armchairangel

Ohh this makes me miss Baby! My husband and I both have laptops and she enjoyed perching on top of them, watching us do our thing. Heheh Merlin looks so determined!

Ummm is the middle bird also opaline? The head stripes look like it to me. Or do spangles have the same head markings as opalines?

Its amazing how they change colors over time!

How hilarious!!! Some birds do like being upside down..... kinda makes you wonder why! *L*

Oh Yay!!!! I've wanted to enter this picture for ages. Sad that it took her death to get us to do what we needed to post the picture though. Thank you!!!

The Legendary Baby

Evening update.... Jared's parents (Baby's original parents) are here and his mom and I talked about her a bit and we kind of decided that at 16 and a half, she's had a wonderful, full, loving life, and trying to help her get better might not be the kindest thing for her. So we decided not to bring her to the vet. At her age, any treatment could very well be too much for her. This afternoon she seemed worse, more swollen yet and even more lethargic. She did drink a good amount of her tea and millet. Later in the evening she was eating out of her dish and making some noises. She's been rattling around in her cage and has taken more tea. She's pretty fluffy and isn't too keen on being held. I imagine her belly is rather uncomfortable. It does seem like the swelling is starting to go down a little. She's been pooping well, some of them large. All in all, I think there's been an improvement since her worst point. I'm going to get some calcivet for her tomorrow just in case it will help her improve, because I don't feel right not doing hardly anything to help her. If she hasn't shown a big change in behavior by Monday, I'm going to see about helping her to not suffer anymore. However, its kind of rotten timing. Thursday Jared's grandma passed away and the funeral is Monday. Having to put Baby down on the same day just sounds like too much. Lets hope she helps us know what is the best thing to do.

Our old bird hasn't been diagnosed with 'hanging crop', but her crop is VERY enlarged and sits lower in her chest. It is clearly visible. Last year was her first time to the vet and we thought that big lump might be a tumor, but while she was being examined, the vet said it was just her crop. However, we haven't noticed any issues with her not eating or it not emptying correctly, so it could be totally unrelated to what happened to your guy. I hope it stays cleared up and doesn't become a problem again! And by the way, your english is really good - better than some native english speakers even! *L*

Morning update.... She's not in her bowl anymore, hasn't been all night that I could tell. Her poops look normal on the bottom of the cage. However, when I looked at her belly, I could see droppings through her skin and it looked a bit more swollen. Not being able to leave her alone, I tried to see if I could feel a blockage or something, or if I could move the feces out the vent. A tiny amount of urates and light yellow liquid came out. I'm just hoping to god that I didn't rupture the egg inside and the yellow was yolk!!! It wasn't a bright yellow like chicken yolk....

Baby has been spending a lot of time in her apple dish on the bottom of her cage lately. Has been down there for the past couple of days, though she generally will hop back up onto her perch when we go near her. It seems as if she's leaning forward onto her chest, very low in stance with her tail lifted a little. I haven't noticed large poops. Until just shortly ago, she hasn't seemed to be in much distress, she's jsut been hanging out down there in her weird little position. Her abdomen seems a bit swollen in front of her vent, but its all very soft. I don't really feel a mass that could be an egg, unless the shell is SUPER soft. As I was gently manipulating her belly, her vent seemed like it would open a little, like there might be something behind it, but I couldn't see anything but tissue that looked just like the rest of her vent, just slightly moist. She was very still and calm while I was palpating her. It didn't seem to bother her. Before I started to feel her belly, she was breathing heavily, almost panting, with a little tiny noise with each breath. By the time I was done, she was breathing more normally. I handled her about an hour before the exam and when I picked her up she made a weird squeak and her pupils got small. But other than that and the breathing, she hasn't shown signs of being in terrible pain. She flew a number of times around the room as well. Her appetite hasn't been great. She did eat a little millet for Jared though. She's been very still when we hold her. Unfortunately its 1:30 in the morning, so we have to wait till morning before she can get any avian vet care. She's still in her heated little hospital cage and I massaged a tiny amount of vaseline to her vent. I made some weak sweet black tea for her too, which she drank a bit of. Does this sound like egg binding? Something else? Anything more we can do for her?

When I caught them at it several days ago, I took her out of their cage almost immediately and she hasn't spent a lot of time with them since. I can't say for certain that was the last time, but probably it was. Maybe it was even a week ago. I kinda had a weird reaction to it, like I'm sure what some parents feel like when they find out their kids are having sex. *(Laughing out loud)* Her poops are relatively normal, maybe slightly larger than usual. She's been tail bobbing more than usual. Its something she does almost constantly to some degree or another. We kind of figure it like an old lady shaking. And she has seemed a little shakier than usual as well, and a little fluffed up too. However, it has been cooler than usual, and maybe her extra bobbing and fluffiness is due to being a tad chilly. I'm not sure how to keep her any warmer, she has a double-thick big fuzzy blanket over the top and three sides of her little hospital cage with a heater in the front of it. I wish I could remember the last time I cleaned her cage. It was within the last week or so, so the feathers have come out since then, but whether it was while her and Cupid were having their fun, I wouldn't be able to recall. Today was the first day I noticed the feather loss, but technically it could have happened any time after the cleaning.

