Rainbow

LOL, Bea, they are normal to me! I get the bird kabobs at a bird fair, but I've seen them occasionally in PetsMart. I'm sure you could find them online too.

Beak Appetit is a cooked diet that consists of different grains and vegetables. It took close to a month before mine would eat it, but now they like it. A few of my birds will now eat it instead of the few seeds I sprinkled on top to get them to try it. Sneaky, huh? You can get it at PetsMart, or if you ever buy online Drs. Foster and Smith carries it too. If your birds don't eat it at first, it's pretty good - you can eat it so it's not wasted...unless your birds are like mine and just walked around in it first.... Here's a link to their website if you want to read about it.

LOL, here's a new Bird-Kabob and a used one.

Most definitely! I think they should probably make up about half the diet, what do you think? ((whispers)) Guess what? Mine ate plums and apple last night, a few of them ate sprouted seeds this morning, and most all of them chowed down on the Beak Appetit for dinner. ((huge grin)) I'm so proud of them.

Mine are pretty good about only chewing what I give them. (Note, I said pretty good...) They do occasionally attack picture frames and the frame of my mirror. But I figured out long ago with this flock of mine, if they can destroy it, they are happy. They never really played with plastic "budgie toys" much, but larger (cockatiel) sized destructo-toys???? If it's wood, they will chew. If it's papery, they will chew. If it can be destroyed in any way, they will chew. I have those little plastic lattice bells, and a plastic budgie swing with a bell on it. Whenever I rotate those into the cage, the first thing that happens is one of them will unhook it so it falls to the bottom. I can keep putting it up, and they will keep making it fall. It's like they are saying..."WHAT! How dare you! I can't eat THIS! How could you hang this in MY cage???? Give me better toys!..." Jensa, my budgies love to chew. But I'm not sure if it is just because I have so many, and they just really consider it another "flock activity" or not. When I had single birds, they did not chew nearly as much, although they still did. Most everything I have read says that only the hens have a need to chew wood. ALL of my birds chew. The males just tend to prefer softer woods. I have a new chewable toy called a Bird-Kabob which is made of very soft papery wood, almost like balsa wood, and the males spend as much time with that toys as the hens do.

It is well-documented that an all-seed diet will shorten your bird's life, and also sets them up for a host of physical problems before they die. The seeds birds eat in the wild are vastly more nutritious than what you buy in a bag, hence all the additives. Since I can't feed my birds as well as what they would eat if they were wild, I give them as much variety as possible. Yes, it takes awhile for them to accept different types of food if you don't start them on it from day one. Pellets are more nutritious than seeds, but obviously don't fit every type of birds nutritional requirements. I don't think anyone even really knows what that is. Some studies show the protein levels in pellets are too high for budgies and other birds, others say different. I don't know exactly what ratio of pellets to seeds to give, so I give it my best shot. It's not anywhere close to 100% of their diet.

It could be stress related. Do they look normal except for the increased urine?

LOL @ Imotive....

Ew, Jensa, you are having the same weather we are. It's miserable, isn't it? Hope that a/c gets repaired quickly!

They all sound okay, maybe a few grams could come off the biggest ones, but not as much of a worry there as with Sherbet. 48 grams sounds about right for the "English" budgies. I've never had them, so not sure but I think they should be between 45-50 grams?? Maybe some people with those type could list their weights so you would have a better idea. Sherbet doesn't look that fat - some of mine have a roll of fat you can actually see.

LOL -I'm that way with my vet's too. Did you weigh them all, or just the one? Mine are on the heavy side too, but I will be happy with having them under 35 grams. You might not have to seperate him from the rest, hopefully not anyway. Wish you could get some pics.

TeGz, that's still too heavy. Normal weight for the smaller type budgies is around one ounce or around 28 - 30 grams. You should barely be able to feel them on your finger. 56 grams is almost twice what he should weigh. I would run any diet you put him on through your vet's first, a quick phone call should take care of that.

If you've only had your birds for 6 weeks, unless you got them as an older pair from a friend or something, they are not old enough to breed anyway? They need to be over a year old, in my mind preferably 18 months before they breed. I'd let them settle in more, and work on taming them for now. It will help to have them tame so if anything goes wrong while they are breeding, you will be able to handle them or the babies without as much fuss or stress. You will also need to get them on a varied diet so they can store up vitamins and minerals. Breeding takes a lot out of the birds.

