should i get her a friend?

[hopestar]

when school starts, i will be gone for most of the day and wont be able to spend much time with my budgie. should i get her a friend? i'm not sure because i heard that they would get attached to each other and not care about me. is this true? if it is, can i prevent it? should i get her a friend? and would a cage that is 18.5"L x 14.2"W x 23.6"H be big enough for 2 budgies? I'm really confused.

[liz]

Parrots can be buddies and still bonded to you. The cage is okay if you let them out when you are home.

[GlassOnion]

No, that cage is tiny. I still believe it's too small for a single budgie, and it would be crammed with two. And yes, they will bond to each other more than with you- you will see.

[Zanizaila]

Yes as for the friend-question, and no on the cage-question. :/
Budgies should be able to fly in their cage too, I would get one at least 80 cm (32") wide. At least.
But to get her a friend is a very good idea. They are flock animals and even if you did have all the time in the world, a human can never substitute for another bird.

The "they won't want to be with me" is an old myth. The same is said about taming and talking, that if you have two birds, they will neither get tame nor learn to talk. That is just complete bull**it.
A bird that is alone must be with you because it has no other company, but a bird that has a friend will probably only feel safer than if it was alone.
And your want your bird to be with you because it wants to, not because it is desperate for some form of companionship, right?

I've had budgies within the family (not my own, but I've taken care of the birds of family members when they lost interest), and they can be very interesting to watch in a flock. At the most, we had four in one cage, and they all loved each other.

BTW, I recently read about a study that proves that parrots actually can become better "pet" birds when they have a friend in the cage with them.
http://www.parrotchronicles.com/feature ... tstudy.htm

"Our results? Both paired and single birds reacted the same to their familar handlers. They weren't afraid of them. But when strangers entered the picture, everything changed. The single birds, housed alone, tended to be afraid or aggressive when a human they did not know approached. The paired birds, on the other hand, were confident and inquisitive. This is encouraging news for owners who have wanted to get a same-sex pal for their bird but were afraid they would lose its affection.

There were bonuses. The paired parrots spent less time screaming and more time playing than singly housed parrots. We know from studies done with mammals that social interaction and play result in more flexible behavior and enhanced learning ability. So having a friend could help your bird learn new tasks faster, too (although we did not test this)."

[liz]

I have two pair of cockatiels and have added my daughter's pair to the flock. I require nothing of my kids except to love them and be loved by them. I don't give them any kind of training.

All three males step up and want cuddled. The females will step up after they have been out flying for a while.

My daughter's two love birds have had no interaction. I let them out when I let out the cockatiels.
They don't know step up. After they have been flying they let me pick them up.

My oldest is a female named Sweetie. She was my only and she was well cared for and loved. She was young when I got her and gave her fruit and veggies and everything a tiel needs. The others came when they were older and had only been fed seed. They did not eat the good stuff until they watched Sweetie. They learn from each other.

Bond with the one you have. You will bond faster with the second because it will learn from the first.

[sora no tori]

I'll go ahead and say that I am also a student and when I had a budgie, I left her alone for part of the day when I went to my classes and she seemed to be alright with it . I'd come home if I had a break between classes, and I'd give her hours of out time. It got to the point where she recognized the sound of the front door and she'd twitter happily to greet me. As long as you are consistent, I don't think there is really a need. If you want to get your budgie a friend, that's fine too. Just make sure that the bird is first and foremost a good decision for you. Your bird may benefit from another bird's company, but you're the one who will have to double up on food, clean the cage twice as often (you are going to want a bigger one btw), and tame two birds at once. You don't have a second child to keep the first one busy, you have a second child because as a parent, you have decided that you are ready for another one. I hope that makes sense.