Sailorwolf

okay. That's cool. Cause I was thinking then that if a vet only has BVSc it doesn't make them any less qualified than an avian vet, because a lot of avian vets only have BVSc? So just because they don't have extra letters after their name it doesn't mean they can't deal as effectively with birds. Sidenote: My avian vet is doing some postgrad stuff on birds to so he is extra good.

Some birds can fly with completely clipped wings. My Emmett can fly with only 2 feathers in each wing, because he is so light. Your vet may have done a complete clip or an incomplete clip, (which works very well for most budgies who are the heavier variety or who are not fit). Incomplete clips are often used on larger parrots. I don't know if you have to have extra qualifications to be an avian vet I'm not sure. Chryso do you know?

Yes you can give too much. I don't know what the dosage rate is but it is possible. Hypercalcaemia can lead to all sorts of problems

Are the iron perches the same material as the cage? If they have other perches that are higher up then they wont use the iron perches. You don't need to do anything to the iron support bars as long as they are sound. Removing them may compromise the integrity of the cage. And if they are the same material as the cage then removing them would be pointless. Most cages are made of steel, which is an iron alloy. Are you sure the metal is iron and not steel?

Very cute. The Weebil looks like a girl. :hap:

Yeah. Well you should never have too much of anything. (Laughing out loud)

Iron itself, wont harm your bird's feet. It is just not ideal. Iron oxide as far as I know isn't actually toxic. Research it on the net. When I did, i found that it was not and when I asked my vet he said that iron oxide is not poisonous. It is the zinc oxide that you have to worry about and that appears like white powder. None of my little boogers have been affected by iron oxide either. Liv: I havent heard of iron preventing absorption of calcium (doesn't mean to say that it doesn't happen, but I can't think of where it would do that). But potassium and brassicas can.

New budgies will often be quite for the first few days as your home is a new (and scary) environment for them. After a few days or couple of weeks he should be settled in and start to show that personality you chose him for. Budgies don't tend to eat for the first 3 or 4 days as they feel it is too risky to put their head down when you (a stranger and perhaps a potential predator) are around. Try covering three sides of his cage and the top with a blanket, so he feels more secure and take it off a little bit each day until you manage to remove the whole blanket. After the 3 days of initial scaredness, he may attempt to escape as much as possible!!! but don't let this worry you, he should stop that after a while too. He sounds like he's just settiling in.

Only problem is I am renting and I'm not allowed any more birds. I'm actually supposed to be selling some!!

Tee hee, I've just bought some earplugs

I just recently got all my budgie back from my mother who was looking after them since the start of the year. Having gotten used to the quiet of a budgieless room, I'm finding it quite hard to get re-used to the noise that 11 budgies make. They live in my bedroom as I currently flat with other students. I was wondering how many budgies you have, the noise level they make and where in the house you keep them. I was also wondering if budgie noise can damage your ears? I love my fids, but I may have to purchase an aviary and put half of them outside so that the noise is lessened inside and I can study. Do you find that less budgies make less noise?

Whoever sold it to you didn't know what they were doing

How scary for you maesie. I'm sure everything will go through well. Your Pop sounds like a fighter. BUt I'll still give you a giant bear HUG. *squish* .....@....@ .......,...., .........x ( )...HUG...( )

I like 2 males. Males are the silliest of the lot, with their head bopping, dancing, flirting, pinny eyes, poofy heads and kissing everything that moves and sometimes doesn't move. hehe

Careful with the cage you got there, the bar spacing is very wide and may mean that your little budgies escape or get caught. Budgie will show nervous signs for about 3-7 days then will try their ultimate best to escape. You may not see them eat or drink in this time, because they are too scared to eat while you are around, but they will quickly calm down. They are beautiful boys, I especially like the name squishy

Absolutely no trigger whatsoever

Albert and Nikio are a bonded pair that I have house together by themselves because none of my budgies are at home at the moment. Anyway they are dead keen on making babies. Niko had had a bulging bum for a few days, but I had never seen any eggs. Anyway I went up to talk to them and saw her heaving and puffing in the corner, so I decided to leave her be while she laid her egg. In about 2 minute I see her up on the perch with her wings spread wide open. It's hard work laying eggs. I went over to have a look and saw a little egg in the corner. I was busy at the time so I didn't take it out straight away. Then naughty mr albert came down and started attacking the egg. made a significant hole and then Nikio came and joined him in eating the egg. It thought I'd just let them eat it, she needed the protein after making that egg!!. So looks like it'll be hard if I ever want to breed from them, but I won't be doing that for a long time anyway. brats.

Yes it is most likey that it is an ino or a fallow and that it is perfectly fine

They especially love coming out to play and have a fly around too

I know this is going a little off topic. Saffy seems to be doing quite well. Apparently it has been going on for awhile (my parents were looking after her), but she appears otherwise normal. Her only problems are that because of the expanded abdomen, breathing is a little more difficult for her, but she gets along quite fine. When I last took her into the vet, he said she had weakened abdominal walls and this could be the reason for it now bulging, with out the muscles pushing back, her abdomen has filled. However she is pooping and eating and drinking and moving around normally, so I am not hugely worried at the moment. I'm taking her and her friends back home in two days and then I can get her to the vet. Just with the big journey in the way it makes it a little hard to do anything sooner.

Poor thing. They sound like absolute terrors. I don't know much more to say. Anyone else have advice?

Shoot, now I'm getting worried, because Saffy is being like that now, but she is eating, drinking and pooping normally with no obvious signs of distress. Just a swollen abdomen, that is squishy. I'm away from my vet at the moment so I can't take her in. I have however upped her calcium and she has a good appetite.

Have you actually seen Declan chew his feathers off? How are you sure he is doing this?

Chryso, i know it feels yuck to discipline other people's kids, but if they are doing this sort of stuff, you have every right to discipline them. The kids will then learn to respect you (hopefully). If they are on your property you have every right to discipline them. You would tell off an adult who was doing the same wouldn't you? Those kids have to learn from somewhere and they certainly aren't going to learn from their parents.

Calcium, I would say would be the major one to look out for as calcium is required for the muscles to contract. With out calcium muscles cannot move. Calcium is also required to send nerve impulses from nerve to nerve or nerve to muscle. Thus a bird (or any animal) deficient in calcium is not able to contact its uterus as easily and as time goes on and they continue to struggle they use up more calcium until they cannot push no more. Calcium deficiencies can come about from a lack of calcium in the diet or overuse of calcium, which would be the case in extended periods of breeding, or problems with metabolising calcium properly, such as problems in the parathyroid gland (which can be caused by any number of things), or problems with uptake. With Cacium also comes the Vitamin D which is needed for calcium metabolism. A prolapsed uterus isn't the end of life for a bird. Saffy had a prolapse, luckily she did so while she was at the hospital and the vet successfully operated on her and put the uterus back inside. She has weak abdominal muscles now though, which is a lack of calcium thing and her toenails are growing fast so it looks like she may have liver problems which could be the reason for Saffy's calcium problems.