The Bigness of the bird

[Rie]

G'day,

Do budgies grow much over time? My little fella Gus is about 4 months old and is probably one of the smallest budgies i have ever seen. there is nothing wrong with him........he's just little. I haven't seen any growth in the 3 or so months i've had him, and he still has all of his baby stripes on his head, he hasn't had his first moult yet. will he grow up to be a larger/normal sized bird or will he remain a little guy?

cheers

[Amy]

Could you post a picture of him?

[Budgiekin]

Well, budgies do come in a variety of sizes. Most of their growth happens during the time they are going from hatchling to the time they get all their feathers on their little bodies. My budgie Kiwi was a little guy, and in fact he still is in comparison to my other budgies. It would be interesting to have your little sweetie weighed. My budgies vary in weight:

Skyla - 37 grams before her wing amputation, 34 grams after her wing amputation

Kiwi - 32 grams

Aries - 34 grams

I mean, we're talking grams here so it's not like there is a huge difference here. I am sure your little fellow is just fine! :p

[shawna]

If he is healthy otherwise I probably wouldn't worry to much. I have some females that are quite large. But when I look in the cage I can't see any obvious differences in size. Does he appear obviously smaller?

Mine weigh anywhere from 30-49 grams.

[Joey]

How do you wiegh your birds?Is there a special scale you can buy,or is it nessasary to wiegh your birds?:S

[Amy]

They do it at vets, it's all included in their check-ups.

[Joey]

oh....i c:S

[Budgiekin]

:p You can also buy scales to weigh your budgies yourself. They have to be quite sensitive since we are only talking about a few grams. They are widely available online, but can be quite pricey!!

[Bea]

You just need digital kitchen scales than go up in 1 gram measurements. You can get them from around $20 (aussie dollars). It's a really good idea to weigh your budgies regularly seeing as weight loss is one of the early signs of illness. The normal weight for a pet budgie is 28-38g, a bit heavier for larger show budgies.

[Mavish]

cool i'll consider buying one. Have you seen another real budgie oryours looks small compared to the pics you've seen?