Oh NO!!! Well, yes, at least she passed it without troubles. You'd think she'd learn after all she just went through! *L* Some never do though... Good luck!

Awwww... S/he's adorable! I'm sorry, but I'm not good at determining budgie sex, so I can't help you on that one. Just be patient with the taming. It takes time, but seeing that Pippin is pretty young, you should have an easier time of it than if s/he were an adult. Millet is a GREAT training tool! Try offering some and luring her to your finger with it. Associating yummy millet with your hands (especially if that's the only time they get it) is a good way for budgies to learn that hands aren't scary things.

Yup, raw is best for maximum nutrition. And corn is something budgies just LOVE. One comment on it though... They love it cuz its sweet. And being sweet means it has a lot of sugar. While is it by no means bad for them, limiting the amount they get is important if you want them to eat foods full of good vitamins and nutrition. Just offer them fruit in different ways, with their carrots, without, cut into different sizes, etc. And just keep offering it to them. Some day one of them will be curious enough to try it and they'll be hooked! And again, limiting the fruit is a good thing because of high sugar content again.

Oh yeah! I have a ton of fun trying to decide where the best place for each thing will be, for maximum flying space, maximum change, and maximum usage of each toy.

I noticed today that Baby is missing quite a few feathers around her vent, reaching up towards between her feet. The skin doesn't look inflamed or irritated really. Just featherless. Her vent is nice and clean too. The whole area is completely featherless. What could this be from? Cupid's recent fun with her? I hope to god she's not thinking of laying eggs now! Though, having Baby's babies would be one of the coolest things I could think of, aside from what it would do to her poor old body. *shudders* What should we do to help her? She seems fine in all other aspects. Just monitor the loss and do supportive care as necessary if other things go downhill? How do we tell if she's pulling them out herself (which I know is rare in budgies), or if they're falling out on their own? Oooh - bloody quills... Nope the feathers themselves look like they're from a normal molt. How do we know if she's getting ready to lay? Is there anything we can do at this point to discourage her? What should we do? What could this feather loss mean?

Oh yes, it does feel good. Like they're not spending their whole life being terrified, and they're actually enjoying themselves with me! I can be a testimonial for patience for people with new untame budgies now.....!

Awwwww... what a sweet boy! Taking care of his girl so well. Saffy will continue to do well, I'm sure!

Right. There is an acceptable weight range for budgies and which is right for a particular bird is determined by that bird, just like with people. A good way of determining ideal weight for a bird is to feel for its keel bone. If its protruding, they need to gain. If they feel really pudgy and you can't find the bone, they need to lose.

Someone else with breeding experience might have a better answer for you, but hens LOVE to chew. And I believe that in the wild, they create their nest by chewing into a tree or branch. I would imagine then that chewing their nest boxes is just instinctive for them. I totally understand the concern about them ingesting harmful chemicals though. Do you provide them with any wooden perches or safe branches for them to chew on? That might be a healthy alternative to the boxes.

Eros

Lily

Yeah, I've only been concerned that she decides she needs to start laying eggs. That would be too much for her no matter how healthy she seems. Jared said that she hasn't ever laid in the past, so hopefully this won't trigger her to do it now. And yeah, hopefully her ovaries are too crunchy to do anything. *L* I hope she doesn't think that her little hospital cage is like a breeding box!!! Any ideas of how to discourage her?

What great toys and fun!!!

After all the great news about Baby recently, I am delighted to report some excellent progress with Cupid and Psyche!! Since the move in May and getting the dog in June, I haven't had much of a chance to work on finger training them, one on one. What I have been able to do is give them millet by hand. That's all. Just hold the sprig in the cage and let them eat, talking to them. Since Baby has been spending time with them every day, I'm doing it more often. Sometimes twice a day. I have been offering them baths now and then too. Today, I sat down on the couch to watch tv and eat supper and they both came down to the perches right by my head (The cage is on the end table at the end of the couch)! They climbed on the sides of the cage and chirped and chattered to me. It looked like they were begging for my supper too! *L*All of this was inches from me. This is amazing behavior coming from the birds who normally run to the opposite side of the cage when I approach. I'm just thrilled that Psyche has thought about interacting with me on her own, too! Cupid was off doing his own thing and she stayed by me! She can be a little sweetheart with the cutest soft little warbles. And all of this was without Baby's influence too! Putting my finger through the bars did startle her, but Cupid was brave enough to give me a kiss. After continuing to talk to her and slowly moving my hand, Psyche did manage to not be too afraid of my raised hand by the bars. Its SOOOO tempting to go bonkers and shove my hand iin the cage and work with them aggressively, but I'm not going to. Just letting them come to my hand over and over without trying to progress farther has done wonders! I can now have fun little birdy conversations with them!