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INTRODUCTION

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Why are budgies so cool?

Huge personality + tiny body + tiny poops + super talking ability = perfect birdie!

My gosh, it's true.  Now, granted, other people will choose other birdies as their treasured companions, and that's all very well and good!  After all, I was raised with a grey-feathered brother (Bart, the African Grey, who mutated into a female once she laid eggs after, oh, 12 years or so), and prior to children, I did share my life with Angus, the Yellow-collared Macaw (otherwise known as the Beak of Doom.  He was a perfect single-person birdie, but got extremely jealous of my children.  I gave him up to Nancy Weaver, the ultimate parrot champion's parrot champion; after she passed away, I brought him to Foster Parrots where he's been living with his cherry-headed conure mate, Stanley, ever since).

For 8 years my family was birdieLess.  I know, I know, can you imagine?  But then....back in the summer of 2006, one of my kids asked me for a parakeet.  Ho ho, thought I, as if I could handle that now with everything else going on in my life?

To squash that desire, I told her "...of course you can get a parakeet, dear, after you research on the Internet all the parakeet information that's available!  And after I quiz you, if you get all the answers right...I'll let you choose your own special birdie."

Here's a word to the wise - never give a Ling such easy conditions.  My kid found:
 among about 23 bazillion more.  Sigh.  What was a mother to do? 

So!  I decided to look for a handraised parakeet - in general, they're much easier to train/tame than a bin-o-budgies parakeet (ie, one that came from a parakeet mill or a big pet store).  I read some parakeet forums and researched breeders within a 100 mile radius as well.

I found Basically Birds, a store down in Southern NJ which specialized in all sorts of wonderful hand-raised birdies, including parakeets.

So many parakeets!  My kids were thrilled.  The owner personally chose a nifty green parakeet that stepped up very easily and calmly, thus winning my daughter's heart.  Martin the Warrior had officially entered our lives.  Little did we realize, that was only the beginning!

To this day, I still wonder about the next sequence of events.  Remember my mentioning of Nancy Weaver above?  Well, another person who worked at her sanctuary had posted an ad about baby parakeets that were available for adoption.  When I contacted her, she responded by name and remembered me from 5 years back!  I figured this had to be a call from beyond the Rainbow Bridge and made arrangements to bring another child down with me to look at the budgies.

Birdie number two (Mattimeo) turned out to be a Type II Yellowfaced budgie, who seemed to have a weak leg.   If he was in a bin  of budgies, he most likely would have been discarded, but as it was a private person, I was able to bring him home.  I used a chopstick to help him strengthen his grip and while he'll never be perfectly normal (he runs on one leg and one ankle), he's just a joy to this day.

I'll bet you think that's the end of my parakeets, eh?  No oh no!  We returned the next week to bring home 3 more parakeets from the same wonderful lady, Cloud, Glyphie and Matthias.  

Then the following week, I came across Master Keet, who was found by a bird feeder and brought to a pet store.  He was obviously a pet birdie as he has quite the range of unique kissing vocals, but nobody ever advertised for him. 

My flock was complete!  No it wasn't!  For one of my daughter's friends' mom had a lonely parakeet that she gave to me.  Originally, we named him after my daughter's teacher, HD.  However, he has quite the fear of hands, and one day when I had to return him to the cage, he latched onto the skin between my thumb and forefinger and simply would not let go.  This gentle (NOT!) action earned him his present moniker, LP - Land Pirahna.  :-) 

And then keets from Parrots of the World, as well as more rescues, joined my flock. To this day, they're all doing magnificently.

Parakeets are a responsibility...and one that is most rewarding to fulfill.  Over the past few weeks, I've discovered super resources all around the Internet...that I've now gathered together for your own personal use. 

The Ultimate Internet Parakeet will teach you where to find the online goodies about

and much much more!

So let's get to it.  Turn now to:

Next > Chapter 1 - Budgie Basics

More information

Parakeets/budgies/keets/etc. are NOT disposable birds!  Please do your research before choosing to share your life with one of these wonderful birdies..

The Ultimate Internet Parakeet Toolkit

Copyright 2007 Barbara Ling and Owlbert
http://www.barbaraling.com