Elly

I fixed it Feathers and FGM, the photos are showing, thank you for resizing

or a simple bottom crop if it still looks good either way it is a beautiful picture

It is debatable but because budgies do hull their seeds which means they take the covering off they don't necessary need grit. There has been studies showing that it can impact the crop if they get too much of it. It is your call but I personally do not give Merlin grit. You are doing good, keep him warm, covered is excellent that keeps him from feeling like he needs to look around all the time so he can recover. I put myself in the bird's position and think about how much recovery time it would take for us as a human if this happened to us just think when we pull a muscle it can take a week for the soreness to go away or if we have surgery it takes about 6 -8 wks to really start healing. The key is if you see improvements everyday that is important it is when you see the backward steps he should feel a little better everyday. He may never be perfect but end up being a "special needs" bird and that is okay as long as the quality of his life is pain free and happy. We do need to have patience and give them time to recovery. You can buy liquid vitamins at your local pet store and either put it in the water or on the food as directed. You know he will eat the food as for water unless he drinks it he won't get it. If he likes veggies this is another source especially brocolli which is a good source of Vitamin A which many birds are deficient in and low Vitamin A causes upper respiratory infections which very often can kill the bird. With him being on antibiotics for infection that will most like cover this aspect but once he is done you will want his immune system to recover. You are doing a great job, I am totally pulling for this little one.

gorgeous pictures Feathers, I love the picture of you and your mom that would be a wonderful picture to blow up and frame

It takes a while for trauma to heal so I would give it a good 2 months before you make an accurate decision (unless of course you see that the bird goes down hill or you see that the bird is in pain). There are a lot of things you can do to adjust his cage life and make it more comfortable for him to get around so he is not stressing and trying to fly. You already have by removing the perches. I would also keep the cage in a very warm place at least around 72F plus because his immune system may be low and it will help keep him from getting a respiratory infection along with adding extra vitamins to his diet. During recovery I would keep him in a small cage where it limits his attempts to fly at the moment let the nerves, muscles in his neck recovery by keeping him quiet. Keeping perches in the cage but very low so if he wants to he can perch if not that is okay. Also keeping the food and water low and maybe even sprinkling the seed on the ground so he can eat that way vs trying to balance himself on a food dish which can be difficult due to his balance issues. Animals are resistent is is amazing what they can go through and how fast they can recovery when humans (like you who care enough) to give them all they need to be comfortable during their recovery time. I see feathers is on here too so I know she will probably say similar things and even add more. Good on you for taking the bird to the vet and caring so much. I believe with patience and time to heal this bird does have a chance.

[ Above Skyblue Recessive Pied Yellow face 2 First bird Yellow Face 2 Dominant Pied Opaline Violet or Cobalt carrying the Violet Second bird looks gray to me OH and I Added my comments in red on my thoughts of mutations I agree with Kaz on this one below...They both look like Yellow Face Spanglesthe bluer one is an opaline too In orderYellow Face 2 Opaline SpangleYellow Face 2 Dominant Pied Spangle Dominant PiedNormal Green (unless he has a large spot on the back of his head could be a dominant pied. The green hen is one of my first one we had the other 3 are the new ones. ( did you do a 30 day quarantine before introducing the new birds?) below...Agree with Kaz on this one Hen from the first lot of pics you can see the front of her better in the picture below...Sky Blue Dominant Pied - looks male but the cere is very flat and not smooth so could be hen, I will let someone else comment Yellow Face Type 2, (can't see the wings patterns on the back) going with violet in coloration - need to see the back of this bird, if there is 1 and I missed it I am sorry below...Agree with Kaz on this one Sorry if theres too many pics but i just had to show you all the different colours they are.. Very nice pictures they are beautiful birds some of them may be siblings since you got them in a group settings so if you are breeding I wouldn't breed them together since it is a high chance they are siblings.

Just the first 2 links were oversize the other ones were okay .

that is my Hailey she still talks about how she misses Pretty

the first chicks look so soft like cotton they are beautiful the grey green is beautiful, I love the spangle marking do you think you will be able to show him? the little hen is so sweet

wonderful photos Dave, they look wonderful, I love how they lay on their backs.

great shots capturing his devotion to the eggs that is wonderful....

I have been reading this post, I have a story to tell you (Laughing out loud). We had a baby mouse in our bedroom and the cats were looking at it just staring. So we found they had crawled into the attic and that is how they got in the bedroom. So my husband goes to buy traps and bring our daughter with us. She in turn bursts into tears and says daddy those will kill them and he ended up getting the humane traps and we let them go back in our woods. They didn't come back thank goodness but can you imagine the look on our 6 yrs at that time face On, topic....hope they are gone soon

excellent shots do you have a panning mode too? This is where it gets the object in motion but the back ground is blurry this is on top of the sport mode too? I ask because I got a new camera and it has this mode I have yet to try it.

so very sorry to hear this bad news

WOW there are so many wonderful pictures that I can't comment in them all but I see a little bit of AU in the U.S. too when you go to different states you can see the diversity from state to state and from country to country. Just beautiful and breathtaking, you don't realize it when you live in the same 4 walls and then you see other pictures and reality is that there are so many wonderful places to visit and see.

so cute

I think there is a 4 hour window for editing posts...anyways thank you for the updates we love them

that is awesome Aly, I just love when they start responding back like that

hope he is feeling better, I noticed that Merlin really gets under the weather when he is molting too

I agree boy

So you know you can add to your last post by clicking the edit button Wonderful updates.

We will need a picture, CLICK How to Post Pics and it will review how to upload a picture, do make sure it is sized to 450x450 or it will be turned into a link. If you have questions let any one of our moderators know or you can post a question in the tech support section .

anytime feel free to even PM me I went through this similar situation just a year now, the 15th of this month Pretty passed away, I decided not to get another bird and Merlin has been doing wonderful sole. HUGS

I would assume that this hen was still egg bound just in a different stage though you live and learn. I believe if you are not an avian vet cutting a membrane without having the experience is very risky. At the stage she was at she needed to be seen by a expert and even if she was it may have been too late. As you said you didn't have an avian vet in the area. I am not experience in this area just giving my thoughts. I am sure others will come on to help you out even more. Even when you take care of them the best you can sometimes the unseen forces have another plan I learned that with Pretty my own budgie. Budgies are fragile they are not as hardy as they are written up to be.

Welcome to the forums, most of the experience breeders are asleep being our daytime is their night. We have a few that come on during our day so I am sure this will be answered. If you read through the FAQ's you will gain a great deal of knowledge too. It talks about different ways you can prevent egg binding, what to do when it does happen etc... you wil find most of these articles in the Breeding FAQ's but you can do a search too. Here is an article you can read for information and will answer a lot of questions. Eggbound Hen BBC Artcle CLICK TO READ