Budgie care: cheerful, chatty friends

Not a fan of being alone

In the wild, budgies fly over the dry plains of Australia in flocks of hundreds, sometimes thousands. That's why a budgie left on its own gets bored. If you can't spend time with it every day, it's better for it to live with a friend.

Cage and room

• A cage big enough to fly in, with perches of different thicknesses.
• Put the cage somewhere without draughts and out of direct sunlight.
• Before letting it fly in a room, close the windows, switch off fans and watch out for mirrors.
• You can cover the cage with a light cloth at night so it can sleep well.

What does it eat?

Alongside a good seed mix, add a little fresh veg every day — broccoli, carrot, courgette or cucumber. Give fruit only now and then, and remove apple seeds. Keep a cuttlebone in the cage for calcium, and change the water every day.

Boy or girl?

The bare patch above the beak is called the cere. In adult males it's usually blue; in females it's brown or beige. Males tend to copy sounds more — if you patiently repeat the same word, yours might learn to say "hello"!