I'm new to budgies..need help

[k_miss22]

About 3 weeks ago we got back from eating out and when we walked under the carport...there was a BEAUTIFUL budgie. I own 2 quakers and a conure so I know a little about birds and KNEW what this one was so I told my family we gotta catch it cause it will die out here. Well we chased it for quite some time and finally caught it. Anyway long story short I ran an add for 5 days told all the local pet stores and no one claimed this baby but my son, LOL! So I now own a parakeet! My almost 5 year old named it Tweety. We thought it was a female b/c of it's brown "nose" however yesterday I noticed the sides of it's "nose" are turning blue...can anyone explain this?

I have the bird in a rather large cage but the bars aren't that far apart..it cannot get it's head thru..and it's on parakeet seed from Walmart!

Also any advice you care to offer is very much appriciated.

Thanks Kristy

[BUUZBEE]

Congrats on your new family member! lol
more than likely, if its cere is turning blue, it was young when you got it, so now its going thru puberty, and his true sex is showing. does he have an iris ring?
what color is he?
anyway, as long as the cage bars are close together, he will be a happy boy, but you already know this since you have other birds lol
since he is a caged bird, i would get him switched over to pellets, you can slowly do this by mixing his seed with pellets and slowly decrease the seeds in the mix. as for the walmart brand, i have no idea how the quality is. get him used to his veggies, do your others eat veggies? I make a soak mix too, they LOVE it!
i soak overnight
1/4 cup of corn (for popcorn, obviously unpopped, lol) rice, preferabley wild, dried peas, dried lentels, dried beans, a few kind, your choice, and whatever else seems good when i stock up, lol. soak it overnight in cold water, drain, rinse, and then slowly simmer for about 1 hour, drain, rince, cool and walah, ready to eat!

[Budgiekin]

Welcome to the forums! That is so great that you were able to catch the little fellow. I would be curious to know how old the little sweetie is...does it still have the bars all the way to the cere (nose)? If it is hard to tell which sex it is, then it could be a young budgie....

Do you have any pictures you could share of Tweety? :p

[k_miss22]

I picked up some roudybush crushed for the birdy yesterday at the pet store..they also clipped it's wings..she said it was a female..but the side of it's cere are blue..I do have one picture and I'll try to post...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v713/k_miss22/tweety.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v713/k_miss22/tweety0.jpg

My other birds do eat some fresh veggies..one will not touch anything but roudybush..we are moving soon and just got rid of one of our birds (the man at the pet store wanted him real bad and he's mean so we let him have him since we know Miami would be happier with his own kind as apposed to us) so we should have more time and space for the other two and now Tweety.

[shannon]

LUCKY YOU! That would be fun to find a budgie to save. My 5 year old son has a green budgie named Tweety Bird! Love that name. When the cere is turing blue more and more it should be safe to call it a boy. Sometimes they can have white-ish blue cere and still be a boy. I have three males and two females, the females cere are white-ish to brown. Sometimes browner when there more fertile. My 5 and 2 year old handels tweety bird and two other of our budgies. They truly are great for kids! Your five year old will have alot of fun with a little budgies. My males dont bite but our two females will and when they do it WILL NOT DO DAMAGE to your children/ son. It feels like a pinch than anything. So they truly are a great 1st bird pet for little ones. I wish your family the best of luck with the new little budgies!