Advice on rare budgie color variants

miserkris1 · Jun 2, 2019

Hello,
My kiddo that's 10 wants a budgie.
We went to Petco and PetSmart... Petco here in se Pennsylvania had some budgies and some of them light yellow and a bluish tinge and light blue instead of the usual 2 colors ie dark blue, green yellow...

Now these unique color variations .....are they safe to have ? Will the bird have any issues because of the non natural selective bred color? please advise!

Also.
We're gonna get 2.... I'm gonna look at fb that has local used cages cheap.

Should we get both Male or female,
Or opp sex?

Since I don't know how to figure out the age should we get smaller birds because they may be younger?

Should we get birds that are already clipped...

We live in a town home, no dogs, cats.
Pls advice.

Thx
Kris

Owlet · Jun 2, 2019

I don't recommend getting from petco or petsmart. they get their birds from the bird equivalent of puppymils. They are unhealthy and bred poorly and you're lucky if you get more than 1 or 2 years out of a bird that normally can easily live more than a decade. Not to mention their birds are usually very hand shy and nippy.

bug_n_flock · Jun 2, 2019

Where are you located? We may be able to steer you to a breeder local to you or a rescue.

Edit: ahh penn. Sorry, selective blindness I guess lol.

miserkris1 · Jun 2, 2019

How to find the best local breeder?
I go to north nj often btw...

If Petco is risky, wouldn't rescue be risky?

Thx....!

Owlet · Jun 3, 2019

Rescue is risky in its own right but it's still very different from a pet store. From a pet store you're supporting the unhealthy breeding of the budgies and it's a roulette on the birds personality and you can't do multiple visits to establish a relationship and get to know the bird before adopting. At a rescue the money isn't going back to the unhealthy breeding of the bird and you can help a displaced bird find a stable and loving home. Most if not all rescues also allow multiple visits to get to know the bird before adopting.

Amsterdam · Jun 3, 2019

miserkris1 said:
Hello,
My kiddo that's 10 wants a budgie.
We went to Petco and PetSmart... Petco here in se Pennsylvania had some budgies and some of them light yellow and a bluish tinge and light blue instead of the usual 2 colors ie dark blue, green yellow...

Now these unique color variations .....are they safe to have ? Will the bird have any issues because of the non natural selective bred color? please advise!

Also.
We're gonna get 2.... I'm gonna look at fb that has local used cages cheap.

Should we get both Male or female,
Or opp sex?

Since I don't know how to figure out the age should we get smaller birds because they may be younger?

Should we get birds that are already clipped...

We live in a town home, no dogs, cats.
Pls advice.

Thx
Kris

i read alot of negative things about petco and petsmart, the color mutations budgies have is perfectly save we have so many mutations that i lost count. if you want to tame a budgie one is better then 2 however budgies get lonely too and need social interraction, you could buy a couple male and female i woudnt recommend 2 females however because females can get more agressiver then males.also im not a fan of clipping but that is my opinion is there any chance you can get the budgies from a responsible breeder instead of petco etc?

miserkris1 · Jun 3, 2019

Yep checking local breeders, rescue etc. Scares me that when a bird gets sick it'll cost a fortune for vets....[emoji53]

miserkris1 · Jun 3, 2019

Are there local forums in philly, nj?

itzjbean · Jun 3, 2019

I found my last baby on Birdbreeders.com , great site for all birds and you can look in just your area too.

There are some very lovely colors of parakeets out there if you know where to look! I would recommend visitng some local pet stores in your area (not Petco) but I believe Todd Marcus Exotcis is in NJ? I follow their page on facebook.

miserkris1 · Jun 3, 2019

itzjbean said:
I found my last baby on Birdbreeders.com , great site for all birds and you can look in just your area too.

There are some very lovely colors of parakeets out there if you know where to look! I would recommend visitng some local pet stores in your area (not Petco) but I believe Todd Marcus Exotcis is in NJ? I follow their page on facebook.

Looked at Todd's fb group.
He's only an hour away. Might be 4 times more costly than Petco.

Gonna stop by there Saturday.

Is there any other breeder or rescue
Worthy of driving to... on the way to chappaqua ny.... this weekend?
I'm visiting someone there this weekend.

Thx

bug_n_flock · Jun 3, 2019

Hmmm, is EllenD based out that way? Diesn't she work with a small bird rescue?

miserkris1 · Jun 4, 2019

Owlet said:
I don't recommend getting from petco or petsmart. they get their birds from the bird equivalent of puppymils. They are unhealthy and bred poorly and you're lucky if you get more than 1 or 2 years out of a bird that normally can easily live more than a decade. Not to mention their birds are usually very hand shy and nippy.

