Rainbow

Beautiful adam! Two things I noticed... in your last picture, the bird on the far right up top sorta looks like my Blueberry. Secondly, the violet budgie looks cobalt - how do you tell the difference?

Since there has been quite a bit of questioning lately about safe/unsafe foods, branches, plants, and such...here is a link that may help you decide what is offered to your birds and what you might want to think about keeping them away from. As I find more, I will add them. As always, if in doubt ask your veterinarian about the validity of anything on this list. One thing I did not see that should be on it is teflon. Non-stick cookware should never be used around birds. http://www.plannedparrothood.com/plants.html

kathy, your Kiwi is a non-visual pied. When paired up, she will produce pieds. I think whether they would be dominant or recessive will depend upon the genes of the other bird. I would have thought that Sunshine was a dominant pied as well, judging from her color, and that Sky could be either, depending upon whether there is an iris ring or not. I'm starting to think the iris ring (or lack thereof) is what really determines whether the bird is dominant or recessive. If hath sees this, would you please check your genetics books?

Where exactly is the bleeding coming from? If it is from a feather, and you are not going to take him to a vet (which if it won't stop he needs to go see) you will need to pull it. If it is from skin, you will need to apply pressure until it stops. If he picks at it and that is why it keeps re-opening, you will need to find some way to temporarily bandage it. All this is temporary first aid, until he can get to the vets. If you can't take him, can someone else?

OMG don't use Salt!! OUCH! Just use warm water to clean the area so you can see where it is bleeding. If it starts to bleed again, treat it just like you would a wound on yourself - just apply some pressure until it stops. Since it was at night, I'm guessing he had a night fright and was thrashing around in the cage. They can hurt themselves pretty bad when that happens if you don't stop them.

Ha-ha, it looks like you were posting as I was typing! If he's out interacting with everyone that much, maybe he just likes to rest when he's back in his cage?

If it's recent and he's molting, I'd say he's just itchy. Depending upon the temperature there, if you have the heat on it could be drying his skin. If he's been doing it for months on the other hand, I'd take him to the vet.

When you play with him, is he inside or outside his cage? If he seems that bored, maybe you could try taking him with you when you do different things around the house. Let him come into the kitchen when you eat, into the den when you watch tv, stuff like that. About his toys, with a single bird sometimes you have to show them how to play. With more than one bird, the 'brave' one will entice the others to play with toys, but you have to be the brave bird sometimes when you only have one. A bigger cage is very important, as one that is too small may cause your bird to become somewhat depressed. As you save for a larger cage, I would make sure he has lots of outside the cage time to compensate.

nerwen, I don't have any problems keeping them together. They don't like to be seperated! Believe it or not, Skittles is low bird on the totem pole. She was number one until the 1st clutch of babies reached 5-6 months old, then Blueberry took over as queen. Skittles will fight back now (she didn't used to), and sometimes wins so I think the dynamics are changing again. Never a dull moment around here... budgie_babe, I took that picture of Rainbow over the summer. It's one of my favorites. pixie25, Yes, that's what I mean. You can barely see it in Skittles, Blueberry, and Patches pics. If your bird looks like Cloud I think he should be recessive. But one of the definitions of a recessive pied is that they do not get the iris ring, so if you go by the official definition, he is not and my Cloud is not either. Hence, my confusion too. I always thought you could look at the way the colors were patterned on the bird and tell, but I don't guess you can.

They cracked me up - most of them have their heads tilted to one side in my last picture. I have no idea what they were looking at!

Mine get basic cleaning daily, water changes several times per day, and a thorough cleaning with hot soapy water once a week.

***I didn't know there was a photo limit on posts*** As you can see, they are pretty unconcerned when I get snap-happy with the camera. The only one who cared to look to see what I was doing was Sunny, the rest fell asleep. I'm pretty sure they wonder about me sometimes...they all look like they are going "...huh????...." Hope you enjoyed.

I got photo happy today. So I decided to put these up with the best description of what type they are for anyone interested in pieds or genetics. This is Rainbow. He is a dominant pied, but can also be classed as a type 2 yellowface opaline whitewing blue. That description fits a "rainbow", but I don't think he was a true rainbow budgie because of the band across his middle and the pied spot on the back of his head. He is the father of all my baby birds. This is Skittles. She is pied also, isn't marked like a pied. I only know she is pied because of the pied patch on the back of her head, and also because her flights are not all colored normally. She is the mother of all my babies. 1st clutch of babies: Blueberry. She looks like a dominant pied, but she has no iris ring. I believe she is a cobalt, and she is really both blue and purple on her back. She will probably never get spots on her necklace, as she has already molted twice and they've never come in. She is opaline. The other bird is Cloud, and he looks like a recessive pied, but he does have an iris ring as well as a blue cere. He won't get spots either. He is skyblue. It's too confusing to me to think of Berry as recessive and Cloud as dominant, but according to the official description that is what they are. They just don't look like it. Patches. She is a dominant pied, and is also two-toned on her back. She is also opaline. I'm not sure if she is considered skyblue or mauve. Maybe someone can tell me. Blossom (inside cage) and Mystery (outside). They are from pied parents, but do not have any pied characteristics at all. Not even the pied spot. Go figure. They are considered type 2 yellowface greywing opaline skyblues. The type 2 yellow factor is what makes them look green, but they are blue birds. This is Mystery by herself. You can tell she is really a blue bird if you look at the feathers near her legs. 2nd clutch: This is Sunny. He is marked like a recessive pied, but he has an iris ring. He will never get spots on his necklace, and his cere will always remain pink. His base color is cobalt blue, which is only apparent on his rump. Crystal. He is like Skittles in that he looks normal, but has the pied patch on the back of his head, and his flights are white instead of black. I think he is considered skyblue. Arctic. He also looks normal, but has the pied patch. He is cobalt. Sky. She is the baby. I believe she is dominant pied, and considered skyblue. She only has spots on one side of her necklace. That is the only side they ever showed up on, which makes her unique looking to me.

