Bother The Birds

I got my first bird after reading the play called ?Trifles ? by Susan Glaspell.

Georgie is unlike any bird that I will ever have again. She was a pitbull in a chihuahua body.

I loved her so much.

I still have parrots and love them very much. With this blog I will be sharing my knowledge about nutrition, enrichment and any thing else I feel is worth sharing.

Budgie Basics:

Natural History of the American Parakeet

(Melopsittacus undulates)

Also know as a ?budgie.?
This 7 inch long green and yellow parrot occurs naturally in Australia where large flocks can be seen today freely flying the dry inland areas. Flocks are nomadic in search of food and water. In the wild they feed on the seeds of plants called spinifex, grass, and wheat. Foraging is critical to them in the wild as a parakeet can starve if they do not eat for 48 hours. They have evolved with a symbiotic relationship with the eucalyptus tree in Australia using wet leaves for bathing (you can duplicate this behavior with a large wet piece of lettuce hanging from the cage top bars) and chewing the bark (duplicate this behavior by offering chew toys). This is important as a parakeet?s beakcan grow three inches in one year without appropriate chewing opportunities.
It is only through breeding in captivity that alternate colors to green

The female has a pale brown to white ?cere.? This is a bony band above the nostrils. In the male this will be blue at maturity. In the wild rains stimulate breeding by signaling to the budgies that seeds will soon be abundant. They nest in a hole in a tree. They mate and lay 4-6 eggs incubated over 18-21 days. The female does all of the incubation and is fed by the male. She only leaves the nest for moments to defecate and stretch. Hatchlings are blind, naked and helpless. The female does not allow the male to even enter the nest until the chicks are at least a few weeks old. They fledge (fly) and leave the nest at about 6 weeks of age.

To avoid unwanted egg production it is important not to house a male and female together. They are prolific breeders. It is also important not to offer a single female a nest box or anything like one as she will go in and lay infertile eggs. This can be hard on her system.

The first parakeets were raised in captivity in the 1850?s. It is widely accepted that the parakeet is the most recognized and common parrot species in domesticity. There is also a type of budgie known as the English or ?show? budgerigar that is twice as big as the standard American type. This is a result of breeding.

All parakeets are intelligent and social. For this reason they require toys and interaction with each other or their human keepers. They have the ability (although not all chose to) speak, whistle, and play. Males are typically more vocal than females. Not all males speak but a few to even a hundred words are possible if taught from a young age

In captivity, a parakeet will live an average of 10-15 years with good care.

Melopsittacus undulates is not endangered in the wild. Population explosions occur in wild areas of Australia in connection with rains and water available on farm land.