Are Budgerigars Afraid of the Cold? A Detailed Guide to Winter Care and Warmth Methods
Budgerigars originate from Australia and were introduced to our country in the early 1930s. They are kept very widely, and there are a great many people who love this pet bird. Strictly speaking, budgerigars are not very afraid of the cold; generally, keeping the winter temperature at 5-10°C is enough for them to safely get through the winter. Of course, if the temperature is very low, budgerigars are still afraid of the cold, so what should be done?
Are Budgerigars Afraid of the Cold?
Budgerigars are indeed afraid of the cold; it is just that budgerigars are relatively easier to keep and their requirements for the environment are relatively not too high. But this is not a reason to neglect their needs. Only in a suitable environment can they live better. It is strongly recommended to keep them indoors in winter, especially young birds. Young birds are not as cold-resistant as adult birds. If the indoor temperature is below 5°C, it is recommended to cover them with a cotton curtain at night to keep them warm.
What Should Be Done If Budgerigars Are Afraid of the Cold?
1. When the outdoor temperature is especially low, owners should move the budgerigar's cage from outdoors to indoors. If family conditions allow, you can prepare a larger cardboard box for the pet bird, hang a 40-watt incandescent lamp inside it, and use the heat given off by the lamp to warm the bird.
2. During the winter period for budgerigars, owners should prepare more oil-rich foods to ensure the bird has enough to eat, so that its body can store more fat to resist the cold of winter. The oil-rich foods prepared by owners can include perilla seeds, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, rapeseed, peanuts or sunflower seeds, and so on.
3. To give budgerigars a warm and comfortable environment, owners can also spread a layer of cotton wadding in the birdcage or in a large cardboard box, and wrap a thin cotton quilt around the birdcage to resist the winter wind and low-temperature weather, so that budgerigars can safely get through the winter.
How to Best Keep Budgerigars
1. Cage: A relatively large square metal cage should be used, with the cage size being 40 cm long, 35 cm wide, and 35 cm high. The bottom of the cage should have a drawer-type sand tray (dropping tray) for easy cleaning of droppings. The nesting box for budgerigars is a horizontal nest; the nest box size is a rectangular small wooden box 25 cm long, 14 cm wide, and 14 cm high, with a partition in the middle, divided into inner and outer chambers. The outer chamber has a round hole leading to the outside, with a diameter of 6 cm, and on the partition between the outer chamber and the inner chamber there is another round hole of the same size, with a diameter of 4 cm, serving as the doorway for the birds to enter and exit. Clean drinking water should be replaced every day, droppings should be cleaned once a week, and in summer be careful not to let the parrots be exposed to direct strong light.
2. Food: The feed is mainly millet and barnyard grass seeds, and at the same time some hemp seeds or perilla seeds should also be fed, but the amount must not exceed 10%. To ensure the nutrition the birds need, green vegetables (Chinese cabbage, rapeseed) and inorganic salts (bone meal, oyster shell meal) should also be fed regularly. This kind of bird tolerates coarse feed, and concentrated feed should not be fed too much, so as to avoid fat deposition and affecting egg laying and reproduction. When feeding, be careful to blow away the grain husks in the food container. Before feeding, green vegetables should be washed and disinfected (a 0.1% potassium permanganate aqueous solution can be used), drained, and any leftovers should be removed the same day. Pay attention to hygiene inside the cage, and frequently clean the sand and droppings. Food and water containers should be scrubbed 1-2 times every day. Although budgerigars are not very afraid of the cold, too low a temperature will affect reproduction, so the indoor temperature in winter should not be lower than 0°C.
3. Temperature: In winter, attention should be paid to keeping warm, and the indoor temperature should not be lower than 16°C. In summer, the temperature is relatively high; generally when it is above 30°C, ventilation should be strengthened. Budgerigars like to eat feed with shells. Usually the diet should be mainly millet, barnyard grass seeds, small millet, or egg small millet. Every day some green vegetables should be fed, and oyster shell meal or bone meal should be kept as a standing feed (you can also put a whole piece of cuttlebone in the cage for them to peck at). Budgerigars reach sexual maturity at 4 months of age and begin to come into heat and mate, and can then be used as breeding birds for reproduction. Budgerigars can reproduce in all four seasons. Generally, each clutch can produce 4-7 eggs, and the eggs are white. One egg is laid every day or every other day. When the third egg is laid, the female bird begins to sit on the nest and incubate. Incubation is mainly done by the female bird, and the incubation period is 18 days.
4. Breeding: Budgerigars are easy to breed, but crossbreeding should be avoided to keep the breed pure. For the health of the offspring, it is advisable to choose parent birds 1-2 years old for pairing. After the male and female mate, the female bird soon begins to lay eggs, one egg every other day, for a total of 4-9 eggs. After the female bird begins laying eggs, she does not leave the nest until incubation is finished; during this period she relies entirely on the male bird to carry food and feed her. The incubation period is about 18 days. The chicks of budgerigars are altricial birds and cannot live independently within 25 days of hatching, relying entirely on the adult birds for feeding. The method by which the parent birds raise the chicks is: the male bird feeds the female bird, and the female bird then feeds the chicks. After the chicks grow for 28 days, they can eat on their own and live independently. When they grow to 5-6 months, they can reach sexual maturity.