Just some questions

[Aquiel]

My random Budgie questions... :budgie:

I was told by the lady I got This and That from that we wouldnt be able to tell the genders till they are at least 6 months old... true right?

Now if This and That are of different genders, they WONT breed as long as I don't put in a nesting box right?

How long does it take for wings to grow back after they are clipped?

And its been a few years since I've delt with birds... as long as there is lots of perches they can still move around the cage with clipped wings?

[Budgiekin]

As for telling the gender of young budgies, it is sometimes possible to determine it younger than 6 months. Females have opaque bluish/purple-y ceres with pale white rings around their nostrils. In contrast, males have translucent purpley pink ceres.

If your budgies are different genders and they are housed together, even without a nest box, they may still try to mate. My budgies Skyla (girl) and Kiwi (boy) are caged separately, but have out time together and do occasionally try to mate. In fact, Skyla has even laid eggs (although infertile ones). So, the bottom line is that just because the budgies don't have a nest box, it does not mean that they will not try to breed. There are other factors besides a nest box (or lack of) that will influence whether or not budgies will breed. For example, the amount of daylight hours; longer daylight encourages breeding.

Then length of time it takes for clipped feathers to grow back really varies with each budgie. Budgies that seemingly moult (shed their feathers) all the time will have them grow back very quickly (within a couple of months). Other budgies who moult less frequently may take up to 6 months to have them grow back.

Perches are key, but you want to make sure you aren't providing your budgies a lazy way to move around their cages by putting too many perches too close together. It is always a good idea to make your budgie work a little bit to go from perch to perch. This encourages them to exercise and climb. Just my opinion.

I hope this information helps! Thanks for posting those great questions! And please don't hesitate to post more. :p

[Joey]

I guess BudgieKin covered all of it!:) Great Job!

[Mistyoriline]

Good answer budgiekin....you covered it all.

[Amy]

I think Budgiekin answered those very well!