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A Rescue Of Five Budgies


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I went to a place where they owned budgies (5 of them) in a nice aviary. But..they were seriously very very badly neglected. The person who 'looks after' them, ie, give them seed and water and cleans the cage, was not there..I am going this afternoon to speak to him and suggest my taking the worst ones and treating them and giving them back, and taking a sheet of how to take care of budgies! If anybody could give me suggestions on what to write that would help very much.

If I am able to temporarily (or permenantly, not sure yet) take the birds, I'll post some pictures of them. But I will describe what is wrong now:

1- There are 4 males and 1 female. The female has a nestbox all year round in the cage, and has been laying clutches again and again and only one baby (one of the males) has actually survived and fledged.

2- The baby, who is about 6 months old now I would say, has the worst scaly face I have ever seen. In a little while he (I'm guessing it is a he, I can't actually see to be sure :hug: ) will not be able to perch, eat, or even breath from his nostrils it is that bad. He is also very small, as his growth is probably stunted from the breeding conditions he is in.

3- All of the birds have feather mites as well, though the two sky blue males have it the worst. They have no tail feathers and have been plucking some of their feathers! They were sky blue but are more of a grey now, as the mites have been eating away their colour.

 

I am planning on going there and telling them what is wrong, and offering to take the worst scaly face one and the feather mites ones, and treating them myself. Either that or take all of them and treat them, though one or two of the birds only have slight scaly face and feather mites so will be a lot easier to treat. Then I will give them back, along with a sheet of paper telling them how to actually take care of them properly, and I will be telling them what they have been doing wrong.

 

Of course I won't word it like that, but that's the general idea. These people haven't been mistreating the birds per say, but neglecting them as they have no idea how to take care of them!!!

Any help would be great, as would any ideas of how to convince them how serious this is...Thanks. If I do get them, I will keep updates here on how they are going.

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Good luck! Some people have quite an attitude towards birds- like, they're so small and cheap and are a dime a dozen in the wild, therefore it's impossible that they are sick.... or their problems are insignificant.

 

I hope you are not approaching a person with that attitude. I hope this goes really well for you and for the birds

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Thanks. Yes I hope this too, that attitude just gets me so upset with those kinds of people. If it is though, I can always offer to take the birds and keep them, so they won't have to bother to buy the stuff to treat them..and if/when they get new birds I am planning (if this happens with me keeping the birds) on offering to come once or twice a week, and for free, taking care of the birds. That way I can make sure the new ones are okay..but here's hoping it does not come to that.

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I am going this afternoon to speak to him and suggest my taking the worst ones and treating them and giving them back, and taking a sheet of how to take care of budgies! If I was pulling them from a bad situation I would not give them back. The time, effort and money that you will put into these birds to just give them back to receive the same care (inspite of a care sheet). If you plan to rescue you will find rescues do not give them back they pull them rehab them and then find excellent homes for them that would be my suggestion. I wouldn't even lecture them or give them a care sheet, I would offer to take them all and if they want money tell them 10.00 for the whole lot and then find them good homes. People like this repeat their mistakes and giving them the benefit of the doubt maybe they will be relieved if someone offered to take these birds.

I am planning on going there and telling them what is wrong - I would only do this after you have the birds in your possession not before because the likelyhood of you getting them is going to be slim.

The above is my opinion, not to be harsh but reality. I have 2 rescued dogs, seen enough of APL rescues, along with knowing people who rescue that would tell you the exact same thing.

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Okay thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for when posting this. Advice. :)

So what would I do..offer to buy all the birds from them? Do I tell them that the birds are sick and need treatment, which you need to get from a vet, before I offer to buy them?

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I would just ask them if they want to sell their birds? If they say yes give them an offer for the whole lot.

If they ask why, tell them, that you see that they are sick and that you would like to help them (the people) out and get the birds the care they need along with bringing them back to health. If they say why do you think they are sick, tell them all the reasons why you know they are sick and what you will do to care for them. Be simple and to the point. Does that help?

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Yes, thanks. I'll let you's know how it goes.

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No money, just offer to relieve them of their responsibility...may well cost you good money yet... who knows?

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No money, just offer to relieve them of their responsibility...may well cost you good money yet... who knows?

I agree with Richo. I wouldnt offer to buy them....people often see $$$$ signs before their eyes. They have health issues that need attention. Mention vets fees and they should be happy to hand them over.

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Many times in rescue you have to offer a low cost 10.00 is nothing for the suffering of those birds, if you do offer something they are more likely to let them go vs saying give me your "stuff" for free, this is why I say this. If you offer it is better you have control of the money if you say what do you want for those birds then the dollar signs may come into play.

Edited by Elly
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Many times in rescue you have to offer a low cost 10.00 is nothing for the suffering of those birds, if you do offer something they are more likely to let them go vs saying give me your "stuff" for free, this is why I say this. If you offer it is better you have control of the money if you say what do you want for those birds then the dollar signs may come into play.

