Last Updated on by Mitch Rezman
To be clear with about 350 species of parakeets you are referring to budgerigars aka budgies is what I’ll assume for this answer.
Your first consideration should be “am I ready to end my relationship with my current bird?”
Sounds harsh but budgies are flock animals, the bigger the flock, the more efficient the flock, which I’ll touch on later.
A second bird defines
“twos company, threes a crowd.
“birds of a feather flock together”
Aside from providing food, water, and general care, your relationship would no longer be necessary for your first love, again harsh but you asked.
Housing is next.
Where is bird number 2 going to reside?
You are most likely assuming that the current cage you have will do but there are other complications.
Keep in mind, if you bring in a budgie of the opposite sex the potential for babies explodes exponentially.
“Easy,” you say “I’ll get a bird of the opposite sex.”
Which is fine, or not?
Jealousies could ensue.
We have three budgies (out of 9) missing at least one toe each.
Two others have facial scars.
The majority of those injuries happened while eggs were being sat upon ultimately providing three juvenile budgies.
The hormonal intensity these birds can show when bringing new birds into the flock is nothing short of breathtaking.
Little birds like budgies and canaries that have been around for a hundred million years have razor-honed instinctual expectations and both species will kill to the death if need be to protect a mate or territory.
How does one prepare for this?
Let’s circle back to the “I’ll use the cage I have for the second bird” discussion.
I don’t know what your situation is but I will advocate that before you get a second bird and you want them to reside in the same cage you get a cage that is at least double the size of your current birdcage.
“Get the biggest birdcage you can afford” has never had relevance until now.
With flock-type birds like budgies as opposed to a pair of larger parrots, budgies are communal thinkers.
They have good days and bad days, just like humans.
You will want to provide at least two watering areas and two feeding areas.
Birds can and will block egress to food so secondary feeders are a necessity.
In budgie aviaries keep most of your perches high, allowing the horizontal center space of your cage for flight, both exercise, and escape.
Lastly, budgies are naturally ground feeders, so we include a common high-rimmed plate filled with a mound of our special budgie seed mix, for the whole gang on the bottom along with the three feeders on the cage sides.
It’s hard not to keep adding budgies ~ you’ve been warned.
Earlier I mentioned “flock efficiency”.
Budgies are organized and communicative, here’s an example, this was not done by a single budgie.
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