradually extend further on the cere. The male baby has no white whatsoever on his cere. As breeders, we can usually tell the male and female babies apart, but because it is such a slight difference in some cases, even breeders cannot one hundred percent guarantee the sex of a baby. The older the chick, the easier it is to tell; but the younger the chick, the more quickly and strongly it will bond to humans. Although both male and female budgies have the capability of speech, a male will generally speak a bit more clearly. A male also tends to be slightly less nippy than a female, since in the wild the female will be the one who protects the chicks in the nest with her and therefore needs a less sweet-sounding voice and a sharper bite to scare off predators. The average lifespan of a budgie is about five to eight years, but with proper diet, exercise and care, budgies have been known to live well over fifteen years. Having said that, genetics will also play a role in lifespan, so ten years would be extremely good.
One Bird or More?
Before you purchase your first baby budgie companion, you should be warned that these wonderful and affectionate bundles of feathers are very addictive! We all start with one cute little friend and, eventually, most of us decide that he should have company. Try to remember that, although budiges are a flocking bird and they want to be part of a flock, you have just taken on that role. You and your family now become his flock. If you decide to buy another bird, you are taking the chance that he will bond to the new bird more closely than he is bonded to you. Since you will probably want to teach your budgie to talk, it is best if he hears people-talk rather than the chirping of other birds. If you already have a budgie and have decided to add another budgie to your home, he may very well bond to your other bird and may be less tame and less likely to talk than a single bird would. Also, if your first bird is tame, he may become less tame as well.
Healthy Budgie
A normal, healthy budgie will sometimes fluff up his feathers when resting to retain body heat, and pull them in tight to cool off. He will also frequently stand on one foot to rest the other. Some birds will sleep with their head tucked under their wing, or turned back into fluffed-up feathers on their back. They may also sleep hanging on the wires of the cage instead of standing on a perch. You can expect your budgie to nap two or three times during a regular day. These are all perfectly normal behaviours and should not cause any concern.
Occasionally, a budgie may take night fright and thrash around his cage in the dark if something has alarmed him. If this happens, it can be corrected by having a small night light near his cage to help him find his way back to his perch.
A healthy bird might also have looser droppings after being fed a large quantity of fruits or one that is new to him. You might also find that a budgie might have some colour (red, yellow, etc.) in his droppings after eating coloured pellets. This will happen in a healthy bird sometimes, so consider the overall appearance and actions of the bird to determine the state of his health.
Minor First Aid
Should your budgie develop overgrown nails, you can hold the foot up to a light and you should be able to see the vein in the nail. You can use fingernail clipper to trim the nail, no closer than 1/8 inch from the vein. Be sure to have 'Quik-Stop', cornstarch or flour handy in case there is a slip and the nail is trimmed too closely. Dipping the nail into one of these and applying pressure should help to stop any bleeding that might occur.
A beak will very seldom grow too long, but if it shold happen it would be best to have an avian veterinarian clip it, since there is also a vein running through the beak and it is a much more difficult job to clip a beak than a toenail. An imperfect clip could cause the beak to split and that is something that would have to be handled by a vet.
If your bird develops an eye infection, 'Polysporin Eye and Ear Drops" for humans is available in most pharmacies and can be used three or four times a day. This does an excellent job of clearing it up.
See 'Signs of Illness' for information on an over-the-counter antibiotic for your bird, for minor respiratory infections..