Advice for new Budgie owner

I have never kept birds before, and want to start with budgies. I have a few questions about set up. I would like to start with 2 (one will be "mine" one my daughter will choose). If i then wanted to add another pair, would the existing budgies accept them in the same cage? Or would i need a separate cage? Would starting with 4 birds be a terrible idea? (I like the idea of giving them a little flock, as budgies seem to enjoy one another alot. I am thinking I will start them with wings trimmed, and work on training them to come to me. if i can get them to do this reliably, I would feel safe letting them be free flighted. Has anyone had success with training free flighted budgies?

   
California
   
I don't know about adding another pair to existing budgies. If really depends on how well the budgie will get along. My suggestion is to start with just the two for the time being. Later on you could get another pair, but keep them in a separate cage for a while near the first pair. Also let them out at the sametime and see how they interact.
   
starting with four Budgies at once is not a good idea because we don't know how they will get along. There is also maintanence issues as parrots are messy. They throw food, molting feathers are all over the bottom of the cage and surrounding areas. There also debris from food and exc. Basically you will have to do some more vacuuming and cleaning. There is also the issue of training them because training requires a lot of work. There is the issue of noise because Budgies like to chat their little beaks off.Also four Budgies will create and small flock and because they already have a flock they will have no interest in you and your child.
   
As for clipping the wings it might be best to have a vet do it for you or show you how to do it so you could do after the next molt. It's generally not a good idea for a first time Parrot owner to clip the bird's wings because of the chance of doing it wrong and cutting the wing feathers too short. The edges of the cut wings must be smooth. Anything sticking out of the cut feather wing will irritate the birds and cause them to feather pick. If you cut them too short they may fall hard and hurt themselves when they attempt to fly ( you want to cut the feather short enough to get them to glide ) and there is a chance of possibly cutting a bloodfeather ( a new feather growing in that has blood and nerves in it ).
   
So far I had no problem with my bird flying around. I did clip her wings for a year. She's been fully flighted for the past few months and I retrieve her by having her step onto her playgym ( the playgym has a perch ).

I have 7 male and 8 female living together they are like people they will have disagreements now an then after a while they go their seperate ways an are buddy's again.