Sailorwolf

I like your sky blue opaline spangle dom pied, that is a cool combo.

Well I just got a phonecall from the vet yesterday and he said that he has been going over her case and throwing ideas around as to what the fluid build up could be. He said there are two possible situations. One would be a herniation, caused by the muscles of the abdominal wall becoming weaker. This would require her to undergo a tummy tuck (I laughed when I heard that, because it sounded like plastic surgery) to pull her muscles back together. Or she could have had a past case of peritonitus, caused by an ova being released into the abdominal (or peritoneal) cavity and causing an infection, which has now lead to fluid build up. This would require drawing liquid out of her abdomen. So to determine what it truly is, we are going to get an ultrasound done. Now don't worry, the vet said it is not an emergency or anything and she is not in any real pain, maybe just a bit of discomfit, but she should be alright. Poor thing I feel sorry for her.

I used to put mine outside. But now that I have my big cage i can't really, It doesn't even fit through the door!

This happened to me awhile back, I picked up what I thought was a dead cold chick only to see its little beak moving. I tried warming it up by breathing on it, but unfortunately it died in my hands. Maybe I should have kept trying, if I had known this now, I would have but I was pretty sure it was dead though, it was very still and did not change position at all, and mummy hadn't been feeding it so it was probably a lot weaker than it should have been. I also tried warming it up by feeding it warm food. This also sorta works with eggs, I have two little budgies that hatched from two eggs that were abandoned and went stone cold, that is Kito and Alopex.

Are all eucalyptus trees safe for budgies? here in NZ we have heaps of eucalypts growing rampant. I like them though, they are nice trees

Ten minutes is a good length of time. It is during this time that you can check under their beaks for built up food. You father budgie, looks like he is a double factor spangle and not an albino.

Well I have ten budgies in one cage, 5 boys, 5 girls, lots of budgie sex all the time, but little Alo (the one that looks like Blinkie, maybe it is a blue spangle thing? ) loves to hump the little plastic wobbly budgie. He really enjoys it. I just let him go at it, because none of the girls are really into him at the moment and I think he is a bit jealous of his idol, Sir Casanova himself Arkady, who currently has it going with 3 girls. Maybe you should just get toys that don't make sound when they are being loved?

Well on Tuesday, I took Saffy back to the vet to get her X-ray taken. She was a very good little girl and behaved herself well. The vet was absolutely excellent. He is an avian and wildlife vet and because I am a vet student, he let me join in on all the procedures. He was telling me about why they do certain things and the reasons for everything, it was great. So we got two x-rays taken of Saffy, one ventro-dorsally (on her back) and one laterally (on her side). To test that she is under properly he pulls on her wings to test the amount of muscle tone and he was saying there was quite a lot, so maybe that is why she has never been able to fly. So then we had a good look at her x rays. It showed no problems what so ever with her leg, but there was a lot of fluid build up in the abdomin, making it hard to see what the problem was. He said this could be from an enlarged organ, or it could be just from her coming into lay (which she seems to be doing ). He didn't want to try and catheterise it, because he wouldn't want to stick a needle into an organ if it is one. Then he said that her bones are looking, a little mottley, which is a sign of calcium deficiency. This could be from two things, if she is laying she would be moving calcium out of her bones to make egg shell, or she is calcium deficient. Her legs looked good though. There was no visible egg so we couldn't be sure. So I decided to get some blood work done on her, because she had pulled through the anaesthetic so well the first time and she was there at the clinic already. Again we couldn't find anything wrong in that area. Her blood looked really good, there were very little white blood cells (which means no infection), I only saw one! The vet also let me dip and prepare the slides and look at them. So we couldn't identify any definate problem with her only that she had a lot of fluid in her abdomin which was obscurring the view of her organs, which could be due to her on the lay. Anyway the vet said to feed her lots of green leafy vegetables as these are good sources of calcium. Saffy was a real trooper, she did so well and as soon she got back home, she was happily chirping away. I made her a little platform out of a ladder and some material, just in case she feels better about sleeping on that, and she is so good, she keeps it clean herself, by picking all the little poos off of it. I'm proud of my girl.

Show us a picture of your cage. Cause you need to be able to reach the nestbox to clean it out after they have finished raising their clutches

Perhaps you could call the vet and ask them about it.

All my babies like to bathe and they are staring to teach the folk's to do it too.

Things are going good. Yeah I did IB. You do have to do those topics in uni, if you did them for IB as they are slightly different and more indepth anyway. However doing those subjects for IB really really helps you to do well in that first semester. Well second year is a lot busier than last year. I have exams in one week so that is why I haven't been around much lately. It is all good. We did a bit of avian anatomy this semester and next semester we get to start diagnosing diseases and doing comparative anantomy, which I am looking forward to. I just can't wait for these exams to be over.

Answering, to let you know how inspiring you are in you care and devotion to your son. How you give up everything for your little boy (even your budgies) shows us how much you love, cherish and care for him and that is really important. That love is what is adding the speed to his recovery. And I wish you Lucas and your family well in these difficult times.

I got 76% That question about the cinnamon eye colour is wrong. Cinnamons have purple eyes at that age. I Know. I have two cinnamons!!!! Oh yeah the leg stretching thing, mine do that when they wake up. I have counted 8 primary feathers before!!! >

In the meantime, Bea, coat the rusty area with olive oil. This will stop air and moisture getting into the metal and causing it to corrode further. It also provides are good barrier between the rust and your birds. Only problem is that the budgies like the taste of olive oil. You could try mixing something foul tasting with the oil to prevent them from doing this.

Both my males that bred recently were tame and all up they produced 8 offspring in total.

So it is safe for them?

Leave him out of the cage. She will just try to hurt him again. The hen will look after herself just fine. However I recommend not breeding from her again.

That's a good idea. Just be careful he doesn't ingest the plastic.

How long did you try it for? Why do you think he is biting? (it doesn't work with all budgies). If he is clipped you could try putting him on the ground when he bites. Wait for 10 seconds pick him up and if he is not biting, give him a treat, like millet. As soon as he starts biting put him on the ground.

Is she feeding all of them? If she is managing to feed all 7 babies, then I would leave all her babies with her as they are better off raised with her.

Poor thing. I know it must have been hard. I think it was an educated decision and it is very hard looking after birds with pbfd.

Awwwe. That is so sad. Poor thing.

That cage is exacltly the same as my old cage. It is a really good size

I dunno, I read somewhere here that beans were bad.