Im getting a bourkes parakeet....

[Marley21]

Can anyone tell me about Bourkes Parakeets? The pet store I work for might be giving me one...its a handfed baby and its very lonely so they want it to come live with me and Marley... so Ive heard they are quiet and stuff but what do they like to do and eat and what kind of toys? Are they agressive...passive? Thanks in advance!

[mybirdbutters]

From what I hear they are usually very gentle and possible shy.

[BigBird]

Ive got four Burkes and they are lovely little birds. They are very quiet and placid and have a sweet little twitter. In the aviary they are early risers and late to bed. Keeping the other birds awake as they are noisy fliers. I feed mine good quality small parrot mix (seed) apples, brocoli, bok choy, silverbeet, corn on the cob and they love love love multi grain bread. Even though mine arent tame, they will let get as close as to almost touch them. My older pair are Rosie (rosa burke) and donald (for the aussies named after Don Bourke who visited my house for a story). They arent at all aggressive and would imagine they make great pets. Have fun, they are lovely.

[Gerry Gee]

I've got a pair of Bourkes and, to my surprise (I've only had them a few months) the female can be a bit aggressive. She never hurts the male or anything, but she totally dominates him. She will screech at me in an aggressive way when I get too close (to clean or whatever). I think this is really unusual for a Bourke and I jsut think, trust me to get a bird with issues!! But just wanted to let you know that you should be careful when choosing the birds. I understand that Bourkes bred in a aviary with little human interaction are more wild and less tameable. I think that's what I got! Aparrently you should try to go for a hand fed/reared bird. Hope this is helpful!

[amanda143]

Congrats!!! Gerry is right that aviary birds differ greatly from the hand fed, however, our aviary birds are very trusting yet watchful whenever we go inside. That being said, we also have hand fed bourkes and they are the sweetest guys! Even though they are fully flighted, they come right to us and hang out on our shoulders. I really have nothing negative to say about them. They aren't as busy as budgies as they just like to hang out. They will play with toys, and they will eat just about anything. Ours love greens, corn, apples, birdy bread...they will eat pellets but they prefer seeds as that is what they eat a lot of in the wild (grass seed/grain). We have one that is 18 years old so as long as you feed them right they are long living. :D