Home Sweet Home-at Least Temporarily

[BudgieCar]

In the near future, I intend to purchase a second pet parakeet/budgie, hopefully as a companion for my resident budgie, Marla.
Right now, Marla is living alone in a good-sized(not sure of exact dimensions, but this one is about twice the size of most budgie cages that I see) cage.
My plan is to buy an additional cage when I buy the new bird, and watch the new bird for signs of health problems and let him/her and Marla get acquainted from a short distance for a while.
Ideally, I would like for Marla and Frosty(for once I already have a name chosen) to be able to live together.
How large of a cage should a pair of budgies, as well as a single budgie have?
Because I am disabled and have cats, the budgies have to stay in their cages a lot, and the cages must be suspended from the ceiling.
I really just need some input on cage size.

[The Outlaw]

May I make this suggestion: don't cage them together.You will lose the companionship of the budgie you have to the new friend. Parakeets tend to like to be with their special humans unless they have another bird to interact with. And, unless you intend to have same sex birds, you always have the added problem of unexpected baby birds.

I do think its nice to have a second bird just so they have a buddy close by.

THE OUTLAW

[hwknharley]

I have to 2nd that.

Outlaw is right, I have 5 budgies (started out with three, but my youngest daughter's bird died so we got another one, not knowing it was a female, and a couple of years later........boom, we had 2 chicks that hatched in March, she layed 5.) They are sooooo bonded to each other. I have always had them caged together, so they are not as tame as I would like them to be.....but that's ok with me (they don't spaz out when I feed and water them) and they have plenty of toys to play with and a branch off one of my tree's to climb on and a HUGE cage.

[BudgieCar]

Originally Posted by The Outlaw

May I make this suggestion: don't cage them together.I do think its nice to have a second bird just so they have a buddy close by.

THE OUTLAW

The trouble is, Marla seems a little lonely.
She is fairly quiet, ecept when she is hollering at wild birds outside(her cage is near a window).
She still looks great, and eats like a logger, but I think she'd be happier with another budgie to talk to.
Do you think it would be a good arrangement if I kept the other bird in a separate cage, just a few feet away?

[hwknharley]

I would say yes. But you will need to keep them seperated in different room's for a few week's, to make sure the new bird isn't sick and makes the other one sick as well. They will enjoy talking to each other and they will still bond with you and not so much with each other. I hope I made some since, but with my ADD sometimes I don't. Good luck

[BudgieCar]

Originally Posted by hwknharley

They will enjoy talking to each other and they will still bond with you and not so much with each other. I hope I made some since, but with my ADD sometimes I don't. Good luck

Thanks. That makes good sense to me. That's pretty much what I planned to do. I always do isolate a new bird at first, just to make sure that he/she is healthy.
Marla is moulting right now; do you all think that it would be wise to wait until she completes her moult before I bring in the new bird?
Marla is very strong and vigorous, but I don't want to subject her to excessive stress.

[Joel]

Try also to get proper, safe, indoor Full Spectrum lighting above those suspended cages. Cage size (IMO & IME) should be as long as you can afford and have room for and can service properly.

My experience with birds in general says this: As long as both birds were FINGER tame at the start and as long as you take them out as often as possible (which means handling a whole lot) then you can keep them together in the same cage and STILL have them as pets and even breeders. There are of course exceptions to every rule whichever way ya go. I haven't had much experience with budgies per say but what I did suggest has proven successful to me with Tiles and larger birds so I don't see why (yet) it can't apply to keets also?

I do however suggest never to keep a male & female in the same cage UNLESS you are willing & able to learn and do what is necessary to be ready to breed properly and handfeed when necessary and purchase in advance all the breeding supplies and to make human contacts well in advance to help you in cases of emergency, unless you can afford an Avian Vet to step in when needed......Good luck.