Rainbow

Bea, do you cook it first or feed it raw?

Hi Nerwen! **waves** I love your ringlet curls in the formal picture. What were you dressed up for?

All the babies will be green unless both parents are split for blue, then you may get a blue baby too.

Clean the feces off of his bum. If they are caked on, he probably can't "go", which is a bad deal. I'd keep him warm, and talk to him a lot. If they are sticking to him, he may be a bit dehydrated, so any way you can get liquid in him might be good - maybe let him lick some water off a wet lettuce leaf or something if he is not drinking from his water dish. Poor Jet, how long has he been like this?

Bless you, bless you, bless you! Do you have any more details...maybe a picture or two?? Can you tell from looking whether this is congenital, or whether a mishap of sorts occurred? Did they give you any background information at the store? Oh, I have a million questions! There is a very good website out there about caring for birds with disabilities that someone gave me when Rainbow could only use one leg...I'll find it and post it for you so you can get a few more ideas about what to do. **edit** Found it! http://www.avianweb.com/specialabledbirds.htm

Sometimes I buy regular carrots with the tops still on. A lot of people will take the tops off and just put them back - I stuff the extra tops in the bag with my carrots. Otherwise they will just get thrown away, and my birds love the tops.

It sounds like Pogi is trying to get Ganda into breeding condition, but if she if fussing at him she is not quite ready yet. Normally the hen won't make a sound and will lay very still for him with her head thrown back, but the cock will be making little clucking and warbling noises the whole time. An increase in fresh veggies is a good idea, as they will crave them once she lays eggs. If you don't have one already, add a cuttlebone. Once they decide to mate, it probably will occur on the perch, and probably in the morning before you wake up. If you cover the cage at night you may not see them actually mate. Ganda may not stay in the box until she lays an egg or two. If she is really a bit overweight, I would try to discourage mating until she loses a few grams. Keep us posted!

Boomery, that is such an accomplishment! It is amazing the feeling that one little act of trust on a budgies part can make you get, isn't it?

I didn't do anything special with mine. They didn't use any bedding in the nest box (Rainbow would kick it all out of the entrance hole) and I still let them out to fly and play with every day. They ate about three times the fresh food as usual, especially baby spinach leaves, and Skittles made liberal use of the cuttlefish. I did go out and buy some handfeeding formula just in case, but I never needed it. People say egg food is supposed to be really good for them when they are breeding, but mine wouldn't touch it. Once Skittles really settled into incubating the eggs, I would clip some millet near the entrance hole so she wouldn't have to go far for a snack if she wanted it. Rainbow spent most of his time inside the box with her, and whenever anyone would come into the room it would be his head that poked out of the box to check out who it was. He hated for her to leave it, and whenever she would come out to relieve herself and eat a little bit, he would always chase her back in. It was sweet to watch.

What a sad, sad post to read. Please let us know what the vet said. It may be a very good idea to have necropsies done to find out what is going on.

He has been severely plucked! You need to figure out which parent is doing the plucking and remove them ASAP! If you don't have anything to clean the wound with, warm water will suffice for now. Make sure he stays warm, as he has no down on him to insulate his little body.

How is his eye?

What did the vet say today?

Please make this one smaller or it will need to be removed. She does look very content in there, doesn't she?

That is a nice breeding cage. And a really neat idea for a nesting box. Mine used to go through about three times their normal intake of fresh food when they were breeding, especially spinach. Scarface looks like she really enjoys it. What do the babies names mean?

What was he doing the day before you noticed he was fluffed up? Was he out flying around where he could have gotten into something he wasn't supposed to? That could mean anything, from chewing on the fabric of your lampshade to eating an "iffy" plant, to gnawing on a candle, or being exposed to breathing in any cleaning agents that may have been in use. Is it possible any fresh food was slightly "off" ? Were the windows open to where he was exposed to colder air than he's used to? Think back to what he was doing and how he was acting and you may be able to tell what prompted his change in behavior. A vet check is a good idea, I know you are far from any, but call them first and they may be able to give you better advice over the phone on what to try or they may tell you to bring him in. In the meantime, keep him warm and partially cover his cage so he can sleep if he wants to.

