# And my budgie flock doubles in size! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 28, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292 "2016-11-28T16:49:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/61 "2016-12-07T22:57:08Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > You shouldn’t have any trouble taming this pair! (I gather that’s something one has to work at with a budgie just brought home from the pet store). > > Onto names. You do know you have to name them after one of their Doper aunties or uncles, right? :D. I’m terrible with names so I’m happy to have dopers name the babies. Their mom’s name is Green, the dad’s is Turquoise and their obese uncle’s name is Blue. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/62 "2016-12-07T23:21:09Z")
Will they both be yellow, or do you know yet? In keeping with the theme, there’s Goldie and Lemon. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/63 "2016-12-07T23:50:08Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > Will they both be yellow, or do you know yet? In keeping with the theme, there’s Goldie and Lemon. I’m guessing they’ll both be mostly green. More pictures because I can’t control myself and the cuteness is killing me! If you scroll through, the changes in them are amazing in such a short time! [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/166/31348239792_bbf2342fa4_b.jpg "Squee!") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/56821557@N06/31348239792/in/dateposted-public/) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/64 "2016-12-08T02:35:58Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > How much does an adult budgie weigh anyway? 6 ounces or so? 1 to 1.5 ounces. Birds are really lightweight for their size. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/65 "2016-12-08T02:36:46Z")
Given the existing names, clearly one must be named [Octarine](http://discworld.wikia.com/wiki/Octarine)!!! (Octokeet for “short” especially if one of them gets into everything). > [@Broomstick](#): > > 1 to 1.5 ounces. > > Birds are really lightweight for their size. Interesting. My sense is definitely skewed; I’ve held larger parrots a time or two and was always a bit surprised at how heavy they felt. Of course, a parakeet is just a titch smaller than a full-on parrot! ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/66 "2016-12-08T02:41:31Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Given the existing names, clearly one must be named [Octarine](http://discworld.wikia.com/wiki/Octarine)!!! > > (Octokeet for “short” especially if one of them gets into everything). > Interesting. My sense is definitely skewed; I’ve held larger parrots a time or two and was always a bit surprised at how heavy they felt. Of course, a parakeet is just a titch smaller than a full-on parrot! And then Aquamarine for the other! (Biased to my birth stone, I am.) ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/67 "2016-12-08T03:05:23Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Given the existing names, clearly one must be named [Octarine](http://discworld.wikia.com/wiki/Octarine)!!! Done! > [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > And then Aquamarine for the other! (Biased to my birth stone, I am.) And done! Octarine and Aquamarine it is. I will likely call them Octa and Aqua for short. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/68 "2016-12-09T05:12:20Z")
In case you ever wondered what a baby budgie mullet looks like, I’ll just leave this here…Octa and Aqua!: [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/618/31484569216_d089b61064_z.jpg "Otca and Aqua!") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/56821557@N06/31484569216/in/dateposted-public/) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/69 "2016-12-09T15:47:45Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > In case you ever wondered what a baby budgie mullet looks like, I’ll just leave this here…Octa and Aqua!: > > [Otca and Aqua! | Introducing Otca and Aqua! I don't know who… | Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/56821557@N06/31484569216/in/dateposted-public/) Neat! Clearly you’re handling them a lot - do they seem to respond to you with curiosity or interest yet? Or is it more of lying there, quivering and beaming “please don’t eat me” thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/70 "2016-12-09T17:13:14Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Neat! > > Clearly you’re handling them a lot - do they seem to respond to you with curiosity or interest yet? Or is it more of lying there, quivering and beaming “please don’t eat me” thoughts? They seem to quite like my hand and snuzzle right in if I’m holding them but they don’t like being put down on something. They poop in their nest so once a day I take them out and put them on a soft cushion then add new cotton-fiber nesting puffs to their box. They peep and peep till I pick them back up. Surprisingly, mom doesn’t seem to care at all if they’re peeping when I have them. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/71 "2016-12-09T17:19:53Z")
Fingers crossed, Aqua and Octa look happy and healthy! ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/72 "2016-12-09T20:52:22Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > They seem to quite like my hand and snuzzle right in if I’m holding them but they don’t like being put down on something. They poop in their nest so once a day I take them out and put them on a soft cushion then add new cotton-fiber nesting puffs to their box. They peep and peep till I pick them back up. Surprisingly, mom doesn’t seem to care at all if they’re peeping when I have them. She must trust you. I can’t imagine how cute the peeping must be. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/73 "2016-12-09T23:40:12Z")
