How to determine the age of a budgerigar?

When buying a parrot from a pet store or from hands, any owner wants to get as much information as possible about his new pet. First of all, the buyer is interested in the sex and age of the bird. The younger the bird, the faster it will get used to its new owner and learn to talk. If you take a bird at a young age, then it will delight household members with its company for many years to come.

When buying a pet from professional breeders, you can find out the age of the bird by the ring on the leg. It contains information about the year of birth, the name of the cattery, and the country. Breeders ring parrots at the age of 9 days, so in this case there is no doubt about the reliability of the information. You also need to make sure that the ring is solid, otherwise there is a risk of running into scammers who have clamped the ring on the leg of an adult parrot and are trying to sell it under the guise of a chick.

Budgerigars cannot be called centenarians compared to other pets - the age of a parrot usually does not exceed 10 years. There are individuals that live up to 15 years, and the longevity record holders even reach "adulthood", but such cases are rather an exception. If we conditionally compare a bird with a person, then by human standards, a one-year-old feathered one is, in fact, like a 10-year-old child.

In order for a parrot to live in a family longer, you need to follow simple rules for caring for a bird: feed well, keep the cage clean, monitor the health of the pet.

It is imperative to let him fly around the apartment, having previously closed all the doors and windows. When buying a wavy friend, you should pay attention not only to the age of the bird, but also to the state of its health.

Young individuals are distinguished by better adaptation to the new habitat and activity. Young birds learn better, become tame faster and are not afraid of their owners. In shops, as a rule, there is not enough sunlight, and the cheapest brands are offered for food, therefore, living in such conditions for too long, the parrot can lose its physical shape.

Some breeders are of the opinion that it is not recommended to take a chick that is too young, because in this case the owner may have difficulties with nutrition. It is best to take a chick at the age of five months - he is already quite old to easily adapt to a new home.

There are usually no difficulties with feeding such babies, and this age is optimal for training. Others believe that it is better to buy a parrot at the age of one month, when it tries to make its first flights and explore the surroundings.

Parrots usually begin molting at three to four months of age. After this time, parrots change less and less, and then finding out their exact age becomes much more difficult.

Looking at some birds, you can easily determine how many months they are. But this does not happen in all cases. There are special tables that allow you to find out the age of an individual. The following are the signs that distinguish a young parrot from an old one.

Young chicks differ in that their eyes are completely black, that is, they are devoid of the iris. This means that this individual is not yet five months old. However, this method does not give a 100% guarantee. In some cases, the eyes only change color by 10 months.

Another detail that you should pay attention to when choosing a parrot is wax. It reflects the degree of maturity of the chick, and its color may vary depending on the sex of the individual.

The beaks of females are decorated with pink, blue or beige wax, with age it becomes brown. In males, this part of the body remains pink-purple or blue for life, but nevertheless, over time, it acquires a darker shade. Experienced breeders can easily correlate color depth and male age.

The skin of the paws also changes color during the life of the parrot. In babies it is smooth, and in adult birds it has distinguishable scales and loses its elasticity. If it is damaged, then this may indicate the presence of diseases.

Many breeders look at the age of a bird by its tail. Since this part of the body grows more slowly than others, the length of the tail is an important sign of the age of the bird. Usually, the longer it is, the more years it will be.... However, in some cases, the tail of an adult can be shortened due to external factors or due to active molting. There are also parrots who like to pluck feathers from their tail themselves.

In babies, the tip of the beak is black; after a month, spots and stains may appear on it. In most cases, it turns completely black at all. But mature individuals have a solid yellow-green beak.

Feathers on the back, tail and wings appear in the third week after birth. The parrot acquires a completely feathery cover by the age of one month. Living in natural conditions, they gain the ability to fly out of the nest. At home, wavy friends are also not averse to practicing flying, while the main thing is to ensure safety: do not open windows and doors at such moments, monitor the actions of the baby.

Before the first molt, the head of the chick is decorated with dark streaks, then they are replaced by a monochromatic “cap”. By six months, the chick can already boast of an adult bright color, it develops a mask characteristic of a wavy parrot. In elderly individuals, the color of the color fades, and feathers practically disappear around the eyes.

This indicator is directly related to the length of the tail. On average, adult birds have a total body length of 18 cm.

The shape of the spots in the throat area is different for each parrot, but there is a point common to all birds: with age, their outlines become more vague, not as contrasting as those of their young counterparts.

Among the wavy households, there are birds with an unusual color, the age of which is more difficult to determine. The reason for this color is the presence of mutations. Because of them, the amount of pigments usual for plumage is disturbed, which affects the appearance of the pet. This is not a drawback of the bird - on the contrary, many like parrots of such unusual colors, and they are happy to choose them among their relatives.

Popular varieties of these parrots:

• albino and lutino;
• recessively variegated individuals;
• celandine parrots.

Albinos are birds that do not have pigments such as melanin and psittacin in their color. In cases where the individual did not get melanin, but there is psittacin, a pure yellow plumage and red eyes are obtained - this is the color of lutino. The color of the eyes remains scarlet all their life, so this method of determining age is not applicable to them.

Recessive variegated individuals can be blue and green, but their coloration is 50% white. The color of the purebred parrots resembles the usual one, but its blue or green color is much paler than usual. If we talk about boys, then their wax does not darken throughout life, like albino and lutino. But in girls, it becomes brown or dark beige by the age of six months.

By purchasing a budgerigar, the newly-made owner wants him to delight him with his presence as long as possible, because the sudden loss of a pet can bring a lot of grief to all household members. Determining the age of a young healthy bird is not so difficult.

The main thing is to be guided by your observations on her appearance. Thanks to them, you can understand whether the seller accurately named the age of the parrot, which you need to buy. In the case of lutino and albino, it is even more difficult to find out how many months or years a bird is, so you need to look for trusted sellers and breeders - they value their reputation and will not conceal the true age of the chick.

You can find out more about how to determine the age of a parrot below.