Birds were created on the 5th day of creation
20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:20-21
About The Budgerigars
Or better known as parakeets
Parakeets come from Australia. The Parakeet can live in up to 110 degrees. They do this by resting in the shade, with wings lifted off the body (but not spread out), and panting. Of course this is not so with pet parakeets. Pet parakeets are not accustomed to such extreme heat, because they are normally kept inside.
An average life span of a parakeet is about 10 years. Although in rare cases they can live to be 20. They originally only came in the color green. But as they became pets, and were bred in captivity, a mutation took place. Now they come in many different shads of blues, yellows, whites, greens, and so on. A very rare colored parakeet is a creamino parakeet. They have red eyes, and are a light yellow canary color not a dark yellow. Normally, the creaminos are females. This is photo of a baby creamino parakeet. As she gets older her color will darken, but only slightly as most parakeets do. Lutino parakeets are much darker yellow than a creamino. Also, a lutino parakeet can be all white it just needs to have the red eyes.
Difference between adult Male & Female (look above the beak at the cere).
Adult females should have a chocolate-brown cere.
Note: Sometimes adult female parakeets never change to a brown. Instead they stay a white/yellow/light-blue color.
Adult male parakeets have a beep sky blue-purple cere.
Difference between baby Male & Female parakeets
Baby female parakeets usually have a white ring directly around the nostril, then a little bit of yellow, and as you continue to look even father from the nostril holes it is a light blue.
Baby male parakeets usually have pink-purple cere.
Note: the older the baby parakeet is the easier it is to tell its sex. You can tell at about 4 weeks old. Also another way to help you sex a baby parakeet is it’s attitude. Male parakeets are almost always nicer than female parakeets. When a baby parakeet bites you, does it nibble or clamp it’s beak down on you? Usually the female clamps down on you and will not let go for a bit. But a male usually bites more gently or nibbles.
Care Information
9 Steps Caring For Your Parakeet
1. The size of the cage should be 23″ long 16″ wide & 14″ high. This is suitable for 1-2 parakeets. Of course, cage shapes vary, the measurements above are for a rectangle cage see the two photos below.
2. You need a cage, with a bar spacing, no wider than a ½ “. Otherwise the parakeet can get its head stuck between the bars.
3. You will need a good seed food. Look for a seed without pellets and colors. Most parakeets will not eat a diet with pellets because it is not natural, and the dye in the pellets is not good for them. The millet seed should never be more than 50% (this is a whitesh ball seed in the photo below). It should have 50%, or more, of the tan elongated seeds. The ideal seed should look like this photo below.
4. Give your Parakeet(s) a cuttlebone and place it near a peach. The parakeet will chew on it and will help keep the beak filed down; otherwise the beak may require trimming from time to time.
5. Birds need something called grit. Because birds do not have teeth, grit will help break down the seed and make it easier to digest. Also, grit has minerals that are good for birds. Look for a grit that has oyster shells in it as this is very good for birds. Grit varies from brand to brand, and it also comes in different sizes; some are fine like beach sand, some are more rocky than fine, and some are bigger chunked. Depending on the breed of bird will decide on what size grit should be given. For small birds such as finches and some canaries they would need a grit that is finer, more like beach sand because their beaks are small. Parakeets need a grit that is bigger and less fine. For larger birds they need a rockier and bigger chunked grit, like the size of gravel.
6. Give your parakeet(s) veggies and fruit 1-2 times a week. Make sure you do not give too much fruit or your parakeet(s) may get diarrhea. Never give any bird avocado! It is toxic to them.
7. Blow out the left over seed shells twice a week.
8. Change the birds water twice a week, or more as needed.
9. Change the cage tray 1-2 times a week depending on how many parakeets you have in the cage.
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I am trying to find out how long it takes the birds to hatch once the bird starts nesting and then what she needs to feed them. We need to know how to care for them once they hatch.
Can you help us.
Thank You.
Elizabeth Reed
Hello Elizabeth, here is some information for you on raising parakeets. There is a lot to breeding parakeets so I have written just some of the basics for you.
