Budgie Twigs knows "in" command

My little cutie has adjusted from losing his best buddy and moving on into the room with the parrots. He loves his routine of coming out to fly first thing in the morning before the parrots come out (for his safety since they all want to kill him). Twigs loves being in the room with the birds, even though he has no direct friends. I like to get him out as much as my time permits, since like a typical Budgie, he has an intense amount of energy.

Anyway, I'm so proud of the little guy! Twigs has learned the command "in" to go inside his house. When I'd put him in, I would say the word. He has learned this very quickly. My other boys also know what it means.

This morning when Twigs landed on his cage and I said "in", I guess he wasn't quite ready, so he flew around the room one more lap, but then returned right to his cage and went in . I suppose I could try training him to do more, but will be limited as long as he is still half wild. Step up is about as far as he'll go with human contact.

Here is Twigs... Beautiful recessive pied goldenface type 2 Cobalt. His color is the reason he caught my eye at the store and even considered Budgies! Is he not adorable?!



* Yesterday the vet's office called and said Pix's ashes were ready to be picked up. I sure miss him . Here is Pix with Twigs.


Pix on Raven's cage

Sounds like Twigs is a smart little budgie! He probably thinks he's pretty special getting to come out before the big birds do I wonder since he no longer has a buddy if he will become more tame? I've always heard (especially with smaller parrots) when you have more than one, the tend to flock up and care more about the other bird(s) than they do people. Hopefully you have a wonderful little fried in the making now

I hope you are able to have a nice little memorial for poor Pix

Twigs is so smart! Great work with him, and I am sure it is helping him to cope with his loss.
Thinking of you today.

I added some photos

Thanks April and Terry I'm not sure 'how' tame Twigs will get. We got him with Pix at the same time, and regardless, Pix became handleable and tame rather quickly even though he had a bird buddy. Twigs has always seemed to have a more hyper, wildish nature about him.

Budgies are so smart; I love them. He is fortunate to have you. The great tragedy of budgies is that they are so easy to breed that they are sold so cheap at pet stores and usually are never tamed or trained at all. That would be fine if they all lived in huge aviaries, but the "parakeet" cages sold in pet stores are often a crime in themselves. Your devotion to Twigs makes me smile.

The pics are awesome Twigs is beautiful, and Pix was gorgeous. I am so glad you have pics, and thank you for sharing those beautiful babies with us

I'm so glad Twigs is finding happiness in his life without Pix. I bet that this is due, in no small part, to all that you've done to ease the transition for him. Nice, Julie!

And thank you for sharing those pics of your beautiful budgies! Yes, Twigs is absolutely beautiful! That is one of the most interesting and breathtaking color variations I've ever seen in a budgie!

I know dealing with the loss of Pix has been very difficult for you, Julie. But you've been very strong, and continued taking great care of the rest of your flock. They're lucky to have you, my friend.

SilverSage said:

Budgies are so smart; I love them. He is fortunate to have you. The great tragedy of budgies is that they are so easy to breed that they are sold so cheap at pet stores and usually are never tamed or trained at all. That would be fine if they all lived in huge aviaries, but the "parakeet" cages sold in pet stores are often a crime in themselves. Your devotion to Twigs makes me smile.

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Aw, thanks Dani.
I also cringe at those TINY "parakeet" cages!! Ok for a carrier, but to live in you've got to be kidding. What are people thinking? Even when I knew next to nothing about birds back when I got Robin, I still 'instinctively' knew that I needed to buy Robin a new cage, since he came with an 18x18. It's just common sense to me not to keep ANY kind of animal in too small of an enclosure. That being said, Twigs will have a flight cage soon, but his right now is probably absolute minimum, don't worry it's not SUPER tiny lol.

Anansi said:

I'm so glad Twigs is finding happiness in his life without Pix. I bet that this is due, in no small part, to all that you've done to ease the transition for him. Nice, Julie!

And thank you for sharing those pics of your beautiful budgies! Yes, Twigs is absolutely beautiful! That is one of the most interesting and breathtaking color variations I've ever seen in a budgie!

I know dealing with the loss of Pix has been very difficult for you, Julie. But you've been very strong, and continued taking great care of the rest of your flock. They're lucky to have you, my friend.

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Stephen, thank you my friend .

His mutation is really pretty. I don't claim to know a ton about Budgie color genetics, but with the yellow base body color the patches are usually green not blue. The white ones which are devoid of yellow can never have green, but the yellows can somehow have blue . That's about all I know lol.

Interesting... at the vet's I learned that 'white' color mutations are more prone to genetic defects and issues, such as what lead to Pix's death. Although he wasn't an albino, he was mostly white, and apparently, the genes he carried to give him his color were what made him 'weaker'.

Thanks for sharing photos of him! His colors are beautiful! He looks like a tie-dye budgie Pix sure was a brazen little thing hanging out on Robins cage like it's nothing

In my experience a happy healthy flighted budgie is a fearless creature!

Julie, thanks for posting these photos of your little darlings. Twigs is such a little beauty, I love the second photo with his head cocked to the side, he looks like he's in deep thought.

Pix was a beautiful little bird too. I know you miss him so much and I'm so sorry. Pix was very lucky to have you for a mom. My thoughts are with you.