Losing tail feathers?

What happens if tail feathers (or other feathers) fall out?

This means your budgie is probably molting. Luckily, the feathers will come back in no time, because the flight feathers in the tail are the most important for flight and essential for your budgie's survival.

Photo © Hanz on the Talk Budgies forum

Why do budgies lose their feathers? Feathers lose some of their insulative and protective qualities over time. If you wore the same clothes every day, the same would happen to you and eventually those clothes wouldn't keep you warm anymore. A budgie's answer to this is to generate a new bunch of feathers.

Do budgies smell bad?

Many people are curious if a pet budgie smells. In a way, it's the same as asking if a dog or a cat smells. If you never give your pet the opportunity to wash, then of course it will be smelly.

Photo © Bird A Day Blog

In general, budgies do not smell at all. They are among the cleanest creatures on the planet. Even their poop doesn't smell. Budgies prefer to take a bath every day. They preen themselves until their feathers shine. They don't go outside and roll in the mud, so they mostly preen themselves to remove dust particles from their skin.

What people think their budgie smells like:

In general, people think their budgie has a sweet, lovely scent of its own. Depending on what you feed your bird, it might have broccoli breath (then you have a BBB, or "Broccoli Breath Budgie") or apple breath, but never anything serious because you can't feed them garlic or fish.

Most people also seem to think that budgies smell like (creamed) corn!

Other people think budgies smell like:

• laundry that has dried in the fresh air
• something hard-to-describe between lavender and freshly-cut green plants
• warm, fresh and musky
• chocolate
• cucumbers
• cereals
• rose petals
• seeds
• honey
• not really anything, they are practically smell-free

Conclusion: it's clear that budgies have some kind of sweet aroma, especially when they are dry (some people say they smell a bit funky when they're wet) and have been outside in the open air. A lot of people admitted they love to smell their budgies. Too bad we can't get some Eau de Budgie in the store :)

Personally, I think they smell a bit like warm pancakes. What do you think?

Budgie Balancing Trick

Budgies like companionship and they like to play. I found this video of a cute budgie trying to keep its balance on a tennis ball :) He probably set a world record!

Budgie Body Language (7)

Does my budgie like to be petted on the head?

Image © pets.webshots.com

Some budgies really like to be touched on their head by humans. But all budgies are different. Some budgies will only let their partner preen them. Some budgies do it to remove dust particles, or stimulate the blood flow in the area of the head, but most budgies do it out of tenderness. If you see a budgie preening another budgie, it means "I love you". If they "preen" your hair, it has the same meaning. You can return the good feeling by rubbing your budgie's head very lightly, sometimes up and down to the neck. You can also rub their belly a little bit, although some budgies don't like that at all. All budgies are different and it also depends on how close the bond with their owner is.

Previous posts in this series:
Body Language of a sleeping budgie
Body Language of a preening budgie (Budgie Body Language 1)
Budgie Body Language (2)
Budgie Body Language (3)
Budgie Body Language (4)  
Budgie Body Language (5) 
Budgie Body Language (6)

Wash your hands

Image © Inetgiant

It's not just a must when one of your budgies has mites, but it also works as a prevention against the spreading of human diseases on budgerigars.

Even if you are not feeling ill, you should wash your hands with warm water + antibacterial soap before and after you are in close contact with your bird. A lot of budgies catch an illness from their owner. A regular cold, for example, can be fatal for a budgie, while we always recover from it.