Cara

I placed some herbs (basil, mint, oregano and lemon tyme) into a shallow dish after I had washed them. The herbs are grown by myself so I know theres no pesticides or anything on them, my question is that I read on a 'Cockatiel forum' that mint irritates the eyes. Hamish is currently bathing in the wet herbs will this be okay or should I remove it??? He absolutely loving it.Also there cage is inside near a window so there getting plenty of light. Its not a hot day but not overall cold, hes finished bathing himself in the herbs and is sitting on the perch holding his wings out could he get cold or are budgies smart enough to know when its too cold to have a bath??

Well Ive tried to find a before photo, but can't to tell the truth I don't even know when I first noticed the colour change, all I know is that it gets darker with each moult. The black is so tiny but it is there, the black is even on each individual feather on her front that it almost looks like she has stripes. Its reall hard to get a photo of, but im going to try it on macro setting and see if that works. Here are some pictures taken on the super macro setting, second one is a lot clearer. The colour blue under her tail is what she started out being basically when we first got her. Here is the oldest photo of her I have. Her wings were badly cut when we got her it took us months to get them growing right again.

As i mentioned in the last post they both get 2-3 sunflower seeds once a week, so yes they do

No I'm not worried thats she's sick, there is nothing to indicate that she may be sick and Ive never heard of black tipped feathers to be a sign of sickness, this colouration has happened over a period of about 6 months and its seems to get stronger and more prominant each time she moults. She gets I would say 2 -3 sun flower seeds once a week in a dry mixture I make up for them that includes lucern and other grains also.

Over the past few months I have noticed Molly's feathers are starting to get black tips on all her feathers (not just the feathers on her wings) but under her wings and on her front, this morning i was watching them and caught sight of a small dark grey/black patch of feathers under her wings. Is this normal, what has triggered the colour change? I will try and get a closer look and get some photos but it will be difficult as Molly is not tamed and is scared of people any advise on getting photos without her freaking out too much?

Same here as by budgie Molly has never been able to fly ethier and trying this method she has no lift, again that was my reason for getting her also I felt sorry for her I guess all by herself

okay when i get them out again for flying time tomorrow morning when the light is a bit better I shall get some more pictures of the cere

Can anyone tell his/her gender from these pictures??? Also what type of budgie is he/she?I got some better pictures of cere when i got him/her to sit still and some other just better pictures of him using a camera instead of my phone. Just loading them now.

Well these are the pictures I have so far. SOrry about the cage bars in the way these are the only ones I managed to get when he wasn't playing with his toys. I will have to get a better closer picture of the cere as well. Here is a picture of thier new cage too twice as big as the old one. Depending on the light his/her eyes shine red too. Will try and get some more later better quality ones.

Well i sprayed both birds again today. Again nothing came up on Molly and surprisingly nothing came up on Hamish either so does this mean there gone????

Well at the moment his name is Hamish? But Kaz is thinking its a girl so may have to change that... Will post some pictures over the weekend Kaz has not decided if its a female at all. I wait for photos Sorry Kaz I didn't mean for it to sound that way Trying my hardest to get any photos of him/her, he/she wont stay still

Well at the moment his name is Hamish? But Kaz is thinking its a girl so may have to change that... Will post some pictures over the weekend

Oh, didn't know that, well i will try and get some clear pictures of his/her cere over the weekend for you guys to look at. At the moment i watching him/her hanging upside down of a toy flapping wings, Molly just sits there watching. Anyways back to my question regarding his/her flying is that normal for a budgie to fly into things?

