So it's a good thing I have a huge house.

My youngest son has been begging for a small bird ever since Cookie died last fall. I've kept telling him no. Tonight he brought home these guys:



These two are living in his room and he's taking care of them. His bedroom is on a different floor and quite a long distance from the bird room, so quarantine is good. He used his own money to buy them from PetCo, which I'm not exactly thrilled, but we shall see what happens. Perhaps having something to take care of will be good for him. He's pretty scared of the bigger birds, so these guys might be just his size. I have no idea how old they are or if they're male or female, but he's calling them Liam (teal) and Angelo (white/light blue).

ETA: The kid is 14, almost 15 (in May), so he's definitely old enough to care for birds. Just wanted to be clear we're not talking about a little kid.

Edited again to add that I just took a much closer look at them. I'm pretty sure Angelo needs to be Angela.

How can you tell with parakeets? I thought we had to DNA most parrots.

Budgies can be sexed by the color of their cere. Bright blue is definitely a boy. Pink/tan is a girl. If you're not sure, it's probably a girl. Liam's cere is unmistakably bright blue. Angelo/a's is tan to pinkish.

They are beautiful, Beatrice!! Nice to see your love for birds has influenced your son!

If their cere is bright blue, dark blue, bright pink (if an adult), or dark purple they are a male. If their cere is white, tan, beige, or dark brown they are female.
Pink ceres are confusing because when they are young they are pretty much all bright pink, some stay that way for 6 months or longer and then change. But if they are adults then a bright pink cere is a male, not female.

The closer the black horizontal lines on their foreheads are to their ceres (the less blank white or yellow space on their foreheads) the younger they are. Yours look as if their lines have receded back and they have pretty large, blank foreheads (the photos are blurry so I can't tell cere color at all or see the lines) so they are probably going on a year old or so. Another way to tell is that babies under 6 months (sometimes up to 7+ months) have completely black eyes. As they get over 6 months they start to develop a colored iris around their black pupils.

Petco and PetSmart usually have a pretty good mix of ages because they typically get them in as very young, just weaned babies, but then some of them don't sell, so they can end up being there for over a year, yet they keep sending young babies once a month. So they typically have a mix of 8 weeks olds up to a year old.

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Awww, I do love an assertive teen, as long as they aren't defiant. Soun like your son is a "get 'er done" kind of fella. Will be fun following the three.

I'm excited for him!
Another bird-person has entered the lifestyle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys! They're kinda cute, I think. They're still pretty scared, which is to be expected. I did take a better look at Angelo/a in daylight and there's a tiny amount of blue in his cere, so now I'm back to guessing boy again. I'll get a vet visit scheduled soon* and I'm sure the vet will have a definite opinion on the matter.

*Actually, I'm going to have my son call the vet and schedule it during a time he's available to go with me. I'm going to help him pay for it mostly because I would rather not have these guys have something infectious that's going to hurt the bigger birds downstairs, but since these are the kid's birds, he gets do do all the rest of the work.

And off the the vet we went. I needed a grooming appointment for Oscar and went ahead and called them for both Oscar and the little guys. I did make the kid come with me though, since being a responsible animal caretaker means taking time out of your day to get proper vet care. He can work off the cost of the visit through chores. The vet was awesome and spent a lot of time with the kid teaching him how to tame and train the birds and gave him a list of things to work on with them over the next few weeks.

I think this will be good for your son. He looks really happy with his new birds. It's hard to tell by the pics, but if Angelo has a pinkish cere he's a young male and can stay Angelo . Young females will have a more opaque whitish color with some light blue, but not anywhere near as dark as the blue on mature males.

I have had parrots for much longer than I've had budgies. I did it backwards. I only got into budgies at the end of 2012. When I got my first ones, I wasted money getting them DNA'd because I didn't know you could tell visually duh.

BeatriceC said:

And off the the vet we went. I needed a grooming appointment for Oscar and went ahead and called them for both Oscar and the little guys. I did make the kid come with me though, since being a responsible animal caretaker means taking time out of your day to get proper vet care. He can work off the cost of the visit through chores. The vet was awesome and spent a lot of time with the kid teaching him how to tame and train the birds and gave him a list of things to work on with them over the next few weeks.

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You are such a great mom, Beatrice! Dr. J. is watching with great approval!!

I do have to say, I didn't think it was possible for me to love Dr. J. any more than I already did. He proved me wrong. When I told him that these were the child's birds, he completely switched gears and talked directly to my son as the birds' owner, and not me. He only occasionally glanced towards me to make sure there was nothing else I needed to add or say. As far as these two birds were concerned, my son was his client, and I find that to be an extraordinary thing. Not many adults are so respectful of teens and kids like that in that kind of setting.

Here's the kid working with Angelo to teach him "step up". I think it's going great so far!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcXiE1OpmC8"]Angelo - YouTube[/ame]

A situation like yours is perfect for someone of your son's age to get birds. You're already a bird person, so the budgie definitely has a safety net of sorts. But at the same time, you're making sure he takes on complete responsibility for the little souls under his care. Most impressive!

I'm taking notes, as my boys are starting to hint at wanting a dog. Sigh...

BeatriceC said:

I do have to say, I didn't think it was possible for me to love Dr. J. any more than I already did. He proved me wrong. When I told him that these were the child's birds, he completely switched gears and talked directly to my son as the birds' owner, and not me. He only occasionally glanced towards me to make sure there was nothing else I needed to add or say. As far as these two birds were concerned, my son was his client, and I find that to be an extraordinary thing. Not many adults are so respectful of teens and kids like that in that kind of setting.

Click to expand...

BeatriceC said:

Here's the kid working with Angelo to teach him "step up". I think it's going great so far!

Angelo - YouTube

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A hallmark of Dr. J. is his willingness to mentor. I see it with my current vet, who was a protege, and your son's experience. Nice video, he is off to a great start!

Dr. J. truly is amazing. I wasn't a bird person until I met MrC. He used Dr. J. and absolutely refused to even consider seeing anybody else, even though there's another AV a little bit closer. Nope, it had to be Dr. J., and that was the end of that discussion. I'm still thrilled that he switched gears immediately and spoke directly to the actual "owner" of the birds. I think that's enormously important in helping young people develop a sense of responsibility for the animals in their care.

So I went to check on things and discovered this:



This is one of the guest bedrooms, where the Xbox is located. I smiled so big when I saw this. He's still a little leery of taking them out for more than a few minutes at a time, as they're still working on learning manners, but I'm glad to see him dragging them with him wherever he's hanging out. He was so happy with them there.

Beatrice..
I just love the picture of your son with the little guys on his hand at the vet! He has a very PROUD look on his face lol.
I was darn close to his age,when my Mom bought me a 'keet for my birthday! And I had the enthusiasm that your boy is showing!

"Wally" was the beginning of my true love for "parrots" even though I had/have an attraction to wild birds ( hand raised a couple of days old house sparrow even before Wally came along)

Bravo to your son! And a big THANKS to you,for allowing him,and having the confidence in him,in taking proper care of these tiny,beautiful little creatures!

Jim