Nervous new baby budgie

[Periwinkle]

I am just here to say how cute your little Periwinkle is, AND that I am clueless about mutations... when I first got here, I asked the ones that were good with mutations what mine were. They said that Fergus < over there on the left, is a green grey wing, and Fiona (the little rascal by Fergus in the profile photo) is a sky blue. I said - WAIT a minute... don't they get titles like the others - like "new fangled double spangled emerald sapphire utino?" LOL! No matter how much I read about mutations and genetics, it all sounds Greek to me. It doesn't matter anymore to me, I just thought they should have a fancy name, right?

Peri sounds normal for a baby, and I see Kat, (@GreenThing) has already said how important it is to move verrrrry slowwwly around them at first. Great tip!
I posted a lot of details about mine's first days here in their diary here - (if it doesn't bore you to pieces LOL) Fergus and Fiona Diary / Log of training and daily adventures beginning JUNE 2017

Love Fergus and Fiona's diaries! It looks like you've made great progress together. Training to go in a travel cage is a good idea. I'm going to start a (offline) diary for Peri!

 

[Periwinkle]

Thanks, that makes sense! What other mutations do his parents have? The green male looks to be dark factor maybe? Or grey wing? And I'm not sure about the female. Is Peri violet or just cobalt? The colours look quite similar when I google.

Edit: oops, not sure where the quote went, but this was in response to @Sparkles99 's post

 

[Sparkles99]

I'm not sure what other mutations the parents have, but it's clear they have some others too. I see the dark factor in both parents as well, possibly two in the father, not sure about the mother. Have you asked the breeder?

Maybe @Lady Jane would know what combination of mutations would result in your budgie. She mentioned spangle. Is that what changed the wing markings, Lady Jane, & is violet indicative of two dark factor genes? And what made their colours lighter? Is that tied to spangle?

I'm not a budgie genetics expert, but someone questioned parentage so I helped. It's obvious that if those two are your budgie's parents, the father is split to blue as blue based budgies are recessive & he's clearly a green based budgie. This means he's heterozygous blue/green. The mother is clearly homozygous blue/blue since she's blue. So is your budgie; like the mother. This is only the most basic budgie genetics.

 

[Monica]

The father actually looks grey green dilute to me. More specifically, greywing grey with a dark factor. Mom looks to be a violet blue spangle greywing. The chick does appear pretty dark compared to the parents! And absolutely gorgeous!



@PoukieBear and @Budgiebonkers may have some other ideas if either get a chance to get on

 

[Fergus Mom]

Love Fergus and Fiona's diaries! It looks like you've made great progress together. Training to go in a travel cage is a good idea. I'm going to start a (offline) diary for Peri!

Oh cool! Glad you liked their diary. You know, you could do one here for Peri, like I did!

 

[Periwinkle]

Thanks everyone for being so kind! You were indeed right about just needing time to settle - quick update that 3 weeks in, Peri is doing all the fun budgie things, from chirping merrily to playing with toys to even stepping up for me! A far cry from his original silent motionless self.

When would you recommend starting things like target training? Is there anything else I should be doing? We're working on introducing sprouts, veggies, and pellets.

 

[Bunchobird]

aww i wish my baby did that.. ive had my girl for 3 months and shes not responding well lol

 

[Lady Jane]

One thing at a time. In your list of things I would say target training is the bottom of the list.

 

[Fergus Mom]

Thanks everyone for being so kind! You were indeed right about just needing time to settle - quick update that 3 weeks in, Peri is doing all the fun budgie things, from chirping merrily to playing with toys to even stepping up for me! A far cry from his original silent motionless self.

When would you recommend starting things like target training? Is there anything else I should be doing? We're working on introducing sprouts, veggies, and pellets.

You have made remarkable progress! As another person here has said, I just let mine be how/who they want to be... they only get on my finger if I bribe them with millet. Other than that, they entertain each other but don't let their hooman Mommy touch them at all. They have flown very close to my head, and they fly over me sometimes when I'm laying on the bed watching t.v. It's "like" they wish to land on me sometimes, but even after 4 years, they don't. Oh well, I love them anyhow, and I think they love me too... after all I'm bringing food!!!

 

[Sparkles99]

This is a great update!

 

[Monica]

Thanks everyone for being so kind! You were indeed right about just needing time to settle - quick update that 3 weeks in, Peri is doing all the fun budgie things, from chirping merrily to playing with toys to even stepping up for me! A far cry from his original silent motionless self.

When would you recommend starting things like target training? Is there anything else I should be doing? We're working on introducing sprouts, veggies, and pellets.
View attachment 389869

You can start target training at any time! It can be a form of communication and teaching desired behaviors.


Birds *DO NOT* need to be weaned in order to start training! But it does help if they're at least feathered and moving around independently!