Budgie vs Green cheek conure

[Mrprocrast]

Hey everyone,
So as the title suggests, I am very interested in getting myself a feathered friend but cannot decide between getting budgies or green cheek conures. I've had budgies in the past, and while I was a huge fan of the little balls of energy, I feel like I want to try a different species. I'd love to hear stories and experiences from people who have or had both of these birds. There are a couple things that I would like to know more about when it comes to conures also. For example, I know that with budgies, females tend to be a lot more assertive and fierce, personality wise. Is there a notable difference between sexes in conures too? And I also read quite a lot that conures tend to be very nippy birds. How bad is that usually? Now I know every bird is a different individual, but generalle speaking I do wonder what it would be like. I remember my budgies being a little grumpy and quick to bite from time to time as well, so I'd like to know how conures compare to that.
Hope to hear from yall!

 

[Sparkles99]

Budgies are the best!

I’ve never had conures, but have noted that they’re frequently rehomed due to screaming.

 

[Wardy]

And I also read quite a lot that conures tend to be very nippy birds. How bad is that usually?

They are nippy but not in a aggresive way they can give a good bite if annoyed though.
Both of mine will interact with there beaks a lot Mojo wrestling making sure i am not moving, KeeKs to check the finger,hand arm isnt a monster.
When babys they beak you and you can feel it, bit of work and whilst they still use there beak they dont bite as such there is preassure but no pain.
If mine beak or nip to hard i say no biting they generally stop if they dont they get put down.

screaming.

I read everywhere that cheekies are quiet thats not true IMO. They can create a lot of noise, i would say there is usually a reason for this ( seen a cat through the window , late with food ) mine can get very loud but last minutes.

 

[Wally&Eva]

Budgies are the best!

I’ve never had conures, but have noted that they’re frequently rehomed due to screaming.

I wanted a sun conure (just at first look before any research) but was deterred because of my living situation. Although I have a spacious duplex I’m renting, I have neighbors with kids close by. The sheer noise of them was the reason I decided to wait until I had space where I wasn’t sharing a wall with someone else. Maybe one day! Right now I have 2 lovebirds and even they can be loud and incessant!! I really like budgies too. I was interested in Linnie’s too because they have a more manageable noise level for the most part (I hear, have never interacted with one). And if anything else, I would extend my home to a parrotlet. Good luck finding the right species for you!

 

[flyzipper]

grumpy and quick to bite

Did you take the time do analyze what triggered those bites?

Conure beaks are bigger, so any nip will be amplified -- exploratory or otherwise.

The most common complaint I read about budges is their timidness ("I want to get a species I can interact with more than my budgies"). I don't know if that's a general species characteristic, the outcome of care being provided by novice bird owners (because they're inappropriately viewed as a "starter bird"), or the outcome of budgies being available at mainstream non-specialized pet stores with questionable upbringing, but it has stood out as a general theme when people talk about their budgies. I observe this directly when I visit the bird room at my local bird store -- the conures generally exhibit more curiosity while the budgies appear more timid. Perhaps I've just built these mental models and I'm only focusing on things that serve to reinforce them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Are you able to visit a location with conures to experience them yourself?

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly about BUDGIES!

Ahhhh UGLY not UGLE, sorry! I´ll go first ;) The Good: Well, they are adorable, very sweet and quite ¨cheap¨to keep. Cheap in the sense that I am sure the quantity of food they consume is much smaller than that of a macaw and the toys for tiny birds are also cheaper than those for big birds...

forums.avianavenue.com

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly about Green Cheeked Conures

The attributes listed in this thread are the experiences of each individual and your experiences may differ with your individual bird. The Good~ Nala is by far the sweetest and most loving bird out there,she is happy to snuggle with me against my neck or hand for hours,or just content to sit on...

forums.avianavenue.com

Having experience with small, medium and large species, the only thing I'm confident in saying is 80% of their care is the same.

The other 20% is cost, mess, space requirement, and potential for noise (those factors tend to scale with the size of the species).

 

[AussieBird]

Another budgie biased person here
I just wanted to add on to flyzipper's biting comment.
From what I've experienced and seen budgie rarely (if ever) bite for no reason. And I personally think the only reason you hear about biting budgies is because boundaries have been crossed. Which is easy to do with small non "intimidating" bird, you don't see people intentionally crossing a macaw's boundaries for example.
I go the hands off approach to keeping my budgies (which has it's down sides!), the only hand interactions we have are medical or millet
I don't mean to imply that you were interacting or caring for your budgies wrong, but I wanted to put something to think about out there.

 

[Mrprocrast]

Thanks for all the replies so far. Especially thanks for the links @flyzipper! I'm new on the forum so not too familiar with where to find everything. And in answer to the last 2 comments; Don't worry, I completely understand what you mean. They indeed tend to be bitey when I was being too persistent with something or crossed their boundaries which clearly didn't happen often. But they also just had their random days where they just were grumpy. Although again, very rarely.
And my question about that is simply how that compares to conures. Because you don't read about budgies that they're nippy, while it's one of the most commonly discussed things in conures. So do they tend to bite that much more often?

 

[Wardy]

So do they tend to bite that much more often?

They are not biters in my experience i have seen pics and read threads where owners have had some bad bites from GCC that have broken the skin, I have had a few bites in the time i have had my two that have hurt, the nip nibble and beak all the time but thats just playing.

