Gary

Thanks for all your replies. The leg rings are both black with white text.

Right, I've got a reasonaby decent picture of the Lutino now, sorry it's taken so long but I've been at work during most of the daylight hours during the week! My other new budgie, the blue and white one is definitely male as his cere is very blue now. http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/8947/imgp5391mv2.jpg

Thanks for your replies. Sorry about the poor picture quality, those photos were screenshots from my video camera, I will try and dig out the proper camera (wherever I last put it!) and take some better ones. The blue and white bird definitely has a bluish/purplish tint to his cere but the yellow one's cere is bright pink. Yes, they are very large birds (at least compared to Tommy & Beaky). The leg rings say 'W6111' and '07' which is obviously the year. I'll leave them well alone unless they cause problems.

Hi there, I decided to go and get another budgie to keep Tommy company after poor Beaky sadly passed away a couple of days ago. The only place I could find budgies in my local area only had two left but they seemed to get on really well together and the guy in the pet shop said they had bonded well together so I ended up getting them both (didn't want to leave one on its own!). I am keeping them in a separate cage from Tommy as a quararantine measure but hopefully they'll all get on okay. Will Tommy feel left out? One of the new birds (I haven't named them yet) is a Lutino and according to the pet shop, she's female and the other one is pale blue and white and male but he only has faint markings on his face and wings while Tommy and Beaky both had really dark markings. Apparantly they're both 12 weeks old. Can somebody have a look at the photos below and confirm what gender they are? I've never seen a Lutino before and not sure if the usual cere colour rules apply. They both seem chirpy and active enough and are eating now they've settled in. They both have a ring on their left foot, can this be left on or should it be taken off? They don't seem to pay any attention to it. What is the purpose of the ring, do the numbers on it mean anything? Thanks, Gary

okay, thanks, I'll definitely move them into another room and make sure the door between the rooms is shut to stop the fumes from transferring between rooms. A couple of weeks should be long enough?

Hi there, I've got to do some decorating in my living room and was wondering whether the paint fumes will harm Tommy and Beaky? Is it best to put them in a different room while I am decorating? If so, how long should I leave it before I can safely put them back in the living room? I will be using emulsion paint on the walls and satin wood paint for the doors, skirtings etc.

Thanks for all your advice, the mark seems less noticable now. He certainly doesn't seem to be behaving any differently from normal, he's very active and chirpy as usual. I have been keeping a close eye on the birds when I let them out to play together to ensure it doesn't happen again.

I've just noticed Beaky also has what looks like a fairly deep scrach on one side of his beak (the other side to where the mark on his cere is). I can't think of any way he could do this himself, could that be a bite mark too?

okay, cheers, he's not any worse this morning but I haven't looked very closely at his cere as I don't have a magnifying glass. You are right, he does like to rub his beak on things, particularly his iodine block.

Hi there, it's been a while since I've posted here but I've just noticed poor old Beaky has a strange mark on his nose (cere). I'm pretty sure it wasn't there yesterday as I noticed it straight away today when he came out of his cage. Please see attached close up photo. Otherwise, he seems his usual self, he's certainly lively and active and chirping enough. It looks almost like a hole of some kind below and to the right of his nostril. Any idea what it is? It's not a bite mark by any chance is it? I did hear him have a minor squabble with his buddy yesterday but that is fairly common and he's never had any damage from that before. Should I take him to the vet or will it just heal up and go away? It's definitely dry now but it looks as though there may previously have been some discharge, i'd almost say it's more of a scab now. http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7712/beakyzx7.jpg If it's a bite I will have to keep them apart, I normally keep them separated when I'm out and let them play together when I'm around to keep an eye but obviously boys being boys... PS: While I'm on the subject of ceres, is he supposed to have all those white flaky bits on it?

Hi folks, I need some advice. My two lovely budgies, Tommy and Beaky keep squabbling with each other to the point Beaky drops off his perch. Not sure exactly what Tommy is doing but he's attacking Beaky with his beak in enough of a way to make Beaky squawk and fall off his perch to the floor. Beaky also seems to be quite threadbare around the front of his neck, perhaps Tommy has been pulling his feathers out? They got on fine when I first got them but poor little Beaky had an accident a few months ago and injured himself so I had to separate him although the two cages were next to each other so they could see and talk to each other. Beaky has only in the last month or two got his strength back enough to perch and climb so he's gone back in the main cage with Tommy. One minute they're getting on fine with each other and preening each other's head feathers, the next minute I hear a few squawks and then the thump of Beaky dropping to the bottokm of the cage. Is there anything I can do to teach Tommy that his aggression is not acceptable? I have tried immediately taking him out of the main cage and putting him in a much smaller cage I use for taking them to the vet and leaving him in there for half an hour but it doesn't seem to teach him much, he just looks at me with those beady budgie eyes that make me feel sorry for him. I don't want to have to separate them permanently as the main reason I got two budgies was so that they could keep each other company while I am out of the house at work and as I say, they get on fine most of the time. Is Tommy just picking on Beaky because Beaky is still a little weak? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks, Gary

