People who pay attention to parrots will not be unfamiliar with budgerigars. They are very common parrots and can be seen in many bird-keeping households. When many people see budgerigars for the first time, they may find that the calls of budgerigars are not pleasant, but this is not their “selling point”. Their very beautiful feathers are what makes people feel The key to good feelings.
Although budgerigars come from Australia, they are very common around the world. There are two main reasons for this phenomenon – 1. Budgerigars are easy to care for and breed; 2. There are many varieties of budgerigars with bright feathers, and many people will Choose them as pets. Under normal circumstances, budgerigars can live beyond 7 years old, and if they are properly raised, their lifespans will be extended a lot.
In addition to the name budgies, they are also known as buffalo-backed parrots, ridged buffaloes, or ridged buffaloes. Also, when you hear people refer to phoenixes, long-tailed lovebirds, colorful phoenixes, stone swallows, parrots, five-colored parrots, or asu children, they are actually referring to budgerigars.
cage selection
Budgerigars are easy to raise in captivity, have extensive management, are resistant to roughage, have strong physique, are not prone to disease, and are easy to reproduce. Budgies have hooks on their beaks, are strong and powerful, and like to chew on wood, so they can’t use bamboo cages, but metal cages. As a recreational bird, it can be raised in a small electroplated metal cage, and the cage is equipped with a perch bar and a hanging ring for the parrot to play.
As a breeding bird, a larger square metal cage should be used. The size of the cage is 40 cm long, 35 cm wide and 35 cm high. The bottom of the cage is equipped with a drawer-type sand tray (dung support board), which is convenient for cleaning feces. The nest box of the budgerigar is a horizontal nest. The size of the nest box is a small rectangular wooden box with a length of 25 cm, a width of 14 cm and a height of 14 cm. There is a partition in the middle. The hole is 6 cm in diameter, and a circular hole with a diameter of 4 cm is opened on the partition of the outer chamber and the inner chamber, which is the door for birds to enter and exit. The clean drinking water should be changed every day, the feces should be cleaned once a week, and the parrot should not be exposed to direct sunlight in summer.
In winter, you should keep warm, and the indoor temperature should not be lower than 16 ℃. In summer, the temperature is high, and ventilation should be strengthened when it is generally above 30 °C. Budgerigars like to eat shelled feed, usually millet, barnyard, millet or egg millet. They should be fed some vegetables every day, oyster meal or bone meal as standing feed (you can also put a whole cuttlefish bone in the cage. Let it peck).
Tiger skins raised and played in China are all caged birds bred under artificial rearing, and their physiques are weakened. Therefore, breeders should choose individuals with wide and long bodies, plump bodies and energetic individuals for breeding and breeding, which is beneficial to the rejuvenation of the population in the future. Wild budgerigars live in groups, feed on plant seeds and fruits, nest in caves, breed 1-2 nests per year, and each nest lays 4-7 eggs. The eggs are oval in shape and the shell is pure white. Budgerigars in captivity are very good at dismantling cages because of their hard shells and flexible toes and mouths. The room temperature in winter should be kept at 5-10℃.
In southern Chinese cities, the temperature in winter is not lower than 0 ℃, and open-air cages can be used to raise and breed budgerigars. A small amount of breeding in the family can choose suitable cages, and the breeding and breeding effect is very good. Enough perches should be set up in the cage for them to climb and perch, and the ground or bottom of the cage should be cushioned with fine sand for sand bathing and feeding. The rearing room needs to be well ventilated and the light should be long. A large number of budgerigars are fed in groups, and they drink a lot of water. Therefore, birds often defecate while drinking water, which is often easy to contaminate their drinking water. Therefore, it is best to use the automatic drinking fountains used by poultry to supply water, so that they cannot enter the water for bathing, which can be maintained. Drinking water is clean.
The mixing ratio of feed is: 7 parts of millet or millet, 2 parts of barnyard tares, and 1 part of su seeds. This mixed pellet is suitable for feeding a variety of small parrots, plus mineral feed such as cuttlefish bones and shells. Captive-bred budgerigars lay eggs and hatch in darker nests. If the light in the nest is too strong, the hatching effect is not good. The artificial nest box generally supplied is composed of two inner and outer cells. The inner nest chamber is cushioned with sawdust or fine sand, which is the place where female birds lay eggs and hatch. The reference size of the nest box is 16 cm (length) × 16 cm (width) × 16 cm (height) for the inner and outer chambers; 5-6 cm in diameter, the lower edge of the nest mouth is 6-7 cm from the bottom of the nest.
