Monthly Archives: December 2015

Birdie Fun, Blog

Berry Christmas

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This week we are bringing you another great budgie holiday enrichment idea. How about edible presents!!! Just go to your local hobby store or craft/wedding section of most discount retailers and get some plain boxes. No dyes, no embellishments…just plain. Don’t worry, you get to fun them up in just a minute.

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Next, get some jute string or other means to tie presents which is safe (undyed/untreated) for budgies (raffia and sisal also work nicely).

Once you construct the boxes, place a fun treat inside (millet works well, as can Nutri-Berries) and wrap the presents in plain paper, black and white  newspaper, or even kale! You can then tie them up and present them to your bird(s) for some edible Christmas fun!

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20151223_162356.jpgEXTRA TIP: If you budgie doesn’t want to get inside the boxes, you can punch holes in the side before wrapping them to help your bird smell and see the treat inside!  You can also present these boxes plain, without wrapping them, to make it easier for your bird to get inside!

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Blog, Recipes

Fruity Fun

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I am so excited because I recently received some stainless steel skewers I ordered for my birds.

These things are AWESOME!

They can be used to skewer different fruits and vegetables so that they may be hung in the cage and enjoyed by birds as they get in the mood to snack. Since it’s very important to include fresh foods in birds’ diets, this is a great addition to any birdie lovin’ household.

As far as what can be placed on the skewers, the possibilities are endless.  You can add a big chunk of one type of fruit (like papaya) or cut fruit into smaller chunks and make a fun, colorful kabob (apples, pears and bananas are a fun combination).

Just make sure to remove seeds from the offerings, as these can be very bad for budgies!  Here is Soma, enjoying his first kabob!

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Make sure the food on the skewers stays fresh in the cage.  Once it gets brown, wilty, gooey and/or yucky, you’ll want to toss the fruits/veggies in the trash (or better yet, the compost pile…your flowers will thank you).  It’s also important to clean skewers properly in between uses to keep things santitary!

If food becomes boring, you can also try adding some toys or things for your budgies to play with.  Paper, wood and other things can make great toy components, as long as they are safely used!

It’s so important to give our birds a variety of things to keep them healthy and entertained.  Skewers can be a large part of this…how creative can you get with them?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blog

It’s a Boy! No Wait…It’s a Girl!

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One of the questions that we keep getting here at the perch is how to determine the sex of a budgie.  Well, and occasionally we get pictures of budgies, ceres (fleshy part around a bird’s nostrils) front and center, with a plea to deliver the news to the owner…is it a boy or a girl?  And we didn’t even deliver the baby budgie…it’s pretty amazing.

Anyhoo, we would like to shed some light on budgie sexing, in hopes that budgie owners everywhere can enjoy a little certainty about the gender of their bird.  And, to a lesser degree, we would love to help you not name your female bird Larry (yes, we know of one).

Let’s start simply.  Remember the cere we talked about earlier?  That is a very important component of determining budgie sex.  In many cases, if the cere is blue, you have a boy.  If it remains brown or pink, it’s a girl.

Here’s and example of a handsome budgie boy:

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And here is a girl:

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Albino budgie via The Parakeet Perch

 

Not too hard at all, right?  Well, there are a few other things to consider. First of all, age of the bird is important.  Budgies can take up to a year to mature. and it can take that long for the cere to take on its final color!  One way to know that you have an immature bird is to consider the barring (lines) that the bird has on the top of its head. If the lines are almost all the way to the cere, you’ve got a young bird (much like the blue one below):

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Also, some color mutations can throw all of the aforementioned theories out of the water!  According to http://www.birds-online.de:

“Examples for these difficult mutations are albino, lutino or fallow budgies . Also some pieds derive from the above mentioned rules.”

– http://www.birds-online.de/allgemein/geschlecht_en.htm

If your bird has a color mutation, a boy could look like a girl because the cere color is “washed out.”  Oh boy….literally!  Here is my budgie Segoe, a young male with a color mutation:

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So how do I know (reasonably) that he’s a boy?  I have determined it behaviorally.  Male budgies tend to talk more often than females and they like to flirt with the girls.  So if your bird does these things, you most likely have a boy!

A final note.  You can have a budgie’s sex determined by a veterinarian surgically or genetically.  Visit here for a great article about that process!  It is a little more involved and does cost money, but it is also fairly accurate and very helpful if you are trying to breed your budgie(s).

 

 

 

Birdie Fun, Blog

Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

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We are so excited here at the perch because the holiday season is in full swing.  In an effort to include the birds in all the festivities, and to get you guys excited about celebrating the holidays with your birds, we are going to share some holiday themed enrichment ideas over the next few weeks!

This first one is both simple and fun.  Remember those cute little folded snowflakes you made around this time of year in elementary school?  Let’s bring those back…this time for your birds!  If you don’t remember how to make them, stay tuned for some instructions.  Then it’s up to you to let your imagination soar from there.

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Materials Needed:

White paper (do not used colored paper, as dyes can be bad for your birds)

Scissors

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Let it Snow:

Cut the paper into squares roughly matching the size of snowflakes you want.  I used 8.5 x 11 inch computer paper, folding down 2.5 inches from the top and cutting the extra section off so that I could get perfect squares!  These can be folded again, for smaller squares.

Next, I folded the squares in a series of triangles.  Here are all the steps:

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After you have your small triangular shape, cut the excess top off (so that it’s straight along the top and includes all layers of paper).  Then trim to create a pattern of your choice and unfold carefully.

The possibilities are endless, so let your imagination flow! You can also click here for some easy instructions and patterns you can print out and just cut (how easy it that).  The patterns with holes near the top are best, since you will then be able to hang the snowflakes in your bird’s cage!  Speaking of hanging, some things you can use to secure the snowflakes include carabiner clips and  screw links. 20151201_095035.jpg

If you have some toys around that aren’t being used, you can take the hangers from them temporarily to save time and money.  You could also hang the snowflakes on toys, prop them up in the cage (I just don’t recommend putting them on the cage floor, as they’ll get pooped on), or attach them to perches.  Again, let your imagination be your guide.

Depending on your budgie(s), you might be able to put your decorations right in the cage and allow them to be enjoyed, or you may have to put the snowflakes near the cage a few days to let your bird(s) get used to them.  If your bird seems frightened or won’t go near the decorations, definitely try option #2!

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We hope you enjoy adding some holiday cheer to your bird’s environment this season.  If you do try this project, please share your pictures on our Facebook page in response to this post…we can’t wait to see what you come up with !!!