Conure or Parakeet (Budgie)

Hello Parrot Forum Users! Today I wanted a little opinion on what I should get and I want facts why. I have never had a bird before (nobody in my family has of a matter if a fact) and it is new to us all. I have heard great things about Budgies but they take tons of time to train and you may get bored with them after 1 week - 1 month. I have heard these birds both have a very long life span and though the Conure's price is pretty expensive if it were to live that long I think it would be worth it. I have been doing research about Parakeets and they seem sort of bland and would maybe do what other birds do but are the "lazy" bunch overall. I was looking into getting one bird and Conures seem to be my type, funny, fun, curious, and hyper. I would love to own one of these birds but I would like an opinion or alternative you think would be great for me. This is my first time using the forums here, hope to hear back soon! Thank you.
P.s incase you were wondering I was looking into a normal Blue Parakeet or Green Cheek Conure, doesn't make a difference but I would like to inform you.
(if you could tell me what age to get them at or a little guide that would help )

Welcome to the forums!

I recommend budgies for kids. Conures for adults. Budgies do not live as long as conures. Budgies are around 5-10 years and conures can get into their 30s and 40s -- green cheeks usually around 30.

Budgies don't have nearly the amount of personality as a conure. That's why people get bored with them. They of course have personalities, but I can see why people would lose interest. GCC is my recommendation. They are super sweet, can learn loads of stuff, very interactive and loving...

To be honest, I would say a Cockatiel might be an even better choice. They're kind of in the middle in comparison and are good for learning how you feel about pet birds.

Wow I have to disagree STRONGLY. Budgies are bouncing balls of personality! I share my life with both species and would NEVER say budgies are boring. If you get bored with your budgie, chances are he is bored of you, too! So step up the play time and training a tame budgie is a barrel of laughs!


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SilverSage said:

Wow I have to disagree STRONGLY. Budgies are bouncing balls of personality! I share my life with both species and would NEVER say budgies are boring. If you get bored with your budgie, chances are he is bored of you, too! So step up the play time and training a tame budgie is a barrel of laughs!


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I second this! Budgies have an amazing personality; they definitely have more "personality" than a cockatiel though the latter has its own charm. Their voice is not as bad on the nerves as the lovebirds.

Have never had conures but have seen people with them. Sun conures 's noise levels are unbearable for me.

cheers

Avin

brolie said:

Budgies don't have nearly the amount of personality as a conure. That's why people get bored with them. They of course have personalities, but I can see why people would lose interest.

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i just feel the need to reiterate this. I have 3 budgies, a jenday conure, an amazon, and an umbrella cockatoo. while the budgies absolutely have personality, they aren't as .... interactive ... as other birds. they aren't quite as smart and don't pick up on things as quickly. there are certainly exceptions to that, but at the same time, if it's a first bird, budgie might not fulfill needs. any guests that come over are always more interested in my other three birds

I would find it very hard to say any living thing has no personality although i know some people that are really close. I havent had a budgie, but from what i understand they have much higher chance of talking over a conure. That said my jenday odin is always fun and entertaining and if he never says a word i will still be just as happy. Odin loves to play and cuddle and constantly wants to be directly with the wife or me, until 8:30pm when he puts himself to bed. I think regardless of which you choose you will only get out what you put in.

I’ve had budgies in my life for 16 years, and conures for 5. They are different but I can say without reservation that they are just as social (if not more so!) as conures, just as smart, etc. they are less cuddly, less likely to start plucking, less likely to bite. They are much quieter (in volume, not in amount of noise) than conures.

That’s not to say they are “better,” but that they stand on equal footing with conures as far as pet quality. Different birds for different people.

Because budgies breed so easily they are almost never hand raised. Often people buy wild budgies and then use horrible abusive tactics to “tame” them. Have you ever heard of “heart to heart training”? Yeah, abuse that budgies are smart enough to figure out and go along with in order to survive. This obviously damages bonding and you end up with a bird that is fearful and nervous due to abuse, not due to species.

Compare apples to apples; compare a hand raised budgie to a hand raised Conure, not a wild budgie to a hand raised Conure.

