new parakeet owner, a few questions

[crazy4beadz]

Hi there.. Im a new parakeet owner, had my keets for about 4 months now.

One thing that has me thinking everyday, is where do i put the cage and how high should it be? I have had them near a window most of the time so they can see the outdoors, but since its getting cold, im scared there might be a draft or something so i moved them . So now i have them in the kitchen, since that is where i spend most of my time, and pay much attention to them there. But yetsterday, when i was cooking, peeling some onions, was wondering if that maybe bothered them also? is a kitchen a good idea to keep the cage?


second, behavior..

I have the two now sitting on my fingers now, or my shoulder. I sprinkle some millet on my hands and they love it. They seem very happy to me. When they are in the cage , they nibble on each other, feed each other. But during the day, one of my birds squaks a lot! sounds like its mad. What can that be? its like hes screaming lol

third.. Female or male??

For the life of me i cant figure out what i have! My blue bird has a light blue cere, with pink. So i figured it was a male, but with the pink, im confused. My yellow keet had a crusty brown cere, so i thought female, we named her princess, yesterday i noticed, princess does not have a brown cere anymore! lol whats going on? it is now light blue with a little bit of pink.


Hope to hear from someone,
Thanks in advance
Joanne

[Aqueous]

Kitchens aren't the best place for a cage. If you cook with non-stick teflon pots and pans the fumes are toxic to birds. Also I find, atleast in my kitchen, that the temperatures change quite drastically from when you're cooking to when you aren't.

As far as the squawking I have a squawker myself (my Dixie). I haven't found anything to be wrong with her, she seems to just do it when she's happy.

The crusty brown cere probably meant she was is breeding condition so it's probably a girl. My blue budgie Merlin had a white cere with a blue tint until about a month ago so I thought for the longest time she would be a boy.

Is you're yellow bird a lutino? If so then both sexes will have a pinkish color cere.

Also how old are they? Young budgies will usually have a purple-ish color cere and as they get older their cere will change color.

[charmedagain]

I agree a kitchen is not a place to have birds.
A bird should never be placed in a window for long periods of time due to draughts and over exposure to direct sunlight.

Sounds like your blue bird is still very young and will probably be male as it has a blue cere with a pink tint to it if there is more blue than pink then you have a young male.

Since both sexes when young resemble a female it is a little harder to sex until after the 2nd molt as some do not get there adult colours until after this time.....

Your lutino ( yellow) is a female sounds like a young female even though now it has a blue/pink cere. This can not be a male since males never have the dark brown crusty coloured cere in any colour mutation so you can be sure this is definatly not a male.
Most birds squawk alot when they want something especially if they know they can get your attention.

Sounds like you also have the training under hand.

Millet is a great thing to use when training the bird.

Mike