Chrysocome

Darn, you beat me to it Wayno! I live in Werribee too. I've heard reports from Thornbury and even Leongatha! Ozzie started freaking out and then I noticed his whole tree was shaking. I thought something had fallen down upstairs, until everyone on facebook started posting messages about it.

My little green mozzie is happily becoming one of the flock. Here are a few shots of him. Wet and hungry - Oz decided that munching on rice paper after going swimming was a good idea. One with flash just to show how wet he is! I also made Oz a play tree. The photos here are a week old and it looks extremely bare compared to what it is now. I just went outside, got some fallen branches of a eucalypt, cut it, drilled holes everywhere and mouned it in a pine base. The holes are for hiding food and hanging toys from. Great for munching on too. I love how natural the birds look in a tree. My budgie tree is nearly finished, I will have pics and updates soon. I'm pleased that he's come so far. From a home where he most of the day bored in his cage, eating nothing but seed and apple, to a place where he's actively foraging, playing, and eating a huge variety of food

Some studies were done on budgies and desert birds - apparently they can last a month without water! As desert birds they can extract what they need from seed and veggies. Isn't that amazing? The quiet stage is normal. Now be prepared for crazy acrobatics and gymnastics!

I have been working at the Equine Centre at Werribee, which is taking in burnt horses and treating them for free. It has been exhausting, physically and mentally and emotionally, and even though it's been almost a week since I've been off I'm still recovering from the sleep deprivation and the emotional toll it's had on me. We had 35 patients at one point, which included 14 burns victims, the rest being our regular case load including emergences and intensive care. That was more boxes than the hospital had, so we put some of them in the teaching yards, two or three in one box if they came from the same place, etc. Students from other groups and even the year level below us came to help our group who had to manage them all including washing all their burns, giving them medication and managing their pain relief or IV fluids as needed. We had the owners there too, we gave them special consideration because of all they've been through, and allowing them to help their animals would help them mentally too. In some cases that animal was the last thing the owner had left. I'm not allowed to talk it due to patient/client confidentiality, but the things I saw and heard bring me to tears now. The most heartwrenching thing is that some animals are in so much pain that they won't let you help them. It really hurts because all you want to do is relieve their pain. The week has left me heartsick and exhausted. At the same time there were moments that were heartwarming - the patient becoming better, we get new donations of medicine, or a nice owner brings in a GIANT bag of carrots and apples for all the victims. Emotions have been all over the place the past two weeks, but I'm dealing with it.

I haven't fed peppers myself (I don't eat them very much) but I know people who do and they've been fine. I seem to remember someone telling me that they don't taste 'hot' the same way we do. The reason not to feed onions is because of a dangerous compound inside them, not for the taste. I used to use pegs - they have a green peg where I always put new food so they know it's edible. But lately I've been making them forage for their food, it keeps them active and busy. Aside from the kabob thing mentioned above, I have a few natural eucalyptus perches. I drilled holes all around the perches. I pass wooden skewers through the perch and put fruit or veggies on them. Sometimes I put the veggies right through the hole so it looks like a little tree. Their food is presented to them differently each day, so it gives them a bit of daily variation. They also have to work to get the fruit off the skewers. They're also in big chunks so they have to work to break it into little pieces for eating. Half the fun is ripping it to bits. Then they go down and eat the little pieces they made.

Just giggling at my budgies. I've taken a variation on the drilled perch theme. I know they go nuts for sunflowers, which I only give it to them occasionally. Lately I've shoved sunflowers into the holes I've drilled, as well as wrapped up in paper on wooden skewers also passed through the holes. It's funny, because Squee checks the skewers meticulously and gets them all, ignoring the ones inside the holes. But Milly ignores the ones on the skewers and checks all the holes in every perch. It's so funny to watch. I'm glad they've found a way to 'share'. What amazes me is that Milly will spot one from the other side of the cage, or from the bottom - there's no way they can see it while sitting on the perch it's in. But she still knows exactly how to get it even if she can't see it when she's right on that perch. It's so amusing watching her check all the perches again and again though - she'll spin and look right around the perch to make sure she's got them all. I also like that once they've gone through all the paper packets and there's nothing but wooden skewers stuck on the perches, they'll start chewing the skewers to toothpicks as well. Foraging time is happy time in Chryso's flock.

