Sun parakeet: care, behavior, food, accommodation, breeding

The sun parakeet has long been popular as a companion bird. But it’s not a bird for beginners. To keep the parakeet tame, you must train it consistently, interact with it daily, and constantly socialize it. Moreover, it’s a noisy bird. But if you can live with that, you’ll get a lot in return.

With the sun parakeet, you’re getting a smart, interactive, affectionate and playful bird in your home. But the tradeoff is you have to pay enough attention to it. Train the parakeet as well, in order to build a positive and fun relationship with it. To prevent boredom, give the bird toys and alternate them regularly.

Be careful not to provoke the sun parakeet because it might become aggressive as a result. The bird may naturally go through more difficult phases, during which it may startle and bite. Be aware that your bird may utter loud, shrill cries, out of fear or excitement, or to make it clear to you that it wants something.

It’s best to serve the sun parakeet a balanced diet of pellets, with all the essential nutrients in the right proportions, supplemented with fruits and vegetables. Nuts and seeds are a tasty snack, but don’t give them too many sunflower seeds. When sun parakeets are given pellets, they don’t usually need egg food, but then you should give them breeding food 2 to 3 weeks before the actual pairing, or 4 to 6 weeks before you expect the first eggs.

If you give a seed mix, go for a complete quality mix, supplemented with egg food (especially during the breeding period), vitamins and minerals.

The sun parakeet is very active and therefore needs to have a spacious place to live. You can keep it in a cage of at least 150 x 150 x 80 cm for a pair. Make sure that the bars are not too far apart, so that the bird doesn’t get its head stuck between them. The cage should also have at least two perches, as well as separate bowls for bathing, drinking and feeding. In addition, the bird needs a safe play area outside its cage to explore.

If the neighbors don’t object to the noise, you can also keep the sun parakeet in an aviary of 3 to 4 m long, 1 m wide and 2 m high, with a draft-free and frost-free interior. Also provide an area where it rains inside: sun parakeets like to shower.

As ground cover, choose something like, for example, shell sand. You should change this substrate once a week. Also clean the toys and perches every day, refill the feeding and drinking bowls and the bath.

Sun parakeets breed fairly easily. A young pair may once leave the nest with eggs or young, but with older pairs this doesn’t happen. Either offer a hollowed out log or a wooden nesting box as a nest. The eggs will hatch after three weeks. The young remain in the nest for a long time: up to two months.