Here’s a picture from today; Carlin dang my husband to sleep. I obviously went and got her for her own safety but I snapped the picture first. Josh is her favorite person but she gets along with the whole family. She also loves to torment Tsali, our African Grey. She realized he freaks out when other birds fly above him and being a parrot (aka drama queen) she thinks it is hysterical.


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im honestly a bit baffled. i've owned many birds for the past 26 years and have always thought budgies had the least personality and intelligence of all of the other breeds .. again LEAST not ZERO.. they absolutely have personality ... and i've had store bought, hand raised, etc... maybe i've just had really bad luck??? yes, they have personalities and play and are wonderful, but all my other breeds that ive owned or fostered always seemed smarter and .."quirkier"

I grew up in a Budgie breeding family, and have owned, bred, and hand-raised both Budgies (American and English) and Green Cheeks, and I currently own a 2 year old male Yellow-Sided Green Cheek and 8 American/English Budgie hybrids that I bred and hand-raised...AND BOTH SPECIES ARE FULL OF PERSONALITY, INTELLIGENCE, LOVE, SWEETNESS, AND YES, BUDGIES CAN LIVE INTO THEIR 20'S.

***This is assuming that you have been able to find a baby Budgie that had been hand-raised/hand-fed from 2-3 weeks old by a breeder. Most Green Cheeks are hand-raised/hand-fed from 2-3 weeks old, but Budgies that are hand-raised by a breeder are a lot more difficult to find because it's very difficult to make any profit selling them. In fact, you end-up spending more on hand-raising them than you sell them for, and as a result there aren't a lot of breeders around. But assuming you are comparing apples to apples, either bird is going to make a wonderful family member, for both adults and kids. It's simply a matter of which you like more...

Geez...the poor "Budgie"!!! SOOoooooo underrated! Just watch Disco on youtube or that guy in England with the 5 or 6 trained Budgies!
They can talk,the can learn tricks,give loveys and ALOT of them are so beautiful!!
Boring??? My....foot!!





Jim

My first question would be how old are you? If you are still in school than the bird will most likely be with your parents when you go to college? If you live with your family, is everyone in agreement of wanting a bird? I ask this because noise level can come into play. Obviously, birds have their indvidual personailty but but it's nice to have a baseline of what you are looking for.

I think it would be very helpful for us to know about you and your living arrangements prior for bird advice.

[ame="https://youtu.be/EFJeY9fL5tk"]I'm Disco and I Know It! - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://youtu.be/UGqtH5YWBMM"]Norman Barrett MBE and his amazing budgies: Zippos Circus - YouTube[/ame]


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EllenD said:

I grew up in a Budgie breeding family, and have owned, bred, and hand-raised both Budgies (American and English) and Green Cheeks, and I currently own a 2 year old male Yellow-Sided Green Cheek and 8 American/English Budgie hybrids that I bred and hand-raised...AND BOTH SPECIES ARE FULL OF PERSONALITY, INTELLIGENCE, LOVE, SWEETNESS, AND YES, BUDGIES CAN LIVE INTO THEIR 20'S.
.

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Hi Ellen

Just out of curiosity! Have you personally had any budgies that have crossed 20?

Here in India, many would be lucky to cross 3 years in a single household and many don't cross 5 in terms of lifespan, the former because they are just abandoned because owners lose interest. Nothing to do with their personality though- just because they are not very expensive, people don't want to invest in their care.

cheers

Avin

Cardinal said:

EllenD said:

I grew up in a Budgie breeding family, and have owned, bred, and hand-raised both Budgies (American and English) and Green Cheeks, and I currently own a 2 year old male Yellow-Sided Green Cheek and 8 American/English Budgie hybrids that I bred and hand-raised...AND BOTH SPECIES ARE FULL OF PERSONALITY, INTELLIGENCE, LOVE, SWEETNESS, AND YES, BUDGIES CAN LIVE INTO THEIR 20'S.
.

Click to expand...

Hi Ellen

Just out of curiosity! Have you personally had any budgies that have crossed 20?