Good luck Toohp. If she's not big on veggies try sprouting her normal seeds - I think we have a recipe for that here somewhere. Add more seed hoppers and put a little bit in each, and some empty, so she has to keep moving to get to it all. Put in some natural branches with leaves and twigs for her to destroy - gum leaves, bottle brush etc. Will she tear up some bread? Just for fun, she doesn't have to eat it. If she's still okay with flying from perch to perch, minimise the number of high perches in her cage so she always has to fly get to the other side. Make it so there's a big gap in the middle with nothing to crash into (toys, swings etc). If she's not too great with flying, try putting in a tree branch with lots of twigs for her to climb around on and destroy (try putting it in vertically if she can handle it, it forces her to climb and hang). I'm not sure what else you can do other than introduce her to captive foraging - which I'm about to write up a tutorial for - or clicker training, which can be found in the taming forum. I've been trying to keep my birds' weight down and I know how hard it can be. Good luck and keep us updated.

Hi Fazrulz. Congratulations on getting your new budgie :budgiedance: Firstly, let me put it like this: For almost all his life he's lived in the same surroundings (inside the cage and out) with the same friends around him. Then a giant creature came, grabbed him like a predator would, put him in a box and now he's in a completely new place. He is probably frightened by the things inside his cage, the new surroundings around his cage - things like different coloured walls, different floor material, different water hopper, the huge people coming way too close. His whole world has been turned upside down. He will sit still because if he moves a predator might see him - and he has no idea what around him might be a predator. I would give him a day with most of his cage walls covered by a towel so he first gets used to the new things. He will eat when he decides nothing is going to hurt him. I wouldn't start to worry about him being so quiet until the second day (unless he is sitting there fluffed up and sleeping, on the floor, poopy bum, sneezing, or other sign of illness). Here is what I've found with new birds: They sit there quietly for the first day or two. Then they go into escapee mode, where they do amazing acrobatics looking for a way out of the cage. This lasts about four days. They're too busy trying to run away to care about how nice and not-scary you are. Then they settle down after that and it's the best time to start taming (in the sense of putting your hand in there without them freaking out). Another thing to remember is that a bird can get too scared to move away so even though he might step on your finger for a few days, he doesn't necessarily like it or want to do it. After a few days he will stop being scared and refuse to do something he doesn't want to do. It is very exciting getting a new bird and thinking about all the things you will teach him. But let me warn you before you rush into taming, remember this: it takes a heck of a lot of patience and a lot of time. Don't force things - let him come to you. He will be more trusting that way. The following is my recommended style of taming - but each person has a different idea about it. There is no time frame for these goals, the only rule is that you can't move forward until you've completed the one before. Each step can take an hour to a few days or even weeks. 1. Partially covered cage (three walls and roof covered by towel) - let him adjust to being in the cage 2. Slowly uncover cage - let him adjust to the broader surroundings beyond the cage 3. Come to the cage and talk to him gently. No hands. Only ever show him your hands if you can't help it (changing food, water or cleaning the cage etc). Show him you're not going to suddenly grab him like a predator would. 4. Put hands near the cage, not doing anything. Closer and closer. 5. Offer food from hand, outside the cage. 6. Put hand inside cage – not doing anything. 7. Put food in hand inside cage – let him eat from your hand. Hopefully by this point he will realise that you are a source of treats 8. Put finger near bird – not doing anything. From here, reward with food for completing the step 9. Touch bird’s belly gently with finger 10. Press finger against belly, until he naturally puts one foot on finger 11. Both feet on finger 12. Staying on finger for longer and longer periods As I said it is a long process and I think you will be set up for disappointment if you rush into things and try to accomplish them in one day. Take your time and let him choose when he's ready, not the other way. I believe that a relationship built on trust and understanding is the strongest and longest lasting. Once again congratulations on a new budgie, they are wonderful little birds

The main points of getting weight down: alter diet and increase activity. I haven't followed your budgie's story so please forgive these questions - how hard is it for her to move around? Can she walk up and down perches okay, climb, hop, fly? Does she do much during the day? If she eats baby spinach, will she eat other veggies? Try a huge range of veggies and make her work for them - don't dice or grate them, get her to do that herself. Try getting some gum or bottlebrush leaves still on the branch and see if she'll tear that up. Even if she doesn't eat it, ripping it will make her more active. I'd make some other suggestions but it might not be appropriate depending on how your bird gets around.

