Hello, Frank Indiviglio here. I’m often questioned on the pros and cons of keeping Budgerigars (parakeets) and other parrots singly as opposed to in pairs or groups. Most folks are aware that parrots housed alone tend to form strong bonds to their owners, more so than birds that have others of their own kind to [...]
Hello, Frank Indiviglio here. Recently, a bird owner confided to me that, although pets were prohibited in her tiny Manhattan apartment, she was able to keep an English budgerigar because it was very quiet and also a good deal less active than the American budgies which she had kept. Thinking back, I realized that English [...]
Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.
Swollen areas and assorted growths are regularly seen on the otherwise hearty budgerigars (parakeets) and, less commonly, on other parrots, finches and softbills. Ranging from harmless to quite serious, these typically arise from trauma, abscesses, tumors, ruptured air sacs, hernias, cysts or egg-binding, but other -less obvious maladies may also be [...]
Click: Captive Care of the Budgerigar (“Parakeet”), Melopsittacus undulatus; – Budgerigars as Pets – Part I, to read the first part of this article.
Feeding
Budgerigars should be offered a mix of seed based (i.e. Pretty Bird Premium Budgie Diet) and pelleted (i.e. Zu Preem Parakeet Fruit Blend) foods. Sprouting grass (sprout pot), budgerigar treat foods and [...]
Overview
The budgerigar (or “budgie”), more commonly referred to as “parakeet” in the USA, is undoubtedly the most commonly kept parrot, if not bird, in the world. In fact, many think of the budgerigar as a purely domesticated species, and know little of its existence in the wild. Yet it is Australia’s most numerous parrot, and [...]
Research conducted recently at University of California (Irvine) has revealed that female budgerigars choose males whose contact calls closely resemble their own. Males, in turn, pay more attention to similarly-sounding mates than to females whose calls differ from theirs, grooming them often and defending them vigorously. When paired with such females, male budgerigars also devote [...]
