[grinling]

My 7 year old would like a budgie or parrot. Never owned a bird apart from 4 chooks, how easy is it to look after, how many etc? Basic help please.

[joyfull]

parrots are a very long term pet - they live for many years and during this time can take exception to certain people attacking them so be careful if you go down that route.
Whenever anybody mentions budgies though I always think of Hattie Jacques 

[Brambles]

As a child we had a budgie..  It was fun to teach it to talk and to tame it to sit on our shoulders, heads etc...  Our budgie had quite a repertoire!   Myself and my two siblings only had the one bird but we spent quite a lot of time with it... though there were not the distractions then that there are now (ipods, tv at all times, computers, computer games etc...)  so a budgie was a great way to spend time.

[Trillium]

I'd recommend the budgie over the parrot any day. Only problem with budgies is that they're very susceptible to drafts so place their cage where they won't get any. Other than keeping cats away, they're so easy and friendly. Get the right kind and they're almost like cats - real personalities. Others are just chirpy lumps of feathers. Before I chose mine I watched them in the shop for about 2 hours to see which was the most friendly.

Once a week we added a bit of budgie tonic to their water for overall health, and they do love mirrors to talk to when people aren't around to talk to them.

[kevinp]

I have budgies and a parrot, I have kept them for around six years now and wouldn't be without them. 
this is my lot, from the right Sky (female) the little green one at the back is a Parrotlet (Put Parrotlet into google and you should find my forum on them .org.uk) his name is Squeak, the yellow one is Babe, on the bottom left you have Budge a disabled budgie and next to him the yellow faced one is Frank.


just so you know the green parrotlet is not kept in the same cage as the budgies he only comes out and goes into their cage when I am there.

For me THE budgies have been very easy to care for, in the time I have had them they do sometimes get under the weather and ill but I have been lucky and only lost one to illness some years ago. With the parrots I have had a lot of bad luck as they are more fragile I have lost four, one to illness, one flew head first into a wall and two died of heavy metal poisoning after chewing the window frames.

For a child I would recommend budgies I would get two so they have company as they are flock birds or even a cockatiel both of these are very easy to look after. Remember that vets bill can soon mount up and normally when you notice a bird is ill its normally in the later stages of illness and needs to go to the vet as soon as possible. In the last couple of years I have spent around £1500 - £2000 on vets bill on my Parrots I have been very unlucky but this i what you have to take on when looking after a Parrot

[Springlands]

I would also recommend budgies - ours used to sit on our shoulders and tweet into our ears. It would then fly around the room and land in the most inaccessible place and look down on us as if to say - come and get me. 

As well as keeping budgies out of drafts you also need to ensure that they are not in direct sunshine as they can get too warm.

[Trillium]

When we had budgies, we didn't have cats or dogs, so we bought a special cage with a large landing platform and they had the run of the house when we were home. When we were out, they had to go back in for their own safety (toilets, walls, windows, etc). One was a Harlequin, and wow, did that bird yak something incredible. He had quite a human vocabulary as well (all clean) and often insisted on sharing our meals with us. The last straw for OH was when the harlequin walked right across the bowl of cornflakes  After that, they were caged until we finished eating.

[Raven81]

My mum said if you don't give the budgie a mirror until they are older they are more likely to talk to you (they obviously mimic what they hear although don't understand what they are saying), otherwise they will look in the mirror and talk to themselves in budgie language!
A budgie on average lives 5 to 8 years (they have been known to live up to 20) and a parrot, dependant on the species on average live around 40 years, the larger the species the longer they live, macaws can live up to 100 years!!!!

[grinling]

Thank you for your replies, I will buy a budgie book for the girl, but wait to after moving house and a holiday to buy a cage etc.

[Chookiechook]

I would say budgie too ..... I bought an african grey parrot 6 months ago and have now sold him due to the one horrible noise he keeps making, and more importantly the fact that he seems to hate us all.  He just doesnt seem happy here.

A budgie will hurt if it bites.... the parrot damn near removes a finger if he gets hold of you