Vonn

Phew!! What a relief to see the photos of all your budgies sleeping in just the way Lukie does! It is certainly bizarre for a site to give such incorrect info. - really irresponsible as it causes new owners, like myself, unnecessary concern. Thanks heavens I have you guys to help put my mind at rest. I wish I had taken note of the site address now so I could complain. I was just browsing various budgie sites one evening and came across it. I really am finding the help on this site amazing and I am so grateful to have the forums to go to when I have a problem/question. A huge thank you to you all. Luv Vonn xxx

Hi feathers and Mandy - thanks for the replies. I will go to our garden centre and see what they have and if not I will get the magazine. Mandy, there are hotter guys around than Alan Tichmarsh - if you are going to drool, I'd go for a total hunk!! HA HA! Thanks for the growing tips, feathers - very helpful. Luv Vonn xx

Hi everyone I recently read an article which listed things to be concerned about in your budgie's behaviour and under 'abnormal sleeping positions' it said that a budgie should not turn his head towards his wing or tuck his head under his wing when he sleeps. My budgie has done this from the time I got him at six weeks!! He does it when he takes a short nap in the daytime. At night he mostly sleeps with his head in the normal position. He often has his eyes open or half closed too. I cannot be sure whether they stay that way when we are out of the room or not. He is a nervous little thing and his eyes pop open at any slight noise/movement anyway. My question is do I need to be concerned? He does keep one foot tucked up in his feathers when he sleeps or naps. Hope to hear from someone. Luv Vonn xxx

Hi everyone I have been looking on the net for the best budgie seed mixes and am totally confused!! We have a limited amount of budgie seed mixes in the UK it seems. The best mixes all seem to be in the US! I had a look at Peckers organic budgie seed and their organic budgie seed with pellets and this is the sort of seed I would like to use. How does this this rate against, say, Volkmans seed mix? I had a look at Volkman's seed mixes and they look excellent. We can get Hagen Budgie seed mix here but it is not organic but does put the vitamins into the dehulled seeds and not on top of the shells which you find in most mixes. I would like to make my own mix but would never be able to find all the ingredients in the UK. Has anyone in the UK managed to make a varied seed mix and, if so, where did you find the ingredients. I am seriously thinking of getting a seed mix from the US even if it costs more in postage than seed! Which mix is consider to be the very best of the mixes in the US? I would be grateful for any seed mix recs. I was sent an excellent article by Elly on probiotics and it seems one needs to get a species specific probiotic for it to have any effect at all. They mentioned Bene-Bac gel which you administer by syringe. I would not be able to do this. Is there any equivalent probiotic available to put in the water? Luv Vonn xxx

Hi I live in the UK and would love to try and grow a eucalyptus tree in a pot for my bird. Is this possible in the UK and what is the best type of eucalyptus to pot? I would need the the botanical name. I was thinking of asking friends in Australia to cut a few small branches of a eucalyptus tree and post it to me, but I suppose it would not be permitted? I know there is a company in Australia that does post branches (with bolts) but they are quite expensive. Not sure how they get through customs? Luv Vonn

Hi everyone Thanks so much for all these replies! You have no idea just how much all this support has meant to me over the past few days. I have had some really excellent advice, haven't I, Phoebe. I have been printing it all out. Lukie is doing well, and today he isn't so irritable so things are getting better with each new day. Phew!! I hope you succeed with the diet, MissHurley. It must be difficult to cut down his food. I'd hate it to have to do that, but as you say it is not good for him to be overweight. Lukie is actually a very lean bird according to the vet but he feels it is due to the fact that he is so active and flies about a lot. He is not a cage bird - he has always hated being in a cage. He uses his cage as a diner but not for much else. He loves his playgym which is about 5' tall and he spends his days dashing about from one level to the other playing with his toys. He regularly flies about the room, too. I would like him to put on a little weight. I know what you are going through with the veg. - Lukie is terribly fussy and quite determined too! You and I will just have to keep trying to get them to eat their veg. Feathers, thanks for the names of the vitamins. I will take your advice and wait and see if he can do without them. Thanks again for all your help, too. Luv Vonn xx

Hi Elly Thanks for all these tips - they are such a help to me! Once he is better, I will try your idea for getting him used to bowls. I think they are far more hygienic and a lot easier to keep clean. I won't be able to put the cooked food in a tubular feeder, so he HAS to get used to bowls. I will be patient and not give up, now that you have told me how long it can take. I didn't realise that you had to wait so long and gave up after a few weeks. Just wish I had known all these things - you have been a great help to me. He does like to chew on fruit and seed sticks but doesn't eat much of it - most of it ends up on the floor. He also doesn't chew the mineral block, but loves the cuttlebone. One thing I wanted to know, how often should you replace the cuttlebone and are you supposed to wash it regularly? You are probably horrified at how little I know. Thanks so much, Elly, Luv Vonn xxx PS: I got your PM and have replied.

