Yes, it's normal for them to crack the shells off of seeds before they eat them. The hulls aren't digestible so there's no benefit to eating them. This is why vitamin-enriched seed is basically useless BTW - the vitamin coating is on the shell which doesn't get eaten, and bird tongues are dry so the vitamins tend to stay on the shell and not dissolve or rub off on the tongue.

Water silos have advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that the bird can't poop in the water or drop other debris in it. The disadvantages are that they can develop mold/bacteria inside if you don't keep them scrupulously clean, and it's possible for the tube to get clogged and not dispense water if the bird puts a seed or some other object in it. I've never used them myself; sometimes I have to change the water 4 times a day because it's gotten dirty, but it's easy to wash the bowls. I have two sets, and every day I put in clean bowls and stick the dirty ones in the dishwasher.

Kitchens can be hazardous due to smoke, fumes, temperature fluctuations, and hot surfaces and containers of deep water can be dangerous when the bird is out of the cage. On the other hand, when I was a kid we kept birds in the kitchen for several years with no problems. A lot depends on your cooking habits and how careful you are in general. There's a lot more teflon in the kitchen now than there used to be, and the fumes from that are very dangerous to birds. It would be best to keep the bird in a different room where there's a lot of activity, but you know your living conditions better than we do so use your own judgement.

Here's my guess on why he likes the sound of running water. Rain is a breeding trigger for Outback birds like budgies; it promotes the growth of the native grasses, and makes them produce seeds that are ready to eat right around the time the eggs hatch. Vacuum cleaners also get some birds excited, apparently because they sound somewhat like the roar of a heavy downpour.

OK weird development.....I think he's holding a grudge for taking his mirror he's now lunging at my hand instead of just pecking at it when I try to pick him up. When I do finally get him out of the cage he's actually not too bad he'll let me pet his back but sometimes will fly if i pet him without him seeing my hand first. He usually flies to the same spot in my living room everytime. I was tempted to try putting a treat in my hand when he tries to bite so he'll be tricked into trying a new treat but i think it the disadvantage of this would be that he thinks he'll get a treat by biting or do you think i should do this to try to get him onto a treat he likes for the food bribery later?

Using a piece of millet spray to keep a bird from biting you is actually a technique that I recommend frequently. It's not a reward for biting; instead it turns the situation around and changes an intended fight into a positive interaction where he's getting something good from you. Sure he had bad intentions to start out with, but he'll forget about that once he starts enjoying the treat, and will start thinking that you're not so bad after all.

He's probably worried that you're going to take the mirror away again (and his suspicions are justified lol). If you bend your wrist at a sharp angle it will tighten the skin on the back of your hand and make it harder for him to bite you. I don't recommend wearing a glove to actually handle a bird, but it's OK to wear a glove if you're reaching into the cage for a different reason (like taking the mirror lol) and don't want to get bitten.

It might be helpful if you just leave the regular mirror in the cage and use a bigger, shinier mirror to tempt him out of the cage. It sounds like the one in the cage is kind of dirty anyway, so a nice big clean mirror will probably interest him.

I keep my birds in the kitchen diner, I always make sure everything is safe before I let them out.
no bowls of water around, cooker rings ect turned off, windows closed.. electric fires off...
I use open dishes for water.. easier to clean. Clean his mirror so he can see himself well.
As tielfan says use another mirror outside his cage.
If you cant get him out, without him biting you, wear a soft glove, and take it off once you have him out...
It takes time, luv, and lots and lots of patience... he will be you friend for life very soon.. Keep at it..

Am picking up beautiful blue and green buddy for him. Lady on craigslist no longer wanted so now he'll have someone hopefully it helps. If it makes it to where he wants nothing to do with me I could care less as long as my bird is happy.

I got my bird about a half hour ago and they've been dancing and singing to each other so far. It's a blue piebald in think it's called. It's mostly white with a little blue spotting on it's stomach. The lady was giving her up because she was getting beat up by the flock she was in. So far so good they've had a couple of little fights but just it was just beak fencing as I call it. He's been watching her pretty intensely since I put her in there but they been sharing a hanging treat I put in there and she's eating already after being here for like 45min. I'll keep you guys posted and do you think this was the right move to make?

Here are some pics of the birds together.

It sounds like both birds are at least tentatively happy, and if you're happy with that then it was a good move. The new bird is a beauty - is she tame at all? Whether the answer is yes or no, you can attempt some millet bribery with her too. It's harder to tame a new bird when you have multiple birds, because they spend most of their time with each other and are less focused on the human members of their flock. But it's doable.

With budgies, females tend to be more aggressive than males. So it'll be interesting to see how their 'beak fencing' exercises play out.

BTW new birds should really be quarantined for 30 days to make sure they don't have some kind of illness that they can pass on to your existing bird(s). But they've already been exposed to each other pretty thoroughly so there's no point separating them now.