Good point :wub:

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Okay. The place is an old people's home, where me and my friend's church went to sing etc. And we noticed the really bad conditions with the birds, plus the birds are outside where wild birds often come and where the residents don't go. So they have no company other than eachother. And I found out why they are so neglected at the moment. The guy who looks after them was gone on holiday (we phoned him yesterday afternoon and found out the whole story) and apparently he'd just finished treating them for mites..but not feather mites, he didn't know what that was..and that is why they are so bad, and the wild birds keep coming to say hello and giving them mites again, he said.

 

They have an aviary on wheels that has been donated but they are going through the paperwork now. The man breeds cockatiels, and is planning on, when they get the new aviary, putting 2 of his babies (when they are old enough) along with the budgies inside, so they will get cared for a lot more and have company.

 

He agreed to letting me take the one with the worst mites and maybe even the two with he really bad feather mites, for about a month or so as he doesn't know how to get rid of the mites. He will give the ones with just the beginnings of mites both a feather mite spray and scaly face mite treatment. I'll give back the other three when they are okay, and by then they will have the nice new aviary inside and all should be well...

 

The reason I'm not taking them, but helping to get them better, is that the problem is from him not knowing about feather mites, and not being able to move them into a new aviary inside, and being on holiday. They aren't deliberatly neglecting them and he even loves birds and has cockatiels of his own. He actually offered that I come over, say, once a week and I can give the birds the company and care they need.

I'm picking them up this afternoon, at about 4.

 

If anyone disagrees with my only temporarily taking them please do tell me your reasons now that we know the whole story, I personally cannot see anything wrong with it. ^_^

Edited by Jen144
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Perfect solution Jen....good on you ^_^ You have done really really well :happy-dancing:

 

remember to keep them well away from your own budgies.

Edited by KAZ
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Jen, you know the situation more then we do so if you feel in your gut that if they get the birds back and they will be taken care of fine. I would as Kaz said keep them far away from my own birds, seperate rooms and as far as possible, I also would not return them until the existing birds that he is treating are completely healthy as it will just reinfect the birds you made well. I would also do check-ups on these people to ensure the birds are being cared for and continue educating them.

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I will keep them very far from my own birds, I don't want my birds to get all the mites as well, and any other nasty little diseases they may be carrying.

 

Yep checking up on the birds is exactly what I will do when I go there once a week or so, as a volunteer to give them some attention. I can teach this guy how to take care of them properly, and help him to do that. They can have more than just an all seed diet as well, if I bring them some veges, so that is a plus.

 

And the nestboxes are going to be taken out of the aviary. (unless, like I suspect, the female has/is about to lay some eggs.) If she is going to lay or has eggs, would it be best just to freeze the eggs or something, so the already unhealthy bird does not have to have the stress of raising more chicks?

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you can addle the eggs or replace them with fake ones and take out the nesting box or she will continue. I am sure Kaz may have other advice here on this too.

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Remove the nestbox and throw away any eggs, regardless of the stage she is at. She needs a holiday or she will die. Add a calcium block to the aviary.

Edited by KAZ
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Alright that is what I thought. Will do.

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Okay just picked up the birds. I took 2 of them, the one with the worst scaly face and the one with the worst feather mites. Tony (the guy who feeds them etc) will take care of the other 3..two males who both appear healthy, as well as the female..all of which have the beginnings of feather mites and scaly face but not very badly at all.

I took some pictures, and went to the vet and bought some ivermectin, and feather mite spray for them both. Here they are, a young (6-12 month old) yf2 male:

PIC_0581.jpg

PIC_0583.jpg

 

And a sky blue male with feather mites:(at least, I'm assuming it's feather mites..I'm not certain. Am I right?)

PIC_0584.jpg

PIC_0586.jpg

Edited by Jen144
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Those poor birds, that is cruel. Well done for acting.

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That is really really bad :P Does he know he has to do the aviary too and also change the perches.

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I agree with Kaz...good on you Jen for working on getting these birds healthy. Keep us updated.

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He didn't realize he needed to clean the aviary and everything as well, and not just the birds. So that's why they kept on getting it. Hopefully that will be changed now.

I was thinking, seeing as both the birds are in the same cage, treating them for both scaly face and feather mites, though the sky blue doesn't look like he has scaly face..but the yellowface has both. Would that work, or should I wait until the sky blue shows signs of scaly face (which he probably will, even just because he is in the same cage as the yellowface..he has been in the same aviary so he'll have it soon won't he, even if he doesn't now?) before I treat him as well? Then if the yellowface has none before the sky blue does and then they'll both catch it again from eachother, wouldn't they? I hope that made sense lol.

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Treat for both. If you are usuing spot on ivermectin then it will get the worms too.

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I believe there is no harm in treating with ivermectin even if there is nothing to treat... people do it as a precaution all the time, don't they?

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