That's cute. They won't blink unless they are comfortable, so you are doing well! Yay!

Hi kosmo, and welcome. I'm by no means an expert, but I think when the two birds begin courtship behaviors like mutual preening and feeding that would be when to introduce the nest box. To stimulate breeding, lengthen their available daylight hours to at least 12, make sure they have plenty of food, especially fresh veggies. I'm told eggfood is good too, I've not tried the crumbly kind before and just ordered some of that myself just for variety in their diet. The hen needs ready access to a calcium source, whether it is a cuttlebone or a calcium perch. I'd shy against putting supplements in the water as most birds won't drink the water if they think something odd is in it, either from color, taste, or smell. It's best if you can get them used to a good varied diet and give them a chance to build up vitamin and mineral stores in their bodies before allowing them to breed. Hopefully your son with find as much joy in watching and caring for the birds as you did, and the hobby will have a new convert.

LOL, nerwen. okay, otherwise known as American Shell parakeet. I think the term American must've gotten shortened from that.

Another thing that may be worth a shot is to call the vet that saw your bird before and ask if maybe they can refer you to an avian vet that is closer (some vets have a particular interest in exotic birds even though they are not certified avian vets and keep current with the findings and breakthroughs in avian medicine. Your first vet may know of another vet like that.) or if they could do some calling around for you to get a better diagnosis. After all they do have the results of the labwork from your earlier visit. If neither of those work, you could call the avian you found from the link and see if they can give you any help over the phone, or can direct you in some other way. I hope you can find some help for your bird soon.

I felt that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach just reading your post.... You are so lucky! Would Cindy have hurt them, or does she just want to see what they are? Are you finally feeling better?

They look like they would be fun for the birds to eat, since they would have to "work for their food", so to speak. I'm ordering eggfood tonight. (and more food, wheatgrass, toys,...... You know how it goes.)

I looked at some tonight! I didn't get them because they have molasses/sugar in the ingredients, and I don't give my birds sugar (just a personal preference, nothing scientific about that one). But I know a lot of people have had success with them. They are supposed to be good.

morethanrubies, you were right. The PetSmart near me didn't have it. They didn't even have any of the hard egg biscuits I got before. I think I will order some crumbly egg food and see how that goes. I like the idea of "immersion therapy"...

Great! I'm off to PetSmart....

Thanks, when I go out today I will look for some. Can you get it in pet stores?

It's not always what people recommend, but the only way all mine would eat pellets was if I mixed them with the seed, and gradually reduced the amount of seed. Given a choice, mine would choose a dish familiar seeds over a dish of unfamiliar pellets any day. Removal of the seed will only hurt them if they are "small, stubborn birds" (LOL) and refuse to eat the pellets. Then they will starve themselves. Watch their droppings, if they become very dark green or black, or consist only of urine put that seed back in for a few days until they return to normal, then try again. It sounds easy when you read about how to convert your birds to pellets, but there is a lot more "fine tuning" it than anyone ever told me. Mine never liked egg food, but all I've seen is egg biscuit and they are hard. I wouldn't eat it either. I think I will look for crumbles like everyone else feeds and try it. Any good brands? I see Quiko on Drs. Foster and Smith website, but I've never tried it.

It's easier to measure out if you only have one or two birds, but with ten the problem I have is that I would not know which ones were eating all the seed...I can't think of a good way to ensure that no one bird isn't eating two or three other bird's portions... Some of them will eat the pellets to fill up, others won't eat as much. For the bird at the bottom of the totem pole there may not be any seeds left, and he is the worst about eating pellets. I would just be sick if any birds were starving in the midst of what I thought was plenty. Any suggestions to avoid that? Right now I just don't leave seeds in all the time. When I add them it's only for 30-45 minutes then I take them out again. Right now they really get nasty with each other when the seeds go in, and act like they haven't eaten in days. And although veggies are good for them, we all know how many you have to eat to feel full...that's just not feasible to expect budgies to eat that much of them.