Here in India, many would be lucky to cross 3 years in a single household and many don't cross 5 in terms of lifespan, the former because they are just abandoned because owners lose interest. Nothing to do with their personality though- just because they are not very expensive, people don't want to invest in their care.

cheers

Avin

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That is so sad! Even my childhood budgies that I didn’t know any better than to feed all seed lived longer than that. That’s the beauty of the internet though, isn’t it? To share info and improve ourselves in every way. I would be very interested to learn more about how budgies are cared for in India. I know a bit about the plight of asiatic parrots (Indian Ringnecks, Alexandrines, etc) but not much about budgies and their popularity.

I did read an article about how breeders in India and Pakistan need to stop constantly breeding ino to ino, written by a Pakistani breeder, but that was several years ago and I have no idea how accurate his claims were. It could be that the majority of the fault lies not with the pet owner, but with the genetic quality of the breeding stock.


But that has nothing to do with the original question...

To the OP; as much as I ADORE budgies and feel that they are fantastic pets, they are very different from conures. I highly suggest you go out to
Your local breeders, pet stores, and rescues and interact with ADULT conures and budgies before making your choice. It’s just so much easier to get a feel for the energy of the bird in person


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The above advice on going to different places to interact with both is the best advice. The budgie lovers will obviously give great advice as will the Conure owners.

Over the last 25 years I have had a couple budgies, cockatiels, cockatoo and now a GCC. Their is no "best one" since they are all different and it all depends on the owners wants/needs.

In other words, out of my 4 different birds, I favor the cockatoo over the others. Someone else might choose the cockatiel. All depends on your expectations.

Go interact with the budgie and Conure. You might be surprised that the BIRD just might pick you.

Good luck!

SilverSage said:

That is so sad! Even my childhood budgies that I didn’t know any better than to feed all seed lived longer than that. That’s the beauty of the internet though, isn’t it? To share info and improve ourselves in every way. I would be very interested to learn more about how budgies are cared for in India. I know a bit about the plight of asiatic parrots (Indian Ringnecks, Alexandrines, etc) but not much about budgies and their popularity.

I did read an article about how breeders in India and Pakistan need to stop constantly breeding ino to ino, written by a Pakistani breeder, but that was several years ago and I have no idea how accurate his claims were. It could be that the majority of the fault lies not with the pet owner, but with the genetic quality of the breeding stock.

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Well! What I have said is a guess-timate based on my own interaction with budgie owners and former budgie owners. Perhaps a proper research with hard data could reveal something else. But as I shared in another thread- Helen Day's website , the average show-budgie in the west lives only 2.09 years based on necropsies done on 3000 specimens.

From my experience of budgies- have had 23 in all including 7 born in my house, the Albinos were much more weak and susceptible to disease and mite infestation etc than the greens and blues. I never had lutinos. The Blues (n=5) in my aviary were the healthiest.

Budgies are possibly the most common parrot kept in captivity with even remote towns and even villages in the hinterland having budgie breeders.

But most of them are kept in pathetically small cages and fed an all seed diet- often just one seed- foxtail millet.

Regarding Rose-ringed Parakeets(Indian Ringneck) and Alexandrine parakeets, they are officially banned by law in India though I don't think there is a law to protect them in Pakistan. I think the Alexandrine has been all but wiped out in Pakistan and has greatly declined in many parts of India, hence it is classified as Near Threatened by IUCN. The Rose-ringed is still common and you can see them even in the heart of cities.


The illegal trade has greatly slowed down in India since the authorities have got to get tough in many parts of India. But it still thrives underground and even in the open in some parts of India. For example.

Bengal a hub for soaring trade in wild Indian birds - The Hindu

Can I be the first one to throw a cockatiel out there for consideration! They're excellent companions and have tons of personality. They are in the same sort of class as budgies/conures in terms of personality, size, and longevity. Great, expressive personalities and really love to interact.