Well I'm so pleased with my Squee. I've finally achieved one of my major goals. Some of you may recall how Milly and Squee were both quite overweight. The whole point of my clicker training/captive foraging endeavour was to get their weight down. I finally tried the flighted target with Squee and she took to it immediately. Normally when they're outside they sit on their cage or wander around on the table, climbing or walking to get to where they want. Now I've got Squee flying to me chasing the target stick. Soon I'll try the basketball game outside and then a flighted basketball game. Things are moving! Sorry about the bad quality/blurry/wonky camera work, it's hard holding a camera, clicker, pen, food and budgie at the same time as concentrating on filming, clicking, treating and moving the bird! http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrys...ghtedtarget.flv Things are moving well. Next: Baskbetball outside the cage. Milly's just watching here. I went away for a few weeks and haven't had time to reinforce targeting with her since I got back. I've decided I will have a different target for her so they don't go chasing the same thing or fight over it.

Ah, I'm so glad you shared these sound files! My budgies are currently yelling their heads off while they play outside the cage (much better than their wandering around quietly exploring). Kaz, there are some programs you can download for free that allow you to record sounds. I'm assuming you have a microphone built into your laptop? I'll have a look around for good programs.

Here is what I meant by drilling through the perch and putting food in it: Here is a toy made from balsa wood and beads... And here's what's left of it! (No, they didn't actually ingest the wood, but naturally budgies would go about destroying leaves and bark so I count the destruction of wood to be a part of captive foraging) Currently writing up my method of teaching them the concept of scrunched up paper = food - stay tuned.

JB- LOL! Some kind of strange budgie gryphon? No photos currently but while I'm here I thought I would update with some new concepts I put in. In the other pinned captive foraging thread I posted about the natural bark toy I made - I will explain in more detail once I put it in their cage and see it at work. A new thing I tried was this: I put in some thick natural eucalyptus perches with lots of loose bark for chewing/ripping/shredding fun. I drilled some holes into these, some going partway though and some all the way. The holes are of varying sizes, but most of the hole are perfect for accomodating a wooden skewer, which seems to be my best friend when it comes to captive foraging. Through these holes, I weave seeding grasses, or shove in seeds, dried fruit, the occasional sunflower, bits of veggies in the shallow, broad holes (I don't want it going off) etc. I also pass a short (blunted) wooden skewer through some points (pointing in directions where I think there is little chance of them hurting themselves), then impale fruit, veggies and goodies wrapped in paper for them to chew through. They have to work to get their food, which is presented to them in a different way every day, so it gives them a bit of daily enrichment. When the perches are destroyed from the chewing and digging to get the food, I chuck it out, go for a walk, and find a new branch to do it all again. Nothing but ten minutes of sawing and drilling and I keep my birds entertained - simple I'm also going to string up covered paper cups of pellets and seed, alongside the foraging toys and perches, so I'm thinking about getting rid of the normal fixed seed dishes entirely.

I'm having this whole woodworking craze at the moment. I'm experimenting with new natural perches so you will see my efforts soon. I bought some really thin balsa that I thought would be great for playing with. It snaps very easily. I made this toy today - it took me only a few minutes, cost almost nothing, is easily replaceable, and is a great chew toy. I bought some balsa wood blocks as well - stay tuned.