Beijing raises budgerigars and breeds in autumn, winter and spring every year. Due to the hot climate in summer, continuous nesting not only affects the health of parent birds, but also the hatching and brooding rates also decrease significantly. To stop breeding, the control method is to take out the nest box in the breeding cage from July to September every year, clean and disinfect the nest box, and hang the nest box into the cage after October. From October to June of the following year, budgerigars can lay eggs, hatch and brood 3-4 nests; each nest lays 4-7 eggs, up to 10, the egg shell is pure white, the egg weight is 2.5 grams, and the incubation period is 18 Days; chicks stay in the nest for 34-38 days, and begin to live independently at about 40 days of age. Young birds are sexually mature at 6-8 months and begin courtship reproduction, with the optimal breeding age being 1-5 years old.
Breeding budgerigars in the south can breed in all seasons, but if the temperature in summer is too high, it is recommended not to let parent birds nest.
Budgies are sexually mature at 4 months of age and begin to estrus and mate. They can be bred as breeding birds. Budgies can breed all year round. Generally, each litter can produce 4-7 eggs. The eggs are white, and every day Or lay one egg every other day, and when the third egg is laid, the female bird begins to hatch in the nest, and the hatching is mainly female, and the incubation period is 18 days. Male and female parent birds brood together. The brooding period is about 30 days. Female birds are more sensitive to external disturbances during the incubation period, and try to keep the environment as quiet as possible to prevent the parent birds from abandoning the nest after being frightened, which affects hatching and brooding. The room temperature for breeding birds in winter should be kept above 20°C, the relative humidity should be 45%-50%, and indoor air circulation should be maintained. The peak breeding period of budgerigars can reach 3-4 years, and the breeding rate gradually declines after that. In order to purify and rejuvenate the breeding bird population, the breeding birds should be continuously updated. Budgies live an average of 7 years.
domestication method
Method 1: Regular contact training, this method requires patience. This method involves talking to your budgerigar from time to time and using a soft tone to calm them down. Slowly place your hands into the cage until the bird settles down and doesn’t run around. The first few times you shouldn’t get your hands in to grab them or move them in front of them. Give them some time to get used to your hands. When it stops being afraid, then you can move your fingers close to its belly like a perch and see if they will stand up. Remember to say “come up” as your fingers lightly touch its belly. You should say “go down” when you want them back to their cages and perches. Keep talking to him while it’s in your hand. It shouldn’t be too eager when you first take it out of the cage. These initial training sessions should be as short as possible. As the number of training increases, you can also slowly lengthen the time, and finally you can have a budgerigar friend who believes in you!
Method 2: Let them have their own time Don’t try to touch them in the first few days of their arrival. Give them some time to get used to their new environment and new home, and place the cage where you will often be. Take a lot of time with them, try to talk to them, and only keep your hands close to the cage when changing water or fresh food. Try to get the birds to understand that everything you do is for their own good and not trying to hurt them. This method, it may take some time to get them willing to come out to you, you can lure them out with the shells or bird treats placed outside the cage. Or put these bribes in your hand and lure it inside or outside the cage. Eventually he will feel confident in you and become your friend.
Method 3: Repeatedly grab and release. Take the budgie to another room without a cage. Grab and release it repeatedly, and the budgerigar will soon learn that you can’t hurt it. Continue this exercise for about a half to an hour, then bring him back to his cage and talk to him for a while.
Method 4: Melanie’s intense training method. This method must be done very carefully, and when you hold a tiger skin, make sure your hand is not too tight, or you may suffocate the bird. And although some tiger skins have been tamed by this method, there are still many tiger skins that do not respond well to this method, and even become more difficult to gain their trust in the future. “Grasp a freshly bought tiger skin with your hands and watch it try to bite your fingers. If you’re not driving, hold it by the body all the way home. Or hold it every time Half an hour, at least five times on the first day, don’t let it escape. If there is a bite, grab it by the mouth. This method can make them bite without too much force, and also will want to escape.
