Have young budgie-should I add another?

[lzlori]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to the budgie world and would like some advice please. I have a young, untamed, flighted budgie that I bought at Petco. It's about 4 months old and I've no idea if it's mae or female. I understand that I'll be able to tell later by the color of the cere but that's a few months away. I've got this one to the point that it eats out of my hand but doesn't perch on it yet. I use a chopstick and say, "touch" and then offer a bit of millet spray each time it touches the stick. That's works really well. That's a far as I've gotten in training and taming. I'm working on it every day, slowly and with patience. By the way, I hate referring to this budgie as an "it" and can't wait until I know if it's male or it female.
My question is, should I continue to work on training and bonding with me or should I get another young budgie so it won't be alone in the cage? If I did add another budgie I would still continue training while understanding that it's more challenging if the birds bond with each other. I'd like the hear the pros and cons of keeping just this one for now or getting a second one for a friend right away. Also, what if they turn out to be male and female and mate? Not sure I could handle that! If I do get a second one, how would I introduce them safely? I would be grateful for any opinions and advice from all who choose to respond. Warning: your advice may lead to me asking more questions. Lol

Thank you!!

 

[Jcas]

Hello! Welcome to the wonderful world of budgies 🙂. First of all, you can post a picture and some of us can take a stab at sexing your current budgie; sometimes you can tell even at a young age. If you are very concerned about gender you could certainly wait to get a second bird until you know for sure what your bird is. I’ve done male/ male and male/ female pairings without issue.

It sounds like you are making good steps in training your budgie. In general, while I find budgies to be some of the happiest, most cheerful of birds, they don’t tend to be especially friendly. My Quaker loves snuggles and head scratches but even the tamest budgie I’ve had was not into pets or cuddles. He would step up and land on me and enjoyed hanging out together but he wasn’t a bird who liked physical affection.

Other people might have different opinions, but since you’ve made some good progress in gaining your current bird’s trust, I think it would be just fine to get another bird now ( unless you really want to know gender first). Personally, after having experience keeping both single and multiple budgies, I feel like they are much happier with a budgie pal.

As far as introducing them, I always keep them in separate cages but side by side for 1-2 weeks so that they can get to know each other through the bars. Once I let them out together, they always decide to come back to the original budgie’s cage and the second cage gets ignored. I’ve never had issues introducing budgies this way.
If you have more questions, by all means feel free to ask!!! ❤️

 

[lzlori]

Hello! Welcome to the wonderful world of budgies 🙂. First of all, you can post a picture and some of us can take a stab at sexing your current budgie; sometimes you can tell even at a young age. If you are very concerned about gender you could certainly wait to get a second bird until you know for sure what your bird is. I’ve done male/ male and male/ female pairings without issue.

It sounds like you are making good steps in training your budgie. In general, while I find budgies to be some of the happiest, most cheerful of birds, they don’t tend to be especially friendly. My Quaker loves snuggles and head scratches but even the tamest budgie I’ve had was not into pets or cuddles. He would step up and land on me and enjoyed hanging out together but he wasn’t a bird who liked physical affection.

Other people might have different opinions, but since you’ve made some good progress in gaining your current bird’s trust, I think it would be just fine to get another bird now ( unless you really want to know gender first). Personally, after having experience keeping both single and multiple budgies, I feel like they are much happier with a budgie pal.

As far as introducing them, I always keep them in separate cages but side by side for 1-2 weeks so that they can get to know each other through the bars. Once I let them out together, they always decide to come back to the original budgie’s cage and the second cage gets ignored. I’ve never had issues introducing budgies this way.
If you have more questions, by all means feel free to ask!!! ❤️

Thank you for replying. That's some good advice. I especially like the idea of putting the cages side by side to let the birds get to know each other. I tried to take some pictures this morning after reading your post but in each pic the color of the cere looks more blue than it actually is. His/her cere is sort of lavender/pinkish/tan colored but the camera shows it as light blue? I'll try to get a better angle for light if Pika will cooperate!

 

[lzlori]

Hello! Welcome to the wonderful world of budgies 🙂. First of all, you can post a picture and some of us can take a stab at sexing your current budgie; sometimes you can tell even at a young age. If you are very concerned about gender you could certainly wait to get a second bird until you know for sure what your bird is. I’ve done male/ male and male/ female pairings without issue.

It sounds like you are making good steps in training your budgie. In general, while I find budgies to be some of the happiest, most cheerful of birds, they don’t tend to be especially friendly. My Quaker loves snuggles and head scratches but even the tamest budgie I’ve had was not into pets or cuddles. He would step up and land on me and enjoyed hanging out together but he wasn’t a bird who liked physical affection.

Other people might have different opinions, but since you’ve made some good progress in gaining your current bird’s trust, I think it would be just fine to get another bird now ( unless you really want to know gender first). Personally, after having experience keeping both single and multiple budgies, I feel like they are much happier with a budgie pal.

As far as introducing them, I always keep them in separate cages but side by side for 1-2 weeks so that they can get to know each other through the bars. Once I let them out together, they always decide to come back to the original budgie’s cage and the second cage gets ignored. I’ve never had issues introducing budgies this way.
If you have more questions, by all means feel free to ask!!! ❤️

Here's 3 pics that I took a few minutes ago. The one where Pika is sitting on a perch shows the cere color exactly as I see it naturally. The one of Pika on the food bowl was taken with the flash on and it made the cere look blue. The close up shot was with no flash and not much light. What do you think?

 

[Jcas]

Here's 3 pics that I took a few minutes ago. The one where Pika is sitting on a perch shows the cere color exactly as I see it naturally. The one of Pika on the food bowl was taken with the flash on and it made the cere look blue. The close up shot was with no flash and not much light. What do you think?