I read this when you posted Cara and thought it was a great idea. It's been in the back of my mind since. Finally I worked it out today, made the toy, and will put it to the test in the morning. I grabbed some clean looking bark that fell off my eucalyptus out front. It sheds this bark with lots of stiff curls (it's quite hard to uncurl them without breaking it). I gave it a good wash in really hot water and put it in the sun to dry for a few hours (to help get rid of any nasties that might be in it). I grabbed some cooked rice - which my mum has always told me is an excellent glue when we don't have any in the house. Safe, sticky and edible. I didn't want the food falling out the moment they touched the toy. I stuffed some rice in the hardest bit to reach, then some of their favourite food in it. Add some that are easy accessible to tempt them. Voila - a natural bark foraging toy. Yes - I used sunflower. It's the only thing that will get them to go near a new, strange looking object. I always switch to good things once they figure out the new thing isn't going to eat them first. I forgot to get a picture down the centre of the bark with all the goodies in it- will do that in the morning. I also love the apple idea and will try that next.

I'm just so shocked and sad about it all. My heart goes out to all those who have lost something or someone, to all those in danger or have loved ones in danger, the volunteers and firefighters risking their lives to save others. I've just learnt that one of my classmates and friend lost her home (with everything inside) and her animals - including dogs, galah and budgie. She and her family are unharmed. I'm at a loss for words. I hope that it is all over soon and that the cooler weather helps bring the tragedies to an end as quick as possible.

If anyone's wondering where I've been, I'm flat out doing work experience. These past two weeks I've been at Burwood Bird and Animal Hospital (Highbury Veterinary Clinic) and loving it. I've been seeing lots of budgies and other types of birds, as well as dogs and cats (of course, my favourite is the first one! ). I just love doing it. My heart is set on this being my career. Now I've worked with four avian vets and will do another week in a clinical pathology lab specifically for chickens. Things are looking good. I'm intrigued that between vets there are differences in technique and opinion, all with the highest quality of care in mind of course. So that's just a quick update. My green cheek came with me and the budgies are at home. I've learnt a lot and can't wait to get back home to give all my birds the best. Straight back to uni next week - for my final year. From here it's twelve weeks flat out lectures/clinics, exams, winter work placements, another semester, more exams, then graduation? Fingers crossed!

I agree with what others have said - I feel you are going too fast. I think your major problem is trying to put a specific date for completing goals. I believe you may find yourself very disappointed using this method. Instead of saying “do this by day X” I advise setting a series of goals (without dates), where you can’t move onto the next one until you’ve accomplished the first. I think you will find that, if she has not been in a cage before, (I assume you're catching a young one from your aviary?), she will spend a good two or three days exploring the cage, doing weird acrobatics and trying to escape. It is not a good time to put your hand in. Instead, take that time to let her adjust to the cage. I covered mine on three sides so that she could explore the cage first without being overly startled by people walking around. Taking her away from all she knows, sticking her in a completely new, smaller cage, and having to deal with the big scary humans with no where to escape or hide is a bit much for one small bird to cope with in just twelve hours. If you scare her by putting your hand straight in, it will take longer to teach her that the hand is not going to hurt her -she will remember that it can come near her and frighten her (even if you didn't do anything, the memory of her being startled may be enough to form a bad association). Also remember that a frightened bird will freeze and tolerate things because they’re too scared to move. When they get braver, they will refuse to do it again. Take your time and let her choose to come to you. Taming can take a very long time and it definitely requires a lot of patience. Going too fast may make it even harder for you in the long run. Here is how I worked with Squee. But remember, each bird (and each bird owner!) is different. This is just how I did it. It was a series of steps. Anytime she became afraid, I went back one or two steps. You can't really put a date on when these things will happen - it is up to the individual bird. The gap between each step may be hours, days or even weeks. 1. Partially covered cage - let her adjust to being in it 2. Slowly uncover cage - let her adjust to the broader surroundings 3. Come to the cage and talk to her gently. No hands. 4. Put hands near the cage, not doing anything 5. Offer food from hand, outside the cage. 6. Put hand inside cage – not doing anything. 7. Put food in hand inside cage – let her eat. Hopefully by this point she will realise that you are a source of treats 8. Put finger near bird – not doing anything. From here, reward with food for completing the step 9. Touch bird’s belly gently with finger 10. Press finger against belly, moving her off balance so she puts one foot on finger 11. Both feet on finger 12. Staying on finger for longer and longer periods I hope this helps you. As you can see, taming is not a matter of a few days. Each bird is different. You will find you have more success if you never force anything and just let them choose when they are ready.

