DH and I made a road trip yesterday and bought a pair of English Budgies from a breeder a couple of hours away. She had around 150 birds, total, including some pigeons that her husband shows. Some of her budgies are show birds, as well. They were all gorgeous! I had a hard time choosing, and she had a hard time letting any of them go to a new home! LOL! The male is a lovely aquamarine color, and the female is yellow and green. They're 2 years old (close-banded), and are about the size of a cockatiel! As an aside, I was fascinated by the sounds her husband's pigeons made! Kind of a cross between coo-ing and bubbling water. All their birds were kept in the garage, so they had plenty of room for lots of cages and a walk-in aviary for the pigeons. I don't have THAT much room in my house, but I can't help but wonder if there's such a thing as a miniature pigeon that could be kept in a regular cage!
Then we went to a local pet store and bought a pair of parakeets, which are so tiny compared to the budgies. The pet store gets them when they're about 3 months old, so they're young. The guy at the pet store was very knowledgeable, which was a huge improvement from the last time I'd bought any birds there.
I'm going to attempt to breed each pair, if they're willing. This'll be the first time I've had parakeets/budgies, so I'm still learning about them. We'll see how it goes. We did pick up two nest boxes at the pet store.
So far the parakeets are settling in nicely. The English Budgies are a little nervous because they can see my finches across the room, and apparently the finches' fast movements are a little scary to them. The female budgie squawks when one of the finches flies "too fast".
She's settling down, though.
Pics are below.
