# New Budgies Daisy & Donald



## mikepui (Sep 15, 2018)

Hi Guys,

So I have 2 x 4 months old budgies that I bought from a pet store a week ago. I bought 1 male (Donald) and 1 female (Daisy) and thought they could be companions to each others whenever I not around and they won't get too bored. But found out from forum that it would be rather tough to train the bird when it comes in pair, there were recommendation to separate both in 2 cages.

Both budgies are in good health, they hopping around the cages to reach for food and water. There were about 5 budgies to choose from the pet store and they caged in pair initially, but I got one solo from a cage and picked another one from another cage, so they weren't caged together earlier. I'm glad they bond well within a week and they could preen on each others.

They still afraid of me.. the hand.. I'm trying to work out on everything that I could based on the guidelines on this forum and youtube.

I'm glad they started eating and drinking after 24 hours settling in their new cage, heard typically new budgies may take a week not eating and drinking... stressful to have Daisy & Donald to go through this which luckily they ain't.

They just eat seeds and nothing else, probably they were fed with seeds but nothing else since they were in pet stores. 2 things I need to do are simply taming & bonding them as well as getting them to eat the pellet (yes, they don't even touch the pellets) + fruits & vege.

I was thinking to mix up some crumbles of the pellets in their seeds cup, if this is successful, I could swap with fruits & vege. Thought this is a good way to train up their food chain and have them had balance diet.

I would also need to have them get used of my hands. I would try to lure them to perch on my palm by having seeds on my palm. Thought of taking away their seeds for couple of hours and train them this way but read somewhere not so recommended.

Also realising I may need a bigger cage to keep my birds happy as the one i bought was barely 16 inches long. The perches were also plastic and I got to know wooden perches are better for their feet, too!

I have bought some toys online for them and for the time being, I decorated their cage with 2 toys but I don't see them biting the toys at all.

Here are some photos of my budgies and I couldn't wait to tame them and bond with them. I welcome any comments or recommendation. Thanks!


----------



## Hunterkat (Mar 29, 2017)

Daisy and Donald are very cute! You definitely need a bigger cage, the MINIMUM for two budgies is 18"x18"x30". The cage you have now would make a good hospital/travel cage. Also, I'm not sure because the pictures are not the best for determining gender, but I think you may have two females


----------



## mikepui (Sep 15, 2018)

Hunterkat said:


> Daisy and Donald are very cute! You definitely need a bigger cage, the MINIMUM for two budgies is 18"x18"x30". The cage you have now would make a good hospital/travel cage. Also, I'm not sure because the pictures are not the best for determining gender, but I think you may have two females


Oh I hope not. They are 4 months old so the ceres still doesn't show the colour. One is slightly bigger with whitish pink ceres and another one is whitish blue. They tend to look away when I took their pictures. Will try again and show here.


----------



## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Hi Mike and :welcome: to the forums!

Daisy and Donald are gorgeous! I agree that from the pictures so far, you seem to have two girls  That's great news because then you don't have to worry about accidentally breeding! 

Is there any particular reason you wanted a boy and a girl? Two budgies of the same gender get along with each other just as well as those of opposite genders. 

Meanwhile, you've been given great advice regarding their cage. Be sure to also read through the forums' many budgie articles and "stickies" (threads "stuck" to the top of each subform for easy reference) to ensure you're up to date on the best of budgie care practices. 

If you have questions after doing so, be sure to ask! 

Hope to see you, Donald and Daisy around the forums! :wave:


----------



## mikepui (Sep 15, 2018)

This is the size of my cage. 17 in long x 9 in wide x 17.7 in high


----------



## mikepui (Sep 15, 2018)

a closer pictures of them... they tend to look away when I took their photos.


----------



## mikepui (Sep 15, 2018)

StarlingWings said:


> Hi Mike and :welcome: to the forums!
> 
> Daisy and Donald are gorgeous! I agree that from the pictures so far, you seem to have two girls  That's great news because then you don't have to worry about accidentally breeding!
> 
> ...