It’s cute unless you’re already short on sleep and the little things are demanding to be fed _again_. My spouse has nursed a couple of clutches of baby birds that lost their parents to weaning. 3-5 baby birds that MUST be fed every few hours around the clock (we use commercially made baby bird formula) for a couple weeks. At first the peeping is cute. Eventually you start screaming SHUT UP!!! which the little guys ignore. The only way to quiet them is to feed them. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/74 "2016-12-10T00:22:07Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > It’s cute unless you’re already short on sleep and the little things are demanding to be fed _again_. > > My spouse has nursed a couple of clutches of baby birds that lost their parents to weaning. 3-5 baby birds that MUST be fed every few hours around the clock (we use commercially made baby bird formula) for a couple weeks. At first the peeping is cute. Eventually you start screaming SHUT UP!!! which the little guys ignore. The only way to quiet them is to feed them. This is true for babies of all species. Oddly, when I fed mine baby bird formula they didn’t like it :D. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/75 "2016-12-10T01:39:33Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > It’s cute unless you’re already short on sleep and the little things are demanding to be fed _again_. It is tiring and I’m definitely sleep-deprived but I just tell myself it’s only temporary. They’re already able to have a last feed at 9:30 and then they’re OK till about 4:30-5:00. I’d be happy to have them stay up later to eat but momma wants to go to bed by 9:30 and once she’s stuffed one under one wing and one under the other, she’s done for the night and I can’t get her to come out. Once they start peeping, I just bite the bullet and get up and get on with things. I picked one up today for no reason other than to snuggle with him (no idea of gender yet but they’re both “him” right now) and I held him up to my mouth and made soft pss pss noises and he opened his mouth and did the little head bobbing “feed me!” thing against my lips. His little beak felt super cute! ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/76 "2016-12-10T01:55:13Z")
About halfway done, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/77 "2016-12-10T02:29:53Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > About halfway done, aren’t they? Yeah and I’d say barring a catastrophe they’ll make it. I think that on Monday when they’re 2 weeks old, I might try feeding them again just to give mom a bit of a break. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/78 "2016-12-10T11:22:58Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > This is true for babies of all species. Yes, but the saving grace for baby birds is that they grow up FAST. The sleep-deprivation stage for parents is weeks instead of months or years. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/79 "2016-12-12T00:48:05Z")
I can’t believe any birds in the wild survive. Starting about 2:00 am this morning, the babies were doing a lot of peeping and it sounded different than normal. Mom does normally feed them during the night with whatever leftovers she has in her so I just let it be and assumed they were hungry and she’d feed them. This went on with them peeping and then quiet then peeping till about 3:00. I got the flashlight and peeked into the nesting box hole and she was doing stuff with her back to me so I figured she’s feeding them but the peeping kept on. At 4:00 I decided something is wrong so I turned on the lights to get her to come out for food. When she did come out, she had managed to wrap nesting material around her beak and it was caked in food that she’d been trying to feed the babies and now it was dry and hard. She’s not tame enough to let me hold her and pick it off so I didn’t know what to do. She could obviously still breathe so I wasn’t worried about her immediately dying but the babies were super hungry so I attempted to feed them with no luck. This went on till about 7:00 when I managed to trick her into letting me help her. She had been trying to have a drink so the stuff on her beak was wet and I figured now’s the best time to try to get it off. I held a tiny piece of egg between my fingers and when she reached in for it, I pinched my fingers around a bit of the stuff that was on her beak and held tight. She freaked out a bit but with her pulling and freaking out and me holding on to it, the stuff mostly came off. I’ve changed the bedding in the nest box so that won’t happen again but gah! I’ll be so happy when they can feed themselves. She’s also still slightly freaked out about the change in the bedding material and is shocked about it every time she goes back to the nest but she’s dealing with it. No pictures today as they’ve all had a very stressful day and I don’t want to bug them. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292/80 "2016-12-12T05:06:36Z")
I got stressed just reading that, I can only imagine how stressful those hours were for you. It’s the freak, odd occurrences we don’t see coming that throw a wrench in the works. Peaceful night to you and your flock! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-my-budgie-flock-doubles-in-size/773292.md?page=5)