Budgie Parakeets

We’ve fallen head over heels for one of the best pets for city living, and I should know because I’ve owned and cared for almost every pet critter available. What is it? The parakeet — also known as a budgie, which is short for Budgerigar. Budgies are the most popular pet parrot in the world. They are intelligent, lively, comical, affectionate, social, expressive, funny, entertaining little lovebugs. They don’t squawk loudly like other parrots can — instead, they express themselves with a cheerful little chatter and can be taught to talk. When imprinted and tame, they sit on your finger, ride on your shoulder, cuddle with you, fly around your home, come to you when called and give you kisses. They come in a wide variety of colors: everything except red and pink. They don’t pee on the carpet, disturb the neighbors with noises or odor, or require walks in the rain. These magnificent little creatures are simple and inexpensive to care for and they rarely require veterinary care. And you won’t break the bank to buy one, either — they typically cost between $10 and $100 each. They are oodles of inexpensive, low maintenance love and fun!

We Raise, Handfeed and Train Baby Budgie Parakeets:

Handfeeding parakeet babies is a HUGE time commitment. By the time they've weaned, we've fed them by syringe at least 112 times!

While some parent-raised budgies (the kind you find at most pet stores) can be tamed given plenty of time and patience, you are much more likely to enjoy your bird if it was imprinted to humans at a very early age. My daughter and I pull the chicks from the nest at 10-16 days of age to lovingly hand-raise and hand-feed them (with formula and syringe) around the clock for the next 3 to 5 weeks. Each chick gets held and cuddled a minimum of 112 times before they are weaned! It’s one heck of a time commitment but the results are totally worth it!

Our primary goal as hobby breeders is to create the most lovable, well-rounded feathered friends. While the babies are learning to eat a variety of wholesome foods on their own (weaning), we continue to handle and socialize them several times each and every day. They eat dinner at the dining room table with our family, sit on our shoulder while we push the vacuum, and cuddle with us while we watch movies. They are flighted (their wings are not clipped) and they are allowed the space and opportunity to learn to fly and safely navigate our home. (You may choose to clip your budgie’s flight feathers when you bring him/her home, but we feel it is critical for a young bird’s development to learn to fly first.) We encourage them to come to our hand and to step up on our finger. They are introduced to a variety of novel toys, places, people and situations.

No seed junkies! We wean our babies onto a wide variety of nutritious foods.

We are committed to their health, too. We feed them a wide variety of natural, organic and nutritious foods including organic sprouted seeds, legumes and grains; organic vegetables and fruit; mashed hard-boiled eggs; organic whole grain bread; organic baby food (made for humans); millet sprays; and finally (and very sparingly) a seed mix. A fresh cuttlebone and a mineral block is always within their reach. This early exposure to foods (other than the seed-only diet typically fed to pet-store birds) creates birds who readily accept a varied diet that will increase health and longevity. Click here to view complete parakeet feeding recommendations and sprouting directions.

We “abundance wean” our babies which means that rather than arbitrarily pick a convenient date and rush it, we allow them to tell us when they’re done with our supplemental formula feedings from a syringe and ready to eat 100% on their own. Typically our babies are ready to go to their new homes sometime between the age of 5 and 8 weeks of age.

Available Budgie Parakeets and Prices:

Are you looking for one (or more) to adopt? See what we currently have available: Budgie Parakeets Available For Adoption.

Photos and descriptions of our parakeet breeding pairs and personal pets: Parakeets Sharing Our Nest.

One, Two, or More? Parakeets are very social creatures and they live much happier lives when they have other parakeets to share it with. Therefore I strongly encourage keeping at least two parakeets in the same cage together. Should you choose to keep just one, be prepared to include the bird in your daily activities because you and your family will need to replace the missing flock.

Prices? Hand-fed American Parakeets: $55 for one baby or $100 for two. Handfed English Budgies: $65 and up. We occasionally rescue adult birds — our adoption rehoming fee is $10-25 depending on whether or not we were able to finger-train them. See what we have available now. Sorry, no shipping. Pick up is in Fort Collins, CO. Please email us to reserve your budgie: Jen @ puppies are prozac . com (remove all spaces first). We require a $15 non-refundable deposit for holds.

Please Note: If you landed on this page because you were searching for breeding information and are thinking about breeding your own parakeets, please be advised that breeding and raising parakeets is done out of love for the animal, not for money. I spend FAR MORE money raising and caring for my birds than I make by selling them. And I spend hours every day hand-feeding chicks and cleaning cages. If you still want to breed yours, please do your research first: Parakeets need to be at least 12 months of age to safely breed, lay eggs and raise a clutch. A pair should be limited to two clutches per year for health reasons. It is very important that you remove the nestbox after the second clutch to rest the breeding pair for the remainder of the year.

Our Lifetime Commitment:

We commit to the well-being of the birds we raise for their entire lifetime. Should you ever need to rehome a budgie that you bought from us, we will take it back, no questions asked. We’ll even refund $15 of your purchase price!

Cages and Aviaries:

We converted a china hutch into this large flight cage. We removed the shelves, installed ventilation panels into sides and top, and filled it with perches, ladders, swings and sisal climbing ropes.

We provide our birds ample opportunity for exercise and flight. We’ve retrofitted a couple of large pieces of furniture and turned them into bird habitats. These ” birdie mansions” are placed by a window so our budgies enjoy plenty of natural light and a great view of the backyard with wild bird feeders. They have lots of room to fly from perch to perch and keep mentally and physically entertained. Glass doors offer us easy access, unobstructed viewing, and keep feathers, dander, seeds and hulls contained. Our bird habitats are cleaned daily — we replace the paper on the bottom and use a vacuum hose to remove stray food remains and feathers every morning. When the birds are out on their portable play gym, we wipe the interior walls and glass down with vinegar water (household cleansers contain chemicals that can be deadly for small creatures).

We converted a display case into this 6 foot long x 4 foot high flight habitat and filled it with swings and toys.

NOTE: Caging materials should be sturdy and free of lead and zinc. Galvanized metal and wire mesh contains toxic substances! If you choose to make an aviary as we have, please contact us for important safety information first! For instance, ventilation panels are essential, as is the use of non-toxic wood finishes and/or paint.

Before you bring your parakeet(s) home, please read our parakeet care information page and prepare a cage with the recommended specifications.

Bird Play Gyms:

This model has 3 levels plus 10 perches. All but two of the perches swivel 360 degrees to create a variety of configurations ($59).

My husband is a plumber and he enjoys making portable, table-top playgyms out of PVC pipe for birds’ entertainment and exercise. The base of the gym is glued for stability but the rest of the gym (where the birds normally play) is just pushed firmly together to allow for adjustments, variations, and safety. Simply place the playgym on top of a clean layer of newspaper to catch droppings. Vet wrap is used for traction and zip ties are used to fasten toys into place. View more play gyms models and sizes — we make them for all sized birds and can accommodate custom orders!

Learn More About Budgie Parakeets:

Budgie Parakeet Nutrition and Food Recommendations

Playgyms, Stands and Perches: How to Order — or Build One of Your Own

Budgie Parakeet Care: Tips, Articles and Links

Budgie Parakeets Available For Adoption

Pictures of Handfed Baby Parakeets

Pictures of The Parakeets That Share Our Nest