Parakeet Eggs:
The first egg should hatch in about 18 days after it is laid. You will hear the chick after it hatches it you just if you just keep an ear out. All the eggs will not hatch on the same day. Normally the female will lay an egg every two days so they will hatch about two days apart. Make sure you are giving the mom and dad room and do NOT bother the nest box a lot. It is best if you have a nest box attached to the outside of the cage so if you needed to check inside the box you could do so without bothering the parents too much. Only look in the box when the mom and dad are not inside and do so no more than ever other day if you have to. Some birds could get very stressed if you look into the box even this much. But it all depends on the birds as all are different and some do not care.
Diet:
You should be feeding the parents the food described above just more canary seed (canary seed the darker seed in the photo above). Find a good canary seed and ad about 25% millet. So you will have 75% canary seed and 25% millet. You can not just feed any seed. Mom and dad are going to loose some body weight and if you feed a poor quality food they could die. You can also give the parents the yoke of a hard boiled egg and sprout the canary seed and feed them that too.
The Chicks:
Mom and dad will care for the chicks all you need to do is supply the food and keep the cage clean. One thing to look out for is build on the chicks feet in the nest box from poo. If this should happen you will have to soak with feet in water by using a very wet paper towel and pick it off gently. The chicks need to stay with mom and dad until weaned at about 6 weeks of age but some take longer. When the chicks come out of the box make sure you remove the grill on the bottom of your cage if it has one (chicks can become stuck in the grill and even die). Place some seed on the bottom of the cage for the chicks to lean to eat.
Resting the Parents:
After the chicks are weaned take the nest box out of the cage. If you do not do this the parents my lay eggs again. You can not let your birds breed again. If you do not rest your birds they will continuously breed and die from exhaustion. Only breed your bird 1-3 times a year.
I hope this was helpful to you and if you have more questions just ask.
The administrator of GodsC.com
Thank you so much. This helps a great deal.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Glad I could help you Elizabeth
My question is I have two females in two seperate cages that laid eggs. One female laid six and the other laid 5 eggs. I had to seperate them (they were both sisters). The one females eggs hatched and received one gray and 3 yellow with red eyes. That is pretty interesting. On hand the other female only one hatched that was gray in color. The first was born December 27,2011. How did the babies come out with red eyes?
Hi Helen,
I had a pair of parakeets that would produce a few babies whit red eyes. It all depends on the mom and dads genes. I have seen white, dark yellow, and light yellow parakeets with red eyes.
Hi, When can you take baby parakeets out of the nest and away from mom and dad?
Hello again, When do I take the other eggs out of the nest? The mom and dad and the ones that hatched are still in the cage? I just dont want to take the eggs out because maybe some are still fertile and I do not want the mom laying more eggs. What should I do? God Bless..Helen
I just want to thank you for all the support. God Bless you!
Helen here is some info to help answer your two questions. Hope it helps
You do not want to take the babies out of the nest. They will come out on there own at around 4-6 weeks and when they do mom and dad will continue to feed them. Make sure you do not have a grill on the bottom of your cage as the babies can hurt themselves on it. Place some bird seed on the cage floor for the babies to eat. The babies should be weaned at about 8 weeks but sometimes it can take longer. You can go ahead and take out any eggs that are in the nest box if you are sure they are not going to hatch (if they are a new clutch of egg I would take them out as you don’t want more babies yet).
You can remove the nest box after the babies are weaned or when they all come out and can stand on a perch. At this time if there are more eggs in the box remove them too. It is best to give the parents a rest for a few months before putting the nest box back in. As you will see the parents will lose some body weight. If you continuously let your birds breed eventually it will kill them. Make sure you are feeding a high quality seed to the parents and add in hardboiled egg yokes and veggies.
I am selling 4 of my parakeets to the pet store. What is the best price for a yellow, green ,blue and gray, and tamed and good health.
Hi Helen,
When I use to sell my parakeets to pet stores I would only get about $5.00 a bird. If you can I would sell them on the internet using a classified page that is free to advertise on. You should be able to get more money for your birds that way but sometimes it can be hard to find a buyer. You might try using Ebay classifieds or Craigslist but watch out for spammers. Always ask the person, that want to adopt your birds, questions to see if they will make a good home for your birds. If you are selling a cage with your birds you will be able to get more money for them.
Selling to a pet store you should be able to get $5 a bird
Selling them to a privet buyer you should be able to get $10-$15 a bird
If you are selling them with a cage you should be able to get $30-$50 for all depending on how big the cage is.
Thank you for your reply. God Bless Helen
Helen,
You are very welcome and I hope it was of some help to you.