What't the real difference?

[Fanfare]

I like to frequent my local pet store to look at their birds and mice. They have a whole bunch of little parakeets in two cages, and one lonely little English Budgie who has been there for months only because he costs quite a bit. What is the difference between Budgies and the common parakeet?

[Monica]

First off, most petstores know crap about many of the pets that they sell, especially birds, and probably even fish and reptiles...

The english budgie and the so called parakeets are the same species. They are all called budgies, or budgerigar. English budgies were raised for show quality, meaning they were raised to be large and robust. They can even raise their forehead feathers where-as the other 'common' budgies cannot. Also called show budgies.

The 'common' budgies are known as 'pet', 'american', and 'wild' budgies. Raised mainly for the pet trade their size can vary quite a bit, especially with some that have english blood in them. These budgies usually tend to have a longer lifespan than their larger counterparts...

In the parrot world, these are the only two breeds of parrots, as they are the closest birds to being domesticated, though they are still wild.

Here is a photo of a blue english budgie, and a green 'normal' budgie. The english budgies tail is not fully grown out, however you can see the difference... You should be able to see the same difference in size and looks with the birds at the petstore... If you cannot see such a difference then the petstore may be lying... or were told differently and are still idiots..

[Fanfare]

Oh this guy looks almost identical to the blue one in the picture. He is nearly two or three times the size of the others. And I agree that pet stroes know crap about the pets they sell. This one especially. I am apalled at the condition of most of the animals there. I will NEVER buy a fish from there, that is certain (unless of course they happen to have a rare colored betta. fat chance of that!). Thanks, I was just wondering. And I was not ragging on the 'common' parakeet, by the way. I was in there shopping for a new cage for mine and I always go check to see if he had been sold yet. How much would you say the English budgies generally are?

[Monica]

Depending on where you buy from, usually $30-$75... Generally cost about $50-$60 in petstores...

Btw, Welcome aboard! Looks like you'll do fine here on birdboard if you stay!

[parlasl]

I noticed that the place where I bought most of my budgies from has changed their pricing scheme. They used to put some budgies in a cage and labelled them as $60NZ (show birds), and the rest were somewhere between $25NZ-$35NZ. They mostly took the ones with excellent colouring and put them as "show birds" - I got sold one of their so-called "show birds" (regular budgie, yellow/purple combination) for $30NZ because I'm breeding, rather than keeping for pets. He put her in there because he though it'd be too much of a shame not to breed from her.

But the place I buy from knows what they're talking about, and is often very reasonable with their pricing. Because they wanted to sell me my cockatiels as a pair, I got Portia (who is a cinnamon pearl) for the price of a grey, along with her grey mate.

I have noticed other places, though (pet stores, rather than this store that specialises in birds) that have the usual selection of budgies at the usual prices, probably not breed stock.

Oh (and I do ramble on) I saw the most GORGEOUS budgie the other day at a pet store, I SO wanted to get him! He was a very young recessive pied violet (I think - mostly white, with a definite VIOLET under the belly and between the wings). I thought my Venus was purple, but he was PURPLE. Wow. What a waste. I hope he goes to a decent breeder.

[Monica]

You don't realise how purple a budgie can be untill you see a REAL purple one... they call many of the cabolts with a certain shine violets, though to me a violet means [u]purple[/url] not blue with a turquoise shine, nor green with a turquoise shine, but purple! You should see black budgies, as well! Those are quite neat little treasures, too!

[parlasl]

Originally Posted by Monica

You should see black budgies, as well! Those are quite neat little treasures, too!

Black?? Wow, I've never even heard of a black budgie!

[Monica]

Here is a photo of a black budgie. I find them to be quite intriguing, though sadly to say, it is the only photo that I have as I do not remember the site that I found it off of, nor can I find it. All I can say is that the site is some place in Europe, and includes normal (and mutations) budgies with excessive amounts of black dots on their face, just not a black body....

[parlasl]

Well, I found these two pictures. It's interesting, because they're obviously the same picture, but definitely different colours. Doctored, perhaps?

[Monica]

Found a site, thanks to you!
http://didiermervilde.bestofbreeds.n.../blackface.htm

I find that these black budgies, violet/purple budgies are the most intriguin of all budgie mutations.