Him or her?

 A male and female budgie go best together. Photo (c) kellynguyen67

You're standing in front of the budgie cage in the pet store, pondering over which budgie you should buy. That lovely blue-white pied female or the pretty seafoam green male with the yellow head. Tough choice!

The best answer is: him AND her!

Budgies are the happiest when a male and female can form a pair. But take it easy, you can't have baby budgies without a good nest box!
Did you know that coconuts were used for nest boxes when budgies were first imported in the UK? Read the full story here.

Budgies can't be kept alone. Budgies in the wild live in huge flocks, and that's the way domesticated budgies want it as well. The more budgies, the merrier! If you want to buy just one budgie, you will have to give it all your attention, but it still won't do. Your bird will always miss a companion of the same kind and will never be really happy as long as there is none. Therefore, a minimum of two budgies is strongly advised.

• If you have a pair of budgies, you will find it a lot easier to study the behaviour of the little parrots. You will discover how the male and female budgie spend their days together, cuddling and flirting and playing. It's a lot more fun for your budgies, but also for you!
• Male budgies can also live together. But it's not very exciting for the birds nor for you. You won't see as much of their true personality, compared to when you have a pair of budgies of the opposite sex (or a whole aviary of them)
• It's wiser not to keep two female budgies together. There is often hostility between females, and you don't want to see them fighting.