Here we go again

[Rico_Tiel]

Nice little flock you have! Gabe is still a kid so mating with Cricket isn't an issue YET but as he matures (six months is the magic budgie puberty age) watch Crickets cere. If it starts to turn brown and crusty that means she's hormonal and may start batting her pretty red eyes at baby Gabe and he may jump on for a ride!

Yeah, I’m definitely keeping an eye on it, haha. Last thing I want is 5+ additional flock members (I want more, yes, but I can’t afford it nor do I want to be one of THOSE people… xD) but I have a pretty good feeling she gets along with him, but doesn’t like-like him, y’know? But he’s going through his first molt, and he’s a tad mean— for his standard, I mean. Hasn’t bit anyone, but has given me a warning last morning, and told crick off a few times, which is the most aggression I’ve seen from the lil guy. So I’m not too worried about them breeding— again, I am watching them closely, and will act accordingly if I’m wrong (separate them, control their sleep instead of letting them follow the daylight cycle, feed less, and boost calcium for cricket— if push comes to shove, boil her eggs if I have to) but I’m not super concerned about it lol I think cricket is too full of rage and unbridled HATRED to even stop and consider eggs

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Cricket’s somewhat grouchy behavior towards Gabe sounds pretty much like how my girl Fay acts towards my boy Cooper. They are great friends but he better respect her! Over three years that they’ve been together and they still don’t have a flirty relationship AT ALL even when Fay is in breeding condition so hopefully that will also be the same for Cricket and Gabe. I’m so happy they have become cagemates and everyone is basically getting along. What a beautiful ( and adorable) trio of birds!

I figured this was a female budgie thing? But Crick seems a lot more aggressive and much meaner than most other budgies I’ve met or seen in videos— like she is a literal devil (I love her, but GAH she’s SO mean to everyone! She tolerates me on occasion, but she is a turd burglar when she isn’t working for a treat or after my food) she sometimes pushes Gabe off her favorite perches if he dares step on them yet he willingly returns to her cage and get back on that perch, every time. Not to victim blame, but like at some point, he’s GOTTA know what he’s doing

But yeah, I tried explaining this to my mom, when she was dragging me (figuratively) for keeping them together, and I was like “she can say no, them being opposite sexes doesn’t necessarily mean they will breed— budgies of opposite sexes can be friendly and not breed,” lol but she was not hearing it, comparing them to our dogs who bred when my father wasn’t watching them :/ like, girl… birds aren’t dogs

And thank you! They are all so wonderful and beautiful, even if they drive me up the wall every time they step out of their cages xD

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Not all male budgies are horndogs and not all females are receptive to horndogs (or horndogs themselves) but people should be aware of the potential. I didn't run into problems with unwanted sexual behavior and outright breeding until a year ago when I acquired three young budgies from a local hobby breeder, two males and one female, as companions to a lone older female who's cagemates had died off, leaving me with only had three budgies. One of the new males and one of the new females started breeding a month after i got them and would still be breeding clutch after clutch if I hadn't broken them up six months and six more budgies later. This "strain" of closely related budgies act like once they hit puberty at 6 months their sole purpose is to make more budgies.

In the meantime, I joined the American Budgerigar Society and started meeting other members and attending English budgie shows in New England. From them I acquired 6 beautiful show-type English Budgies and I fell in love with them. Now, less than a year later, I have 19 budgies- 6 English, 1 half English, and 11 regular budgies.

I've decided to jump head first (a thinking jump) into the world of breeding English Budgies for exhibition shows. Its been kind of just a dream for me but it's actually going to happen now! I'm building a 12x18 foot building on my property to house my new hobby. I'd like to start a thread dedicated to my new adventure if anyone's interested in taking the journey with me. Thoughts?

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Female budgies are much more independent and are almost always the boss and the males seem to understand that. If someone needs to keep only one budgie, unless they spend a lot of time with them I recommend getting a single female. Males are much more sociable and a lone male would suffer more from lack of companionship than a lone female.
Both sexes make great human companions (my favorite budgie is a female) but males are much chattier. There are always exceptions.

Crick is my first ever female bird, and she’s the exact opposite of every male bird I’ve had not that it’s a bad thing— her hate and anger is incredibly funny at times, and her sass is my favorite thing about her, but she is absolutely a curveball. She isn’t a people-bird in the slightest, but she isn’t terrible to work with… she’s just incredibly smart.

In my experience, male birds tend to be very passive and generally massive pushovers (rico is the exception and the rule— he accepts a lot, but will not tolerate and even act aggressively to some things) and are pretty friendly and mild mannered. In my experience, a lot easier to bond with.

Cricket is an individual, so I have no sample size to compare with, but I knew she would be less friendly and more angry than a male budgie, as that what everyone says, but she makes the average hen seem like the happiest, most sweetest, most bubbly creature to exist xD she is so angry and aggressive for literally no reason, like she beefs with her food bowl if SHE drops the seed she was trying to eat! Lmao she will scowl and open her little scissorbeak if you happen to pass her cage when it’s too cloudy or if the air pressure is slightly higher than she likes.

I have NO idea why she is so angry and aggressive, but I really don’t think it’s because “shes a hen,” I feel like she’s lived at LEAST 3 lives and she was a divorced alcoholic in two of them with crippling debt lol she just has that vibe. Like, girl, you don’t pay rent or have to get a job, why are you mad?

