newtobudgies

I'm trying to get a better picture of her now, am hoping I can get one front on so you can tell me a sex, I thought a boy, the vet says a girl............

okay so not a great picture........

Thanks for that advice I'm right on it!

Well I've been back to my vet and he talked me through all the tests and results and I'm happy with his advice. It is not beak and feather disease, I've seen this first hand in a corrella I had a few years ago, both the vet and I are sure Goldie does not have it, her feathers are completely healthy looking just longer and I guess you could say wavy, like she's had a body wave! There is no retardation of the feather shaft itself. He said it would be genetic as she can fly and has all tail and flight feathers intact, he said if it was french moult she would have shown signs of flightlessness and loss of flight and tail feathers when I got her and as I've said she looked normal he said the only reason he'd assume she's ever had anything wrong with her at all, ie a virus or illness of some sort when she was a baby is that she has what he thinks is stress marks on her feathers but he said this alone would not cause her feathers to wave or fluff like they have. She is a larger budgerigar than Mary and no they did not come from the same breeder, so I have no concerns at all with Mary. I'm uploading the photo's now to photo bucket but as I have dial up it may take a while so please bear with me. I'm sorry I've been a pain but I thank you for all your helpful advice. I'll post the photo's as soon as they're done.

Daz, if it is caused by french moult is Goldie infectious? I will be calling the vet tomorrow to arrange some more tests, thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. Goldie has full flight and tail feathers and is able to fly, she is going through a moult now and the new feathers coming through are somewhat longer than the older feathers, it's really noticeable on her head. Also what can I do in the mean time if it is french moult? Is this a life time problem or something that she will get over?

Can I just ask, as I'm pretty new to the whole budgie thing, I'm not sure where I should be purchasing my vitamin supplements etc from. Am I only able to buy them from the vet or can I get them online or through a pet shop? I've seen a few people on the forum mention soluvet and calcivet, where can I get these? At the moment the only things I could get my hands on are a wormer and vitamin supplement from Aristopet, are they okay to use on my budgies who are in cages not aviaries?

Thank you so much, yes it is fantastic news isn't it! I feel so much happier having seen a vet about it. I was a bit worried that he would look at me as if I were a fool but he was very thorough and informative so my advice to anyone would be if in doubt go see your vet!!!

I recently found out Mary our 3 month old budgie is a tufted budgie and I was wondering if anyone had any information they could share? Mary is actually a boy but my son's kindy teacher gave him to us and her name is Mary so of course my son wanted to call him Mary! Anyhow he has three feathers right above his cere which stick straight up and it's the cutest thing, here we were just thinking he had a mohawk as we'd never heard of tufted or crested budgies! He's a lovely little thing and is in the process of being hand tamed. He's really tiny, is this normal or is it his age? I will try and post some photo's this week.

Thank you so much everyone for your advice, and I'm sorry I've not yet been able to post a photo of Goldie but my computer had crashed last week and my hubby is yet to get all the programmes up and running! Good news though, well sort of, I took Goldie to our local avian vet who has informed me that it looks as though Goldie has a mutation from her parents possibly being over bred. He reassuringly told me it's nothing I have done as he's certain after testing her, yes Goldie is a girl, poop and feathers and blood that there is no virus or bacteria or infection so I am a good and responsible bird owner! I was so relieved to hear this as I was worried I was doing something wrong! The only bad news is that being a mutation Goldie may have a shorter life span but he's not sure how much or even if it will be shorter so there is hope at least that she'll be with us for many years to come! He said that while she has somewhat longer feathers and she is a larger bird it is not because she is a feather duster or mop as he called the condiditon, he said because Goldie is 5 months old now that she would be a complete little ball of feathers and that she is not, she just looks like a very unkempt messy budgie even though she's really not. So once agian thank you all you've been extremely helpful and I will get some pictures posted this week as it may help someone else out there!

okay from what I've read and pictures I've looked at tonight I don't think Goldie is a feather duster..hopefully, his feathers aren't continuously growing and they aren't really longer than the normal budgie, however they do stick up and are mostly on the wings...so I guess I'm not sure what is wrong with him. I'll try to get those photo's up as soon as I can. Thanks to everyone who's helped so far.

I've just had a look on the net and they say that feather dusters only live for an average of a year! I was not expecting that! Some of the photo's on the net look like Goldie, some look much much worse! I'll keep looking and thanks for pointing this out I'm hoping this isn't the case with Goldie as I'd like him to be with us for a long time! On my little investigation I have come to relise that Mary is a crested budgerigar, I never knew this existed either!

Is this for real? I've never heard of them before and am wondering if you're serious or joking because that's exactly what he looks like, a little yellow and green feather duster! :(Laughing out loud): I won't be able to post any pictures until tomorrow unfortunately.

