Some of the questions I receive and the answers I give about the wonderful little Budgie.

How long do Budgies live?
This varies a lot between birds. In the first 2 years, they seem to be prone to accidents or illness, but if they get past the 2 years of age, they can live into their teens. The larger English budgies generally have a shorter lifespan.

Should I clip my Budgie's wings?
This is a decision that you must make, taking into consideration your home situation. If your budgies is near an outside door, with people coming and going all the time, it may be safer to keep his wings clipped, but if he is in a room away from an outside door, or if you are the only one who comes and goes, it would be great to allow him full flight. For more information, please see Wingclipping

Do Budgies talk?
Male budgies can talk and if you listen closely, you will find that they talk a lot. Their speach may not be clear and you may have to try to figure out some of his words, but often budgies have a lot of words they can say.

Where is the best place to get a Budgie?
The best place would be directly from a breeder. That way, you will know the age of the bird, you will get the breeders expertise in picking the sex you want, you may get to see his parents and you will most likely have the breeder's permission to call and ask questions afterwards. Most budgies are purchased from pet stores, where the age is guessed, the sex is guessed and there is really no support after purchase.

How do I know if I have a male or female Budgie?
When your budgie is mature, it is fairly easy to tell the difference with the males having a blue or dark purple cere (the area just above the beak where the nostrils are) and the females have a brown or white cere. The fancier budgies are a little more difficult to tell because the male's cere can be a fairly light purple with white around the edges and the female can have some purple on her cere as well. When they are babies it is quite difficult and that is when you rely on the breeder. The breeder knows his birds and is usually very accurate in determining the sex of the babies. When young, the females often have a blue cere and the males often have a pinkish cere. As each one varies in the darkness of the colours, they can look very similar. For more information and some pictures, please see Is Your Budgie a Male or a Female

Why does my Budgie lay eggs? She is the only bird I have.
Some female budgies do lay eggs when they are kept on their own. This means that she is nice and healthy and since she is in breeding condition, she just lays them. The best thing for you to do is to leave her alone as much as possible. Let her sit on the eggs until she leaves them – usually that will happen shortly after the eggs would have hatched if they had been fertile. If you let her sit on them, she will probably not lay any more for several months, although she might lay and incubate a second clutch before stopping. If you make the mistake of taking the eggs away as she lays them, she will continue laying more and may become ill or egg bound.

For more information on egg binding see Emergency Egg Binding
For information on breeding budgies see Budgie Breeding


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