One, or two?

Question
QUESTION: Hi. So, I'm planning on getting a/some budgie(s). I need help, help, and even more help. I need lots of information, opinions, and inspiration from experts like you.

I seriously don't have much time left, so I'll just list my questions.

1. One or two budgies? I know that there are lots of pros/cons for each, but I really need advice. I am a student, going to school at 7:30 AM, and returning 3:00. In Tuesdays, I come home for a minute, then immediately leave, for my piano lesson, which makes me come home at about 6:00 to 7:00. I practice the piano about 2 to 3 hours every day, except on the Tuesdays I mentioned above. After I practice the piano, I go upstairs to do my homework, in which for about 1 or 2 hours, I have free time. In these circumstances, should I keep one or two budgies? On a side note, the only real important factor keeping me from buying two budgies is that I've read that two birds are much harder to tame. I'm not a big fan of buying pets just for their ability to talk: I think that is a very selfish reason. Anyhows, I am not too keen on buying two budgies if they will be harder to tame, or if they respect me, but don't have a very strong bond to me as they do to each other.

Also, this is my theory on bird bathing: give them a small bowl for water, then bring them outside about once a week, to mist them, give them wet lettuce, or other varities of bathing methods. Will this work?

Finally, how long does it take to tame a pet-store bought budgie? Also, Can you give me some information on the methods on taming? Please give me the site, and the specific method, if the site has multiple methods of taming.

Thank you so much in advance.



ANSWER: Dear Raymond,
thank you for your question.
Sine your birds will spend a great part of the day alone, I really recommend two budgies. Single birds need constant attention and in your case, only one budgie would be very lonely and bored. Two birds will be able to play and interact with each other. If you get young birds, have some patience and interact with them on a regular basis, they will get tame just as soon as a single bird.

I cannot tell you how much time you will need to spend with them until they are tame, that really depends on how they were raised and on their personality. I recommend getting them from a good breeder where they had contact with humans from an early age. They must not be handraised (I'm actually not in favour of handraising), but the breeder should have handled them and they should be comfortable about humans near them.

Millet spray is a great treat for budgies and even shy birds will come to sit on your hand after a while. Juts offer it to them, preferrably outsid the cage so that they have to step up on your hand to get it. After a while, when they are comfortable with sitting on your hand, offer it to them a short distance form the cage sot hat they have to fly to reach you. Clicker training is another great taming method, you reward behaviour you want them to repeat with a specific sound and a small treat. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bird-Click has a lot info in it and the people in that message group are very helpful. I thinkn you should plan to spend at least 30 minutes per day with the birds to tame them, at the beginning maybe even more, but not all at once, especially if you do clicker training. Short lessons several times a day work better.

Some budgies won't use a bath, while others love it. But most of them love bathing in grass or lettuce, like showering under the tab or being misted. You will need to find out what your birds like, but bathing is not as neccessary for budgies as it is for many big parrots, so if they don't like any of it, there's no reason to worry, just keep offering them water to bathe in.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks a lot, Jennifer.

I really want to learn as MUCH AS POSSIBLE before purchasing TWO budgies.

Okay, so new questions.

1. How should I bring the budgie home? Please describe the recommended process. Should I put it in its new cage at the petstore, and bring the cage (with the budgies inside) home, or should I buy the cage and everything else first and set it up at home, then bring the budgies in a separate box, then bring them home and release them into the cage?

2. Before I start bringing the budgie home, is it recommended that I hold him still against my chest for 15 to 20 minutes? I think I read that in another website. I think it said that it would let the budgie get accustomed to me... I dont know.

3. Honestly, if I have two budgies, that doesn't mean that it will be more "attracted" to each other, and consider me as a "spare tire," right? Will they still love me, and etc.? Will the affection be weaker thatn if I got one budgie?

4. I heard that silence is very stressful to birds. Is that true? Even if they have each other to talk to? I am planning to put them on a stand in the "family study," which is used by my mother for an hour a day, and me for at least 3 or 2 hours a day. I only go to the study to do my homework, or use the internet. In short, silence will be a LOT in the room. Is this bad? Alternatively, I can place them in the living room, where my dad never is(he goes to work, and he goes straight to the master bedroom upstairs to watch tv, then he sleeps.). The living room is connected to the kitchen, so there most likely will ALWAYS be sounds. Plus, we don't use stainless/etc pots/pans that will emit fume, so dont worry. Also, there is a huge dish/pot/fish bowl that contains a tadpole, and a goldfish. A extremely miniature water fountain/sprout is in it, so the sound of water tinkling will always 24 hours be present. So, do you think the living room will be a better place to put the birds? My only concern is that I play the piano there three hours a day, and since I am an accomplished classical pianist, LOUD MUSIC is to be expected. Will noise bother my budgies?

5. In my opinion, this is a very important question. I know that all birds make messes. I am very tolerant of droppings in the cages (well, thats EXPECTED, OF COURSE!) and seed spills, even if the seeds are sometimes outside of the cage. But my biggest concern is feathers. I really dont want feathers to be flying around my house. Can you honestly tell me how far feathers can fly, with no wind? I don't want feathers to be wafting in the kitchen. Also, will the feathers most likely float out of the cage? Also, at the petstore, when I gaze at the parakeets, sometimes I am midly surprised/disgusted when the entire flock start flapping their wings, and this white powder(or possibly feathers), like dandruff, and feathers fly out. Is this going to happen every day in my house?

