Budgies can relax and tense up their crown, causing the feathers to fan and fluff out. This impressive display is a lot more prominent in Exhibition budgerigars whose crown feathers have more length than their wild counterparts.

In a nutshell, head feathers fluffing out demonstrating a frontal rise is what us exhibitors call blowing. Bigger and nicer the blow, more impressed the judges tend to be with our birds. Whoever shows off the best tends to win a lot of points!

Please allow Sparrow, Elwood and Butters to demonstrate a blow in order of best display to average

I want to have a Christmas tree in my room with my semi-free roam budgie(s)

I went away to see my dad for two weeks, ive only ever been away from them for a week at a time, that and I started school a few months ago so I'm away quite a bit.

I always call them at least once a day to tell them goodnight which they apparently seem excited about according to my girlfriend. They fly around and do a lot of flock calls whenever I'm away.

I'm home now and our usually super flight eager girl has barely flown out of the cage, in general they seem to be a bit off when its only me in the room and not my girlfriend.

Are they mad at me :( they do still seem to like me atleast a little bit based on their behaviour but are they a bit salty about leaving for so long? :(

I feel bad for my little babies but I had to go!😞

Oh and my girlfriend is with them all day everyday, she is a bit sick and our birds seem to know she kinda relies on me on bad days, so could they be mad that I left her alone?

New to the community - our family is considering taking on 2 budgies from a family friend who needs to rehome hers. I was wondering if there are a few go to sites for best care practices. We keep reptiles, so I’m used to having something like Reptifiles as a resource that has more humane/current recommendations than something like a pet store care guide. I’ve read through the cages wiki and guides about perches and switching to pellets but would love any other resources trusted by the community. YouTube channels are okay but I prefer written information if there is something available.

My Alice came very close to dying the other night because i was an idiot and left a half cup of coffee with creamer on the table, and before i could blink, she had hopped up on the rim of the cup and taken a drink. She flew up in the air and into my face, back onto the table and started choking and she threw up something that looked like coffee with creamer. She kept working her neck up and down, i was petrified. The only thing i could think to do was offer her water, she was able to take a drink after a bit, then she drank sip after sip, which must have helped because she then ate a bunch of millet. She seemed ok after a while but you can bet i kept a close eye on her through the night.

She seems to have recovered fine, but i learned my lesson to never leave anything out that she shouldn't have. So be careful guys💚💚💚🦜

I have 2 in my cage, and the Hooligans are big fans. Since I put them in vertically, they do double duty as chew and climbing objects that keep both beaks and nails in good shape.

My two female birds have taken notice of eachother, but im unsure if they wanna beef or just wanna be social

They aren’t making any noice towards eachother just coping and climbing together

Onix is a very stout looking bird at just 37 days of age. He sports an impressive demeanour alongside his gothic look as an Anthracite budgerigar. I'm liking him a whole lot more than I liked his father Nox at the same age - especially the longer mask.

He'll definitely have a spot on my show team in 2027. Whether he places in the bench or not, I'm sure he'll make me very proud.

His younger siblings don't stand out as much as he does, but I'm pretty stoked about his Mauve sisters.

In order : 1. Korra 🤍 ( 2.5 months old ) 2. Gumball 🩵 ( 1.5 year old ) 3. Pedro 🩵 ( 6 years old ) 4. Opal 💜 ( 5 years old )

Hello! i live somewhere where the temperature fluctuates greatly with two budgies, my ac is inconsistent, letting the room cold for half and hour then making it warm. are there any suggestions for a space heater that can stay on all winter? i was thinking maybe a reptile heater but it sounds so stupid and dangerous, i just wanted to hear another opinion as google isn’t cutting it.

Meet our newest family member, Moose! Any idea on sex and age?

Just picked up this cage at an auction for only $15 yesterday! I think the bar size is perfect. I'll surely add around 2-3 more toys so the birds have lots to play with. I'm thinking of adding another water bottle so each bird has their own? I've housed Goose and Onix in there comfortably, but I think I can fit a third budgie too. That's a good reason to get another budgie! I'm sure you all would agree! I love how lightweight this cage is with its wood build instead of heavy metal cages. They're density of chopsticks almost, so it should lessen the chances of injuries from flapping into the cage. So far, I love this cage as their home. I was so giddy when I was able to snag it!

Okay, now that I've got the fun stuff out of the way, some of you can take a deep breath and relax, because here's the REAL kicker I wanted to share - construction of our aviary has begun by our future homestead in the country. Framework is being laid out at the barn. I've got my first draft of the floor plans sent to the contractors. I've thrown in the 3D designs in there for them to visualise.