Yes i know, but i have tried to explain that to my grandparents Females don't try to mate with female budgies do they, and besides he starting to talk and whistles the wolf whistle quite clearly so i would say hes male, never heard of females talking

I know quaranteen is very important and I understand that but living with grandparents who are clean freaks and don't wont more than 1 cage around the house its pritty difficult WHen i ever move out, i will do quaranteen i am a firm believer in quaranteen and would do it if i could

Thats a great idea, just dunk the body not the head, great i might give that a go. How do you make it up???? do dilute the mite/lice spray in water, cause my bottle is only 250mls

I got a new bird some weeks ago as a present from my Great Grandma as she found out I was looking at getting another bird. I went with her to the pet store to choose him and he was the first bird to fly to the bars and chatter away while I was standing there. So i got him, hes so friendly his cere is showing slight blueish colour all over so pritty sure hes male. Anyways the pet store lady said he wasn't tame at all and so we got him for $28 from the avairy bred cage. However, since introducing him to Molly she hates him, kinda, she kisses and lets him feed her in the morning and afternoons but bits his feet and tail feathers and really annoys him during the day. Hes really bonded to me and flies to me when ever I call him and he lands either on my finger or my head (so Im wondering if he wasnt an aviary bred bird). Hes also starting to do the wolf wistle and hes mumbling a couple of words "pritty boy" and "Handsome Hamish" he only started saying these things since introducing him to Molly about 2 weeks ago and hes getting better every day. Its funny that people say you can't train a bird to talk in pairs.... He adores coming out, hes a real character loves toys and vegies and fruit, devoured the whole lot the first time I tried him with it so hes been really easy to teach to eat fruit and veg. When out he also hangs upside down off my finger and flaps his wings, I am a bit worried about him though as hes only 14 weeks today he seems to crash into things when hes flying especially walls is this normal for a budgie of his age? He doesn't hit them hard its as if hes short sighted and as soon as he realises hes going to hit something he slows himself down but still runs into the wall. I don't know what type of budgie he is so will post some pictures soon. Ive never had such a friendly budgie and will keep eveyone updated on wether he stays really friendly and bonded to me and also if he continues to pick up words and sounds even when hes kept in a pair.

Oh thats okay then

This isnt always correct. A lot of products are made for birds that arent good for them. Oh, well I disifected there cage and everything and sprayed there cage with it and sprayed them but didn't realise I need to wet them through. I did this before adding thier food, water and cuttle bone. I sprayed Molly and saw nothing, I sprayed Hamish and there was about 15 little brown things that came up to the surface. There is a bit of a cool breeze going though at the moment so I will wet them through properly on the weekend. I hope im on top of it, ive never had this problem with any of my birds before I also washed there cage covers too just in case... I didn't read your post about not spraying the cage till after I had already done it, cause thats what the instructions says. I hope it will be okay, i have used this prodecut before and sprayed cages too.

So it wont hurt them if they swollow it, I just have to be careful not to get it in thier eyes thanks

I got a new bird a bit over a month ago or so and have introduced him to Molly recently I also got them a bigger cage which is twice the size of my old one. Molly likes him one minutes hates him another, its quite funny she feeds from him but them bites his feet etc. Hes very friendly has bonded to me rather than Molly but i guess that takes time. Anyways they were out this morning Hamish was flying around and he landed on my hand thats when i saw long but small brown things crawling under his feathers. So i googled it and turns out he has lice and has probably pasted them to Molly even though the 'pet shop' said they had sprayed him. I had run out of mit/lice spray until today. I am wondering will it hurt them if i spray it on them and then they preen themselves???? they haven't had a bath either as its been raining do you think i should spray them with warm water allow them to dry themselves then spray the mite/lice stuff on them????

How many drops of ACV do you use in a 5ooml spray bottle and how do you stop it from getting into the birds eyes, or is it diluted enough not bother them.

How do you store it? EG plastic bottle etc and how long does it last made up as I only have 1 budgie

So if you have read Molly's training forum its not going to well since Blue (her best friend) died. We also moved recently and that has made her training fall back a bit. I was wondering do you think she would prefer a budgie friend rather than a human friend??? I would like to get her a friend as she probably is a bit lonely when we are not home and thats most days/all day. She still comes out and sits on top of her cage in the mornings for a little while but goes back in if i approach her cage. I just thought it would be nicer for her to have a friend to keep her company. What do you all think? If you think I should then what gender would be best? Also could someone direct me to a thread. I remember reading one about the sexing of baby budgies... I think it said something about a baby female has slightly whiteish rings around nostrils and boys don't. Thats what I looked for when I got Molly