Frequently Asked Questions
Have questions about your budgie or our courses? Check out the answers to some FAQs below!
Budgie Care FAQs
Got questions about your budgies? Here are answers to some commonly asked questions!
It’s very common to see budgies labeled as “fancy parakeets” in stores but they’re actually two different things! The word “parakeet” refers to an entire group of parrot species that are slender-bodied and have long tails. “Budgie” is short for budgerigar, which refers to a single species of small parakeet found in the arid regions of Australia.
To find out more read our blog article “Are Budgies Parrots, Parakeets, or Both?“.
Like other animals, budgies have evolved to live in the wild where they are exposed to and have access to many different things. Not everything is edible and not every plant is safe to eat so how do animals know what is and is not food? For many animals, they learn what is and isn’t food by growing up with their parents and family group, observing and copying and eating what they eat, which in turn teaches them to recognize and find these foods in the future. High quality breeders will always introduce all of their fledging babies to a wide variety of foods at a young age before sending them home with an owner. However, poor quality breeders will not do so. Many breeders are still only introducing seed mixes to young budgies and sending them on their way as soon as they can eat solid food. These breeders also generally do not introduce budgies to any home setting, human handling, or flight experience so when they do arrive at home, they enter a completely terrifying environment they do not recognize or understand. This combination of high fear and lack of introduction to varied foods leaves budgies unwilling to eat other foods offered by owners.
Fortunately, it is not difficult to introduce new foods to budgies, even if they are completely alone. The key is to understand how they see the world and offer transitional foods to teach them that these new items (pellets, veggies, and more) are actually things they can eat. Every single budgie, regardless of age or background, is capable of learning to eat a variety of new foods without the need for force or starvation. If you feel like your budgie won’t eat a new food unless they’re really starving or super hungry, that is a sign something is wrong with the method or food choice. Diet conversions should be easy and smooth when done correctly. It is never necessary to starve a bird into eating something.
“Taming” isn’t really my favorite word to use since but generally, the process will vary in length depending on where the bird is starting out, what resources you have available, and the skill level of the human handler. It also depends at what point do you consider a bird “tame”? More complex training goals will naturally take more time than simple ones.
For budgies coming into the Budgie Academy home, where all the factors are laid out for them seamlessly and they’re getting exactly the right communication from the human trainer, it takes about 3 weeks to take a budgie from extremely terrified of humans to comfortable climbing out of the cage to step up. Usually by this time, I will also be done with their diet conversion and food introduction process.
I am usually doing 5 minute sessions for the first few sessions and then as the bird becomes more enthusiastic about participating, they can range up to 15 minutes. It is not necessary to do excessively long training sessions to make very good progress. The key is presenting exactly what the budgie needs to see and laying out the path for them seamlessly.
Training won’t produce an immediate drastic change overnight, but if you’re doing it correctly, you should be seeing consistent progress within and between sessions. If you’re not moving forward at all or it’s been months and you’ve seen extremely little progress, then it means something is wrong with the approach and method. If the training approach is setup right so that the animal is set up for success, the animal will have an easy time learning and naturally, they will learn faster than if the method is messy and inconsistent.
If you feel you’re really struggling to make progress, book a consult with us so that we can look carefully at your exact approach and give you suggestions on how to make more progress at a more appropriate speed.
Great question! There are about 400 species of parrots in the world and they are all quite different in their diet, biology, breeding patterns, behavior and geographical region.
Budgies are a small grass parakeet from the arid regions of Australia that migrate great distances in search of food and water. They may go years without seeing consistent rain in the wild. They have a completely different biology from macaws and conures who are from the wet rainforests of South America, where it rains almost daily to the point the forest flood is completely flooded for many months out of the year. The result is budgie have a completely different diet, different nutrient requirements, different reproduction strategy, and a very different reaction to rain compared to other species. These species differences actually exist for every species which is why it is crucial to find someone who is highly experienced in the species you’re interested in and not settle for overly generic advice.
It is a very common misconception that bathing parrots more often because it simulates the wet season which is not the breeding season. This is true of the wet rainforest species but this is completely backwards for budgies. In the dry, arid regions of Australia where food and water are scarce, these birds sometimes go years without seeing a sizable rain. They can sense rains from tens of miles away and fly there to access the grass seed which rapidly sprouts up after the rain. They were so good at this that the native Aboriginal tribes followed them in order to find food and water and depict budgie flocks in their native art.
When budgies are provided with consistent rain and food sources, this stimulates their breeding, somewhat similar to the Zebra finch who is also from the same area and highly responsive to rain as a breeding signal. This is completely the opposite of the parrots who hail from wetter regions and just one example of why it is so important not to lump all parrot species together.
The Budgie Academy FAQs
Got questions about The Budgie Academy programs and consults? Find the answers here!
Great question! This is extremely common, especially amongst more experienced budgie owners who have happily integrated budgies they’ve been living with for some time. There’s just the occasional question that pops up here and there.
This is exactly why I created the Budgie Academy Scholar’s Club.
As a member of the Scholar’s Club, you’ll get access to weekly live Q&As, monthly deep dive live seminars, direct message support, and early access to new resources and research. This allows me to provide you with more continuous support outside of and in between consults.
Some examples of questions that would fall in that category:
- I saw this product online. Should I buy it?
- Can you help me find an avian vet?
- I read this thing online. Is this true?
- Can budgies eat this food item?
- What do you think of my cage setup?
- Is my budgie male or female?
- What color variation is my budgie?
Click here to find out more about The Scholar’s Club membership.
Yes I can! The Budgie Academy is a passion project because I love budgies and saw that they were not getting the attention I felt they deserved! However, I can also help you with your other parrots in your home as well.
I also have access to a network of behavior and nutrition specialists so based on your case’s special needs, I can also refer you to other qualified experts.
The first time you do a consult with us, we ask that you fill out our consult request form which will give us a lot of in-depth details about your budgie’s background, living situation, diet and more. It can take more than an hour to go over all of this information and if we do that at the consult, we will take up the whole hour just getting that information from you and there won’t be as much time to talk about your questions. By having all the information about the bird beforehand, we can move quickly to talking about the training solution right at the beginning of the consult. This is more time effective for us, and also more budget-friendly for you! You will only need to fill out this form once. Next time you book a consult, we will already have all your budgie’s info on file.
Still have questions?
Budgie Care Blog
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