Hello.
Is that true even if petco budgie looks super active, healthy, eats well...etc.?

Owlet · Jun 4, 2019

miserkris1 said:
Owlet said:

I don't recommend getting from petco or petsmart. they get their birds from the bird equivalent of puppymils. They are unhealthy and bred poorly and you're lucky if you get more than 1 or 2 years out of a bird that normally can easily live more than a decade. Not to mention their birds are usually very hand shy and nippy.

Click to expand...

Hello.
Is that true even if petco budgie looks super active, healthy, eats well...etc.?

Yes. Birds are prey animals and hide symptoms of anything being wrong VERY well. Usually by the time they start showing symptoms it's too late.

miserkris1 · Jun 4, 2019

Is there a one site that shows all authentic breeders in north east?
I see no stickies in this forum

miserkris1 · Jun 8, 2019

itzjbean said:
I found my last baby on Birdbreeders.com , great site for all birds and you can look in just your area too.

There are some very lovely colors of parakeets out there if you know where to look! I would recommend visitng some local pet stores in your area (not Petco) but I believe Todd Marcus Exotcis is in NJ? I follow their page on facebook.

Went to Todd's today. Man!... almost impulse bought orange chested GCC for 600 bucks. The 3 months old never left my hand, nipped few, harmless though! See pic.

Also played with bourke rosy parakeets. They said they're the most quite.... and gentle.

Question:

If i end up getting bourke should i get Male female pair? Can i just get a Male that's bright colored blue variant. ?

Can i clip the wing?

Are grass parakeets more prone to droppings mixing with seeds, and feet and making mess since they're in the floor a lot?

Do small parakeets always poop very frequently? This did in my hand but that GCC didn't for 90 min!

Thanks!

Rozalka · Jun 9, 2019

miserkris1 said:
Question:

If i end up getting bourke should i get Male female pair? Can i just get a Male that's bright colored blue variant. ?

Can i clip the wing?

Are grass parakeets more prone to droppings mixing with seeds, and feet and making mess since they're in the floor a lot?

Do small parakeets always poop very frequently? This did in my hand but that GCC didn't for 90 min!

Thanks!

I think that's better to not keep bourkes alone cause most of them are scared of people (I don't mean tamed of course) The color doesn't matter. I am against clipping wings any birds. For bourkes this is one of favorite things (based on my observations)
I think they make less mess than other parrots but my cages with bourkes have seed catchers and all seeds are inside the cages.
Deffinitly small parakeets poop more frequetly (about once in 15 minutes but I'm not sure) Gcc is bigger species than bourke or budgie and poops less frequetly

Wysłane z mojego Redmi 5 przy użyciu Tapatalka

miserkris1 · Jun 9, 2019

If we end up with GCC, do the yellow breast GCC have the same attributes as GCC? noise, sounds, behavior etc.?

Am i better off getting a young GCC like 2 to 4 mo? Male or female? I only need 1....

Owlet · Jun 9, 2019

"yellow breasted" or "yellow sided" GCCs are just a color mutations of GCCs, they're all the same kind of bird just different colors.

Gender doesn't really matter but there's always a risk of egg laying/binding in females. It's really up to you if you want to get a young one or older one. With an older one the personality is already pretty stabilized while a young one still has room for change especially once they go through puberty.

miserkris1 · Jun 10, 2019

Owlet said:
"yellow breasted" or "yellow sided" GCCs are just a color mutations of GCCs, they're all the same kind of bird just different colors.

Gender doesn't really matter but there's always a risk of egg laying/binding in females. It's really up to you if you want to get a young one or older one. With an older one the personality is already pretty stabilized while a young one still has room for change especially once they go through puberty.

Are young ones more prone to illness or old one? Thinking latter...

3,4 month old GCC $599 at Todd's is that common price?

Egg laying is only when after its mated right...

Anyway i can get affordable parrot health insurance?

How often to clean its cage, once weekly ok? Should i use paper or those pellets as base... thx

Owlet · Jun 10, 2019

- Neither are necessarily more prone than the other, it depends on the specific bird but as long as you get them weaned and healthy at that moment, that's a good sign. Lots of pet stores have a health guarantee, ask about that and schedule a vet appointment ASAP

Egg laying can happen at any point, think chicken eggs. It's the same for every bird and as long as they are hormonally stimulated they have a chance of laying eggs. There's way to minimize the chances of it happening but it's always a possibility.

There is pet health insurance but as far as I'm aware there's only one company that takes parrots right now and I can't remember what it is.

Cleaning cage once a week or as needed is fine. I suggest newspaper over pellets any day. Definitely never puppy pads (common but not good..)

Advice on rare budgie color variants

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