Thank you! I thought opposite genders bond better. They do feed seeds to each others, does same sex do that? Hmm...

It would be fun to see them breeding and I like to witness the processes.


----------



## Jesska (Apr 24, 2018)

Def will want a bigger cage for these two cuties!



mikepui said:


> Thank you! I thought opposite genders bond better. They do feed seeds to each others, does same sex do that? Hmm...
> 
> It would be fun to see them breeding and I like to witness the processes.


It's very common for birds to feed another bird they consider a friend, so it's not just a male to female act.

Two females can bond just as well as a male/female pair. Even if it was a male/female pairing you'd want to do all you can to discourage breeding between them. There are some great stickies on the forum about the reasons why:

https://www.talkbudgies.com/budgie-breeding/90584-when-we-dont-want-eggs.html

As for diet, budgies are mainly seed eaters in the wild, so feeding them 1 1/2 tsp -2 tsp a day each is still fine while introducing new foods.

I found that with pellets budgies will try them if they are more ground up like a crumble (my budgie likes them ground up very fine)

But both your birds are so lovely! I hope we get to see more pictures of them soon. :>


----------



## mikepui (Sep 15, 2018)

Jesska said:


> Def will want a bigger cage for these two cuties!
> 
> It's very common for birds to feed another bird they consider a friend, so it's not just a male to female act.
> 
> ...


Hello, thank you for the info! I did read about the articles of budgies' breeding and reproduction and realised that female budgies would continue laying eggs whenever they hit the puberty, just like girls going into ovulation and period, etc. Just that the eggs won't turn into chicks and hatch without male's presence....?

I reckon on the 2 x teaspoons seeds and should gradually reduce the seeds to intro more fruits and vege in part of the daily diet. As you can see, i mix up the pellets in their seeds cup. Hoping they would eat it up.



I know the seeds are a bit too many as it was mostly leftover for I stocked up their seeds before I left for a trip for over 36 hours.

Few more photos of them, they look away everytime I took their photos. Still too shy...


----------



## mikepui (Sep 15, 2018)

I was looking in KL around for affordable and budget bigger cage as recommended in the forum for budgies and I found one in KL after some 35 mins drive.

This cage cost 65 MYR which is about 15.7 USD! Quite good with the size of 23.7 in long x 15.7 wide x 15.7 high. You can also see a budgie I've bought, it was a tamed budgie and I was immediately bonded with him! It cost 95 MYR which is about 23 USD!

I named him Yellow and briefly introduced him to Daisy & Donald and vice verse. Will quarantine him from Daisy Donald for 45 days as recommended and I probably won't put them in same cage until I manage to tame Daisy & Donald.











I shall let Yellow settle down for 24 to 48 hours before taking him out of the cage to play with him. I will monitor his diet. He would need to start eating and drinking first as I was trying to feed him seeds, pellets, strawberry, grape, but he denied all despite he would perch on my hand and finger. Good to know from the pet store that Yellow has been fed with vege and fruits!


----------



## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Hi! :welcome: to Talk Budgies

I would not recommend housing Yellow with your two females after the quarantine period. 
Housing one bird of one gender with two of the opposite gender can cause problems. 
Generally it is best to have an even number of budgies. When you have three birds, then you end one with either two bonding to one another and the third being left out and picked on or two fighting over the third...

With regard to taming and bonding, it is best not to touch your budgie for a minimum of two weeks.
Allow the bird to settle into its new environment.
Budgies are often submissive initially simply because they are terrified.

To bond with your birds, you need to build their trust in you.
They will have to learn over time that you will not hurt them.

To build your birds' trust, sit by their cage and read, talk or sing quietly to them for a period of at least 10-15 minutes, 3 or 4 times day. After about a week, rest your hand on the outside of the cage when you talk to them so they will learn that your hand is safe and will not hurt them.