I'm hoping someone may be able to help me here....one of my budgies, Goldie, has weird looking feathers sort of almost curly if you can picture this. He (we think) is nearly five months old and when we got him his feathers were normal but within a week they changed, he was 10 weeks when we got him. I've wormed him, given him a vitamin supplement and sprayed for mites and lice but it's made no difference. I think he's going through a moult at the moment as he's losing some feathers and you can see new ones growing around the head. Will the feather problem resolve itself when he's finished moulting? He's healthy, poos are normal and he is given a varied diet of seed and fruit and vegies as well as the occasional treat of millet or a seed bell, he's happy and doesn't sit all fluffed. He's in a cage by himself as we quarantiend him and another budgie (Mary) when we bought them and with this feather problem I've left him in the cage by himself just in case. I clean out the cages of our birds ie. Mary and Goldie the budgies and Coffee the ringneck, daily and same goes for their water and seed dishes so I can't think what to do next. Oh he doesn't have any bald spots and tail and wing feathers are totally intact and none missing what so ever, they're just fluffy, curly! Any advice on what this may be? Could it be a genetic thing? Any advice would be great thanks. :greenb:

Just wondering if some of you could share with me the right things I should be feeding my budgies? I remember my mother only ever feeding our budgie a seed mix with the occasional cuttle bone! I've been giving my two babies and one I'm babysitting, some seed mix, a seed stick, a cuttle bone and some millet spray as well as some green leafy vegies. What I'm most interested in is what fruits and vegies are suitable, and I've also just read in another post about feeding them eggs.......I never knew you could do this! Any advice would be appreciated as I'd love to raise happy and healthy birds so I can begin breeding in a year or so. Thanks in advance! :feedbirds:

Oh thank god! I was starting to worry alot! I've just been sitting with my hand in her cage, we're hand taming her, and she had one leg on my finger and the other on the side of the cage and she did it! Wow it's really weird! She's now hanging upside down from the top of the cage, so I guess I had better get used to all these funny little antics or I'll end up a nervous wreck!

Just wondering if it's normal for a baby budgie to act as a contortionist? Goldie will sit on the side of the cage then flip herself around in a sumersult without moving her legs, so when she's twisted herself around her legs are the wrong way around if you get what I'm saying....could it be possible she's double jointed in the legs? I was in a panic as I was worried she would break her legs but she keeps doing it! Does anyone else have this problem? What do you suggest I do?

Thanks for the warm welcomes! I'm working on posting some photo's for you all to see.

Hi everyone! I've been lurking this forum for the past week and am so impressed with the advice and knowledge posted! I've recently purchased (for my son's) two baby budgies and they are doing wonderfully! I haven't kept budgies for over 20 years and I'm happy to say these little birds have the most fantastic characters! I'm so into them at the moment that I'd like to learn everything I can about breeding so that one day I can help the budgie population expand! We're in the process of hand taming Goldie (girl) and Mary (unsure) at the moment and things are going really well. I have them in separate cages as I got them from two different breeders, is this the right thing to do? I read about the importance of quarantiening and didn't want to risk it! We're also baby sitting my son's school budgie who is such a dream, he's hand tame and such a little chatter box! Anyhow I look forward to chatting to everyone here and hope you all don't mind me asking LOTS of questions!

Thanks for that information Kaz. I do have a sinking feeling that as he has long claws he may have scratched himself some time ago. He was obviously covered in lice and mites as he was scratching himself like a madman all the way home! I sprayed him immediately then disinfected his cage and toys, even bought him new perches and feed dishes, then sprayed the cage with the mite and lice spray. However when you live in a class room full of seven year old's and their dirty little hands what hope has the poor little fella got! I'm taking your advice on board and I don't think I'll take him back! Possession is nine tenths of the law.......am I correct! (Laughing out loud) He's such a happy little fella, has been whistling to my two babies constantly which is so cute! I'll try the tea bag in the morning, thanks for that advice I feel better now. I've emailed my vet just incase, better to be safe than sorry! I'll be using this forum a lot from now on, I've only recently, like last week, got my two new babies home and I haven't kept budgies for a long time! The advice here is wonderful!! :hap:

Hi there, I'm babysitting my son's class room budgie who is 8 months old and he has what looks like conjunctivitis in one of his eyes. The teacher said he's had it for a while! I've wormed, sprayed for mites and lice and have added a vitamin supplement to his water daily, he's healthy, not lethargic and is showing no other signs of ill health. Is it possible for him to have conjunctivitis or an eye infection? The eye is not swollen but he has some minor feather loss around the eye and some dried puss, I've been bathing it daily and it does look a little better but not completely healed. Should I take him to the vet? :hap: The poor little fella was completely distressed when we got him home and I'd say he's been given a hard time in the class room as after a few days of rest he was as good as new except for this problem with his eye. He's hand tamed and am worried he may spread his eye problem to my two baby budgies! Any help would be appreciated.