Hi feathers Thanks for all this info. I am so pleased you told me about the fresh veg and fruit as I was going to give him some tonight! Harrisons is organic and not coloured. Elly has just told me that she crushes her pellets and puts them over the seed, then they cannot pick the Harrisons out and throw it on the floor! I think this is an excellent idea. I did try making a mush of the pellets but Lukie wouldn't even look at it! He really is a determined little bird! What is the best way to give Lukie vitamins and minerals? Are there any particularly good brands of vitamins and minerals? Sorry about all the questions! Do you give your birds nuts? Lukie only eats his veg if they are clipped in a 'bulldog' stationery clip and hung from the perch above!! He won't go near a bowl, which I would much prefer to use. Is there any way I could make him change to a bowl. He is using the plastic tube feeders that came with the cage and I don't like them. I would much prefer ceramic or stainless steel bowls. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks a million. Luv Vonn

Hi feathers Thanks for your reply. After a sleepless night (for me! - Lukie slept very well) By the morning Lukie had developed diarrhoea. We took him to the vet first thing. The vet said it was either a bacterial or fungal infection and probably caused by deficienties! I was so upset by this. He said that Lukie is picking out the millet in the seed and not eating anything else, apart from the odd nibble at a vegetable/fruit. He said that this causes all sorts of deficiencies, digestive problems and makes him vulnerable to illness. He put a tube into Lukie's crop and took a sample to send for analysis. We will know the results next week. He gave Lukie an antibiotic injection and a highly nutrition feed straight into his tummy (..I think - we had to wait in the waiting room so I didn't see him giving it to him) He said I must not change his diet yet as it will be stressful and he cannot have any further stress until he is completely well again. Once he is well, the vet suggests giving him his Trill in the morning and evening and for the rest of the day only leave Harrisons pellets out for him to eat. I must also continue putting out fruit and veg. in the hope that he will try them again. He used to like them but now only eats tiny pieces of parsley! The vet has given me an antibiotic to put in his water for 10 days. I just hope Lukie will drink it. I must keep a close watch and see if he improves. He said the Lukie should be much better by the end of today. He is a lot better - not quite so fluffed up and he hasn't got diarrhoea anymore. He is quite grumpy though and gets cross easily (eg. if a draw the curtain in the evening he squawks!) and this is not like him at all. The whole episode has been really stressful for him and me - I really didn't think he was going to make it through the night. I was very interested to hear about the seeds being irradiated. I didn't know this. Please could you tell me what seed you feed your birds and where I can get it from. I don't mind ordering it from abroad as long as Lukie gets proper nutrition. Lukie just hates the pellets. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated, feathers How would you go about changing Lukies diet, feathers, taking into account his fussiness and his willingness to starve himself if he doesn't get his Trill? I didn't realise that Trill had so much millet in it. I did realise that Lukie was only eating certain seeds, but didn't realise it was just the different types of millet seeds that he was eating! The funny thing is that Lukie is not all that keen on millet sprays that I have been hanging up on his playgym.! Do you give your birds extra vitamins? Elly, the vet said you were quite right about the Vitamin A deficiency and he is sure Lukie is suffering from this at the moment. I feel so bad about all this - I should not have been so uninformed about feeding. I hope you got my PM? I bought some of the foods to cook that you mentioned. Thanks everyone for you advice and support. I will let you know how Lukie progresses. Luv Vonn xxx

Thanks so much for this, Elly, I am going to pm you now. Luv Vonn

Thanks for all the replies. Lukie seemed to perk up a bit this afternoon but an hour ago he started to vomit and then went to his cage to sleep. He never sleeps in his cage. I can see that he feels awful. He is still fluffed up and we have had the heating on all day. He doesn't like his cage covered, unfortunately. I feel so helpless, as I now have to wait till morning to see the vet. I am so worried that he won't last the night. I will continue to keep the room very warm all night and will keep checking up on him. Elly, Lukie does have a mainly seed diet. I didn't know about the vitamin A. He has been off fresh food for a while now and will only eat a little parsley. I thought that they added the necessary vitamins to the bird seed. He eats Trill and it says on the box that it contains the essential vitamins. I live in England and the time here is 21:54 so I will just have to wait till morning to see the vet. What can the vet do if it is a virus? Are they able to treat him? I just wish Lukie was tame and I could cuddle him and keep him warm and let him know how much he is loved. This is so hard. Luv Vonn xxx

