Rainbow

**head spins** Are you sure? Then what is Crystal? He does not have the white tail, so is not classified as a clearflight. I'm guessing he is probably somewhere between 50% and 75% diluted from a normal skyblue, tail included. I thought he would be classified a white wing dilute pied...

Have you tried adding it to the top of their regular food mix?

Cindy if the male won't feed him I'd leave him with the 8 week old babies. They should show him how to eat, and may even regurgitate for him until he figures it out. Oops, I just noticed this was started almost a week ago. What did you decide to do?

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Your bird will grieve, so extra attention is very important. His routine is all messed up now, so if you can begin a new one that he will look forward to, that would be a good start. If you would prefer not to get another bird, that is understandable but you will have to be the "bird replacement". I wouldn't recommend a mirror, just spend more time softly talking to him. Is he tame? Do you let him out of his cage regularly? I think those parts of his routine should stay the same. He may act depressed, he may act agitated, he may constantly chirp for his mate for a bit. Unless you continually reward that behavior, it will pass and he should start to act like himself again. How has he been this last week?

I missed this somehow, sorry no one else has responded yet. I'm sorry for your loss. Birds do grieve. When Rainbow died it took about 2 months before the flock was acting what I would call normal. Oscar will probably perk up a little bit at a time, but depending upon how long he had a partner could in part determine how long he will act depressed. His whole routine has been disrupted, and he is alone for the first time in probably awhile. How is he doing now? Did you decide to get him a friend? If you are still thinking about getting a female budgie in the future, I can tell you what I know about them. :ausb:

Wow, this was an old thread! Mine used to not touch it, but they eat it now. I feed it dry, mixed in with their pellet mix. It disappears from the seed cup first, so I guess they like it.

It may be what you need to do. You might need to get out Angel's quarantine cage and set it directly next to Oscars. You should be able to let them out together since you will be there to supervise, but keeping them in the same cage right now is probably not a good idea. Oscar might be a little upset at first, but as long as they can see each other and sit next to each other in seperate cages things should be fine.

How old is Oscar? I went through similar circumstances when my birds were babies, as dad wanted to mate with the babies too when they got to be around that age. A hen can lay eggs as young as 5 or 6 months old. You need to make sure the "deed" never gets completed. You are right to be concerned about your hen's health, it is not good at all for her to lay that young. She probably has no idea what Oscar's intentions really are, being that young she is probably still glad for him to feed her.

I've decided to temporarily pin this due to the listing of safe and unsafe plants, good foods to feed, and about halfway down the page the list of environmental hazards to birds. Listings for those seem to get requested quite often.

I've heard that too, but do you know why? Is it just due to the acid levels? I see many of the pet stores feed oranges to their birds and the birds all seem to enjoy them.

You can try purple plums (only the flesh away from the pit - the pit is poisonous and the red "veins" that extend from it are too) and bananas too. Sometimes mine will eat those.

I had to scroll up and look at it again...

Good idea featheredpets.

When I used to feed grapes I would peel them for my birds first...... I must admit though, that after the post about all the birds that died from eating chilean grapes I have not fed any to my birds.

Yeah, when I had a hamster, she ate Harrison's just like the birds, only in a larger size. She only got the seed stuff as a treat every couple of days, and ate veggies daily. Variety is the key.

Read this about feather plucking. It might help pinpoint the cause. If you want to add a vitamin supplement, get one in powder form so you can sprinkle it over the food instead of putting it in the water. Most of it won't be ingested as your 'tiel hulls his seeds, but some may be. LaFeber's makes one you can get at the pet store - Avi-Era - you can either sprinkle it over food or put it in the water. I used to use it when I first got Rainbow because all he ate was seeds. I put it in the water, but luckily he drank it. It may give you piece of mind to temporarily add vitamins until your 'tiel gets used to a better diet. You need to try to stop the plucking before it becomes a habit and if you think he is deficient in something it can be a band-aid fix for now until you determine why it's happening. Check out the article first though.

Slightly off-topic I know, but Phoebe - a big reason most hamsters don't make it past 7 months is diet-related. Most people feed a hamster seed mix, and like feeding budgies seed only gives them an earlier death sentence. Hamster seed mixes are low in calcium among other things, and since their bones are so small and brittle anyway broken bones are common too (you know how they are fearless and will jump out of your hand or off the table or whatnot ).

Thanks Gypsy, I had been trying to figure out the more common names for some of those mutations too. It makes perfect sense that those terms are for other parrots. So then a type 1 yellowface would be their doublefactor Australian bird and the type 2 yellowface would be the singlefactor? Logically it seems like it would be the other way 'round, doesn't it? I think it would be easier to use the terms used specifically by budgie breeders as opposed to general ones for other types of parrots. But trying to reconcile terms has made me think, and sometimes that is a good thing.

If you've had the nest box in for two months, I'd take it out for a little while. I've heard of removing one of the pair to stimulate them to breed once they are put together again, but I've never done that before. I think if you put the breeding pair by themselves that would be best. They will be able to form a stronger pair bond, and by taking away "competition" for the nest box they might settle down and begin to breed. If you can I'd move the pair to their own cage, let them get settled, and in a month or so add the nest box again. You should also add egg food and raw veggies like brocolli, spinach, kale, and carrots to their diet. Access to a cuttlebone, mineral block, or calcium perch is also a good idea. Are you able to seperate your birds into different cages?

A budgie goes through his first molt at about 3 1/2 to 4 months of age. The second molt could come on at 9 months if conditions are right, but it seems a little soon for another full molt. Which feathers were he chewing, small body ones or big flights? Sometimes mine will nibble the ends of the big feathers for a moment after they pull them loose. I have a budgie now that is minus the two long tail feathers too, but they weren't pulled, she just molted them out close to the same time. She doesn't have any trouble flying though, so I'm wondering a little why yours fell to the bottom of the cage. If you think their behavior is abnormal, go with your gut feeling and make an appointment with the vet. It is always better to be safe than sorry. Or at least call them and describe the itching and feather loss to see what they say. If he has mites, he probably would have gotten them from the pet store. If you have been handling other birds which may have had them, then handled your own he could get them that way too. An indoor bird rarely will catch mites once you bring them home, there is nowhere for them to be exposed to them in your house.

Hi BudgieBabe13, and welcome to the forums. It sounds like you have 3 budgies in your breeding cage. The unpaired one will need to be moved to another cage, or problems may ensue. How old are your breeding pair? How long have you had the nest box in? What are they fed? Budgies will breed once they feel conditions are right to ensure the survival of the chicks. These conditions include (but are not limited to) sufficient daylight hours, sufficient green food, and a secure place to lay. Your birds should be on a healthy diet of more than just seed. Tell us a little more about them and we can give you more advice on what to try.

I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure he knows you were trying to help him. He sounds really sweet.

A real nice mate for Crystal???

Mine have too. I've got feathers all over the place and the temp in the house has only dropped about 5 degrees F. The shorter days seem to have helped bring it on. I always though warmer temps induced the molts, now I'm not so sure. I don't know what the ideal temp to stop the molt would be, but I also have noticed in winter with the artificial heat any birds I've ever had will seem to molt constantly until the heat goes off, or goes cooler. I wouldn't put them in a cold room, but a few degrees cooler in the overall house temp might be worth a try if they've been molting for 6 months.

Please don't inbreed your budgies. :hap: That is how genetic defects are passed down. If you have a brother/sister pairing, please change it. And yes, same sex pairings can happen. In younger birds, especially males, it seems safer to practice the song and other mating behaviors with a same sex bird. At least in my experience it seems that way. As they get older when paired with a suitable hen they should be fine.