Thanks Anthony! Beaky seems a little better today, he is definitely more active and can almost stand up now. He will sometimes eat himself although I am still feeding him every few hours to make sure he does eat and drink. Hopefully he'll be better soon, he does seem to be on the mend

Thanks for your replies folks. Beaky doesn't really seem much better this morning although I just managed to get him to drink some water - when I turned my back, he was actually drinking out of the bottle top I provided water in! He isn't eating much this morning, he had a couple of nibbles but that's about it. Unfortunately, I have to go to work today but I will come home at lunchtime to check up on Beaky and make sure he eats something so I won't be out for more than 4 hours at a time. I have set up a webcam so that I can keep an eye on him at work. Have a look if you like - http://garyreggae.ww.com Be warned though, it only updates every 20 seconds or though so you won't necesarrily see a lot of movement. I did try putting Tammy in his cage for a visit but she just ate some of his millet and pecked Beaky's head in an unfriendly looking way so I took her straight out again.

My gorgeous poor little boy Beaky is very unwell at the moment He has a daft habit of jumping from heights; he has done it loads of times and not hurt himself at all but he jumped yesterday (only from about waist height), landed on his back and couldn't get up. Since then, he's been in a terrible state with hardly any strength at all. He spends most of his time just laying down. I immediately separated him from his buddy and put him in a small cage with a soft floor and just some food and water in. I gave him a millet spray to try and tempt him to eat as it's his favourite food. I took him to the vet at the first opportunity today and the vet said that he definitely had a good chance of pulling through. There is nothing broken and he can still just about move all of his limbs but as I said, he's very weak. The vet thinks he has bruised his back which is obviously very painful and gave him a steroid injection which should reduce the inflammation and will last for two days and suggested keeping a very close eye on him, obviously making sure he eats. He won't eat on his own but if I hold a millet spray up to his face, he will eat it, he had a good feast on that for about 10 minutes earlier, which I hope is a good sign. How often do I need to feed him? Will he be okay left overnight or should I get up during the night and feed him? I am also concerned about him drinking, I have tried to get him to drink droplets of water off my fingers but he won't. His buddy, Tammy also seems upset. The two of them are normally good playmates and make a lot of noise but I haven't had a peep out of Tammy since Beaky has been taken ill. Obviously, she misses him. I'm just really worried about the poor thing, it breaks my heart seeing him in such a state. He's just laying there looking glum with his eyes half shut, opening them when I call his name or when I move. I just want him to be back to his normal self, causing mischief and making a lot of noise! I really hope he will be better in the morning. Still, I guess there are some morals here. Be careful if you have a bird that can't/won't fly! I hope Beaky has learned his lesson now but I am not risking it, he's not going anywhere loose except for on the floor from now on. Also, don't take your budgies for granted, you never know when something unexpected will happen

Gosh, I thought alcohol was toxic to budgies? Anyway, my Tommy once jumped into a bowl of chocolate trifle! He was perched on the edge of the bowl and for no apparant reason, suddenly jumped into the bowl! Needless to say, I had to give him a bath as he was all chocalatey!

Here are some photos of my little darlings: Little Tommy loves climbing! Tommy perching on my glasses, a favourite spot of his! Tommy and Beaky together. Poor Beaky is undergoing treatment for his bald patches. I have eliminated feather plucking so the vet has suggested applying anti-mite lotion to his bald patches and I'm waiting to see if that is successful. They look like they're kissing here!

Thanks ETerri. I will try and get them to the vet ASAP. Here are some photos. Apologies for the poor quality but my digicam seems to have totally packed up I've had to take these with my webcam (which was actually a lot easier as taking photos of these birds while holding them and a camera may have proven difficult! Beaky: A not-very-clear photo showing feather's missing from Beaky's neck. A better view of the aforementioned: This photo shows Beaky's missing wing feathers and the 'bald patch' underneath. His other wing is the same. A closer look at the bald patch: Tommy's wings. His left wing is at a different angle to his right wing A top-view. His flight feathers hardly overlap at all.

Hi, I'm a bit concerned about my little Beaky and Tommy Beaky has had some missing wing feather for quite a few weeks and they don't sem to be growing back. They are the mottled black feathers that cover the main part of the wings, not the flight feathers. Interesting, exactly the same feathers are mising on both wings (I will post some pics later on when my camera has charged up). His feathers are otherwise okay but not particularly tidy compared to his friend Tommy who has a very fine and fluffy plumage. I also woke up this morning to find what looks like some kind of small blemish to the side of his beak and some minor brown tinges to the feathers around there. I cannot think what else this could be but some kind of cut caused either by misadventure...or by Tommy. Beaky seems very chirpy and active though, more so than Tommy. As for Tommy, well his feathers are fine and he otherwise looks fine, however he cannot fly any more! He used to be able to but now he just crashes to the ground. When he waddles across the carpet he seems to carry one of his wings in an unusual way. However, this could simply be because he is rather fat and refuses to touch anything other than seed while Beaky seems ever so thin. Any advice? Or is this a trip to the vet? I can't find any avian vets in or near Southampton (UK) unless anyone knows of any so I would have to try a conventional vet. Thanks, Gary

Just heard on the news that the first case of Avian Flu has been detected in the UK in a parrot.