FINCHforum

Just got a really nice pair of English budgies. A normal sky blue cock and a light grey spangle hen.
Uploading photos is beyond my ken.

These are young birds from a local breeder of exhibition English budgies. I want to add a couple more pairs but it is not all that easy. There are very few breeders in this area and as this is the time of year when they sort out their 2017 birds they are reluctant to sell anything until they sort out their keepers from good quality sale birds and any culls [which I don't want].

Pet store quality 'parakeets' are dime a dozen here but I want the much larger English budgie.

Anyone know of an English budgie breeder in Az?

paul-inAZ

Sorry, I don't know of any breeders, but congratulations on your new babies.

Can you order some in possibly?

paul-inAZ

Can't wait to see the pictures!

Babs wrote: paul-inAZ

Can't wait to see the pictures!

Tried to. Didn't work.

Upload the files to Imgur.com, copy the URL of the page when they upload, and post it here as a link.

They're very pretty!

paul-inAZ

Congratulations very handsome birds.

Congratulations! Hen is beautiful! Handsome male too. The two birds together look like sky and clouds.

English/American Budgies question: For a solitary pet bird is it worth the higher price for 'hand tamed' baby? Some sites say Budgie personalities change after first molt and at a year old. So, early taming will not last. Also conflicting information regarding male vs. female.

finchlady:
I think "hand tamed" can mean just about anything so wouldn't pay extra for this without personal verification of tameness. Hand feeding of chicks is not worth paying extra for. Parent fed chicks are healthier and stronger anyway.

In general, English budgies are not only considerably larger than American pet store 'parakeets' but have a much calmer disposition, are less active, and are less noisy. They are part way to tame already because they are usually handled as chicks and their calmer parents must teach them.

If you can find an exhibitor/breeder of English budgies the ideal for a pet bird would be to get one as young as possible. A slight problem can be that most breeders don't seem to decide on which birds to cull until 6 or 12 months old -but that can still be OK. If you tell such a breeder it is to be a pet you may get one at a younger age.

A good place to look at and for these is at a budgie show. The show birds are not usually for sale [breeders show but don't sell their best birds] but many clubs have an auction at the end of the show. These are birds donated to the club to raise money for the club. Opening bids locally are $20 and many sell for what you would pay for a pet store American that was raised in a bird mill. Some may have minor exhibition flaws or be under sized but as a pet there is no reason to care if it is not up to best-in-show standards. A show breeder's cull birds can be very fine pet birds.
See if there is a local budgie club if only for contacts with breeders. Show season is under way and it will soon be the time that breeders separate keepers from sellers.

paul-inAZ: Thanks so much. I've wondered about 'hand fed' budgies since they are often higher priced. Although English budgies are harder to find than pet shop budgies, I'll keep looking. So far haven't found any clubs or shows in our area. But thank you for the idea.

It would help if you put your location into your profile.

Here is a national club: http://www.budgerigarassociation.com
They list some associated regional clubs.
And: https://abs1.org
also do a search for "budgerigar clubs in __ your state___" to pick up clubs in your region. There are more clubs back east than there are here.