6. Sorry for asking too many questions, by the way, but I really want to get as much info as possible, so I don't regret buying a bird, or have trouble with him. So, I'll try to describe my theory of training birds, and see if it will work. First, I bring the budgies home, in the method you tell me to do (refer to queston 1.). Then, since it will most likely be 6:00 or 7:00 pm, I let them get accustomed to his surroudnings, and at about 10:00 pm, I'll put a blanket on the cage, as a cage cover. I let them observe us in the cage for about three days, then I start putting my hand against the cage for about a week, or until they aren't that afraid of my hand. When that works, I'll try feeding them a bit of spray millet through the bars. I'll keep doing it until they come and eat it. Naturally, my theory is that if one of them come and eat it, and see no harm, then the other will naturally follow his mate. Anyway, after that, I will slowly put my hand in the cage, and leave it there for 30 seconds. I will do this process until they are accustomed to my hand, and i will once again, offer them spray millet, until they come to eat it. After that, I will, for an aditional couple days, review all the things I did, just to make sure that they are FULLY accustomed to my hand. Then, I'll extremely slowly move my finger towards them. If they run, I'll stop, and try again later. If they don't run, hurray! Ill try putting my finger against his breast, and if he succeusly gets up on my finger, I'll immediately say "step up." I'll keep doing that until he responds without me putting my finger on his breast. Then I'll try taking him out, and if he runs, I'll start over later, and keep doing it until he comes out. Then I'll move him slowly toward the top of the cage,

Okay, I'm stuck here, I dont know the best way to teach him the step down command. Can you please tell me if my method is fine, and adjust some problems, and tell me your opinion whats the best way to teach step down.

Thank you in advance, and I'm so sorry for asking you so much questions.

ANSWER: 1. That's up to you, both methods work well. If you use their cage, put a cloth over it so that they stay calm during the trip home. If it's still very cold where you are, the box method might be better because it's easier to keep a small box warm instead of a wire cage.

2. Holding an untamed bird in your hand is only stress and will scare it. The bird may not move or scram, but that's because it's too scared to do so. After getting the birds home, I recommend leaving them alone for a day so that they can get used to their cage. If they don't eat or even move at first, that's normal. But after a few hours or the first night, they should feel comfortable enough to go looking for food and explore. They should stay in their cage a week or so to get to know the room before they are allowed outside their cage.

3. A single bird will attach itself to you more, but only because it has no other choice. It will see you as its partner and will of course be very glad to see you and will interact with you more than two birds, but it will also be sad and lonely every time you even leave the room without taking it with you. They are used to their partner staying with them at all times. I feel that it's much nicer to have two birds that come to you because they want to, although they are not as bonded as a single bird, instead of one bird that is very attached, but only because of loneliness.

4. Budgies feel most at home where they can watch and hear people, so I think the living room is a better place for them. You will need to cover the fish bowl so that they cannot fall in, though. I don't think that the music will bother them, they usually love music, your practice hours are in the afternoon, where budgies usually after actice anyway. You just have to get used to the fact they they will probably accompany you, talking and singing/screaming quite loudly for such small birds.

5. Budgies are not as messy as big parrots, but you will have seeds, droppings and feathers outside the cage. It gets worse when the bird moult, but they loose some feathers all the time. The area around their cage needs to be cleaned daily. Since the feathers fly at the slightest draft of air, they won't stay in the cage. Also, the budgies need time outside their cage to explore and will loose feahters and droppings during that time, too.

6. I recommend starting with the taming process a day after you got the birds. Offer them millet spray in the cage door or just inside the cage instead of through the cage bars. They may panik at first, just wait until they calm down without moving. It may take a long time for them to come and eat the millet, sometimes 15 or 30 minutes, so choose a comfortable position for your arm. Your method is teaching the step up command sounds good. For the step down command, move your hand slowly towards a perch so that the bird's stomach is against the perch. It will step down by itself, give the command then and maybe offer a small treat to enforce the behaviour.

If you have any more questions, please don't hestitate to ask, I'm always glad when people do their research before getting an animal! This website has excellent info on general budgie care, especially the diet section is very extensive:
http://birds-online.de/index_en.html
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks so much, Jeniffer.

I STILL have some questions though.

1: Is there any particular things I should remember when taming two budgies at the same time?

2: During taming time, how should I give them baths? If they are tamed, I can taker them out and mist them/under the faucet/etc, but how to I bath them when they are still untamed?

3. Grit: is it necessary?

Thats allt he questions I can think of now. Thanks in advance.

Answer
1. Not really, usually one is braver than the other and the shyer one learns from its partner.
2. You can mist them with a spray bottle for plants, but don't mist them directly, let them choose if they want to take a shower or not.
3. Grit is neccessary, they need it to crush their food in their stomach. But you can offer grit in a small bowl, they don't need grit at the bottom of their cage. For that, you can use tissue paper or newspaper (the ink is no longer toxic).
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer