BiRdie CorNer

Why Choose A Bird?
--> Birds are cheerful pets and can be kept in small flats and in units where dogs and cats are not allowed. Besides, they do not cost much to feed. Some birds can be teach to talk while others have a beautiful voice. Birds do not take up a lot of space, just a big cage is enough. Below are some popular species that are often keep as pets.

Budgerigar

Budgerigar are also known as budgie. They are a type of parakeet and is an ideal pet for beginners. Budgies are often chosen for their pretty colours, easy to take care and yes, they can be trained to talk! A male bird makes the bes talker and should be kept alone if you want it to talk besides forming a good relationship with you. That is because two birds will chatter to each other and show less interest in copying the human voice. Anyway, if you don't have enough time or you just want to keep them for fun, then it is better to have two or more.

Advantages:
1. Cheap
2. Easy to care for
3. Their main diet is just seeds. But you gotto feed them fruits and veggies so that they can have a balanced diet.


(Will update on pics and others )

This post has been edited by wKkaY: Apr 8 2008, 10:00 AM


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Haha, all tis pics taken from web. So dun be surprise if u saw similar picss..

Haha. Actually budgie's personality is also quite good wat.
Juz tat I have 3 now. And they are bond to each other rather than me.
All of them are males. lol.

Haha. Ya loh. Got to seperate them. But now too late liao lor. Once got one out and play, then the other two chirp and chirp so loudly. Anyway, I did clipped all their wings for safety. U never noe wat might happen...

I usually clip the primary feathers. Around 5-6 feathers. Can't clip too much. If not they cannot land properly.

If wan breed, then buy one pair . If u want companionship and friendship rather than juz pet, then u must onli buy one.

Anyone here got porblems with scaley face mite. Haiz, think one of my budgie got them. Now treating with dettol...lol

ya lor. i put them outdoors. Cant put them indoors. my mum scold lar. Those feathers and crop shells. Haiz....

haha. good idea. but then the budgies will make sure the crop shells are on the floor (i put the cage on a table).

actually at first I buy a pair one, then thought one male one female. can breed ma. Then found out that both are male...lol. Then decided to buy another female. But the stupid shop owner say the one I choose is female, but after another few weeks, it turned out to be a male too. So, I have three male budgies..lol

haha. the budgie is below six months and the cere is pink that time. So kinda hard to see if it is male or female. So after a few weeks, the cere begin to turn blue, then it must be a male.

To sex the budgie, look at the cere (the soft thing on top on the budgie's beak).
For male, it is pink at young age and blue when adult. Some mutations such as pieds, lutinos, and albinos will maintain the pink cere when adult.
For female, it is kind of white with some tint of blue when young and adult. However, it will turned crusty and brown when in breeding condition.

All these are only 80% true based on its appearance. To make sure the sex, you can go to veterinarian to have a blood test (blood draw from the toe of budgie). However, normally, this is not required. The blood test is only for bigger birds such as macaws, cockatoos and others.

haha. i din noe tat time.lol. Wow, you rili had a bad experience. Anyway, I lock all the cage doors so that the cat cant open the cage. haha. There are also many cats around my area leh. Last time, one sat on top on my cage and rest there. then the others juz jump up and down the cage.

Aiyo, need surgery ar? very dangerous for birdz lar. now many overseas companies got the DNA blood test. But dunno M'sia got or not.

Anyway, the blood test required a special card u purchase from a particular company. Then after the blood test, u need to send the form back to the company and they will mail back to u. Ask ur vet, mayb he/she got some knowledge on them. But it seems that the test is a bit expensive.haha


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ya lor. Anyway, what birds do u have?

Wah, so good. got many birds. Afican grey very cute lar. Can mimic people's talking. HOw many words can ur bird learn? And the lovebird also very colourful. U got breed them ?

Usually juz use a scissors can clip the feathers liao. Clip 5-6 feathers is enough. Then make sure both side also even, if not the bird can glide properly to land. But then, make sure u din cut the blood feather. u can spot the blood feather easily. Usually bigger than others and hard to cut. If you cut these, blood will flow non-stop, but I think apply some flour can do the stopping. I m not sure about these, ask others for opinion.hehe

After ur bird molt, then u need to cut again. Remember, this is not cruel, the feathers will grow back, juz like ur nails. If ur bird flies away, then it is m0re cruel lor.

"Nothing is more beautiful than watching your bird. Nothing is more
heartbreaking than watching it fly outside. "


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wah, nine chicks ar!! So good! How much do you buy for a pair? Post some pics ma.

To train a bird, first u must make it tame. I expect u onli buy one bird. If more than one bird, then the birds will bond to each other rather than to u. then u can start crying liao. It is very important to gain the bird's trust, which can be achieved by talking to the bird in soft voice (ok, it is not stupid), then when change the food and water, move ur hand slowly or whistle to the bird. After some time, it will get used to u. Then, hold millet on ur hand and offer to it. First, it will go away, but again, after some time, it will come to ur hand and eat it. A budgie cant resist a millet. After that, it will think ur hand is harmless and can play with. Then make the budgie stand on ur finger INSIDE the cage. U wont know what happen when u take it outside. Put ur finger on the abdomen and push gently. He may or may not step on ur next finger, juz keep trying. After that, u can take it out the cage and play with him. REMEMBER to clip the birds feather. IT IS A MUST if u wan to tame a bird, but u can also train an unclipped bird, juz a bit difficult gua.

This process takes time and patience, so dun sell the bird if he still cannot step on ur finger. This process will take 2-3 months, so even longer, depends on the bird and OWNER.

Besides, there is one training method called clicker training. It is a very good way to train a budgie, but i tink quite difficult. It is like when u click ur clicker one time, it know it is food time (depends on how u train the bird) Most people use tis method on dog but birds also can.

*P.S: the cage is the bird's safe home, so dun grab a bird in its cage.

OK, tis is quite long, but hopefully it is useful.

Ya lor. curing sick birds quite hard, especially small little birds like budgie. The pet shops dont care one, sick or not sick, juz sell. janji got money can liao. So if see these sick birds, do not buy because u think can save the bird. It will onli make the shop keeper think:"wah, sick birds also got people buy ar!" and this practice will go on and on.

Anyway, I hope this site will help : http://www.budgies.org/info/health/sick.html

Regarding the bird u now have, u can start training it. Remember to buy spray millet for ur budgie. What is the gender? A he or she?