I’m definitely leaning towards Pika being a male but hopefully others will weigh in!

 

[lzlori]

I’m definitely leaning towards Pika being a male but hopefully others will weigh in!

I hope so too. In my original post I said Pika was 4 months old. That was a mistake. Pika is about 5 months old. Still, that blue in the cere was brought out by the flash of the camera. It's really more of a light lavender color. I think lol.

 

[Jcas]

I hope so too. In my original post I said Pika was 4 months old. That was a mistake. Pika is about 5 months old. Still, that blue in the cere was brought out by the flash of the camera. It's really more of a light lavender color. I think lol.

In my experience, any hint of purple ( including lavender) usually means boy 🙂. Young Females trend towards more of a whitish pink.

 

[lzlori]

In my experience, any hint of purple ( including lavender) usually means boy 🙂. Young Females trend towards more of a whitish pink.

I was doing some more research today and apparently my little Pika is a Lutino type of budgie, probably a goldenface, opaline spangle and I read that they typically don't have a cere in adulthood that changes to blue if they are male. It also said that the cere is likely to never change color at all. Oh boy.

 

[Jcas]

I was doing some more research today and apparently my little Pika is a Lutino type of budgie, probably a goldenface, opaline spangle and I read that they typically don't have a cere in adulthood that changes to blue if they are male. It also said that the cere is likely to never change color at all. Oh boy.

Yeah, I couldn’t tell for sure from the pictures what color variation he/she is! That can definitely make it trickier, but what a pretty little budgie ❤️

 

[lzlori]

Yeah, I couldn’t tell for sure from the pictures what color variation he/she is! That can definitely make it trickier, but what a pretty little budgie ❤️

Thank you! Pika is so sweet and sociable. I'm probably wrong on about Pika bring Lutino. I read some more and realized I have no idea what I'm talking about. It's all so complicated. Then I realized that it doesn't matter what type of budgie Pika is. Lol. I get off track easily...Budgies are so fascinating. I sure would like to know if Pika is male or female however. Because I absolutely can't tell. And I'm still waiting for more advice on whether to buy another budgie so that Pika can have a friend. Any thoughts?

 

[Free as a bird]

From the pictures it looks like I can see a blue cere which means it's a boy.
I prefer to give a bird some company for when I'm out for long periods, it keeps them company while I'm at work.

 

[lzlori]

From the pictures it looks like I can see a blue cere which means it's a boy.
I prefer to give a bird some company for when I'm out for long periods, it keeps them company while I'm at work.

Thank you for replying. That's why I'm considering getting another. I don't want Pika to be lonely when I can't hang out by her cage.

 

[Birdgirl24]

While getting another budgie WOULD be lovely and all there's always a chance the two wont like each other or wont get along its always a chance and something you'd need to be prepped for.

 

[lzlori]

While getting another budgie WOULD be lovely and all there's always a chance the two wont like each other or wont get along its always a chance and something you'd need to be prepped for.

Thank you for replying. That is a concern... That they might not get along. I've read a couple of horror stories about introducing budgies and one of them gets hurt or killed. To avoid that I would place their cages side by side to let them get to know each other (something I learned from one of the replies I've received) and I'd have to wait until they made friends through the bars... However long that might take. So I'd need a 2nd cage if I want to buy a friend for Pika.

 

[Birdgirl24]

Thank you for replying. That is a concern... That they might not get along. I've read a couple of horror stories about introducing budgies and one of them gets hurt or killed. To avoid that I would place their cages side by side to let them get to know each other (something I learned from one of the replies I've received) and I'd have to wait until they made friends through the bars... However long that might take. So I'd need a 2nd cage if I want to buy a friend for Pika.

As long as you introduce them properly, in theory, no injuries would occur, even if they end up not liking each other. it's really just a matter of being careful. Another thing I can suggest from adopting multiple budgies and housing them together is when you call the shelter. Ask if they have any budgies who seem more friendly and social towards other budgies often times (based off my own experience might not be true for others) they make faster friends with the other bird then the super closed off budgies from the shelter.

 

[Jcas]

Although it’s always good to prepared for all possibilities, I have never had an issue with introducing budgies as long as I gave them a chance to get to know each other before putting them together. This has held true for both purchased and adopted birds and birds of different ages and genders. When I brought home a companion for my first budgie, the pet store owner where I bought the second bird did warn me there was a possibility of them not getting along. They got along very well though, as have all my budgies since then. The only thing they really bickered over was the food bowl. Having two food bowls is definitely helpful! In general, budgies seem to be pretty easy birds to introduce to each other. 🙂

 

[lzlori]

As long as you introduce them properly, in theory, no injuries would occur, even if they end up not liking each other. it's really just a matter of being careful. Another thing I can suggest from adopting multiple budgies and housing them together is when you call the shelter. Ask if they have any budgies who seem more friendly and social towards other budgies often times (based off my own experience might not be true for others) they make faster friends with the other bird then the super closed off budgies from the shelter.

Thank you!😁

 

[lzlori]

Although it’s always good to prepared for all possibilities, I have never had an issue with introducing budgies as long as I gave them a chance to get to know each other before putting them together. This has held true for both purchased and adopted birds and birds of different ages and genders. When I brought home a companion for my first budgie, the pet store owner where I bought the second bird did warn me there was a possibility of them not getting along. They got along very well though, as have all my budgies since then. The only thing they really bickered over was the food bowl. Having two food bowls is definitely helpful! In general, budgies seem to be pretty easy birds to introduce to each other. 🙂

Thank you! 😁