Rainbow

Oh what fun you will have.....Your vet should have shown you how to do it at the office. Here is my method, but others will probably do it differently. If this isn't how your vet did it, or you have questions, please ask. I want you to be able to do this right. Catch your bird in a washcloth and hold him (I place the index finger on one side of the neck, middle finger on the other side to minimize movement, thumb bracing his side,and other two fingers lightly laying across the abdomen of the bird. Do not squeeze, as birds breathe differently than us and you could compress the diaphragm which is not good.) I hold with my left hand and give medicine with my right, but that is because I am right handed. Don't hold the bird so he is laying on his back, keep him mostly upright. With the bird facing you, take the syringe and place it against the side of the beak going in from your right, facing left. That will point the medicine in the right direction - if you go in from the other side you are pointing medicine towards the windpipe and not the esophagus and could squirt it in his lungs. Depending on his personality, he may protest loudly which is easier - you can actually put the syringe in the side of his mouth and get it over with. Just don't squirt it all in at once, do it relatively slowly. Budgies can spit, LOL. Some will clamp their little beaks shut tighter than anything and nothing you do will make him open it. Mine are like that. I just very slowly drizzle the medicine on the side and they will usually barely open their beaks and allow it to go in. It takes a few drizzles to get all the medicine in, but go slowly - don't squirt it all out at once. You'll just end up with sticky feathers and a very aggravated bird. The amount of medicine you need to give is going to be very small, and since budgies are very small you need to make sure you have the dosage right so you don't overmedicate. If you need a picture I will catch one of mine and try to get one. If you are very nervous, have someone else hold the bird while you give the medicine. Just be careful.

Poor Snowy...I did a little research for you, and found that hypothyroidism will cause feather loss, as can diabetes. It mightn't hurt to have your vet rule these out in Snowy. Both conditions are treatable, and since the feather loss appears to have happened quickly and recently I would think the cause would be medical in nature. Low thyroid sounds very plausible, given his age. He looks plucked, but since you don't have any other birds you know that is not the case, and he can't reach those feathers himself. Does he rub the area on his cage and perches alot? Could he have been exposed to anything that would have given him contact dermatitis? That is what it looks like to me. It sounds like you have a good vet though, so hopefully between you both you will find out the trouble. Snowy looks like he is in good health and feather otherwise. Please don't give up hope on his treatment, and let us know how things go. He's obviously very well loved.

Only a calm bird will blink at you. Supposedly if you blink, you are telling the bird you find it comfortable to be around them and are not threatened by anything going on around them. Predators (you) don't blink when they are ready to ambush prey, and prey (budgies) don't blink if they think there will be any reason to flee a predator. A blink at the wrong time could mean they are lunch. If you can get your bird to blink back, you are doing great! Pretend to go to sleep (just put your face up to the cage and close your eyes for 30 seconds or so) then slowly open your eyes and close them again. This can be calming too, because a bird won't go to sleep if it thinks there is danger around. It may take a long time before your bird is comfortable enough around you to remain tame after you put it in the aviary...especially if the aviary birds aren't as tame as he will be when you put him in. I've found it takes months to tame some store-bought birds. Have you thought about keeping him inside with you all the time?

A full molt takes mine about 2 months to complete, they look really rough for about 1-2 weeks. Mini-molts vary from a week to three. Stress definitely makes them molt harder, and can induce a molt right after one has finished. Mine stress-molt and sometimes pluck whenever I am away for more than a day or two. Indoor a/c and/or heat will cause a continuous molt if the temp does not fluctuate. But a 6 month molt does sound excessive, especially if tail and flight feathers are being continually lost. If it is just body or head feathers it is harder to tell if it is due to illness, stress, or artificially induced temperature conditions from living indoors. A gram stain and/or a choanal swab will tell your vet if there is a fungal infection going on - they are easy to treat although it may take more than one round of antifungals depending on the severity of the infection. Sometimes if one type doesn't work, the second round will be a different medicine. Keep us posted.

Huh???????

Sending good thoughts your way, pixie.

Do they look like this? If so, they are just new feathers. They are encased in a keratin sheath that protects them until they are fully grown out, then the sheath is shed. It is normal.