Time for an update. I took Oz on a beach trip to Dromana (three hours away) with me. The first new thing I found out about him is that he gets motion sickness! I thought it was a little bizarre, though I suppose not unheard of. Still, this was me: you’re a bird for crying out loud, you can fly, how can you get motion sickness? I suppose it’s something to do with him being clipped for most of his life. Oh well. Now I know to take out his food so he has an empty crop before travelling. Another thing I learnt about Oz is that he loves my boyfriend Taylor, possibly more than he likes me, and he sees any females other than me to be a threat. He has varying degrees of tolerance, from nippy to outright puffy, angry, screaming, sprint-over-and-eat-you I’M A FREAKING VELOCIRAPTOR mode. This makes me sad, because of just how adoring he is with me. It's unfortunate, he must have been poorly socialised with his previous owner. It’s another thing to tackle; it’s a nuisance having an angry parrot because they do this displaced-anger thing where, if they can’t kill the thing that’s bothering them, they try to kill the closest thing – ie me. I figure that with his previous owner, rivals for attention would probably have been females and that’s why he acts this way. We made some progress, though, he had bitten and attacked my friend Jo the week before but we managed to get him on her hands and chest for a cuddle, I refused to let him above her chest. I was proud though, and pleased that Jo got to hold and snuggle him for a time. Taylor got immediate love, which is interesting. It’s either because he reminds Oz of the previous owner, or perhaps because I relax and maybe showed Oz that Taylor is a ‘flock member’. Whereas I tense up when Oz is near other people, ready to grab him if he bites, and maybe he senses my stress and fear. The harness training is not going well. He’ll tolerate me slipping it over his head (normally the hard part) because he’s used to being cuddled that way. But as soon as I let go and he realises the harness is around his body he just loses it. I was foolish and I feel ashamed; I got impatient and put it on him before he was ready for it. Between struggling, screaming and trying to kill the evil harness, he went completely limp, closed his eyes and pretended to be dead for a while. He gave me the worst bite I have ever received from him – he literally took a chunk out of my finger. I felt he was completely justified. I am NOT going to do that again. I’ll do it the right way this time, taking it slow and letting him decide when it’s okay, not me forcing it on him. Sigh. It’s not like he’ll be going to uni with me at this rate, other than completely freaking out over the harness, I have a feeling he’ll go into velociraptor mode when confronted with the other students. Wet birds are hilarious. There's just no way they can look dignified. But so pretty otherwise. I'm intrigued that he's the same size as a cockatiel, but his head (and BEAK) is twice as big. You can see the pretty red feathers around his nostrils here He is otherwise doing well. He adores me, eats his veggies, and pretty much has free reign of the house while I'm home (except when the budgies are out). I've got him captive foraging to keep him busy when I'm not around. I'm pleased that he took to the Foraging Log (see my foraging with Squee thread) instantly, he's moving miles ahead of the budgies in that regard. He is obsessed with carrying it to the high perches to munch on. He'll spend hours doing this. Here is a video of him trying to figure out how to carry it to the top, hold it and eat it at the same time. http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrysocome/pets/bbf/2008/?action=view&current=ozcaptive1.flv He figured out the best way is on his boing rope, although he still drops it a lot. http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrysocome/pets/bbf/2008/?action=view&current=ozcapt2.flv

Name: Milly Sex: Female Type of Yellowface: Type 2, sky blue Other mutations: Recessive pied Juvenile colour Adult colour (bottom)

Name: Milly Sex: Female Colour: Sky blue recessive pied Other mutations: Yellowface type 2 Name: Squee Sex: Female Colour: Light green recessive pied Other mutations: -- (Despite her broad bands of colour and clear spot on the back of her head, like a dominant pied, she is still called a recessive pied because she never grew out of her dark eyes).