After a week of resting your hand on the outside of the cage, rest your hand inside the cage when you talk. 
Don't make sudden moves, don't try to touch them. 
Let their get used to the idea that the hand is now in their safe place and not harming them.

After 2 weeks, begin moving your hand slowly toward your bird. If they become agitated, stop moving your hand and just hold very still until they calm down. When they are comfortable with your hand near them, you can offer them a bit of millet or a few seeds.

Always work at your birds' pace. 
Move slowly and talk reassuringly and calmly to their whenever you interact with them.

Please take the time to read through the Site Guidelines, all of the How To Guides, the FAQs, the Budgie Articles and the stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.

Truly, the very BEST advice anyone can offer you is to take the time to read ALL of the stickies throughout the various Talk Budgie forums as well as the Budgie Articles we have posted.

These are great resources for Talk Budgie members and have a wealth of reliable information which will assist you to learn the best practices in caring for your budgies for their optimal health and well-being.

Site Guidelines
Posting on the Forums
Please do not use Emojis from Phones - use Forum Smilies Only
Let's Talk Budgies
How-To Guides
FAQs Frequently Asked Questions
Budgie Articles
List of Stickies
Be Prepared for Veterinary Expense
Avian First Aid
Why Quarantine?

A Heartfelt Plea to All Members
Guidance regarding Breeding Advice Threads

Recommended Minimum Cage Sizes
Essentials for a Great Cage
Resource Directory

When you upload pictures as attachments directly from your computer, tablet or phone, the forum automatically defaults to landscape. Additionally, the picture appears as what we term a "thumbnail" attachment.

To upload full-sized pictures with the proper orientation, please use a photo-sharing service such as Imgur and follow the steps in these instructions:
How to Post Full Size Pictures from a Photo Sharing Site
You can practice uploading pictures in the site's "Test Forum:
Test Forum

By the way, all photos entered in any of our forum contests must be a full-size photo and not a thumbnail attachment so it's good to know how to upload them! 

If you have any questions after reading through everything, please be sure to ask!

Glad you decided to join us and looking forward to seeing you around the forums.

:wave:*


----------



## Birdmanca (Jan 24, 2008)

Daisy and Donald are cute. Also the same names from an old Walk Disney comic book.. Daisy Duck And Donald Duck. Least that is the quickest way I can connect the names.


----------



## mikepui (Sep 15, 2018)

Birdmanca said:


> Daisy and Donald are cute. Also the same names from an old Walk Disney comic book.. Daisy Duck And Donald Duck. Least that is the quickest way I can connect the names.


Yeah, I thought of that and it was a good pair of names for them.


----------



## noraa92 (Aug 16, 2018)

Regarding pellets, what worked for me was to fill the food bowl with a 50/50 mix of seed and pellets for a few weeks. If you see both your birds eating the pellets you can then remove seed from the food bowl and use pellets only. You could also remove the seed anyway and closely observe your birds for several hours after you make the switch to make sure they are eating the pellets. If you don't see them eating pellets after several hours I would put the seeds back in. My birds wont eat pellets if there are seeds available to them so I used the later method.


----------



## mikepui (Sep 15, 2018)

noraa92 said:


> Regarding pellets, what worked for me was to fill the food bowl with a 50/50 mix of seed and pellets for a few weeks. If you see both your birds eating the pellets you can then remove seed from the food bowl and use pellets only. You could also remove the seed anyway and closely observe your birds for several hours after you make the switch to make sure they are eating the pellets. If you don't see them eating pellets after several hours I would put the seeds back in. My birds wont eat pellets if there are seeds available to them so I used the later method.


I actually cut some pellets and put in their seed cups.. then I found out they threw the pellets out from their seed cup to reach for the seeds...

So I have crumble the pellets to mix it with the seeds to make them eat. Then the same I've applied to my current birds where I spread the seeds / pellets on the vege / fruits to train them eating other food.


----------

