Petco Budgie Price?

[Merlin da]

So I went to a Petco recently, and discovered that the price for a budgie is now $50 (compared to the previous $20)! I've also noticed that the colors of the budgies have been changing. I've seen a lot of gray and light blue/white babies, and less green and dark blue ones. Has anybody else noticed this change? And does anyone know the reason that they have gone up in price?

 

[Shezbug]

I can’t answer your questions but I must say I’m mighty pleased to see the price jump up so high! Hopefully it will make more people think twice before buying them which could also mean less budgies being bred. Sounds like a win to me.
Of course $50 is still cheap enough for many people to not care but it might just dissuade some who are after a real cheap pet.

 

[Lady Jane]

There also seem to be fewer budgies in those large display cage. The three i saw 2 were green/yellow and one blue.

 

[Greylady1966]

It's definitely a step in the right direction.

 

[Pepebirdie]

I'm glad they raised the price too. I've also noticed (I when I went to petco a few days ago) that the wing clipping they are doing on the budgies isn't so severe anymore. It looked like only 2-3 flight feathers were clipped. When I got Tweety all of his flight feather were clipped very, very short.

 

[Sparkles99]

I think the different colours may just be a regional thing. Maybe budgie wholesale breeders in your area are experimenting with those colours right now.

As for the price, I think it's fair. Three of my four cost more than that (Aurelius was $40). Most pet lovers would happily pay more if it meant the budgies were less crowded.

 

[javi]

So lots of my friends are bird breeders or have stores across the country. Most bigger birds (ringneck and up) had late starts in their breeding season due to horrible weather so that covers the big birds. Now to the smaller, when covid started supply had a hard time meeting demand. More people were getting pets since they were home more. The next thing is that some massive parakeet breeders had disease come through which meant they had to cull a lot of their breeder pairs. This also affected supply. Now I know Petsmart and Petco used to test their birds against certain diseases which meant if they were not sold within a few days of receiving meant they were losing money. I imagine the cost increase is to do with demand and offset some of the overhead. Really their prices had only gone up once in last 20 years (when i used to manage petsmart they were $20). I agree increasing cost helps ensure a quality home.

 

[Tazlima]

So lots of my friends are bird breeders or have stores across the country. Most bigger birds (ringneck and up) had late starts in their breeding season due to horrible weather so that covers the big birds. Now to the smaller, when covid started supply had a hard time meeting demand. More people were getting pets since they were home more. The next thing is that some massive parakeet breeders had disease come through which meant they had to cull a lot of their breeder pairs. This also affected supply. Now I know Petsmart and Petco used to test their birds against certain diseases which meant if they were not sold within a few days of receiving meant they were losing money. I imagine the cost increase is to do with demand and offset some of the overhead. Really their prices had only gone up once in last 20 years (when i used to manage petsmart they were $20). I agree increasing cost helps ensure a quality home.

As far as I can tell, our local big box pet stores haven't had any birds at all for... gosh, at least a year now (and they ALWAYS had budgies. Finches, canaries, and tiels were also there in regular rotation). I only stop in about once a month, though, so it's possible they're just selling as quickly as they arrive and I happen to show up on the wrong day. Still, it seemed odd that a year out, the suppliers hadn't adjusted to meet increased demand. The issues with the budgie breeders would certainly explain it.

 

[Sparkles99]

This certainly explains a lot, javi! Budgies, & other birds to a lesser extent, were really rare from March 2020 - March 2021 here. At the height of budgie madness, a couple of months after I got Pistachio & Marzipan, untame, adult rehomes of unknown age were $100.

 

[javi]

At the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021 several stores (chain, franchise and locally owned) were having trouble sourcing budgies. Seems like the suppliers are starting to get a steady supply out now for the most part.

 

[Budgiebonkers]

Petsmart near me cant seem to either get them in stock or keep them in stock but they are always green