Hi everyone, I do hope someone could give me some advice. Lukie has been fluffed up for days now. As the weather had changed, I thought he was just feeling a little cold. I put the heating on but this did not seem to help much. His droppings are normal and he hasn't got a runny nose but he is definitely quieter than normal. I phoned my avian vet but he will only be in tomorrow and will phone me as soon as he gets in. Meanwhile my husband looked up various sites on the internet. One said that it was probably a virus and we should keep the room temperature very high even up to 90 degrees! so that he doesn't have to fluff up to keep warm, but can rather use his energy to fight the virus. We have the heating turned up and put a fan heater on in the room but he is still fluffed up!? We have all had viruses of late and I wondered if he perhaps picked it up from us? I am really getting very worried now and check on him every five minutes like a mother hen!! Lukie is a little ray of sunshine in our lives and we couldn't bear to lose him. If anyone has any advice that they can give me I would be so grateful. Lukie is our first budgie so we are novices at looking after birds. Luv Vonn

Hi everyone Last night we were watching a wild life show on the television and our budgie, Lukie, was really enjoying watching ducks and ducklings on the program. Then it went to an advert break. Well at first Lukie was like "What the.... where have the ducks gone!". Then he totally lost it and squawked his little head off at the tele. in fury. It was SO funny. Luv Vonn xxx

Lukie seems to swop 'favourite toys' He will play with one toy for weeks then loses interest in it and another toy becomes the favourite for another few weeks. He did love his ring with the cotton tassles on it for the longest time. He learnt how to 'wind it up' (it was on some thick cotton cord) and then sit on the ring as it spun round and round - the faster the better. He absolutely loved to do that. - it looked hilarious! He would get furious if I tried to wind it up for him - you could almost read his mind " I am quite capable of doing that myself, thank you!" Mr Independant. He also loves to throw his ball on the floor (hasn't done that with grapes yet - that was so funny, Nikkitay, I could just picture it) He does throw any veg that he doesn't like on the floor. He watches it hit the ground just to make sure that he has made his point. Luv Vonn xx

Lukie has always lifted his wings when I say hello, or tell him how cute he is, and he is definitely not afreid. He often does it when I am sitting down and I chat to him on his playgym. He looks so coy and cute when he does it. Other times he will stretch his leg backwards to say hello. He only does it when we greet him or saying sweet things to him - he seems to know by the tone of voice that they are nice things, and this is his response. He also lifts his wings to say thank you! Whenever I give him some fruit or veg etc he will always lift his wings to say thanks. He is quite calm and happy and not thin and scared when he does it. What a cutie he is - we love him to bits. Luv Vonn

Lukie flirts with his swing, his mirrors, his millet!!?, his bells, an almond (in its shell), me and fresh air!! He seems to flirt with them all in rotation so as not to offend any of them! Luv Vonn

Thanks so much for all the posts. I think it is the highlight of his day, feathers, as he gets so excited. Lukie obviously doesn't understand blackbird 'speak', daz, as he often uses the blackbirds alarm call at the wrong time!! At first it sent the blackbird flying off in alarm but now he realises that Lukie is doing it by mistake, and it doesn't mean 'Hey, there's danger, go, go, go!!' Does Milly do this too, Chrysocome? Lukie does have a lovely view from his playgym, phoebe, with three huge windows so he can watch everything going on in the garden. At first he was terrified of all the large magpies, pigeons etc but now he hardly notices them. He is interested in the sparrows too, Chrysocome, but hasn't learnt their calls. He just seems to have a thing for this blackbird! Our home is set well back from a fairly well used road and if an ambulance goes by, Lukie can see the flashing lights over the top of our hedge. Well, if there is an ambulance siren on the tv, Lukie automatically turns around and looks for the ambulance lights in our road!! So cute. He is also tries to find the budgie in his mirror. He quickly pops his head around the other side to try and catch him. Then he tries to stand on the top of the mirror and look at both sides as fast as he can. He then tries ilooking at both sides from underneath the mirror, whilst hanging upside down. It's so funny. Do any of your budgies 'greet' all their toys each day? Lukie goes from one toy to the other and 'flirts' with it for a couple of minutes. Its like he is trying to tell each one of them that he loves them. Adorable. I also really wish we could understand bird language - it would be so fantastic. Luv Vonn xxx

We have quite a few blackbirds in our garden and one in particular likes to look for grubs etc between the paving stones on the patio. Lukie overlooks this patio and has always been interested in this bird. He has learnt all his calls! Lukie gets so excited when he sees the blackbird. He bobs about and calls to the blackbird mimicking its calls. The blackbird just looks at Lukie in a puzzled way and then goes back to looking for grubs. I feel so sorry for Lukie who really wants the blackbird for a friend. Luv Vonn xxx

