The Feathered Coop


PARAKEET INFORMATION



Scientific Name: Melopsittacus undulates
Size: Small, up to 9 inches
Native Region: Australia
Life Expectancy: 15 years
Noise Level: Low frequent chattering
Trick / Talking Ability: Low Personality: One of the most commonly kept bird in the United States. These tiny parrots are chatterboxes that love to play and hop around on their play gyms and their owners alike.
Behavior / Health Concerns: Neglected parakeets/budgies can be susceptible to host of avian disease, include: PFBD, fatty liver disease, psittacosis, polyomavirus, cancer, giardiasis, gout and chronic malnutrition.



Additional Information

We only breed American Parakeets, not English Budgies.

All our Parakeets are hand-raised/fed. Hand-raised/fed babies typically are easier to handle than parent-raised babies. They tend to be more comfortable with humans and hands, and are not as scared about being handled or taken out of their cage. Please keep in mind that babies do show fear when introduced to new humans, once they get to know them, that fear quickly fades. Also, even though we raise all the babies the exact same way, there are some babies that are just born more cautious and may take longer to warm up to you.

Baby parakeets can take up to 6 months of age to mature enough to know their sex, and most wean and are ready to go to their new homes between 6 and 8 weeks of age. If you desire a certain sex, the only way to know is to have a DNA test done. The test can be done at an extra fee of $25 and is non-refundable and non-transferable. This means there will be a fee of $25 for each individual bird tested. If you desire to know the sex because you read that male parakeets have a better chance of talking/singing, we must warn you that this is not always true. Each bird has its own personality and we have just as many females as we do males that talk/sing and just as may males as females that do not make many sounds at all. It truly depends on the bird and your interaction with your bird as to whether or not it will ever talk/sing. This also applies if you have read that males are friendlier than females.

If you want to have the DNA test performed on a bird, please let us know. You will need to send the monies ($25 per bird tested) via one of the options indicated on the Purchase Process page before the test will be done. Once monies are received, we will tentatively place the baby we are DNAing on hold for you (pending the test results), take a blood sample from the baby, mailing it to the DNA center and if all goes well, the results should be received via email within 5-7 days. Once we receive them, we will let you know. If the baby is the sex you were desiring, the baby can then be placed on permanent hold for you.

If the baby is not the sex your were desiring, you have a choice the place the baby on permanent hold for you or release it to the next family, forfeiting the $25 paid and starting the process all over again.



The colors our parakeet pairs produce are typically the normal-barred mutations and are either green, yellow and black or blue, white and black. Our pairs do produce other colors and/or mutations but not so often.

​ If you are looking to obtain a certain color and/or a certain sex, or possibly visiting to meet the babies, play with them and take one home the same day, we might have some issues. There is such a demand on our hand fed baby parakeets that they are normally placed on hold within minutes of us updating the website on Sunday evenings.

For the health of our breeding pairs, we do provide them breaks between clutches. Since we have so many pairs, this allows us to give a pair a break while another is actively breeding. If there are no babies at this time, there are certainly going to be more coming in a short period of time.

The question of one or two parakeets is a question we actually get quite often and here is our feeling on it... Like humans, animals like to have companionship of their "own kind", but they can survive just fine alone too as long as they have some sort of companionship, whether it be from a human or another kind of animal. We do not believe they make better pets when they are alone or with a companion... Each bird is different (no matter the sex, not matter the age, no matter whether hand raised or parent raised) and some like to sing/talk and some don't, some like to cuddle/kiss and some don't, some like to be held and some don't, etc. You just never know what your particular bird will do or won't do. With that said, we often tell people to start out with one parakeet, giving you time to adjust to having a bird in general, and learning all the quirks that come along with that. It also allows for the bird's personality to come through and if it is felt that it needs a companion of its own kind, another can be added later. It is not hard to add a second at a later date as they typically accept them with open arms, that is after "who is in charge" has been worked out. Yes, they will bicker from time to time but that is normal, no different from human children.

Because you work or go to school the majority of the day, is it unfair to only have one? Honestly, no. Like humans, birds like their alone time too and will normally use this time to sleep or play with their favorite toy. If you wanted to give them the feeling that they are not alone, you could always leave on the radio or tv. Or, you could put a mirror in the cage when you are gone and that helps to make them believe that they have a friend with them.



Can you mix species? Yes you can but try to stay in the parakeet or cockatiel family, any other kind of bird might be too aggressive. We house parakeets and cockatiels together all the time and they do very well with one another. There are obviously exceptions to every rule and that needs to be considered when mixing the species.

Do birds poop everywhere? YES!!! Birds will poop about every 20 minutes and more often when nervous. They can be potty-trained but it takes a lot of patience and understanding to achieve this and even the most trained birds will still have their mistakes. Their poop does not normally stain clothing or furniture and is often easier to clean from fabrics once it has dried as it will just flake off. If they poop on ceramic or vinyl flooring, it is easier to clean it up when wet. Most bird owners own what we call "bird shirts" and these are shirts we don't care if they are stained or if holes are chewed in them and will only allow our birds to be on us when we have them on.

And finally, what size cage for one or two parakeets... Typically a 16x16x16 for one parakeet and a 20x20x20 for two parakeets is sufficient. You could probably go a bit smaller but larger is better. Tall or wide cage? We recommend wide cages but either would work.

If you have additional questions, please fell free to contact us.​


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