 

[NEVRM0RE_]

I only have budgie experience, my budgies aren't "bitey" or "nippy" at all, but we also don't pick them up or try to get them to step up from inside their cage. Id rather be nipped by a tiny beak, than a bigger beak. Our local rescue has about 70+ budgies in care, and about 12 conures. Every conure profile says that they can be nippy or have been surrendered for nippy reasons, but the rescue indicates they all have great body language. None of the budgies have profiles to compare because there are too many.
I guess decide what your deal breaker is, and don't choose a bird that may exhibit it - but i don't know how reliable species generalizations are. I had an 80lb rescue pitbull who was way better behaved and NEVER bitey/aggressive but my inlaws had a Shizu that was mean as nails. We had to muzzle our dog outside of the house, they never did. ‍ maybe birds are more general, but that hasn't been my experience (except that my lady budgie is definitely sassy!!)

 

[flyzipper]

you hear about biting budgies is because boundaries have been crossed. Which is easy to do with small non "intimidating" bird, you don't see people intentionally crossing a macaw's boundaries for example.

This is key and I wanted to echo it to reinforce the message.

Anecdotally, I've always believed in no-force approaches to caring for my birds, but as I added increasingly larger species, I noticed all the subtle ways I was forcing my littlest.

Example, I could wrap my entire hand around my conure when she didn't want to step up traditionally (this is physically impossible with my larger guys).

With that added experience and newfound perspective, I now always ask in the back of my mind, "would I do this with Oscar?" (my biggest).

Given that I was consciously attempting not to use force, yet was, I can imagine it being much easier to cross boundaries if somebody believes a bird should do what it's told.

When boundaries are crossed, we must ask, "after what stimulus?", and, "how did it cause me to react?" -- that's the other side of, "my x is nippy" (i.e. our own behaviour).

 

[owlsthetic]

In my personal experience with both birds my female budgie was actually very sweet and not nippy at all. She was very timid and hands shy though since she came from a big box pet store where they just grab at the birds to catch and box them for customers so I don't blame her.

She wasn't very noisy at all except when I played music which she loved to chatter/sing along with. And she was always content just hanging/perching around near me and very occasionally she would prefer to be on me.

My GCC is definitely louder and more confident. He screams when he hears the shower or vacuum and I would describe it as an ear piercing sound (especially when he's screaming near my face) but most of the time he isn't very loud.

I do think GCCs tend to be more nippy birds in comparison to budgies. And their nips tend to hurt a lot more due to the beak size difference to a budgie. My GCC was very nippy when he first came home. He is a baby though so I think most of it was exploring with his mouth mostly as they tend to do when young. The nips do hurt a lot and did break skin a few times in the beginning. Now with training and reading body language he doesn't nip much most of the time but he'll still get nippy during moults, etc. I imagine he'll go through another phase when puberty hits too (not looking forward to that )

I have heard somewhere that female GCCs can be less nippy than males but I'm not sure if that's accurate or not.

Also I do find that my GCC does tend to try to get in more trouble than my budgie. Like getting into places he shouldn't be so I do find I have to more actively keep an eye on him when I have him out of the cage in comparison to my budgie who just liked to perch in her spot, play with select toys and watch the world go by.

But honestly I'm highly biased for both birds and would recommend either one!

Is there a rescue near you where you can check out the birds? I think personality plays a big factor so you might have better luck if you can click with a bird you can meet and interact with firsthand!

 

[Pixiebeak]

My first green cheek conure Burt the Burd shared 17 amazing years with me. She had a little beaky explore bute stage when less than a year old. Im not sure she ever bit me again.

While my current gcc would gladly give me a nip every day to correct me. I avoid 99% by reading her and pausing in a few seconds she is over it. I need one of those signs to keep track of how many days since last bite. I was at a year I think , but recently received a bite to the nose. She likes to sneak up and suprise land on me. So she did and shouted I love you! I was so happy with how clear and sweet she was that I praised her and we talked back and forth I got her over excited . Abd a bite to the nose.

Anyway that needle tip beak can really hurt. It pierces and draws blood. But I read her and respect her so its really rare I get bitten. A budgie bite is laughable it is nothing. I've had plenty during medical treatment of them .

But on the flip side my gcc is extremely cuddling. Loves head scratches. Will lay flat to recieve as much attention as possible. Very much wants to part of everything . So full of curiosity and fun.

She doesn't make any sounds other than alarm calls, and rare contact calls. Or when she talks, after 4 yrs she just all of a sudden became a big talker and repeats several phrases and words .

Good luck with your choice.

 

[AussieBird]

A budgie bite is laughable it is nothing. I've had plenty during medical treatment of them.

While I kinda agree with this statement, I must ask out of curiosity have you ever been bitten by a girl budgie?

 

[owlsthetic]

Anyway that needle tip beak can really hurt. It pierces and draws blood.

This is such an accurate description of that GCC beak!

 

[Pixiebeak]

While I kinda agree with this statement, I must ask out of curiosity have you ever been bitten by a girl budgie?

Yes.
I apologize if if hurt any budgie bite recipients

But their beak design and bite force just isnt there. Yes I've had them draw bood but it's just superficial.

My gcc needle can pierce a finger nail and has twice .

 

[AussieBird]

Yes.
I apologize if if hurt any budgie bite recipients

But their beak design and bite force just isnt there. Yes I've had them draw bood but it's just superficial.

My gcc needle can pierce a finger nail and has twice .

All good! Was just curious, I've had them draw blood too before