Planning a Budgie?

 Available chicks here: *click*

At its best, a budgie  is a member of the family that participates in everything, up to the point of being burdensome and at its best it can also be a flock of noisy twitters bringing life to the house that is fun to watch. There are often a lot of expectations of getting a tame little bird who loves to be cuddled - but this is very rarely how it is in reality and I wish to be part of breaking the illusion. Each budgie has its own personality and it is not just a beautiful singing bird. But you  should also know, that it takes a lot of time and patience to tame a chick or to keep it tame, as tameness doesn't come by itself and can be easily unlearned, specially in a flock of untamed friends. The work starts already at the breeder's and continues throughout the birds live. But even a budgie that isn't tame, can be a rewarding and lovable pet.

I try to handle and tame chicks for future homes as much as possible. I won't though be meddling in the breeding process, but the chicks have all ready started themself to show interest in the outside world and hopped out of the nesting box. Not every chick gets as tame and if an already older chick goes to a new home from us,  it is no longer as tame as it was when it was just weaned, because it has had time to adapt to the ways of the flock,

Nestlings are handled by me only when banding and cleaning the nest, otherwise the taming process is left until the chicks have come out of the nest one after the other on their own. Even after that, I often return them to the nest for the night. However, sometimes unplanned things happen, in which case we act as the situation requires so that the chicks or hens do not suffer (with hens I refer to the parents). So sometimes you have to intervene in the mother's activities or help the chicks so that they survive.

Pictures of very small chicks are only available when I take a quick look to make sure everything in the nestbox is fine and I remember to take my phone with me. It is important to let the mothers take care of their chicks themselves and not disturb them. However, the truth is that chicks under the age of twelve days or so have no feathers at all, they're not like chickens! The development of the feathers is usually in a quite fine stage at about 4 weeks of age, and that is often also when the first fluff balls venture out of the nest on their own initiative.

My goal is to be able to provide birds that are interested in human company and accustomed to handling, even before them moving to new homes at the age of eight weeks. I also hope for new homes to be active and responsible. A budgie is very a social bird that thrives in the company of other budgies, not just people, in addition to being offered activities and nutrition that are typical to the species in the wild.

As a pet, a budgie is reasonably easy to take care of, but with a bird as a pet you will also face everyday challenges that you may not have thought through in advance. They make a lovely mess in the surroundings of the cage with their seeds, feathers and poop and may use their beaks in places that you would like to remain intact.. Due to the use of the beaks, you should also eliminate all the possible dangers from the free flight space - electrical wires, poisonous plants, etc. Also due to the risk of collisions, you should initially shade or cover the windows and try think about where the bird can end up during its flights and whether the planned space is safe in all respects for a curious little parrot. Tight gaps between the walls and furniture, book shelves and trash bins are places that a young bird can easily find interesting or just simply end up in places it never intented to end up - and I'm telling you, you don't want to be looking for a bird from a whole house.

However, flying freely is important for the bird in order for it to stay healthy and live long and happily - what kind of space are you ready to give for the birds to use and have as their own? They also poop, although the poop is easy to remove, they are small and firm. The birds also release a lot of fine, light dust, so it may be necessary to get an air purifier and possibly also a humidifier (for their sake and for your well-being). Because of this, the birdcage should not be placed in the bedroom, nor in the kitchen, because e.g. heated teflon makes the air toxic for budgies to breathe and can be the cause of death. However, birds are very social and the more life there is around them, the happier they are. Their sound also increases when the volume increases, so it doesn't really help to turn up the TV volume and they love it when you're talking to your phone.

In addition to free flight time, the bird should have a well-equipped, spacious cage where they can easily move from branch to branch. You can never have too much space, but you can have too little. For two birds, I could recommend an 80-100cm wide, approx. 60cm deep cage, in which you can later get two more birds without it getting too cramped. The cage should not be overdecorated so that there is enough flight space. Use natural branches for perching, swings are always favourites, preferably one for everyone, as well as balls bent from a willow branch, rattling balls, rings, ladders and crooked natural branches, as long as you take care that they are not poisonous or resinous. When choosing artificial fibers or materials, you must take care that the bird does not break and eat the fibers with its beak and get sick or suffocate. String and rope toys are not recommended precisely because of the possible danger, the bird can get tangled in the chewed or broken rope pieces and in the worst case become strangled or if eaten they can cause a blockage in the digestive system.

Greens ought to be offered a few times a week, mainly colorful vegetables, among which you can add boiled egg as a source of protein, fot a younger bird, mealworms or cooked quinoa, sprouts and so on. So-called chops are an efficient way to provide birds with fresh food, where all the ingredients are chopped into small pieces (sprouts are offered whole), but most birds also like to chew and destroy larger pieces and chunks of different kinds of vegetables.

Food can be used to activate and stimulate the bird instead of it just sitting on the perch and eating off a cup. By this I mean to give a bird a chance to look for its food by itself or to use it's brain to get to the snacks. It could be seeds hidden in a small stack of hay, or salad leafs hanging high up from the cage top. With the help of stimulant feeding, you are guaranteed to have a happy and content bird living in your home. A bird that is activated already at a young age is also easier to activate when it is older.

Our chicks get used to many kinds of sounds and also noise, they live either with their litter mates or in a mini-flock before they leave us. They get to know different fresh foods (and eat them well, so I expect plenty of fresh food in their new homes as well!), also handling and daily free flying. I am happy to help with everything related to the chicks that leave us and I hope that the future families will keep in contact.

Delivery of a chick to Finland / Sweden is possible.

The chicks leaving is are banded and a purchase contract, pedigree, care instructions, some food for the new home and lifelong support from the breeder come with each chick.

The price varies slightly depending on the color and type. Below are some price options:

English budgie normal pattern or opaline 90e

English budgie with a more uncommon mutation ~100e or more

Hybrid 50% opaline or normal pattern (meaning one parent is show type, the other a pet type) 60e

Hybrid 75% opaline or normal pattern (one parent hybrid, the other show type) 70e

Older, not tame chick -10e - 20e.

I give chicks to homes where they'd live alone, but a mate or a flock is a must unless you have gotten a pair from us. The budgie is a flock bird and thrives best in a larger group, and a bare minimun is two budgies, preferably 4. A family interested in a chick should be familiar with keeping birds in advance, so I hope you find out about the care of a budgie before you contact us :)

e.g. The Finnish pet bird association Kaijuli Ry offers a wide range of up-to-date and expert information about budgies as well.

https://www.kaijuli.fi/harrastajalle/lajiesitettlet/undulaatti

https://www.kaijuli.fi/harrastajalle/aloittelijan-opas

Inquiries via e-mail, IG, FB or blog form. mail: lottis(a)gmail.com NOTE! I respond to all communications, so if you don't hear from me, your message hasn't arrived!