Newby from Alaska

[Dayna]

Originally Posted by jcusack

Do you clip your birds, or only if needed because of attitude?
Thank you for the welcome, we are warming up, and the mud is starting to dry up too! Finally! Did you have babies in the Fall? That must be an awesome experience. Jill

I have mine clipped for safety reasons. I take my birds back and forth to work everyday. I would be devistated if something happened to one of them. I might have a different opinion if we did not go in the car 7 days a week. I don't know. I also take all my birds outside for sunshine in the summer time. They need to be clipped for that too.

We have some parakeet babies that are getting ready to be pulled for handfeeding now. I love handfeeding the wee ones!

[red192]

Welcomes from GA...I have three of the little rowdy fellows.....and I love em too pieces....

[jcusack]

Originally Posted by svolk

Jerry was very ungraceful before he was flighted as well - broke off all his long tail feathers because he would have crash landings and land on his butt

How old is your budgie and how long has he been flighted? Just curious.

I am not positive on his age since he was adopted, but the pound did say a year old when I adopted him a year ago. He has been fully flighted for a couple of weeks now. He was flighted once before but he was really difficult to live with so I had him clipped. I was hoping this time he would be able to handle it.

[jcusack]

Originally Posted by Dayna

I have mine clipped for safety reasons. I take my birds back and forth to work everyday. I would be devistated if something happened to one of them. I might have a different opinion if we did not go in the car 7 days a week. I don't know. I also take all my birds outside for sunshine in the summer time. They need to be clipped for that too.

We have some parakeet babies that are getting ready to be pulled for handfeeding now. I love handfeeding the wee ones!

I would love that too! Are all of the babies spoken for already or are you looking for homes for any of them? I am still thinking about another bird. It doesn't seen right to keep him alone when they are such social creatures. In your opinion, would you get another Parakeet or a Cockatiel housed seperately but next to him? From what I gather a Parakeet would need to be housed seperately as well, at least at first.

[Dayna]

Originally Posted by jcusack

I would love that too! Are all of the babies spoken for already or are you looking for homes for any of them? I am still thinking about another bird. It doesn't seen right to keep him alone when they are such social creatures. In your opinion, would you get another Parakeet or a Cockatiel housed seperately but next to him? From what I gather a Parakeet would need to be housed seperately as well, at least at first.

I will have both handfed cockatiels and budgies. You need to quarentine any new bird coming into your home for at least 30 days (before I had a store I went 60 days). Keep the other bird in another room and wash hands in between cage cleaning and handling and feeding the birds. Lots of good info here on quarentine of birds.

As for the bird, that would be up to you. I like both cockatiels and budgies. I would house them seperatly even after the quarentine. Next to each other where they can "talk" and visit. I think a handfed budgie would make an excellent pet. Here is a photo of a couple with their mama! They just hatched last week.

[jcusack]

Originally Posted by Dayna

I will have both handfed cockatiels and budgies. You need to quarentine any new bird coming into your home for at least 30 days (before I had a store I went 60 days). Keep the other bird in another room and wash hands in between cage cleaning and handling and feeding the birds. Lots of good info here on quarentine of birds.

As for the bird, that would be up to you. I like both cockatiels and budgies. I would house them seperatly even after the quarentine. Next to each other where they can "talk" and visit. I think a handfed budgie would make an excellent pet. Here is a photo of a couple with their mama! They just hatched last week.

Thanks so much for the useful info. My kids will love the photo too! How would you describe the differences between budgies and cockatiels as pets? When would the babies be ready? I am going to talk to the hubby. Thanks again, Jill

[Dayna]

Originally Posted by jcusack

Thanks so much for the useful info. My kids will love the photo too! How would you describe the differences between budgies and cockatiels as pets? When would the babies be ready? I am going to talk to the hubby. Thanks again, Jill

Both make great pets! Both require the same amount of time and commitment. I have heard that male budgies tend to be better talkers than cockatiels. But I have not met a budgie that talks yet. I do have a cockatiel that "whistle talks". He talks, but it sounds like a whistle.

The babies are only a few days old on the budgies, so they will be about 6 weeks. The cockatiels are 6 weeks old so they will be ready in a couple weeks when they are eating really good on their own. They are eating a lot on their own now, but still are handfeeding.

[svolk]

I have one of each, a male budgie and a female cockatiel.

Jerry, my budgie, is pure comedy He's a great talker - learning new stuff all the time. He's affectionate and so much fun. I hand tamed him myself and we have a wonderful relationship together.

Lulu, my cockatiel, is a little sweetie pie. The main difference between my budgie and cockatiel is their energy level. Jerry is very hyper and active (sometimes a bit high strung ). He loves to fly and flit around and check things out. Very curious little guy. Lulu is very mellow and calm and more than happy to sit on my shoulder for hours. She plays with toys, but does not go as insane over toys as Jerry does - he hangs from his toys like Tarzan and he hangs upside down from my finger and jumps on my nose, etc etc.

I love them both and think they are both wonderful pets (they're my kids, ok? ) They do have very different personalities.

Lulu is rather quiet, making only a few distinct calls. Jerry is usually chattering away most of the time in either budgie talk or in English (sometimes a mixture of the two ). He's not loud when he jabbers, it's at a very tolerable noise level (I could listen to him all day). When Lu makes her calls, she can be fairly loud (not unbearably loud, but louder than Jerry).

As far as which make the better pets, I think it's all about how much time you put into them, as far as any bird is concerned. If you put a lot of time and effort into bonding with them and include them into your family, I think you should be able to have a wonderful relationship with whichever bird you choose.

[jcusack]

Thank you for all the good info. I am learning so much here already. All of this is helpful when considering to commit to another pet.