Well, that is good news. I'm sure you are somewhat relieved. I'm glad.

Yes, you have posted in too many threads...but I understand your concern. You need to give people time to answer. Unfortunately, with very urgent problems a phone call to the vet is a much better bet than waiting for an answer online. I hope I don't come across as hard, because I really know how you feel about not wanting to lose your bird. I just lost my best buddy after 4 years to a kidney tumor on December 13, so I'm right there with you... But we can't control when our members will read this, so sometimes a quick answer won't be forthcoming. You've got to call your vet. There are a lot of things that could cause this. I don't think it was the celery. If it was bad, it would be out of her system by now anyway. Is your vet an avian vet? Did they do any fecal tests or take any blood? Did they test for kidney/liver function? Sometimes antibiotics and other drugs will make your bird more thirsty, and cause them to excrete more urine. If the vet thinks her problems are fungal in nature, she is probably on an antifungal which (I'm sorry) I don't know what the side effects are of that. My birds have been on them before, but it's been awhile and I don't remember if they experienced any side effects. If I were you, I would call your vet's office as soon as you can, tell them about the change in her behavior, and find out if they need to see her again. You are right, five years is not that old. And it does help just sitting next to her, believe me. Hugs to you. Let us know what the vet says.

Antt, I answered your concern on another thread, but I have a question about this one. When you say your bird is on antibiotics and stuff...exactly what is the other "stuff"? If it is a steroid, that will make your bird more thirsty and she will probably be excreting more urine than normal. If it's not a steroid, is it possible she is just drinking more for whatever reason? Sometimes my birds will excrete only urine after they eat a lot of watery vegetables, or after bathing, as they drink the water from the lettuce they bathe in. And budgies should excrete urine as part of a normal "poo" anyway, it just isn't much.

LOL @ Lil'Devil !!!

It sounds like you have had a difficult time with your birds. I wouldn't give up on Budgie, though. You will just have to start at square one if he's not tame at all. It sounds like he has endured a lot. I wouldn't force him out of his cage though, just leave the door open. He may eventually decide it's not so scary after all. He will probably like the extra attention, just take it slowly. I've had single birds, and currently have 10 and have managed to keep them all relatively tame. It really depends upon the bird. All my single birds seemed to be happy, and the ones I have now are happy too, so either way you go it's not wrong.

If you think he is happy, and you can spend time with him I don't think it is wrong not to get another bird. But, if you change your mind, you might have better luck getting another male budgie as a companion. Males are a little more lenient when it comes to sharing food. All four of my males can eat out of the same dish without any problems, but add any of the females to the equation and soon she is the only one that can have any. Adding more food dishes to the cage can solve the problem too. Do you have any pictures of Budgie you can post in the pictures forum?

Hi and welcome! How does your bird act now that he is by himself? Does he still sing, chatter, and generally appear happy, or did he become "not his usual self" when your other bird died (very sorry about that-I know it is a difficult time to go through)? Birds do grieve too. Do you get to spend much time with him or is he alone quite a bit? Is he tame and used to interaction with people? What kind of personality does your bird have? Do you think he would want the company of another bird? If you want to get another bird, I would do it more because you want to get another bird, and not just for company for the one you have. There is always a small chance they will merely tolerate each other and would have to always be housed seperately. Not to mention more $$$ will need to be budgeted for veterinary care, food, and toys. Do you have two cages already? It is a good idea to quarantine any new birds for at least 30 days before introducing him or her to your current bird. By listening to them during the quarantine you may be able to get a pretty fair idea of whether they want to interact with each other or not. Since they should be in seperate areas of the house during this time, they will only be able to hear each other. When I first brought home Skittles as a friend for Rainbow, it took less than 3 minutes before he knew another bird was in the house.

How many steps do you get to take away from his cage before he flies back...? With some of mine, it's about 2...

Something no one ever tells you when you get your budgie is that realistically it will take months before they are really tame. And that is if you work with them a few times a day. So to everyone who is frustrated because their bird acts mortally afraid of you when you come near...it's normal. It is much easier to tame young birds, but even some of them will be difficult. Just remember to go at the birds pace, not yours. Even if it takes a year to tame them, with proper care they should live a lot longer than that. In the real scheme of things, a few months isn't that bad.

If it's the first time out of his cage, he probably didn't know how to get back. If my birds fly "off the beaten path" (so to speak) and end up in another room, even though they can see the door to get out, they just keep flying around the room like they don't know. Plus, I'm sure he was a little frightened and wasn't too sure if he wanted to move from his "safe" spot. Eventually he will fly back to his cage when he gets hungry or thirsty.

It's probably okay to handle them now. I waited until they were fully feathered (about three weeks) before I handled mine, but that was because Skittles is a nervous bird. It won't make any difference in how tame they will become if you handle them now or later. Just be prepared for at least one baby to act like you are going to eat him and start screaming at you. (That really freaks out the hen.) If she is going straight for the nest box when you go toward the cage, after that happens, she will go straight in there whenever she hears you coming towards the room! She may not even leave the box when you open it - just sit on the eggs/babies and scream at you - LOL.

I think it depends upon what type ink your newspaper uses. Over here they are made from a type of vegetable dye so the ink is not toxic. I still prefer to use only the sheets that are only printed, but our newspaper has added a lot more color so it is hard to find sheets that are plain. Plain paper towels would be safe too.