summer

Dave has recently started to put his foot on Shelfie's back a lot. He's also being super attentive and bobbing and warbling around her a lot. He's so young is he just playing? You can see in the picture he's molting now and still has his bars. Shelfie is still molting too. You can see in the picture she' of tan across the bridge of the nose and light blueish on the sides. From what I gather this means she's not ready to mate...unless it means she's really a boy. Do you guys have any thoughts? I've not had much luck taming them either. If Dave is in the other room he just wants to get back to Shelfie. He won't eat millet or play and then he starts panting. If Shelfie is in the other room she becomes frozen. No biting (remember she's the vicious budgie). I can pet her back but I think it's just because she's too scared. Neither one of them want to step up on my hand in the cage. As long as I can lure Dave to millet without Shelfie meaning near I can get him outside of the cage while he's eating millet. He'll do some stepping up. Shelfie will attack both him and me if I get near her and him but she doesn't come and attack. I'm at a bit of a loss what to do. They are very happy by themselves and seem to enjoy being talked to by me. Thanks again for your time reading this. Summer

That's reassuring to hear. I was wondering who the devil possessed my little bird. I haven't tried working with her alone since we got Dave. I'll try that tomorrow. She can bite pretty hard but she hasn't broken the skin yet. I just notice some pin feathers on Dave. I can't imagine two cranky birds. I hope he takes it better than she does. Thanks for sharing. Summer

Yes she is molting. I do cover them for 12 hours but not in a separate room. I'll try putting them in our empty guest room to sleep more peacefully. I'm kinda guessing she's jealous of Dave and not me. Jealous of sharing Dave with me. The problem is that they both go to the high perch when I put my hand in. Dave will start stepping up right away and mid step up she attacks us both. It really is vicious. I'll see if more quiet sleep helps. Summer

I've been working on hand taming the birds in the cage. Dave responded beautifully. But Shelfie is savagely biting at me. It's gotten so bad if I pick up the cage she comes to the top to bite at me. I ignore biting. And now the worst part is she's started attacking Dave if he's stepping up on me. Needless to say he's getting hand shy now too. All I've been doing is having millet in hand asking them to step up. I don't chase them. I talk to them softly. I used to love how gentle Shelfie was. I don't care if she bites me but biting Dave because he's interacting with me is something else. She even just flew on him and attacked him out of the blue when he was on my hand nowhere near her. Otherwise he's pretty nice to Dave. Any advice? Thanks

So cool! Thanks for sharing! Summer

Darn it. I lost my post. The short version. Thanks for confirming it can be normal. I think it's pretty cute but of course I'm completely charmed by him. Thanks again. Summer

Dave is the white one. Went Dave saw the vet three weeks ago he said that tail poof meant he wasn't well. But in the last three weeks I see he always does this. He eats a lot, plays a lot, and has a clean vent. He acts healthy. I'm starting to wonder if it means something else. Any thoughts? Thanks for reading. I do love my budgies. Summer

Hi, so I have two birds together. They get along great. The first bird I tried to tame for about 10 weeks. She wasn't having it although she would step up and come out sometimes. The second bird I've had for a month. He's very young and very sweet. The two get along great. Shelfie, my first bird has gotten more wild, I know not surprising. She enjoys playing on the top of the cage but won't come out herself. I can get her to step-up and super-super-fast move her out and she'll jump on the top and have a blast playing. She goes back in when she's done. Dave is much tamer than her. If I had him by himself he'd have tamed out no problem. So I'm afraid he's going to get wild like Shelfie. Should I separate them for a while? He gets on my finger no problem but wants to get on the cage right away. If I take him in another room he and Shelfie call to each other. The most success I have in taming them is just putting my hand in their cage with millet. Then they will both come down and eat it. Shelfie is so nervous. As soon as she's done she jumps off. Dave's starting to do that now too. They are very happy together and playful. Dave hangs upside down from the cage and gives himself bird baths. She does the wing flapping exercise. Shelfie has just started to do this too. She did nothing but sit in her cage until Dave joined us. She's a new bird now. Any advice? Edited to add some pictures...

