Lovely green budgies eating millet:
Too big for two budgies in one hand:
Wow, they’re really filling out fast! Just going btwn the pics from three days ago and today is shocking (to me, who’s never had a bird).
I’ve had birds, but not babies, and can’t believe the astonishing change the last few days!
Wow! They look like birds instead of babies! :eek:
Very cute.
Baby birds grow fast.
So glad I discovered this thread! It’s such a refreshing break from all the political threads of doom & gloom. I think since FloatyGimpy got us all hooked on the budgies, he owes it to us to post daily updates!
Those newborn budgies looked exactly like dinosaurs, kind of creepy. But the latest pics are adorbs.
FloatyGimpy, how do you plan to prevent this extremely stressful, yet awesome miracle from happening again? Is budgie birth control available?
I’ll tell you, I’ve been giving that a lot of consideration because I do NOT want to do this again.
What I think I’ll do is, if she starts laying again, let her keep her own eggs instead of the fake ones but make her eggs so they can’t hatch. There’s a way to scramble an egg inside its shell by spinning it really fast. I think I’ll try that with her eggs and then as she lays an egg, take it out, spin it, make a tiny mark on it and then put it back and continue doing this with every egg.
I’m also going to have to go back to making daily checks in the nest box like I had been doing. The reason I have to keep letting her have access to a nest box is because it’s the only way to get her to stop laying eggs. Before she would just lay eggs over and over and they can easily die from losing body condition, exhaustion and egg-binding. She once laid 21 eggs in a row :eek: How she didn’t die is beyond me.
The babies started poking their heads out of the box opening this morning. They had been standing by it, looking out from inside but now their little yellow heads are right out. I imagine they’ll fledge in the next few days. Also I’ve been trying to come up with a way to describe the sound they make when they want mom and I realized it sounds like a bad car fan belt. Not exactly what I would call ‘melodious’!
That method is used in many places to control the Canada Goose population; take egg, shake egg, put egg back. You likely have to be far gentler w/ the budgie eggs due to thinner shells. In DNR it’s called addling.
The loose fan belt screech, that’s perfect! Otca and Aqua are lovely, screechy additions to your budgie flock; long may they screech! How can you tell one is male, btw?
That’s probably the same noise that baby velociraptors made to summon mama! 
Oh! I didn’t know this was an actual thing - OK good, at least I know I’m on the right track.
I don’t know their genders for sure, yet. But Otca’s cere looks a little pinker than Aqua’s and boys have pink ceres as babies which turn to blue as adults.
Peekaboo!
We used to just take the eggs out and pop them in the freezer for a few hours. Let them return to room temperature before returning them to the nestbox.
Wowsers, in less than a month they look like full-grown birds! Are they significantly smaller than Mom and Dad?
Also, at what point will they start spending time out of the nesting box? It sounds like right now they’re either in there, or in your hands, pretty much all the time (though I may be misinterpreting).
Re addling eggs: I read of that being used to help control the overpopulation of invasive swans - can’t just break the eggs or they’ll lay more, so the game wardens or whoever will get to the nests, shake the eggs up, and them replace them.
Will a female budgie lay eggs if there’s no fellow around to inspire her?
I guess the answer is yes, since I imagine large-scale chicken-egg factories surely don’t keep a rooster on-hand emit pheromones or whatever.
I suppose this would be an argument for preferring to keep males as pets. Are there any other reasons why one gender would be preferable to another?
Do your budgies talk at all? From reading, I gather they’re less likely to if you have multiples - maybe talking to us wingless giants is their way of attempting to socialize?
This might work better because the eggs are so little. Less chance of breaking them.
Yeah they look like miniature versions of full-grown budgies. I guess they’re about half the size of mom. And yes, for the most part they are either in the box or in my hand though we did just have an adventure - pics below!
I would love it if both babies are boys for just this reason. They have fewer health issues because all they have to do is eat, play and have sex! Mine don’t talk, they just babble and screech to each other in budgiese.
New things are scary! Hide!:
Much better:
For those who absolutely love budgies, there are loads of videos on YouTube. You should check out a budgie named Disco. He’s a sweet and playful budgie with an awesome vocabulary and can say hundreds of words and phrases.
There are also a couple named Mango and Blueberry who are absolutely spoiled rotten. Their owner has built an outrageous playland with all kinds of toys that they sprawl around and climb all over. They’re obviously very happy and fun to watch.
Back before I had kids MisterMage had inherited a Nanday Conure named Reggie as in Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy, 48 hours). He was the sweetest little screaming and nipping demon who has plucked himself bald except for his head. Then I got pregnant with number one and the next thing we know Reggie laid an egg. And then another. The third one killed her, unfortunately. 20+ years old at that time and we didn’t have a clue what to do by the time we noticed that she was egg bound.
This is the best thread ever!
Well, I know what I’m doing this weekend.
Yes.
Males tend to have a better temperament (of course, there are exceptions and a lot depends on how they’re raised and treated) and tend to be better talkers (if that matters to you).