Just got asked to take in 5 budgies :/

So I just checked my FB page and I had a message from a friend of mine, his health has not been too great as of late and apparently he has 5 budgies that he asked if I would take. I don't know many details as of yet, all I know is that there are 5 of them and they come with there cages and nestboxes. I haven't approached my SO about the idea yet and I'm kind of hesitant to agree to it myself. 5 more birds is a hefty commitment and we have only had Billy for a little over a week. Since he said they will come with their nextboxes I assume theses are bonded pairs so I doubt they would crave a whole lot of attention but it is 5 more mouths to feed and five more birdie butts to clean up after. I'm home all day, every day and all I really do is hang out with the birds so I'm sure I could do it, I just don't know if I should or not. I feel bad because he doesn't want to get rid of them but he said with his health they just aren't getting the care they need anymore. That's really the only reason I am even possibly considering this. He isn't the type of person that will give them to just anyone and I have a feeling that if I don't take them he may just keep them and if they aren't getting the care they need, well that's no good. Why is it that when you have no birds it takes forever to find the right one to adopt, but once you have one bird and people realize that you actually take good care of him/her, they all ask you to adopt theirs too? lol I've been noticing this trend, it's like the time I took my big iguana to a reptile show with me, I had over 10 people beg me to take their iguanas(free with cages and supplies) because they saw how healthy and friendly my baby was. My other question is this, how hard is it to find good homes for budgies? If they are breeding birds that means babies, which obviously will need homes. It seems like there are more parakeets that need homes than anything, second only to 'tiels. Isn't it slightly irresponsible to be breeding these kinds of birds when there are so many homeless ones now? Or is there actually a slight demand for hand fed budgies? Ugh sorry to vent, but when something like this is thrown on you at 3:30am the mind starts to wander.

I'd be concerned too if they're breeding pairs, as that's a huge commitment for anyone.

That's actually kind of my main reason for wanting to adopt them. They really do need a new home, apparently his health has gotten so bad that he hasn't been able to take care of them, and he is not even sure who is paired with who at this point So I suppose that is why I am considering it, but the fact that they are paired makes me want them a little more. I miss having babies around I've never personally bred my own pet birds, but at my old job I used to breed finches and budgies(all parent raised babies) and we had a breeding pair of tiels that I was responsible for. The tiel babies I hand fed and while it was tedious and time consuming(driving to the shop in the middle of the night to feed hungry babies lol), it was so rewarding at the same time. I also used to go to our local bird farm and help feed the youngin's all the time, greys, toos, all sorts of different babies there! They are no longer open though and it's been about 2 years since I've had any babies to care for. My only concern is about finding homes for the babies, there aren't too many hand fed budgies available around here but there are a fair amount of pet store budgies on craigslist everyday so that kind of worries me. I talked to my SO and he told me that it was up to me I guess that's a good thing except that I didn't want to be the only one making the final decision since he will have to live with them as well. I am waiting to find out what kind of cage they are in before I say yes, I don't really have the room at the moment for a huge flight cage or anything so if they are in something big enough to house them but not so big that it's going to take up half our room then I suppose we will be picking them up

That is something for you to think about, I don't find budgies to be troublesome as they're pretty easy going birds and excellent parents!!! Also good foster parents if you have an abandoned baby from another pair. Even other species! Its been 10 years since I raised any babies until back in late July when my pair decided to give me babies and im starting to hand feeding the second clutch now.

That's kind of what I was thinking, since they are bonded to each other and "wild" as he put it, it's not like they are going to take any attention away from ziggy and billy. I'm home all day and, like I said, pretty much all I do is hang out with the birdies so it's not like I don't have enough time anyway. And I would absolutely love to have some babies to take care of!

Just remember it is an commitment and you can't quit in the middle of the process. Especially if your handfeeding.....

