Parakeets

As a new parakeet owner, I wanted to make sure I had all the essential information, so I browsed a lot of books, including the same author's "Parakeets for Dummies". While there are a lot of other excellent informative books out there, I wanted a book that would be appealing to read and clearly and concisely written, so that I'd actually read it all and absorb the information. That's where this book wins. The design is beautiful and modern, with full color throughout and photographs on almost every page. In spite of being as many pages as most other books on the subject, it felt like an effortless read. All the basics are covered--choosing and positioning a cage, nutrition, selecting a bird, taming, daily care, looking out for illness, safe and dangerous foods, and so on. This isn't the book for a serious budgerigar breeder, but if you think you might want a pet parakeet, buy this and read on!

Knowing next to nothing about birds of any variety, much less Parakeets, I picked up this book as a precursor to purchasing my avian friend. I found all of the content very comprehensive, the author outlined all of the preliminary basics to owning and caring for a bird. This book I feel is safe for all age levels as it gives easy to use and find information. The images and lay out of the book are lively and fun (if you have a short attention span). I felt all of my questions were answered, I had a great understanding of what is required in the diet of a parakeet as well as all of the do's and dont's of a parakeet owner. I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for advanced information such as how to breed your bird, in-depth medical references, etc. I feel also the author has a slight habit towards redundancy but in most cases it is on/over safety information (which is to say it is good things to know).

Its hard to find a book out there on budgies these days that isnt outdated, this one is definitely more with the times, mentions a varied diet and examples of how to go about it, setting up your keet home before you bring it in and most importantly mentions common signs of illness to watch out for. All in all, a great read and I highly recommend it.

I was thinking about getting a parakeet so I bought this book and it taught me everything I ever wanted to know about what having a parakeet would entail. I did notice there was nothing about breeding parakeets, but as a new parakeet owner that is far from my top concern at this point. Everything in the book was pertinent to what I needed to know. There was a great chapter on setting up your home for the parakeet and everything you would need to get and how to make your home safe, as well as a chapter about all the different things you can feed your parakeet (including several easy recipes that your parakeet is guaranteed to enjoy!) There are too many parakeet owners out there who neglect their birds, and this book teaches you how to be a great owner instead. I know that when my hand-fed baby parakeet comes home with me in a few weeks the knowledge I gained from this book will make me a great budgie owner!