Thanks for all the replies - so pleased to hear that 'freezing' in fear is normal for budgies (and humans!! (Laughing out loud)!) This is my first budgie so everything is new to me. I loved your post, Kevin, where you said Tweety chirped for hours after nipping the dog!! Hilarious! Luv Vonn xx

Hi everyone We were sitting in the livingroom the other day watching Lukie eat his leaves, which we hang from a clip for him. All of a sudden he froze with his foot in the air holding the leaf. We wondered what was wrong and went over to see if he was okay. His eyes were enormous and his little heart was beating so fast that you could see it beating in his chest. First we thought he might be going to have a siezure or something, but then we saw the Sparrow Hawk near the window looking at Lukie!. We chased it away but nothing could make Lukie move! He remained frozen in the same position for quite a few minutes. Poor little chap was terrified. We were amazed that he knew that a Sparrow Hawk is dangerous. He soon got over the experience though and was happily playing in no time. Luv Vonn

Hi Rainbow Thanks for all the advice. I will certainly keep it all in mind. This is my first budgie so this is the sort of advice I really need. I have been wondering whether to clip his wings but really don't want to do it. He loves his freedom so much. We had special caging put over the windows that we keep open and we are used to closing outside doors after ourselves now. I have heard it said that you should make a tape of your budgie chatting away to himself so that you can play it if he flies outside. Evidently if you leave his cage in a prominent position and keep playing the tape, he will come to the cage. I have no idea if this is, in fact, true. Have you heard this before? Anyway, we are very aware of Lukie being free and do take every precaution. That said, accidents do happen which is why I keep thinking about clipping his wings. Thanks again for the advice. It is much appreciated. Love Vonn

Thanks so much for all those new replies. I am relieved that I can take Lukie with me. I have spoilt him, I know, but we just love him to bits. It would be such a big change for him not to have all the attention he gets at home, as well as all the freedom he loves. With regard to covering him on the journey, Lukie is the budgie who is afraid of the dark! He is a lot better now and sleeps by himself all night through, but we let him fall asleep with us first, and then creep out once he is asleep. If he has a nightmare, which he has had on two occasions, then he knows where to find us and flies to us for comfort. I have never tried to cover him again since he panicked when I first tried covering him, after his visit to the vet. It all started with this first visit to our avian vet for a check up. The vet dimmed the lights slowly, and when it was dark, he put his hand in the cage and grabbed Lukie. He has never really got over this completely but is a lot more confident now. I still feel hesitant to try and cover him though, in case he loses his trust in me. What do you think? Lukie is a very nervous little bird and hates being confined in a cage. He likes the cage to be there so he can pop in whenever he wants to, but the door has to be left open. Since we decided to let him fly freely, he changed from a quiet, rather sad little bird into a very happy bird. He hated the hand training so much and got so upset by it, that we decided to stop taming him. He lets us come very close to him as long as our hands are kept behind our backs. We can just give him a quick kiss before he moves out of reach, but this took a long time to achieve. He is quite happy to have our faces up close to his and he listens intently to whatever you are saying to him. He quite relaxed and puffed up a bit when we do this, and looks as cute as a button. He answers us back in a soft little chirrup. I think that as long as we chat to him a lot during the journey, he will be okay. At least he is with 'his flock' and will have a familiar routine each day, even though the surroudings will be different. Love Vonn xx

Thanks for the replies. I will check out whether the owners will allow a bird in the cottage and, if not, we will find another cottage where he would be welcome. I am very fussy about keeping the area around Lukie clean so there should be no reason to object to him being there. I am relieved that you feel he would be fine making the long journey. Love Vonn

Hello everyone We are planning to hire a cottage in the Lake District next year and I was wondering if it would be okay to take my budgie, Lukie, with us? I'd hate to leave him with anyone as he is used to being very pampered!! He also does not like being in a cage so he flies about freely. He stays in the livingroom 99% of the time as all his toys are there. He also has a huge playgym in there that he loves (5' tall!!). It's next to a large window where he can see into the garden. We provide him with lots of entertainment during the day as well. I play birdsong tapes which he really enjoys and I video nature programs with trees and birds in them as he enjoys watching those too. I also play music - he has different tastes in music on different days!! In between I chat to him and watch him play, whenever I have moment, as he just adores being praised for doing things eg swinging on his hoops or spinning on his one toy or turning his wheel etc etc My better half is worried that the journey will be too stressful for him as it will take a few hours. I feel he will be more stressed being away from us for two weeks. Once at the cottage I could prepare a place for him near a window with all his toys etc. Everyone I know either works or has cats and dogs so Lukie would either be alone all day or in a cage all day. He would be so miserable. Any ideas? Love Vonn

Oh, I forgot to mention about the photos, cheeky. Yes I do have some - I will get my hubby to load them up for me as I don't know how to do it. I will get him to post them as soon as poss. Luv Vonn