Oh, I know, I don't quit in the middle of things anyway, I've been vegan for the past 10 years or so, and the animals are pretty much the center of my life. We had about 40 animals at our house at one point, mostly reptiles but some birds and small exotics too. I was doing educational reptile shows on weekends and working full time as a reptile spe******t at a pet store, where we also had birds. That's when I was raising the baby 'tiels That was a couple years ago and I don't know that I would ever want to get back into such large scale rescue again(all of the animals we had were adopted from people that could no longer care for them) but it kind of lets me know where my limit is, as far as not over extending myself. I know that I will be able to care for all 7 birds, that's including the two we have now, and any impending babies, the only thing that I am nervous about is finding homes for said babies. I'm sure with the wonders of facebook and craigslist there will be homes it just worries me because I have seen how most people care for budgies and I don't want babies I have spent so much time and energy caring for to be put in a bad home. I've gone to so many people's homes to see budgies in a tiny, dirty cage in the corner of some random bedroom with only seed to eat and no toys to play with. They are an impulsive $20 pet that can be forgotten about when the owners decide it isn't "fun" anymore. Sorry for the rant, it just makes me mad and I know I would be super picky about them going to good homes and I don't want that to keep me from finding them homes.

Budgies can go wild pretty quickly if no care have been given after weaning period! So they're best go to individual homes separately! I know exactly what you mean, one of the reason why I stopped breeding years ago....

IcyWolf, I have a friend in the Harrisburg area who has a private rescue. She has a lot of budgies & takes them in, in whatever condition (if you would prefer the 5 budgies find a soft place to land that is NOT at your house).

She often has hens sitting on eggs & has to place the babies. My budgies came from her. They were hand-fed, hand-tame & are still great little birds (at over a year old & with an owner who knew NOTHING when they arrived).

BUT she also has a ton of wild pairs, flocks, etc., because it is easy for people to buy budgies, and just as easy for them to abandon the birds. SO if you question is about placing baby budgies . . . just look at craigslist, not for "baby budgies" but also for "parakeets to place". There is an incredibly large number who can't find a home.

IF you decide to take in your friend's budgies, I can put you in touch with the rescue & she can talk you through what it takes to deal with babies.

If you decide you want those budgies to find a soft place to land (but hope it won't be at your house) she could help there, too.

And if anyone in the area wants lovely, hand-raised baby budgies or cockatiels . . . hers are the best (and inexpensive, too).

I will keep you in mind if I ever know of anyone looking to place a bird, Harrisburg is only about 15 minutes away from us We talked it over and it looks like we are going to take in the budgies. It looks like they are definitely going to need new cages

I think we will leave them in there own cages for a few days or so, let them settle in a bit, I don't think they are very used to being around people. I'm trying to figure out if I should get one big cage and keep them all together or get two smaller cages and keep them separated, I'm pretty sure they are used to being around each other outside of their cages so I'm assuming they are friendly with each other, but we shall see. Looks like we're going to pick them up this saturday

Not to disrespect any rescue, especially the excellent one my friend has outside of Harrisburg but . . . better you than a rescue! Enjoy the little guys.

When my husband expressed an interest in a medium-sized parrot, we sort of strayed away from the little dudes & toward bigger birds.

But the budgies are just plain fun.

Enjoy yours.

I don't think these budgies were raised in a household setting, I could be wrong, and I'll find out saturday, but I think they are living in a barn type of building. The main thing that would worry me about them going to a rescue is just the stress of being around a lot of other people, and from the sounds of it, they will never be "suitable" as pets. I figure we have the time and space, and we have two birds right now that enjoy being handled(sort of, lol) so I have no urge to try and tame these birds other than just being used to people being around I hope it all goes well, I'm pretty sure they will be happy here, we'll get them new cages, toys, and I'm sure a better diet, I believe they are only on seed at this point.

Budgies are colony birds, they can be kept together. But you need to find out if they have eggs right now or baby chicks. If they do, you need to keep them in existing settings until the chicks are ready!