Never keep birds on their own. Budgies are social birds that normally live in flocks consisting of thousands so having one bird on its own is not good. Get 2 young birds and grow them up together. They can be tamed down easily but will keep each other company when you aren't home. If birds are left alone for long periods of time, they stress and often pluck feathers.
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They make a little bit of noise but they are quieter than chickens and don't screech like the larger parrots. Tame birds are usually quieter than aviary birds who like to chat with each other and in large groups can make a bit of noise. But a couple in a house won't make a lot of noise and you won't need to turn the tv up or anything like that.
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All birds should have a cage big enough to fly around and spread their wings. The minimum size cage for a couple of budgies would be 3 foot long x 2 foot wide x 2 foot high. They should also be let out each day to fly around the room for a bit and get some decent exercise. When you let them out to fly around a room, close the door and make sure the curtains are closed so they don't fly into the windows, and don't have anything toxic in the room because young birds chew on things.
If they aren't going to be let out of their cage each day, then their aviary should be at least 10 feet long x 6 ft wide and 6 ft high.
You should put some tree branches in their cage for them to chew on and climb around on. If you use Australian native plants like Eucalypts (gum trees), Bottlebrush (Callistemon), Grevilleas or fruit trees, you can get branches with flowers or seed pods and the birds can spend hours each day chewing them. The different diameter branches will also help their foot get some exercise.
Indoor birds should be put in their cage at night and covered with a sheet or towel to make it dark enough for them to sleep. They need a sleep routine too so cover their cage and turn the lights off at the same time each night. Regarding the light, cover the cage while the room light is on and leave the room light on for at least 30 minutes so the birds can see the perches and settle down for the night. In the morning turn the room light on or open the curtain 30 minutes before removing the cover on the cage.
Keep the bird cage away from windows or doors or anywhere cold drafts can blow on them. Birds have a small body mass and can lose heat in a short period of time. If birds get cold at night, they are more prone to diseases and can die.
Keep the birds away from cooking food (out of the kitchen), aerosols, perfumes, hair sprays, deodorants, cigarette smoke, paint fumes, etc. Anything that releases fumes into the air can kill the birds or at least make them really sick.
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You can trim the flight feathers on one wing to make it more difficult for the birds to fly but if you get young birds and tame them, they don't normally fly away unless they get startled and fly out the house.
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Budgies don't get vaccinated and the main health issues that affect them include:
1) intestinal worms and lice/ mites. treat the birds with ivermectin when you first get them and they should remain free of worms and other parasites if kept from wild birds.
2) colds/ pneumonia from being exposed to cold air at night
3) psittacosis (parrot fever) but this is rare.
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Some budgies are messy and some are clean, it depends on the bird. If you have a seed bowl with a hood, they stop most of the seed being thrown around.
The birds should have a budgie mix and some blue ribbon canary mix (equal parts), clean water, mineral grit and cuttlebone at all times. They should get green feed each day and they will eat most fruits but not citrus, and green leafy veges are fine as long as they are clean and free of chemicals. They love green grass seeds and these can be grown in pots, just plant some budgie seed in pots and let it grow. When it develops the green seed heads, put them in the cage for the birds to eat.
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One of the members here got a couple of young budgies earlier this year. See following link.
This thread is a thread to catalog the lives of my bird soon to be birds. I have on Budgie at the moment. Kiwi. Born in April or May. (I have yet to assign him a birthday :) ) Kiwi is a loyal lovely bird. He recently went through his first molt. I was really concerned because he was loosing...
www.fishforums.net
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All female parrots bite harder than males because the females sit in the nest and have to defend it from snakes, lizards and other things that might prey on the eggs or young birds. Tame birds don't bite hard but female aviary birds will draw blood if you grab them and they don't want you to. They won't rip your finger off and you won't need to visit a doctor but the females can bite hard.
This is how we used to sex young birds, catch them and hold them and if they nibble your hand they were male, if they latch on they were female.
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When you buy birds, look to see if they are fluffed up, this is bad and indicates an unwell bird. See if they have a clean bum, if there is poop on their butt or underside of the tail, they are sick. The birds should not be gasping, wheezing, panting or breathing unusually.
They shouldn't have any gunk around their eyes or stuff coming out of their nose, and they shouldn't be sneezing or coughing.
Check their feet and around the top of their beak for lumps or scaly patches, this is caused by a mite that can be treated with ivermectin.
Check the water container at the shop or breeder and make sure it is not under a perch and doesn't have poop in. Any breeder that keeps the water under perches or has dirty water in their cages, is not someone you want birds from.