I use Harrison's, but whatever brand you decide on, check the ingredients. I've given you a link for a simple google search - you can do a more specialized search if you want more information. There are some controversial preservatives that are put in animal and bird foods that have been linked to all sorts of health problems, and one is used as a pesticide. These apply to seed as well as pellets. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ethox...G=Google+Search Try to stay away from ones containing artificial colors or sugar too.

You should be okay. Many years ago (I was in high school) I had two true pairs in one cage, and they never showed any interest in breeding at all. A few years ago I got Rainbow, then added Skittles a year after him. They were in the same cage for over a year with no problems. I gave them a bigger cage, and presto, babies. I did add a nest box, but only when I realized she was going to lay eggs behind the cushions in my sofa instead. But I think that is the exception and not the rule.

I think they use a soy or vegetable-based ink for newspapers now.

I took it to mean the people they gave him back to took him to the vets...not that Billy took him...did I read that wrong?

I've heard the same thing about sandpaper.

Congratulations on your breakthrough! It's so wonderful the first, second, fifth, five thousandth time they do that of their own free will. Actually, several shorter sessions per day would be better than one or two longer ones, because budgies don't have very long attention spans. It gives them more reinforcement and more of a chance to retain what you are teaching. Just remember to always end with compliance. If you tell them step up and they don't, keep doing it until they do (even if it's only for 2 seconds) and then end the session with lots of praise. That way, they equate doing it right with something pleasant. Keep posting about your progress!

I agree with Bea. Check around the nostrils, if there is any whitish rings around them you probably have a girl. If it is solid pink all over it is probably a boy. Either way, it is one precious little baby.

Congratulations! The parents should have no trouble raising two babies. When do we get pictures?

At least they took him to the vets. Hopefully he pulls through. Will you be getting him back?

That's great to hear!

Yes. It does make a lot of food. I don't know which flavor will be the biggest hit, as a few them only have begun tasting it yesterday. They have not eaten it yet today. It will just take time I suppose. You will probably go through several tubs, just throwing it out, until they decide it is okay to eat it.

She is a very pretty bird. :budgiedance:

The big pot did scare them at first...I have a picture somewhere of them all sitting as far away from it as possible, just staring at it.... it took a few days before they got brave enough to taste it. I'm not sure how well it would clip to the side of the cage, because it's like regular grass.

Yellowface skyblue whitewing pied?

The veggies are called Veggie Heaven, they are by Beak Appetit in the same kind of tub, and they contain dehydrated veggies like carrots, bell peppers, potatoes, peas, zucchini, sweet corn, and a few others. You cook these too. I have hopes mine will begin to eat them too, because guess what???? THEY ATE THE BEAK APPETIT TODAY!!!! I was video taping one of them bathing in the wheatgrass, (I'm going to try to upload it so you can see) when Mystery got brave enough to try it. Apparently she liked it because when the others came to investigate, she thought it all belonged to her. :budgiedance: Four of them tried it this morning, so I hope the rest will get with the program soon. It only took them three weeks.......LOL.

I feed both. Actually, I offer both, but so far they are not liking the beak appetit. Which is bad, because they really need to eat it as their diet is somewhat restricted now. I've tried several flavors, but so far nothing. They have tasted it, but then shake their heads and give me this look...I think it is the texture. They have never liked cooked food and I wonder if it is because it is smushy. So now I've sprinkled a few seeds on top of it and hope that will be enough to entice them to eat it. But at least it shows they are normal, because in the wild if birds jumped all over new food they could end up poisoned or sick. That's one reason it is so hard to convert birds to a new diet. I'll just keep buying it until they eat it. Beak Appetit also offers veggies in a container just like the other, and I've just started cooking that for them too. eterri, it took a few days of offering the wheatgrass before they weren't afraid of it, but now I give it to them every day and they love it. If you sprinkle it with water before you give it to them they take a bath in it as well as eat it. I like it because it is organic.

Well, okay... But did you tell them you wanted it.... NOW!!!! LOL - we expect pics in 7 - 10 then!

Aren't they so tiny???? About the size of your thumbnail aren't they? The first time I saw a newborn budgie in real life I was amazed that they were actually the same size as the egg...not at all like chickens are they? I knew they weren't like chickens, but it still just fills you with awe to see them. Congratulations! I'll bet you are glad you didn't do away with the eggs before....