PARAKEETS ~~ A.K.A. BUDGIES

My cousin has a website featuring the budgies she is hand raising from a single pair. Here is that site: 
     
Cat's Feathered Friends

Please note that I have her site on the right side of my blog under the 'Stamping Up' site. This is another website I will be featuring on my blog. 

Budgies, also known as Parakeets, are not as easy to hand raise as you might think. Apparently, adult birds do not know how to raise a family and like humans, have to 'learn as they go'. Cathy has 22 years of experience with these birds and has successfully concluded her pair's third clutch of eggs this year.

Lets meet the Parents.... 

Shylia ~ 'Mom' does 
a ‘head count’ of each chick; she will wake the chick up to feed it. (quote)

 Hobo ~ 'Dad' helps 
feed and care for each individual chick so well that at one week old, their eyes were opening. (quote)















Cathy's breeding pair have now raised their third clutch for this year consisting of 6 eggs and all 6  hatched and survived. Her breeding pair are excellent parents.

And now, The Kids...

Growing from a small clutch of six eggs...

To healthy baby budgies!

"These pictures are all from the third clutch of eggs. They started hatching the last two weeks of September 2012 and are 2 months old now. They are all healthy and alert little birds." (quote)

They are a little rough looking here while their feathers are growing in...

Clearly, one chick is quite a bit bigger then the rest. This one hatched first. 

A quote from Cathy:

"The chick born first is quite a bit larger than the chick born last and as a result of the difference in size the larger chick gets all the food and the smallest chicks can easily get trampled on and die. And the smallest chick may not get fed at all if you don’t keep an eye on the chicks everyday. That is why I check all the chicks daily to see if all of them are, in fact, being fed. 

If a chick is not being fed, I remove it and hand feed it with  baby budgie formula purchased from the pet store.

I know how to tell if the chicks are being fed and I know how to hand feed the chicks to if need be. By doing this I save a few chicks that would otherwise perish if I did not check them regularly and hand feed them when necessary. I cannot just stand by and watch a chick die; I have to do something to save it." (quote)

Hello, I'm two months old! 

Adolescent Budgie

I will have more information and pictures to share concerning these amazing little birds in later blogs, hope you enjoyed this one. 

Catspaw