a little help?

[HEATHEsaurusREX]

so I found an eight week old english budgie for sale on craigslist. He's adorable in his pictures and the breeder seems pretty knowledgeable, he's the last one left in his clutch. He's 40 bucks, thats normal right? he's eight weeks old and she pulled him for handfeeding at ten days, this seems early, could it cause long term health issues or should he be ok? I'm going to visit tomorrow with no obligation to take him, what should I look for? I only have American budgies and I've heard english budgies have a very different personality. should he be playful or laid back? about how big should he be? will he be a noticeably larger bird already or does that take time? I've wanted an english for a while but craigslist always makes me wary...

thanks!

[usamma]

I'm not an expert on this, but I think $40 is about right, especially for a hand-fed. When I bought my regular variety budgies from a specialty bird store they had some young English budgies for $40 that were not tame. The store owner said the breeder had won prizes for her birds and as a consequence only sold the male ones. I guess they must have been pretty good Budgies.

Maybe you can go and ask to see the parents and the set-up they have to see if the birds are all healthy and happy. If you are not buying one to breed for competition it probably doesn't matter what the pedigree is or where you buy it from (craigslist or other). Just make sure it's tame and healthy. :)

As far as when to pull for hand-feeding, I have no idea at all. I have my first batch of babies right now and only hand-fed them as needed (mama didn't feed the last two right away) until the parents took over. I have been handling them from 10 days old and they are quite tame without needing to be hand-fed by a human. Maybe the breeder takes them away early to encourage more breeding sooner. I would ask how many clutches she allows them to have every year.

[HEATHEsaurusREX]

she says the parents are both champions and i am planning on going to look at the breeding facilities, but aside from it being clean and not having poop stuck to him? what else am I looking for? thanks so much!

[Nadine]

I raised English Budgies for years, and never hand fed them. They are not as active as the "pet" Budgie. Not as apt to bite. Not as smart. Find out if the breeder is a member of the American Budgerigar Society. Do you have an idea what the ideal English Budgie should look like? Find the ABS website. It should have a breeder referral list. it has been a long time, so i don't know who the big breeders are anymore. Where are you located?

[HEATHEsaurusREX]

the thing is we dont really have very many well known breeders around here of any budgies let along english budgies (south jersey) I've emailed breeders of larger parrots that I know as well as stores and the tri state budgie club to see if any of them know of a good breeder and none of them did(not even the budgie club which i thought was kind of sad) I think this woman is just a hobby breeder... she did say that she's been doing this since she was 14 and is now 40 something... which is why i need to know what to look for. She should have both parents right? and the house should be clean as well as the bird but is there anything else? how much less smart are english budgies? i need to know what to look for personality wise to know if he's acting normal...