Tam

Cheers everybody. Kaz, any particular brand of wormer you use being in Oz? Are they readily available in pet stores, or more of a vet thing?

Thank you Libby, just one more quick question - what is a good other way to add vitamins (and what ones)?

Hi All Yes I have more questions !!! I am not sure what I should be doing to keep my baby healthy in all aspects. Should I be using a mite spray? Should I be worming? Should I have calcuim and iodine blocks in the cage - or be adding these minerals to Coco's diet? I have had a piece of cuttlefish in the cage for about a week now and Coco has not showed any interest. Does she need to be eating/chewing (or whatever they do to it) for health reasons? Also, Coco tends to have a burst of energy, and then get really sleepy and rest and then want to play again - is this normal? By about 8:30pm at night she is totally spent and can barely keep her peepers open! Thanks everybody :budgiedance: I would be lost without this forum!

I have been using Elly's techniques from the FAQ section for about a week now and last night my baby Coco ate millett from my hand for the first time - just be patient, it really does work. Thanks Elly

Cheers for that, I will try tonight. I only have one lonesome little baby budgie, do you think the mix will last for a couple of days in the fridge if I use all very fresh ingredients and store well?

I have never feed Coco egg before - so do you just hard boil and smash it with the shell on or off?

OMG, they are so adorable, beautiful pics :hap:

Hey Andrew, good to hear that Bing is going well. Yes Coco tries to escape by lifting up the doors by the corner (very cheeky :hap: ) so I had to peg everything shut. She is also quite the acrobat, always doing somersaults and weird stuff, I always worry she is going to break her legs with the strange positions she gets into. Then gets really tired and has some more food and does it all again! I don't know whether it is normal behaviour though - I would say so, they seem quite inquisitive All of the pics were in natural light - except for the first picture. I will post some more in a few weeks and hopefully it will be a bit clearer whether I have a boy or girl

Cool then I will keep on talking - she has been so noisy over the past couple of days - definetely not a pretty chrip too! Do boy budgies sound pretty from the start? Or does that come with time? We have lots of birds in the gum trees out the front, so I think that she is mocking them too.

I will do that then. Thanks Elly

Yeah, it didn't seem to match any of the pictures I saw on determining gender, kind of inbetween. Thanks for your help though - should I post a picture in a few weeks time when Coco is a bit older?

That is good to know that she should be able to fly agin. Is there first molt at about 4 months? - Do you have any idea how old she is now? Silly question....I talk to Coco all the time when I am home, thinking she was a he, and in the hope that it would pick some words. Is this still worth doing - is it comforting to the birds to be talked to - or am I just driving my boyfriend crazy for no reason

I got Coco from a pet store. Yeah, she jumped out of her cage yesterday, and was flapping her wings desperately trying to fly, it broke my heart So you think hen??

I had some trouble so I modified my post and ended up putting in the link. I know I shouldn't do stuff like this when I am tired!

Hi everyone Well I have had Coco for almost two weeks now - thank you to everybody for your advice so far. I am still not sure if I have a boy or a hen (some people suggested hen though) - the previous pics I posted were not very good quality. I finally got a new camera and have taken some new pics. Can anybody tell me if Coco is a boy or a hen, and how old? I had trouble posting pics so I have attached the link http://s244.photobucket.com/albums/gg31/TamandCoco/ PS - The orange stuff on his face is carrot. Tam :grbud:

Thank you for the advice. Good to hear that Trill is okay! The website is out of Harrisons until about March anyway, so I will see how I go with fresh fruit and veggies. Thanks Rainbow, what do you mean by cooked diet of grains and veggies? - sounds tastey ! What do you cook up and how do you serve it, if you don't mind me asking?

quote] When in season the birds get fresh corn on the cob at least twice a week, especially the youngsters. You can defrost frozen corn for them..even the mix of corn and baby peas defrosted is good. What a great idea :oliveb: ! I was wondering whether I could use frozen veg when I run out of fresh. Do you mash it up - or do they pick? I dont' want him to choke!

Thanks Kaz. What in your opinion is a good quality seed? Sorry Tam, but with hundreds of budgies at my place, I buy the best quality seed in bulk from a merchant. My guess is your are buying supermarket seed. The ones that come to mind available in the supermarkets are TRILL and LOVITTS. I would never feed a budgie any of the PLAIN BRAND generic seed in our supermarkets...it looks terrible. Cheers, and how do you feed your birds corn? Is it raw on the cob, in pieces?? I would like to try it.

Thanks Kaz. What in your opinion is a good quality seed?

Hi I am looking at putting Coco onto a better diet (my about 8 week old very cute budgie). I have read that he/she should be eating 30% seed 30%pellets 30%fruit n veg and the rest treats. I am currently feeding Trill and some carrott lettuce mixed in (tonight we are trying bok choy too). I have heard that Harrisons is very healthy for them . I have found a vet that sells Harrisons on line - but only the fine or ground stuff, not super fine. Is the ground stuff classed as pellett? What one would you recommend, or is there another brand or product that will cover the "pellett" part of his diet. Particularly one that may be found in SA somewhere! Also how would you recommend feeding the Harrisons stuff to him (if this is the recommended way to go). It says on the website to feed only 1 1/2 to 2 tspns a day. Would this be mixed in with seed/veg? This doesn't seem like it could equal 30% of his diet, I know he eats a whole bunch more than 2 tsps of seed a day! Sorry for so many questions, I want to start him out as healthy as possible :oliveb:

That is so exciting

Hahaha

Thanks everybody for the advice. Oh no, so my little Coco could be a hen! What a confusing little birdy, he is doing boy and girl things. I will just have to be patient with everything

Hey Andrew, Coco does move around, he still watches me lots though - always keeping an eye on my next move. If I am sitting infront of his cage, he will even come down to eat with me watching now. He does do a lot of sitting though, and will then have a burst of energy and try to play with one of his toys and run around for a bit. Coco seems to only chirp when I am ignoring him. If I am talking with my boyfriend he will keep chirping until somebody pays him some attention or if I am cooking dinner or something. It took a couple of days before he started making a noise though. It is not a real pretty chrip though like some budgies I hear, it is not an angry sounding chrip either(like he made when they put him in a box at the pet store) but kind of loud, look at me (well that's how I interpret it though)! I don't know if that is normal or not. Until then.....he just started chriping and I went out to see him, and he stoped and started again while I was there talking to him. Never happened before though. As for your birdy taking millett from you I am so jelous, I have tried that so many times and he just stares at me and the millett....until I get a dead arm from having it stuck in the cage and give up. I have had it in his food bowl and he eats around it, and peged up in his cage but he is not interested. And having it on your finger, I am so impressed, was he in the cage when it jumped on your finger?

Okay...so day two of training. I was firmer wih Coco, but still having some teathing probs with the tonnel. I got him/ her into the tonnel but it kept ducking his head and trying to go backwards. He moved forward through the tonnel a couple of times, but then would start to try to squirm around. He didn't appear to get freaked out too much though, well once again he didn't bite me or make any noises to give me that indication. After a few minutes I let him go and he flapped off the bed and headed back for his cage. I will try again tomorrow - is this something to only do once a day? I have so far because I don't want to stress him out. I think it is a good training method - so thank you for the advice.