Argh. So we've taken a few steps backwards in terms of controlling my budgies' weight. I went away for a couple of weeks and my parents looked after them - meaning non stop seed and nothing else. Sigh. I couldn't take them with me so no free flight, clicker training or captive foraging either. As you can see from these pictures, they very quickly put the weight back on. Back on the diet and exercise they go. I should mention that Squee is onto Phase Two of my foraging log concept (big log) and we're soon going to Phase Three (covering the ends in paper). I've come up with another variation of the log too, I'm going to string it up and cover the bottom so they only way to get to it is from above. I know my conure will figure out quickly to haul it up by the string, but we'll see what my budgies think of it. I love watching the gears turn in their little heads. Here is Version 2 of the log - it's almost as big as a budgie. The skewer is cut short so that it rolls easily. Here it's stuck on a chain so it rotates and moves up and down at the same time. Squee knows what to do with it. Of course it's more difficult than previously - it's harder to grip and she has to stick her head in further. It's interesting that she has learnt to make use of her feet so much, like she's suddenly aware that she can use them as a tool. LOL. (Caption contest, anyone? :rofl:)

I would think that it needs to be a freshly plucked feather, since they use the cells at the follicle, not the feather itself to do DNA sexing. A single drop of blood can also be used and is more accurate. An avian vet will be able to take the blood (literally, it is a small drop) and send it off to a lab. It costs $25 altogether to do at my avian vet's.

Thanks Budgiesaurus, taming and bonding takes time and patience. I spend a lot of time with Milly and Squee showing them that we can all get what we want out of our relationship without there being any need for fear or aggression. I think if you give them enough time you can get your budgies tame as well. Clicker training can help them along - targeting is an excellent way to teach them that you're not going to hurt them. Stepping up and being near your hands is actually not recommended by the expert clicker trainers as a first step - they start with targeting and playing with props before that. Keep going ILoveSy&Cilla, I can't wait to see what Cilla gets up to! ------------- Haha! This is what progress looks like, folks. I’m very proud of my Squee. From these videos, it is very clear that she knows what she’s supposed to do. I like the fact that any time I switch positions she has a look at where the cup is before going to pick up the ball. It’s also very cute that when I don’t give her long enough to munch on the millet, she insists by grabbing the ball before I have time to move it far away! http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrysocome/pets/bbf/2008/?action=view&current=133.flv Here’s another video just to prove that she can do it from her right. I also include here the first time I put it behind her, going right. She already can do it from the left so sort of knew the manoeuvre but takes a while develop the right coordination for it. http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/Chrysocome/pets/bbf/2008/?action=view&current=134.flv Shaping at work! I’m very proud of my Squee! Note to myself and anyone who’s going to try this trick: use a smaller ball than I did! I think I made a critical mistake in choosing such a big ball, she has a hard time carrying it while trying to see where the cup is at the same time. If she still has trouble going across the cage/floor with it, I will see if I can convince her to do the same thing with a smaller ball like the ones from a star wheel. I know it can work because I changed the target stick to a pen that looks exactly the same, only it’s yellow, and she still goes after it eagerly. I didn’t think I’d have so much fun or get so far so quickly with this. Squee is enjoying it too, she runs across the cage and jumps on the wall when she sees me coming with the target stick. It’s her favourite game, we always start and finish with it, and if she’s not getting very far with the ball game we play targeting in the middle. Very happy today. Sorry about low quality videos today, as the videos get longer I get more impatient so compress them smaller.

Agreed SW. I've bought/made him lots of toys to destroy/look for food in/both. I might be spoiling all my birds just a tad... they all got new toys, they're foraging, shredding things and two out of three are clicker training (the third will start soon - she's getting jealous of Squee and tries to butt in!). My newest endeavour is a harness and leash for Ozzie. It's an aviator harness like this . He's currently clipped so he won't be flying in it... yet. The main reason I want it is that when uni starts I'll be gone 9 to 5 and a lot of the times more than that. So I'm hoping that if I can have him on the leash, he can stay on my shoulder during class (that's pretty much all he does at home) and not go mad with stress/boredom at home. My main concern (fear!) is that occasionally the odd person brings their cat to uni as well... so I will be extra, extra careful. But I'd also love to take him for walks and basically allow him to be with me most of the day. We'll see how it goes, it will arrive on Monday and I'll have to clicker train him to accept it, hopefully teachign that harness = fun time.