This came to me recently when both my husband & I noticed a change in the Budgies lads - when I'm away working for more than a day at a time.
The Budgies live in the back 1/2 of our apt. They have 3 rooms & a hallway to fly around. They have a Christmas cactus & hibiscus tree, many window shades, lamps, cages & a perch to hang out.

When we come home:
They have always called out to us.
They fly back & forth down the hallway so they can see us.
They follow us from room to room & will sometimes land on us.
Their chatter can be a lot louder & they have a lot to say.
They will display jealousy & competition [who gets to sit where] & often fly off in a burst of noise & energy.
They always greet the new person & often ask for attention - just a chat really.

When my husband or I'm away a lot:
They fly onto us immediately.
They keep flying to one of us & sit on our shoulders & head.
Laker will sit beside me & stare - then walk up my arm & roost.
Rio will hang from my hair & peer down at me or sit on the window drape & shout at me - boy is he loud.
They tend to sit in front of my husband, on his desk.

Normally when we are home:
They will come to the rooms we are working in - or reading in.
They will run over everything we have - books, work, keyboard.
They call out to us if we aren't in the back for long.
They hang out 75% with each other & fly, nap, eat & have singing competitions.
They check on us on a regular basis.
They expect interaction - both physical or verbal.


I think that's it ....What about you?

Your babies are just too cute! I loved reading all about your rituals! Ruby is always excited! Silly macaw! When she gets really hyped up though (When we are going to go outside) she flaps and hollers! When she sees someone (Adam's pretty girlfriends) or something (my whatever I am trying to eat) her eyes pin wildly. And of course she will holler "STEP-UP!!!" when she really likes what she sees.

Does he get his point across that you did a bad thing by leaving home for so long? Do you feel suitably reprimanded? Budgie curses is just the cutest.

Well told story, my birdies do similar, you get to know they pleased to see you after the sulking or whatever. Just got love the ignore list sometimes.

Very cute! It is very apparent they are well-socialized! They LUVZ you!

When I get home from work, Jack and Cookie can hear me set the car alarm......before I even put the key in the door, they are yelling their heads off for me. Makes me feel good!

dawn
Crackerjack and Cookie

Larger birds are a hoot too - because of course they have a bigger presence & are so much louder. From your descriptions I can almost see them.

I guess I really wasn't prepared for the level of interaction & the noisiness of multiple Budgies. Matthew & I were just talking about how quiet Laker is compared to Rio. He gets loud when we are loud. Thankfully we all find it entertaining & it makes us laugh.

Oh Yah! - Laker has one he's been working on - when supper arrives.

That is so funny that she uses that expression. Bunny did too & I remember her saying, 'Come step-up' after being in the cage a few minutes + lifting her foot to entice us over.

What sweeties - it must be heartwarming.

Excited budgies are hard to miss (they won't let ya)

I see the most excitement when:

1) I come home from work/out of the house. When I walk in the door I immediately get contact calls from their room and I answer each of their calls and this calms them down. They know the routine that when I get home from work, the dogs/cats/humans first have dinner before they come out of their cages. If, for whatever reason, we are running late - they let us know!! Jerry will start contact calling loudly and repeatedly as if to say, "HELLO, did ya forget about us?!" Winston will then start hopping from perch to perch to perch, antsy to get some fly time in.

2) When they first come out of their cages Jerry generally takes a few laps at full speed around the house (he's so amazing to watch - extremely fast and graceful in everything he does). His excitement is evident in his body language and the way he flies with such gusto yet grace.

3) They get really excited when it's time for the veggies. All I have to do is walk into the kitchen and I immediately have budgies on my head or buzzing around me. They have to supervise either on my head or on the window sill. Winston likes to supervise and sing to me on the window sill when I'm washing bowls or doing stuff in the kitchen. He's very relaxed but excited at the same time doing that. Jerry likes to sneak a bite here and there as I warm up their food - he'll fly to my shoulder and lean way over and he knows I'll offer him a bite from my hand.

I almost can't imagine the level of excitement, for Jerry in particular. I bet he is in heaven when he's out with you.

On holiday - how do you handle everyone?

Having such a diversity of pets is pretty hard. I like how you have sectioned time to be 100% with each one. Having Dave behind it too is why it is working so well. The fact that everyone has a pal is brilliant.

On weekends or holidays everyone gets more time for everything. I usually shower the budgies one day and Lulu the next, and the birds get additional time out of cages in the afternoons. There's no schedule really when it's not a work day, just whatever fits around my plans for the day. I tend to not do a ton on the weekends, it's nice to just relax and it's also when I get to tidy up the house quite a bit.

This Sunday Dave leaves for a trip out west for 2.5 weeks so I'll be a single parent for awhile - it's always difficult with my work schedule and long commute for me to balance everyone. If Dave had a "normal" work schedule like I do it would also be hard - but with him being a teacher his hours are fairly short and now of course he's on summer break. So his schedule helps a ton with things.

But while he's away I'm modifying my work schedule quite a bit - taking 2 full days off in the next two weeks and shortening my hours on 4 days. I'm spacing it all out that so that I'll only be on my regular work hours for 2 days each week - and on those 2 days per week I'll ask my MIL for some mid-day help with the dogs (take them to play or something). I think that'll help everyone. I'll take the dogs for walks in the mornings before I leave and later when I get home, and spice things up a bit like that.

I don't know... my budgies are ALWAYS excited. They zoom from one end of the room to the other ALL THE TIME! They go after each other, they chatter constantly, they feed each other, they roll on the green leaves, they eat the green leaves, they take baths, they zoom some more... I mean, these little birds are worse than the Energizer Bunny!

Ollie shows excitement in a few different ways. When she's in her cage and I walk in the room she goes nuts moving from perch to perch, climbing up the front of the cage, trying to get my attention so I'll let her out of her horrible metal prison. Sometimes she gets so excited that she misses a perch and falls to the bottom of her cage.

When she's out of her cage and excited about something going on she makes a loud WOO WOO sound. It's definitely a learned response to excitement. Along with that she'll do full body shakes and scream at the top of her lungs.