New owner with a couple of questions

[SwissBudgie]

Hi,

My name is Fiona and I live in Switzerland with my husband, 3 dogs, and the latest addition to our family, 2 budgies

So far the budgies are doing really well. The are active, vocal, get on well together, play with their toys a lot, and love to eat (well we are working on the vegetable issue, but seed and millet are popular!). The have settled well, and have now built up to accepting our hand close to them in the cage. We are working hard on this, and hope to have them finger trained in the next few weeks.

But I do have a couple of questions.

1. The budgies came from a breeder, and already had leg rings. When we chose the two we wanted we were told their sexes (based on their leg ring numbers which were looked up in a log book). However the birds are only 12 weeks old. This is obvious by their eyes (still solid black) and the presence of juvenile feathers on their heads (still showing clear banding). Is there some way that breeders can sex birds before they are mature, or is it likely that the sexes are just a 'guess'?

2. We have fallen in love with another budgie (I predict we have a large aviery by this time next year ). He/she is the same age as the two we have already. Would it be fair to introduce another bird to our current pair. Space is not an issue, but would a new friend be likely to cause problems? Do budgies happily live in groups of more than 2 if introduced at different times?

Thanks for reading this far. We really love our new birds, and are keen to make sure they stay happy and healthy.

Cheers,
Fiona

[Morwilwarin]

Hey, Fiona, hope you're having a great time with your budgies!

1. Sometimes breeders might be able to tell a bird's sex, from what their ceres appear to be, before they're mature. It really depends, I think.

2. I've heard that two females and one male will fight to the death if kept in the same cage, but in the wild, budgies live in large flocks, so I suspect it won't be too much of a problem. My birds were bought three weeks apart from each other (I have two) and I introduced them by having 2 cages set up to each other, then putting the newer bird in the larger cage.

[blusheep123]

1. Well, because its a baby its going to be near impossible to tell by the cere (nose) color. however you can tell by other ways! observe, If the bird is active and really talkative then its probably a male, if the bird is on the grumpy side, then its probably a female, another way to tell is the shape of the head. If its very rounded (like the top of a ball) its a male, if the top of the head slants downward slightly then its a female. look at my aviator the blue budgie is a female because its head slants slightly.

2. I think they should be ok, just introduce them slowly. like Morwilwarin said.

[kathy5]

hi can you post pictures If not go by this & you should be able to tell the sexes of the bird I have been right on 1000% so far.....


male parakeet




a female parakeet

[Duddles]

Welcome Fiona! Congrats on the budgies. Aren't they great?

I think that personal dynamics change every time you add a new bird, so it's hard to say what will happen. They could all love each other, or they could suddenly all dislike each other. I've only ever had two budgies at a time, but I've heard that with three, there will usually be an odd one out.

Another things you may want to consider is that, the more budgies you have, the more difficult it will be to keep them tame. If you'd like to eventually have many birds, you may find it easier to maintain relationships wiuth each individual if you tame the ones you have, then get another one or two and tame those, etc, etc.

And finally, if you want many budgies, it's a good idea to start thinking about budgie birth control. What are the sexes of the ones you already have? If they're both males, you may want to stick with males only, and get slightly older birds so that you can be sure of the sex.

What are their sexes, and what are their names?

[SwissBudgie]

And finally, if you want many budgies, it's a good idea to start thinking about budgie birth control. What are the sexes of the ones you already have? If they're both males, you may want to stick with males only, and get slightly older birds so that you can be sure of the sex.
What are their sexes, and what are their names?

Thanks to all who took the time to respond.

We now have a third Budgie on trial (the breeder will take him back if there are any problems, or we are unhappy with the effect he has on the group).

So far all is going well, and the three seem very happy together, although we understand it is still early days. The breeder seems to think that because all 3 are young, as long as they are raised together with adequate cage space and a lot of free flying time, they should be ok. He felt 2 boys were more likely to be compatible than 2 girls.

So we now have:
Merlin - male
Max - male
Molly - female

They are all 12 - 14 weeks old. I am not sure of their colouring (what it would be called) so once they are tamer I will try and post some pics.

Anyway birth control is something I am concerned about (Max and Molly are brother and sister) as we do NOT want any baby budgies. As much as the idea is nice, it would be totally irresponsible, so I am off to post a question about this in the appropriate forum.

Thanks again to everyone for the welcome and helpful tips.
Fiona + 3 Budgies

[Duddles]

Congrats on the third budgie!