Introducing Bonnie & Clyde - New Rosy Bourkes!

Well, the inevitable happened and MBS, also known as "multiple bird syndrome" caught up with me. I knew it would happen, but didn't think I would give in quite as quickly as it did! I really loved everything I had read about Bourke parakeets, and when I saw an ad for them semi-locally, I just had to jump on it! So after a drive one state away, I came home with a young unrelated pair of "Rainbow" Rosy Bourkes!

From what I understand, rainbow is just a term for extra colorful Rosy. Mine having a ton of extra yellow, that the typical Rosy would not have. They also both have a 50% chance of carrying fallow, which basically means if in fact they both are carriers, they could produce fallow babies. My pair was parent raised and not hand fed, so they are not tame. I am ok with this though since I am hoping to breed them and hand-feed the babies.

So far my experience with them has been limited since they are new but here are some things I have read which I took into account when setting up their cage (a HQ Flight Cage).

• Bourke Parakeets do not climb like some other parakeets by using their beak. They fly from place to place. This means they should not have a clutered cage, but lots of flying room. An absolute minimum cage should be 30"x18"x18". I decided on much bigger for mine. Their wings should also never be clipped for this reason.
• Bourkes are not heavy chewers, and are not huge on playing with toys. They do however appreciate swings, preening toys, easy to shred toys, and some like bells. Softer materials like paper rope, cork, and smaller pieces of balsa wood may also be appreciated.
• Bourkes are prone to night frights so are more comfortable without a cover, or being partially covered, and provided with a night light. 

Bourkes are Grass Parakeets which means they like to be on the ground for foraging, therefore their wire should either be removed, or covered with paper so that they don't hurt their feet on the cage floor. The paper should also be cleaned daily since they come in direct contact with it.

So far, I have been mainly just been trying to give Bonnie & Clyde their space, and let them settle in. They are very shy and flighty due to being parent raised. They do seem to like when I sit by the cage and talk to them, and have even started to chirp and sing with me in the room. Their voices are soooo sweet and melodic! So much more pleasant in my opinion than Budgies even! I am so glad to have added them to our flock and can't wait to get to know them better! 

PS- Sorry the pictures are not very good. I took them with my cell phone when the room was dimmer so that they wouldn't be too spooked. I will try to get better ones soon!