Birds were created on the 5th day of creation

20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:20-21

 

 

About The Budgerigars

 Or better known as parakeets

 

Parakeets come from Australia. The Parakeet can live in up to 110 degrees. They do this by resting in the shade, with wings lifted off the body (but not spread out), and panting. Of course this is not so with pet parakeets. Pet parakeets are not accustomed to such extreme heat, because they are normally kept inside.

An average life span of a parakeet is about 10 years. Although in rare cases they can live to be 20. They originally only came in the color green. But as they became pets, and were bred in captivity, a mutation took place. Now they come in many different shads of blues, yellows, whites, greens, and so on. A very rare colored parakeet is a creamino parakeet. They have red eyes, and are a light yellow canary color not a dark yellow. Normally, the creaminos are females. This is photo of a baby creamino parakeet. As she gets older her color will darken, but only slightly as most parakeets do. Lutino parakeets are much darker yellow than a creamino. Also, a lutino parakeet can be all white it just needs to have the red eyes.

 

Difference between adult Male & Female (look above the beak at the cere).

 Adult females should have a chocolate-brown cere.

Note: Sometimes adult female parakeets never change to a brown. Instead they stay a white/yellow/light-blue color.

Adult male parakeets have a beep sky blue-purple cere.

 

 

 Difference between baby Male & Female parakeets

Baby female parakeets usually have a white ring directly around the nostril, then a little bit of yellow, and as you continue to look even father from the nostril holes it is a light blue.

Baby male parakeets usually have pink-purple cere.

Note: the older the baby parakeet is the easier it is to tell its sex.  You can tell at about 4 weeks old.  Also another way to help you sex a baby parakeet is it’s attitude.  Male parakeets are almost always nicer than female parakeets.  When a baby parakeet bites you, does it nibble or clamp it’s beak down on you?  Usually the female clamps down on you and will not let go for a bit.  But a male usually bites more gently or nibbles.

Care Information

9 Steps Caring For Your Parakeet

 

1. The size of the cage should be 23″ long 16″ wide & 14″ high. This is suitable for 1-2 parakeets. Of course, cage shapes vary, the measurements above are for a rectangle cage see the two photos below.

2. You need a cage, with a bar spacing, no wider than a ½ “. Otherwise the parakeet can get its head stuck between the bars.

3. You will need a good seed food. Look for a seed without pellets and colors. Most parakeets will not eat a diet with pellets because it is not natural, and the dye in the pellets is not good for them. The millet seed should never be more than 50% (this is a whitesh ball seed in the photo below). It should have 50%, or more, of the tan elongated seeds. The ideal seed should look like this photo below. 

 

4. Give your Parakeet(s) a cuttlebone and place it near a peach.  The parakeet will chew on it and will help keep the beak filed down; otherwise the beak may require trimming from time to time.

   

 

5. Birds need something called grit.  Because birds do not have teeth, grit will help break down the seed and make it easier to digest. Also, grit has minerals that are good for birds.  Look for a grit that has oyster shells in it as this is very good for birds.  Grit varies from brand to brand, and it also comes in different sizes; some are fine like beach sand, some are more rocky than fine, and some are bigger chunked.  Depending on the breed of bird will decide on what size grit should be given.  For small birds such as finches and some canaries they would need a grit that is finer, more like beach sand because their beaks are small.  Parakeets need a grit that is bigger and less fine.  For larger birds they need a rockier and bigger chunked grit, like the size of gravel.

 

6. Give your parakeet(s) veggies and fruit 1-2 times a week. Make sure you do not give too much fruit or your parakeet(s) may get diarrhea. Never give any bird avocado! It is toxic to them.

7. Blow out the left over seed shells twice a week.

8. Change the birds water twice a week, or more as needed.

9. Change the cage tray 1-2 times a week depending on how many parakeets you have in the cage.

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