I've allocated three flight enclosures for the budgerigars, which should more than comfortably accommodate ~200 of them as my flock continues to expand. I've wanted to keep my younger ones separated for about a year before letting them move into their adult space. That hasn't always been possible with the space in our home at this time (which is quite plenty), but I'd find it easier to manage older and younger birds separately as they have slightly different dietary needs for the first year of their lifespan. Having a separate enclosure for all my outcross acquisitions will be quite nice too, that way I can sort my own line easily and pick them out faster when I show them.

Our tiels and Conures will get their own spaces too, and I'll also have space for the Gouldian Finches and Diamond Doves I've been wanting to acquire for a few years. Having the aviary's own plumbing and storage system will make maintenance so much easier due to installation of trough drains. Our older robot vacuum Mister Meryl Sweep (my favourite child) will also find their forever home there. It'll have its own HVAC unit and several exhaust fans installed to really maximise air filtration, as bird dander is not only hazardous to them, but also to us in enclosed spaces. The rooms will in the same breath, will have optimal temperature and humidity regulated through all seasons - especially our 42C/108F summers.

As for decor, there will be plenty of bird themed artwork laid around, and my awards boards from the shows will also move there. This will be a long term project that will take a few years before I consider the set-up fully complete, but I'm excited to afford our flock the much larger space they deserve.

And it gets even more exciting - because this is just the FIRST of TWO aviaries we'll have. The second aviary and animal home will be attached to our house after construction is over, where our other parrots will move into, along with the 6 dogs, 2 cats, and the rabbits. That will be an additional 1500 square feet of space for the animal family. My most favourite budgies (not necessarily the ones I'll be showing) will live there, along with our Quakers, Parrotlet, Conures, and possibly a Greenwing Macaw I've been wanting for years too.

Dreaming big is the easy part. Watching it become reality was something beyond inconceivable for many years, so I'm very excited for the upcoming changes in our lives. It's bittersweet, because we're very attached to our current home and would hate to part ways with her. But my family is ready for change.

^{l am an experienced aviculturist who specialises in budgerigars. I show these birds competitively in the United States. A lot of knowledge and specialised skillset are required to safely navigate through the breeding process. As always, I strongly advise against breeding without mentorship and veterinary technical skills. I document and share the good and the challenges with utmost transparency. I share our stories on Reddit, TikTok and Facebook.}

I had a male budgie named sky for 7 or 8 months. Doesn't sound like a long time but he made so much progress. He went from this budgie that was terrified of every little thing to chirping when he saw me and landing on me every chance he got. He loved everyone in the house, I was his favorite. I would be in my room playing my game and when I went in the living room he looked at me with the cutest little face I've ever seen in my life and flew right over to me. I have a female too and they used to bicker a lot but they were untimetely best friends. They flew everywhere together and mostly got along really well. My dad was outside and opened the door and he just dived at him and flew right out. He went so fast nobody could even see where he went. Sorry if im all over the place or not making sense eith this story, im just so upset and dont know what to do. I dont know what im gonna do without him. My other budgie has to habe another budgie around to be comfortable with us. He was the highlight of my day. When I get off work, I just looked forward to seeing them. I cant believe this just happened. We looked for hours, played budgie sounds, called for him. But never seen him or even heard him once. And I know budgies dont have a sense of where home is once they are outside. The thought of something happening to him makes me sick to my stomach. I live in ohio and I've seen multiple Hawks around here. I hate the fact me might get attacked. He is probably so scared and confused. We were all he knew, we were the only things keeping him alive. We had issues with our past budgies, they always died really soon because they were sick without us noticing. My female and him are the first budgies we've had that actually made it. I was so excited to have years and years eith these birds. And he flew away. And I hate to say this but between the 2, he was my favorite. I will miss you and love you forever sky.

Hi all, new to this (budgies and reddit) so Im hoping for some guidance

Background: Moved in w/ GF who had Male Budgie whos about 6-7. Was already trained and well-behaved, took maybe a month for him to get used to ME and the new environment.

We just got a new Budgie (Cloudy) that we believe is a young female, we properly quarantined her and then introduced the two birds to each other. They get along great, however shes now OBSESSED with being around him and still doesn't trust us. Have had a few incidents where we had to physically catch her and put her back in the cage and when they call to each other shes trying to open all the doors/hatches to escape (which she managed to do once already).

I am very new to this, especially with raising and training a Budgie. I want to do this right and I feel like im failing. We have separated them again and she seems to have calmed down. So here are my questions

\- How long did it take you all for your budgie to trust you and what were some of the tactics you used?

\- Can you get a Budgie to trust you even after a few instances where you may have frightened them?

\- Is it better to train her separated from the other budgie or try to use him as a guide and show her we can be trusted?

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated 👏🏻