Budgie Q.......

legs11

right so,.

we have this budgie for a few yrs now, and its holed up in its cage all its life, my cousin told my mum they had a budgie and they let it out freely, flying all over the house.....:D

it eventually got lost, but anyhoo,

would it be better to let it out, its like having a car and just driving it in a garage back and forward, thats the life the budgie has......not great!


any verdicts?

Glowing

It depends. I used to have Budgies years ago - one of them loved flying around the kitchen and would go back into his cage voluntarily when he got tired.

The other one however would flap around in a panic, flying into windows and curtains, exhausting himself and occasionally injuring himself, and catching him would be a stressful experience for both parties. Not good.

Why don't you build an avery in your garden (if you have the room)? - then you could put them out during the warm sunny days? Leave their cage on the floor and you'll probably find that they'll retreat for a nap/food.

Branoic

I think budgies really only develop strong "personalities" when they have a bit of freedom. We have a budgie that spends most of his day out of the cage. Generally he stays in the sitting room but we do often close the windows around the house and give him the run of the place, and he loves it. He loves following us around and sitting on our heads and shoulders, eating our shoe laces and tweating in our ears. He also occassionally cleans my wife's teeth, but thats just gross

They're definitely more fun when they're out of the cage and have freedom, but you have to be prepared to find little poos everywhere - usually in your hair if he's been sitting there for a while. The secret is to wait until the poo gets hard before you flick it off, otherwise its messy :eek:

Sigma Force

Keeping a budgie in a cage all it's life is cruel. They aren't a hamster they have wings for a reason they need free flight daily.

The budgie will have poor muscle tone and will need to build up his wing muscles so at first will find it hard to fly. To start close the door of the room (locking it is best to prevent someone opening it and the bird getting out or getting injured. Close and cover any windows as well.
Open up the cage for a half an hour every day, the bird might not want to get out for a couple of days sometimes longer. Budgies are sensative and take a while to get used to anything new.

Make sure there is nothing in the room the bird can hurt himself on, and make sure the room is well lit. The bird might panic and bump into walls, you have to be careful at this point that the bird doesn't injure itself.

After a couple of days having half an hour out of the cage (at the same time every day if possible) the bird will start getting more used to things. After a few weeks the wings will become stronger and the bird will be more agile.

A safer option is to build a mini avairy to start with or buy a much larger cage. Having a mini aviary will give the bird more space and the bird will be able to fly around it and build up muscle before you let him out in the room.

An outdoor aviary needs planning and a double door system to prevent excape a small outdoor aviary can be expensive however if you or someone you know is good at DIY it should be a breeze.

If the bird doesn't get much human attention (ie about 3 hours minimum a day..they need a lot of attention) I would suggest getting a mini avairy or the largest cage you can get and getting another budgie for company.
With the plan to increase their living space.

Please don't let the bird live in a cage for the rest of it's life without any free flight. Budgies can live up to 10 to 15 years some even longer it would be a miserable life spending all that time in a tiny cage.

Some pet shops sell what I can only describe as budgie torture chambers small round cages they say are suitable for budgies and cockatiels these types of cages should be banned.

If letting the bird free isn't an option (perhaps due to saftey of the bird) then a larger cage of mini indoor aviary might be an option.
Mini avairys for inside the house are great you can put more interesting and fun stuff into them without over crowding it and the bird gets to fly around without hitting it's wings off the bars (which can result in injuries esp. if they have night frights).

Budgies can be such a laugh if they are relaxed and free to fly around, they can get up to all sorts of mischief. So true as the other poster said their real personalities come out when they have more space.

If you need any info on how to build an outdoor aviary (I have step by step plans with measurements etc) or any info on budgie care just contact me guineapigrescue123@eircom.net

Also visit this website http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/birds/bird_cages_and_accessories/parakeet_cages/36046

Might seem expensive but building an aviary isn't cheap.
If you get a larger cage just put one or two toys in at a time so that the bird can fly from one end to the other.
They have an alternative to what you would find in the shops. They are great for delivering too. I use them all the time.

If none of this is an option then you can improve the birds cage he's in at the moment by the following.

>Limit toys to one or two and change them to different ones every week to create interest.

>Use various sized perches to avoid foot cramps, different textures too e.g. one plastic, one natural wood etc.

>Not normally a fan of shop bought treats but the food sticks (Vitakraft etc) are handy boredome busters.

>Turn the radio on when budgie is left alone, leave a window open so he can hear other birds unless you find that stresses him out.

>Keep him in a room where there is lots going on during the day.

>Near an area that will bring sunshine into his cage but not in direct sunlight.

>Try attaching a bird bath to his cage twice a week he should eventually have fun playing in it (if you don't do this already).

Of course this should only be a temperary option he really does need more space and company. If you do buy a new cage make sure it's a long one, go for lenght rather than height so he can fly across, budgies woudln't be able to fly upwards properly unless it was very large.

Sorry for the long post, in the middle of planning an outdoor aviary atm for our 3 budgies they are currently in a mini one indoors. Here's some pics of our cockatiel one to give you some inspiration.

Toys like this are available for budgies on zooplus.ie http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/birds/other_bird_supplies/toys/14259



Your budgie would love that, if you placed it outside his cage he would have somewhere to perch.

Our cockatiel avairy just before it was finished.




Best of buddies


Nothing better than watching your birdies fly, this is Victor, he was an ok flyer but not fantastic his avairy buddy Rocky is very lazy but now after a few months of flying around the aviary Victor is an expert.


Another alternative idea here's a guinea pig run were thinking of converting to a section for an aviary but think we will start from scratch again but it's an idea for you although an aviary would need to be wider I was thinking of using this as one of the door entrances.