Cardinal said:

EllenD said:

I grew up in a Budgie breeding family, and have owned, bred, and hand-raised both Budgies (American and English) and Green Cheeks, and I currently own a 2 year old male Yellow-Sided Green Cheek and 8 American/English Budgie hybrids that I bred and hand-raised...AND BOTH SPECIES ARE FULL OF PERSONALITY, INTELLIGENCE, LOVE, SWEETNESS, AND YES, BUDGIES CAN LIVE INTO THEIR 20'S.
.

Click to expand...

Hi Ellen

Just out of curiosity! Have you personally had any budgies that have crossed 20?

Here in India, many would be lucky to cross 3 years in a single household and many don't cross 5 in terms of lifespan, the former because they are just abandoned because owners lose interest. Nothing to do with their personality though- just because they are not very expensive, people don't want to invest in their care.

cheers

Avin

Click to expand...

I know, this is not uncommon in the US either, and it's just sad...Most people without any parrot or Budgie knowledge in the US go to the pet shop and buy themselves or their kids a baby Budgie, thinking that they are only going to live for 5 or so years...IN Fact, I actually saw a member on here quote once that Budgies are a good parrot to buy for short-term situations because in captivity the average they live is only 4-6 years...so sad...

My very first pet was a baby Budgie that was bred and hand-raised by my mother, she gave him to me as a birthday present when I turned 6 years old. And Keet lived just shy of 19 years. And the only reason he passed away was due to an upper respiratory infection that we treated with my CAV for months, he just couldn't shake it. But prior to that he was just fine.

I just rehomed by retired breeders to an sanctuary, and the 2 oldest were 11 years old...And yes, personally I know other breeders with Budgies over 20, one that is 21, while I have heard of others living over 25.

It's all about diet, environment, and healthcare. The first rule is weaning the bird onto a healthy pellet diet with a healthy seed mix as only a supplement, along with lots of daily fresh veggies and fruits. I also have been giving all of my birds a daily probiotic supplement on their food since I had Keety, as I learned this from my mother. It helps with digestion and keeps yeast/fungal infections away. And getting a yearly wellness exam done with a Certified Avian Vet that includes fecal cultures and routine blood work is also a part of the plan...

EllenD said:

I just rehomed by retired breeders to an sanctuary, and the 2 oldest were 11 years old...And yes, personally I know other breeders with Budgies over 20, one that is 21, while I have heard of others living over 25.

It's all about diet, environment, and healthcare. The first rule is weaning the bird onto a healthy pellet diet with a healthy seed mix as only a supplement, along with lots of daily fresh veggies and fruits. I also have been giving all of my birds a daily probiotic supplement on their food since I had Keety, as I learned this from my mother. It helps with digestion and keeps yeast/fungal infections away. And getting a yearly wellness exam done with a Certified Avian Vet that includes fecal cultures and routine blood work is also a part of the plan...

Click to expand...

Great to know about Budgies that cross 20. It takes a lot of dedication on the caretaker not to look at these birds purely in economic terms.

The world record when this article was written in the early 2000s was 29 years 2 months. But to be realistic, any pet owner who has kept a budgie for 10 or more years had done a great job.

http://www.yonder.myzen.co.uk/longevity/budyears.html

Coming to India


1. Yes Diet is important. Pellet diets are not common in India. But a seed diet with multiple grains and lot of veggies would hold good I presume.
2. PROBIOTICS - Yes! Many pet owners should realise these are much more important than antibiotics. But which are the right types for birds and do they vary with species? Would natural yoghurt from cow or water buffalo milk make a good probiotic?
3. Certified Avian veterinarians with expertise in Parrot medication. These are practically non existent or very inaccessible.

If the above 3 factors are addressed, Well being and lifespan of budgies and indeed all parrots can greatly improve.

I guess we have digressed greatly from the original topic, but this is important

cheers

Avin

In the 1990s the world record for the bird with the biggest vocabulary was held by a budgie. He learnt 1728 words. I don’t understand why people think that budgies are stupid. They are incredibly intelligent. They can learn tricks, learn to talk and are very interactive.

Budgies also have incredible personalities. I have an aviary of 22 and all of them are unique, interesting, and absolutely fun individuals. I could never get bored of them.

Why are people always so quick to dismiss budgies as wonderful pets, even when they have been popular and loved for centuries?