Well,me and my family recently bought 2 parakeets(in my sig.) from petland.It's to early to tell their sex,but I think the white one(Sky) is male and the colorful one(Emerald) is female.In the pic. it looks like Sky's ceir(sorry,I may have spelled it wrong)is white,but it's actually purple-ish.And I heard female budgies are more aggressive and Emerald is much more aggressive than Sky,but also much more timid.I have some questions about my beloved parakeets.

1.) I read Lisa Shea's guide to get your parakeets trust,and have a question about that. Sky and Emerald are afraid of me of course, and in step 1 they have to get used to my hand. Well when I change the food and water, they don't go bananas,they watch,but if my hand get's to close,they stand back.Does this mean I'm still on step 1?

2.) I let my parakeets out everyday for 30 min. - 1 hr. but when they come out,it's not to exercise,they seem to want to run away.I know they must be terrified of me,but when do you think they'll settle down?

3.) Last question.Remember how I said "Me and my family"?Well my brother is pretty loud when he gets mad,my sister cries(Loud!) and my mom yells when something goes wrong.I know this will get the keets even more afraid of us,but will they get used to it?

Thank you!I'm going to buy my keets a water bottle and some toys tomorrow.I do have a water bowl for them but I read that water that sits out for awhile gets bacteria and when the keets drink they could become ill,but that won't happen with a water bottle.

Hello I had just bought parakeets about two weeks ago and found out that I had got two females instead of two males. I later went back to the store and got a male. you can tell by the nose. If the nose is blue then it is a male.

You should keep your birds in the cage till they can get on your finger and have trust in you. how else will you get the birds after they have left the cage, with a net??? It will cause distrust that way.

Sometimes it is hard to tell the sex when they are babies. Be patient with the training. And get a treat called millet the birds love them. let me know how they are doing.

Hi and welcome!

Generally it's best to train them to step up on your hand before letting them out. How do they come out? Do they come out of the cage themselves?

If they back up when your hand is too close, you should back off a little. I agree with labusdriver about millet spray (cut into 2 or 3 inch pieces) -- it's a great reward for them when they step up or go back into the cage or whatever.

About the noise: you want the keets in a room where activity happens, but not excessive amounts of noise, so you have to decide where is the best place for them... They probably will adapt to the noise levels in their environment, but people yelling and all stressed out will have a negative effect on birds.

Thank you both for answering!

Labusdriver: Well actually, to get them back in the cage, I just give them their food dish,they step up to it and start eating,and I pick up the dish, and put it in the cage with the food.

P&R Mom: Ok,then I think I know where they should be!And I'm the one who lets them out.At first they were afraid to come out of the cage but now they love it!I started letting them out because they looked depressed and sad.All they did was sit there.I have a mirror and some toys,but they don't use them.Today I'm going to buy them more toys,and a swing perch.

So I shouldn't let them out of the cage again,until they trust me?What if they just sit there and do nothing?Wouldn't that be bad?

lol sky my bird does the same he sits their looks at the mirror most of the day or just paces back and fourth on the perch. i dont know how i would get him back in if he comes out. i want to get a bigger cage for him and i plan on buying another bird somethign that looks as cute as sky =)

Thanks Mitchell!I think Sky and Emerald are both really cute,but I'm starting to think Sky's Female.In my sig, Sky's cere(Sorry for spelling) looks white,but up close it's blue-ish/purple-ish color,but it's still to young to tell.I think you should get Sky(your Sky) a companion.And probably a bigger cage would do better for two birds.

I went to pet smart today and I bought a bell,a swing, a water bottle, and a bird bath.I hope they learn how to use the water bottle soon,because until they learn how I'm giving them water through their old bowl.They're scared of the swing for now.Emerald got on,but tried to get off right away because the swing started moving.They don't know that the bell makes a noise,and they're scared of the water bottle(it's pretty big).

are the wings on your keeters clipped? You might want to consider it until you get them trained. I never had a huge problem getting my keeters back to their cage. They're so timid, when they were new they couldn't wait to get back to their safe spot.

Just the other day I was doing exercises and the keets were upstairs with me. Heneri didn't like the look of that and hopped all the way downstairs to the cage!

Kathy

I'm not sure if they're clipped.When I bought them,the worker at petland said we can take them back to get their wing clipped and nails trimmed for free for a year.She said to bring them every 2 months.When they are on the ground outside the cage they try to fly up but only reach about 3-5 inches off the ground.

I covered their cage just now.They're both on the top perch,but before I covered the cage,they were climbing on the side's of it.They love doing that.Hopefully by tomorrow they can use the water bottle.

hehe same my ziggy juss got on the swing today and hes got off for a little sat by the mirror and then got back on itz cool =].
i dont think ziggy got his wings clipped when i get the other bird (female) should i clip her wings? i rather have them fly i was thinking..
cann someone please gimmie some suggestions on some parakeet food please.. =)
i asked my mom to get him some new toys tomorrow