We bought a large flight cage for dirt cheap at the North Atlanta Trade center during the bird show/fair yesterday. I rinsed it with hot water and set it up to move the little budgie ( we've named her Nikki ) into her new huge cage.

She still has bars across her forehead. She's got the light colored iris. A week ago, while bathing her in the sink, I noticed her cere was turning a light brown around the edges under her nares. Signs of a female!?
She comes out of her cage at least twice a day, though she doesn't let anyone cuddle her or really pet her, she will step up onto your hand if she's on the floor.

While I'm not really sure about hand taming her, I am planning on adding a second budgie in a month or so. I wanted to get a hand fed one to be her companion and people friendly too. In the end, if Nikki doesn't really tame down at least she has a friend. Would I be able to have a hand fed budgie live in the same cage as Nikki without reverting to being flighty around people?

Hand tamed can be a misnomer - they are used to hands but aren't really all that tame - i think babies take a while to be really tame or to get it 100%. You could get lucky [or the bird would be lucky] if you get a tame bird from a shelter or a re-home. Now there are some here who have seriously cuddly Budgies - just luck i guess - but most don't like to be touched. Laker will now tolerate touching & it's been a year & a half.

I think she will be happier over all with a pal - they are busy guys & with nothing to do they can go nuts or be very bored. Jerry, Laker & Pogo [naming few off the top that i know went thru a long time alone] all responded well to a new Budgie & are still very tame. I think Sugar & Spice are also great friends - like Jerry & Winston they are a standard/American & a Show/English combination. Jojo & TJ are good pals too - they didn't come together either as i recall.

It's really up to you. 2 Budgies is quite noisy by the way but cheerful. If a girl i'd get her a boyfriend. The 'brown' aspect to the cere would mean she's about 6 months old & probably has already had her first molt around 4 months - but you said she still has her bars really close to her cere??? ... get a magnifying glass & checkout her cere just in case it's mites. Now that can be a drag, but is correctable - ask Scott, Pogo's owner as he went thru that horror.

I went to check her just a few minutes ago, her cere isn't crusty, just changing color. Though, I will be covering the cage with a white pillowcase and check for mites anyways. Better to be safe than sorry.

When my hubby comes home tonight, I will try to get some really close up pics of her cere and forehead. Because she came to us as a stray, I don't know how old she is or if she was a pet or a breeder that flew away.

I'm looking through petfinder and CL for single budgies looking for a home. No luck so far.

Try Kijiji as well - if it works in your area. Another place to look or inquire is local bird clubs or assoc.

Good bird hunting.

she sounds cute. a friend would be very good for Nikki.

You said in your first post that she still has bars on her forehead ... so based on that info she's still pretty young - probably 3 to 4 months old. Her cere (if female) will not turn crusty that young. If the cere isn't showing some signs of a blue tint then it's most likely a female.

In either case, sounds like she is doing well and you are taking good care of her. And yes, check carefully for mites. I went through that nightmare with Pogo. It was absolutely horrible and mites are tough to get rid of.

i am really glad to hear she is doing ok, thanks for the update!

Its good to see you and I am soo happy she is ok... Thanks for keeping us up to date. Good luck with finding her a friend!

Hayabusa: While we've had Nikki for a couple of months, it's hard to tell what color her cere will be. Right now it's still mottled in shades of pale blue and white, she's getting a brown shade coming in from the bottom of her cere. It's more colored like her beak.

Pic of her a few days after she showed up on our patio. It looks like the blue is fading away.


I tried to take a close up pic. She does have a very light colored iris.


Side pic.


Here's a pic of her new cage.




Sorry for all the pics, I couldn't seem to get the link thing to work.

She's beautiful! I am so glad you have her! Ruby says "Step Up!"