Are there any commercially prepared formulas you can get there? If the parents are able and do feed the babies, I would let them instead of trying to handfeed. There is really no reason to handfeed baby budgies unless the parents are not doing a proper job of it. If you still need a handfeeding formula, I will help you with your search. Let me know. *edit* forgot to answer your question about the hen. If you don't want another clutch of babies, then you can seperate the hen from the rest of the brood. The male should feed them.

Great photos - I love Scar - she's a very pretty bird. Hopefully she will be able to manage bringing up the chicks alone. I am glad they seem to be mending nicely. Do you have food very close to her nest box so she does not have to go far to eat, or do you put food in the box for her?

Oh pixie, I hate to hear that. Hopefully he will begin to eat a bit more very soon. Keep us posted.

If you can not convince your dad they need a bigger cage for two birds, your choice is not to breed them so they will be even more overcrowded, your choice is to save up for a much larger cage. If you want to breed them eventually, Please re-read devvle's post, she gave some sound advice. I can't stress this enough - don't breed them until they are about a year and a half old, you are certain they are not related, you have good homes for them first, and you have the time and ability to potentially hand raise the chicks if necessary, and the funds to ensure that no matter what happens they will have adequate veterinary care. And please do a lot of research first. You just got them! Enjoy them a bit first. Yes, breeding is very rewarding and quite an experience. I loved it, but luckily I also did not have anything go wrong. And I found that the more I read, and the more I observed, and the more I learned, and the more I experienced, that there are many more things to think about regarding bringing more baby birds into the world that you would never normally think about. Overpopulation and genetic defects, and your responsibility regarding them being a few examples. Downer subjects, yes, but still things to research and think about. But good luck in whatever you decide, we will be here to try to give you good and accurate advice to any of your questions.

My birds like to preen toys with string. They don't eat it, but you will need to watch your bird to see if they do or not. There was a thread about a bird dying from crop impaction due to ingesting string, but it wasn't a budgie. It can happen. I would think using string to hang something with would be fine. If your bird fiddles with the string too much, you can always take it out if you are worried.

That is good news! Glad to hear she is making a full recovery.

Pixie, glad to hear Peanut is home, but it's bittersweet, isn't it? Polyomavirus isn't necessarily a death sentence anymore, and since you have the knowledge to properly treat them, you can make sure their quality of life is the best you can give. As far as them having a shorter lifespan than the "average" budgie...we never know what that will be anyway. Thanks to bad genes, Rainbow made it to 4. Should he have lived longer? Without a kidney tumor, yeah probably. But with the genetic problems that are now due to inbreeding, he was very lucky to have made it over one year of age, so I was told. So if you look at it that way, he thumbed his little birdy beak at the statistics and lived 3 years longer than he should have. It depends upon how you look at it, just remember they are here however long they are here to soak up as much love as you can give them and return it all back tenfold. No matter what, you still win. I'm sorry to hear about it, but I know your little birds are in more than capable hands. I would let the pet store know too. What they choose to do with the knowledge is up to them, but at least you will know that you made the effort. Hugs and good thoughts to you, Peanut, and Casper from Rainbow, Skittles, Blueberry, Cloud, Patches, Blossom, Mystery, Crystal, Sunny, Arctic, and Sky. :glare:

I scrub mine in hot soapy water. It does take a while to dry though - several hours at least.

I did this (kept all my babies). The only problem I ran into was when the babies got to be about 3-4 months old, Rainbow wanted to mate with them. Of course, they had no idea what was going on - they were happy to be still getting fed!! I had to seperate them into boy and girl cages, but everybody usually gets along just fine.