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Not all male budgies are horndogs and not all females are receptive to horndogs (or horndogs themselves) but people should be aware of the potential. I didn't run into problems with unwanted sexual behavior and outright breeding until a year ago when I acquired three young budgies from a local hobby breeder, two males and one female, as companions to a lone older female who's cagemates had died off, leaving me with only had three budgies. One of the new males and one of the new females started breeding a month after i got them and would still be breeding clutch after clutch if I hadn't broken them up six months and six more budgies later. This "strain" of closely related budgies act like once they hit puberty at 6 months their sole purpose is to make more budgies.

In the meantime, I joined the American Budgerigar Society and started meeting other members and attending English budgie shows in New England. From them I acquired 6 beautiful show-type English Budgies and I fell in love with them. Now, less than a year later, I have 19 budgies- 6 English, 1 half English, and 11 regular budgies.

I've decided to jump head first (a thinking jump) into the world of breeding English Budgies for exhibition shows. Its been kind of just a dream for me but it's actually going to happen now! I'm building a 12x18 foot building on my property to house my new hobby. I'd like to start a thread dedicated to my new adventure if anyone's interested in taking the journey with me. Thoughts?

Ooo! That’s such a specific kind of thread, but it would absolutely make for a cool read! Stories, problems, tips and tricks, pros and cons, managing it, etc… that would be interesting! Not sure how good genetics could be selected and ensured without possible inbreeding, though guess that could be discussed in the thread, lol

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Your Cricket is more normal than you think! Of course not all girls are like that but they are definitely The Boss among budgies and the boys are so easy going they take it. Gabe is a very typical boy.
My girl Rocky is anything but sweet. She's one tough girl but her sweet faithful manservant Beau loves her. He happily let's her have her way with everything. She lets him feed and preen her on demand and he follows her around like a puppy dog.

Even though I hand raised Rocky from an egg 2.5 years ago, she hates human hands (unless I'm holding her bath bowl under the kitchen sink "shower"- then she hops right on! She bites hand if they get near her, but not out of fear- its just hate. However, other than hating hands, Rocky loves people. She flies to us a lot, perches all over us, and tries to steal anything we are eating. Beau joins right in but he likes hands. I suspect that if Rocky had been parent raised she would be just like Cricket.
Rocky is incredibly smart, beautiful and I will be devastated when she dies. I hope I have her for many years to come.

I have a 7 month old girl, Joey, I also hand raised and she's the opposite with hands. She wants to be on our hands all the time. She's very opinionated when she doesn't like something. Although she likes perching on hands don't try to "pet" her with hands- she never bltes but makes that loud sound they make when not pleased- Nyeh! Nyeh! Nyeh!

Moral of girl bird story- they're all different but Cricket is pretty typical and so is Gabe!

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Your Cricket is more normal than you think! Of course not all girls are like that but they are definitely The Boss among budgies and the boys are so easy going they take it. Gabe is a very typical boy.
My girl Rocky is anything but sweet. She's one tough girl but her sweet faithful manservant Beau loves her. He happily let's her have her way with everything. She lets him feed and preen her on demand and he follows her around like a puppy dog.

Even though I hand raised Rocky from an egg 2.5 years ago, she hates human hands (unless I'm holding her bath bowl under the kitchen sink "shower"- then she hops right on! She bites hand if they get near her, but not out of fear- its just hate. However, other than hating hands, Rocky loves people. She flies to us a lot, perches all over us, and tries to steal anything we are eating. Beau joins right in but he likes hands. I suspect that if Rocky had been parent raised she would be just like Cricket.
Rocky is incredibly smart, beautiful and I will be devastated when she dies. I hope I have her for many years to come.

I have a 7 month old girl, Joey, I also hand raised and she's the opposite with hands. She wants to be on our hands all the time. She's very opinionated when she doesn't like something. Although she likes perching on hands don't try to "pet" her with hands- she never bltes but makes that loud sound they make when not pleased- Nyeh! Nyeh! Nyeh!

Moral of girl bird story- they're all different but Cricket is pretty typical and so is Gabe!

Bold of you to assume Rocky will die! She lives forever!! Ave Rocky! Long live the girlboss! xD

I guess my view on budgies is extremely skewed, haha, the only difference between rocky and crick is that rocky is at least people friendly-ish and will perch on you and hang out. From what I gather, she quite likes people. Cricket is not, will not, and does not. She will refuse to come to me if I’m not bribing her with a treat, and even then, she refuses if she deems me too far (more than 2 feet away) and she doesn’t want to hang out. It’s very rare that she willingly comes over to me.

She hates all people, but hates me slightly less (probably because I’m the only person who feeds her and gives her treats! She bites all hands, but bites the hand that feeds her just a little less ) and hates men slightly more

but they do seem similar in temperament, and I am seeing the parallels between them— guess hens are bossier than I thought! And more hateful and rage-fueled than I assumed. And I figured male budgies wouldn’t be as big of a pushover as they seem to be.

I guess I just assumed Gabe is a lot more sad and pathetic than other males, since he just lets cricket bully him, like the budgies at the pet store were (I honestly don’t know if cricket is meaner than they were or not, but at LEAST he isn’t getting ganged up on and roughed up) or if it’s just because he’s a lot sweeter and mild mannered than ice and tea were— and they were both very sweet, but would nip frequently. Probably both, lol