Banding Parakeets

[bissobudgie7]

As some of you may already know, I'm in my 2nd year of breeding budgies. Currently, I'm only breeding 2 pair. I've been doing some reading on "banding," but I'm not sure if this is something I should be doing, or not. I know it's a method or record-keeping. Should I be banding these baby chicks? And, what is the best type of band to use?

[Monica]

For chicks the best bands to use would be closed bands (L&M and some other companies sell these). The bands would be needed to be put on when the chicks are 6-10 days old (if I remember correctly). You usually need to buy the bands ahead of what you planned so that you could put them on the chicks when needed.

Banding is required in some states or countries, is a way to do record-keeping, trace birds, identify families or certain birds quickly, even the sexes (occasionally done on birds who cannot be visually sexed). Its really up to you as to whether or not you want to band, though I've noticed that the smaller hobby breeders don't band unless its on larger birds, and some larger breeders may band if they want to use up the extra money to buy the bands or to keep track of their stock or the birds themselves (make it easy to track a bird back to its breeder).

[bissobudgie7]

I am certainly a "record-keeper," organization being right up my alley! However, my chicks have already begun to hatch, with one hen, Trixie. My other budgie hen that I'm breeding, Petie, she's still in the incubation period, and so I "may" be able to order some bands before her chicks begin hatching.

Now I'm wondering, if I were to use the closed bands, which, from what I've been reading, in addition to your suggestion, the closed band would seem to be more of an interest to me. I looked at L&M's web site, but they list several different species of budgies; how do I know which size to buy? Pardon my ignorance, but I have no clue as to what species of parakeets that I have...Could you possibly give me a hand with this?? :icon_smil As far as I know, they're just "ordinary" budgies. I know, I have a lot to learn! That's why I joined this fantastic web site!! I'm reading some very good advice from many of you! Thanks!

[Monica]

There are only two types of budgies, 'English' (show type usually), and 'American' (pet type usually or wild type). You most likely have the 'american' budgies which are smaller than the 'english'. English budgies are quite huge and are able to raise their crest feathers up (some people even say they look kind of mean because they are so robust).

Check this link out...
http://community.webshots.com/album/2366261FVYdLrTvQJ

In these photos, the blue budgie is the english (clearly larger) and the green one is the american.


As far as you saying that the site lists several types of budgies, you've got me confused there... You'd most likely buy the 'parakeet' or 'budgie' band size.

As far as the different species, I take it you mean parakeet. There are many different types of parakeets (bourkes, splendids, green cheek conure, cockatiel, white eared conure, etc), but only two types of budgies (english, and american, breeds as you could nearly say)

[bissobudgie7]

You see how much I DON'T know, yet? :eusa_wall I always thought that the words "parakeet" and "budgie" were used synonymously? So an English & American "budige" are actually 2 distinct "species" of the budgie, correct? Sorry, could you explain the difference to me a little more?

Here is what I'm finding on L&M's website:
Plum Head Parakeet
Princess of Wales Parakeet
Red Rump Parakeet
Quaker (Monk) Parakeet, etc, etc...

So these are not different "species"?

[Monica]

There are different species of parakeets, as they are parrots (so there are different species of parrots too). English and American budgies (budgerigars) are the same exact species. Okay, to explain in different terms, they say that ALL dogs originate from the timber wolf, so therefore they have a common ancestor. There are different breeds of dogs, though no matter the breed, their ancestor remains the same. To put this back into bird language, all budgies are the same species as they have a common ancestor, the wild budgies, however having them in captivity for the amount of time that we have, and for the fact that they have relatively short lives and a fast reproduction level (compared to the larger birds), the breeding in various places has caused the budgies to change from their wild ancestors (as have dogs from wolves). The english and american budgies are the same species, however, you could call them breeds. American budgies however resemble the wild budgies by size and body shape. English budgies are only larger, usually tend to have shorter lifespans, and are prized for having a full crest (being able to raise their forehead feathers like a cockatiel) and more pronounced features). When talking about budgies, it can get confusing when you try to bring in words such as 'english', 'american', 'wild', 'normal', 'pet quality', and 'show quality' to try to describe certain budgies, however they still remain the same species.

If this helps any, here is a little quote that I made up (which can be reworded so many different ways)
"All budgies are parakeets but not all parakeets are budgies"
(or reworded) "All zebras are equines but not all equines are zebras" (as you also have horses, donkeys, ponies... so to speak, a donkey is not a zebra, and a zebra is not a donkey, but BOTH are equines)

Does that help any???

[bissobudgie7]

Yes, thank you. That does help. . However, it doesn't quite clear up as to what "category" the following fall into:
Plum Head Parakeet
Princess of Wales Parakeet
Red Rump Parakeet
Quaker (Monk) Parakeet

Are these, then, different "breeds" of either English or American budgies? And as far as band size goes, from what I have read, it seems like size 9 would suffice?

[Monica]

As for the following birds that you have mentioned... here goes

Plum Head Parakeet, or Plum Headed Parrot
Type of ringneck parrot/parakeet. They are about 13 inches long...
Scientific Name: Psittacula cyanocephala



Princess of Wales Parakeet, or Princess Parrot, or Queen Alexandra's Parakeet
Scientific Name: Polytelis alexandrae


Red Rump Parakeet, or Red Rump Parrot
can be considered a grass parakeet by some, about 10 inches long
Scientific Name: Psephotus haematonotus



Quaker Parakeet, or Monk Parakeet, or Quaker Parrot
Can be considered a conure, about 12 inches long
Scientific Name: Myiopsitta monachus



Budgie, or Budgerigar, or Parakeet
About 7 inches long
Scientific Name: Melopsittacus undulatus



What I am trying to get at is that these other birds are a complete different species of parrots than the budgies. They are not breeds. There are only two breeds in the parrot world which go under budgies. It would be like saying you have different breeds of dogs, but you have different species of wolves, however the other species of wolves do not have domesticated relatives (such as the red wolf for an example...). Then you also have foxes, coyotes, besides the wolves. All are canines, but only one has domesticated relatives, that being the timber wolf. Budgies are the only parrots that have what you could almost call domesticated birds, so we can nearly put them into breeds called English or American. You can breed these two types of budgies, however you cannot breed a budgie with any other type of parrot (such as a cockatiel, quaker parakeet, bourke, etc) which would be similar as to someone trying to breed a wolf and a fox or coyote, it can't happen.

I'm sorry if I'm not quite making sense, or if I'm confusing you further.

As far as bands go, I'm not sure as I don't breed nor have I had a use for bands. Size ID would be 9/64" while the size in mm would be 3.4 if that makes any sense. Or 'Parakeet' size. You could ask L&M for help on sizing if you need to. There are other band sellers however L&M was the only one off the top of my head and I couldn't think of any others.

[Monica]

BTW, Parakeet just means a small parrot with a long tail. Parrot is any number of birds under the order of psittacine (of or relating to parrots/hooked bill/two toes front and two toes backwards)

Here is another leg band company...
http://www.redbirdproducts.com/legbands.htm

[bissobudgie7]

Now THAT makes things perfectly clear (i.e., "Parakeet just means a small parrot with a long tail")! I had no idea, before now, that "parakeet" means this! As we say here at "Quicken Loans," YOU ROCK, GIRL! :icon_mrgr

Now, I do have a lady to whom I'll be selling my budgies. I'm aware how some feel about retail stores, but this lady's store is kept very clean, she's very knowlegable about various types of exotic birds, etc. She's not your typical "PetSmart," etc... Question is, should I decide to band my birds, which I will likely do, what are the chances of those who purchase them not like the idea of bands being on them, do you think? Are "most" okay with the idea?