a pet budgie

Question
Hi, Thank you for your reply it was very insightful. I do have time to spend with the bird but I do also have dogs..... and I can't have the bird out in the same place as the dogs and my dogs would perfer me not disapering into a room for 1 to 2 hours stright. I was palling on working hard to tame her and let her out daily, I do plan to get a nice sized cage and lots of quaility toys. I wouldnt be able to watch her at all tiems when shes out on her play stand or cage thou as I can't leave my dogs unatended too long, I play to haev her in my bedroom and bring her in her cage into the family area daily when I am doing something else and can not let her out... at lest I'd be able to talk to her and she could watch what I and everyone else are doing..... do you think it would work? I do not want to get her and have to return her because of this,


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Followup To
Question -
Hi,

How long would it take for a 8 week old budgie to bond with me?

Would a female be quiter then a male?

Will a single budgie genarate alot of noise?

I am looking for a nice little bird that will bond with me and will let me take him out of his cage to play but doesnt require hours and hours of my time... will a budgie work? Noice is a factor as well I can't have two... 've heard how loud multiples are, thanks.
Answer -
Hi.  Thanks for posting.

No one can answer your question about how long it would take for any bird to bond with you.  It depends on the individual personality of the particular bird you choose and your skills in dealing with parrots.  Sometimes, birds never bond with their owners.  This relationship cannot be guaranteed when you purchase a bird.  It's a risk you take.

Normally, yes, a female budgie would be quieter than a male.  But, again, this depends on the individual personality of the bird you choose.  However, most male budgies are more vocal than female budgies.

A single budgie, particularly a male, will generate some noise (singing, chirping, etc.).  It depends on your definition of noise.  If chirping is noise to you, then, yes, a budgie will generate some amount of noise, but I don't consider budgie chirping or singing as noise!

What you're looking for is a bird who is available for you whenever YOU want the bird to be available for you.  If you want to have a successful relationship with a budgie that you choose, there has to be a give and take relationship.  In other words, you have to make yourself available for your bird the same as you would want your bird to make himself available for you!  It's a two-way street and a serious commitment on your part to own and care for a parrot.  I'm not convinced that QUANTITY of time is what's most important in a human-parrot relationship.  I'm more convinced that the QUALITY of the time you spend together is most important.  In other words, spending hours in the same room with a parrot is not the same as spending maybe 1 hour daily interacting one-on-one with a parrot (quantity versus quality).  A budgie could work for you, but you have to ensure your budgie is mentally stimulated enough during the day to keep s/he healthy and happy if you're not available most of the time.  I don't know what your personal situation is, but if you want a tame, pet budgie, you're going to have to spend some amount of time daily interacting with the bird in order to keep a pet budgie a tame, pet budgie!  Birds don't stay healthy and tame by merely existing in a cage.  

Chrys

Answer
Hi again.  Yes, it could work.  However, you should purchase a baby budgie from a reputable budgie/parakeet breeder who handfeeds their budgies.  This will ensure you start out with a budgie who is imprinted on humans and already tame.  It is not very common you can find this in a pet store.  I'm not saying it isn't possible to find tame young budgies at a pet store, but you would have to take the responsibility upon yourself to make your selection wisely.  This would mean that you can't just look into the "budgie bin" at a pet store and select a budgie that looks pretty!  The pet store should allow you to handle any budgies you might be considering (perhaps in a separate room in the pet store like some stores do with dogs and cats they are selling) so you can determine for yourself how tame the particular budgie(ies) are.  By starting out with an already tame budgie, you would then be responsible for keeping your budgie tame once you get it home.  In order to keep a tame budgie tame, you have to interact with it daily.  If the pet store won't allow you to handle the birds, go to another pet store.  You won't have this problem with a parrot breeder.

One big mistake a lot of bird owners (new and experienced owners) make is that when they purchase a new bird, they shower it with attention for the first weeks/month or so, then once the novelty has worn off, the bird is neglected.  The bird doesn't understand this and thinks it did something wrong.  This is when behavior problems start.  Behavior problems are hard to overcome.  Don't make this mistake!  

Another thing you'll need to consider with your dogs is whether you want to clip the budgies wings.  A key to keeping a tame bird tame is keeping it's wings clipped.  A bird with clipped wings has to rely on you for some mobility and you want this in order to help keep your bird from flying away from you any time it wants.  If you have your bird around your dogs, it's usually a good idea to not clip the wings, just in case the bird escapes from it's cage (birds can be great escape artists), it will have it's full complement of feathers in order to get away from the dogs (most dogs like to kill birds).  But then, you risk tameness and the ability to easily catch your budgie when you need to.  Hint - one way to catch a bird with full wing feathers is to turn out all the lights and/or make the room dark.  Birds don't see well in the dark, so they don't fly in the dark.  Wherever that bird is when the lights go out/room is made dark is where you can easily catch the bird.  Allowing your budgie out in your room is fine, as long as the dogs aren't in the same room when the bird is out.  I have 3 dogs and 2 of my dogs won't even go near a bird because they have each been biten on the nose by a parrot (OUCH)!

One thing you MUST remember is that EACH BIRD IS DIFFERENT!  Each has it's own personality that evolves/is shaped based on what it experiences in it's environment.  Just like humans.  If you can spend at least 10-15 minutes per day with your budgie, just the 2 of you, in your room, interacting with each other, and you allow your budgie to join you (in it's cage, mainly for safety reasons) as you watch TV, mess on the PC, etc., you should be OK, as long as you make a good budgie selection to begin with.

You will most likely not be able to return a bird once you've purchased it, unless it is something covered by the store guarantee, which is usually 2 weeks.  Owning a bird (or any animal) is a serious commitment.  Therefore, you should make a wise selection to begin with and keep your end of the bargain by learning how to keep that bird tame.  One of your considerations shouldn't be that you can just get rid of it if it doesn't work out.  Decide before purchasing whether you have the time, knowledge, etc., required to make this commitment.  If you have any doubts, don't buy a budgie until you are certain you can take on this responsibility.

Chrys