Interesting to read about the black beaks. There were several from the same batch with black streaks where he came from. Pretty is gorgeous and so is Latte. Shelfie got a clean bill of health today. Dave does not have scaley face and is a healthy weight however the vet said his breathing was harder than it should be. He thought he might be becoming ill. I'm to watch him carefully. If he gets worse we'll to a fecal test. But really he said all the tests and treatment he would do would be extremely expensive. I had told him I got laid off a week ago. I'm extending the antibiotics for another five days. Shelfie got over her sneezing with it. I hope it will work for Dave. Otherwise I'm just supposed to try to get him to eat healthy diet. Get a concrete perch to rub his beak on. Do you guys have any advice for me to nurse him better? He's so sweet and beautiful. I saw him puke into Shelfie's mouth tonight. I think they've really bonded. I hope she doesn't get it too but I just can't imagine separating them. Shelfie preens him all the time and he looks so content. Thanks for reading. Vet guessed Shelfie is a girl and Dave is a boy.

Are you sure he's that young. The ****-*** pet store said three months. He does look like a little baby though. He's eating seeds and dark leaf lettuce. He does seem to sleep alot though. He's seeing an avian vet on Thursday. I'll try to get better pictures tomorrow. Summer

I know I'm never going back to that horrible pet store. I don't why I ever went there, except my daughter LOVES pet stores and the clerks are always so nice to her. I've been calling him a he but I really don't know. I think his beak might have the scaly mites. It looks a bit funky and rough on one side. He's got a beautiful blue spot on his back. He's very sweet and not at nervous like Shelfie.I now realized I jeopardized her health but they've bonded so much I can't imagine separating them. Boy or girl? Thanks, Summer

I had no idea they could get sick so fast. I'm guessing the damage is already done by this point. However they are both eating and doing well. I think new Dave might have scaly mites though. He's got a funky spot on his beak. Hopefully neither are sick and will make it okay until next Monday. Thanks again for your input. I never had a pair before and didn't know how excited they would get to see each other. Shelfie's cere is starting to really change color. She's looking more girl like. Dave is much more calm than Shelfie. She really is a super nervous bird. She's so sweet though.

You are right I am not a man. I'll have to figure out how to change that. I left them go together. Dave have moved into Shelfie's larger condo. He had a studio apt. Ha. Honestly Dave might be a girl for all I know. But they are happy. It's nice to see. I'll just work with them together. Thanks for your input. I always appreciate it. Summer

I know I was supposed to keep the birds separate. But my budgie of almost 2 months, Shelfie, was so excited when she heard Dave chirp. She went nuts and started scaling the cage. So l let her see him. I put both cages on the dining room table. She flew out of her cage and started trying to get in Dave's cage. I finally let her in as they seemed friendly through the bars. The chewed on each other's beaks like long lost friends. She seemed to try to lead him to her larger cage and when he didn't come she stayed. She finally went back to own cage and I closed her up. Now she's trying to open the sliding door. She chirps to Dave and he chirps back and rattles his cage. Should I let them be together? I've never seen her more happy or more anitimated. She behaves much more bird like. I'm okay with her not bonding to me. I just want to keep her tame enough she can come out and play and step up to go back if needed. Thoughts? I know they are sharing germs. I'll figure I'll bring them both to the vet together next week for their check-ups. Thanks, Summer

I called the pet store and they said I could bring the bird back and they would treat it. I brought it back but when I got there the clerk didn't believe me about him being sick. He had never stopped panting. They took him back but put him back in the cage with the others. He looked so relieved. I'm worried for him though because I really do believe he was sick. I got another bird that I had watched for a long time the day before who appeared very healthy. I disinfected the cage and thoroughly rinsed it. When I put the new new bird in the cage I saw they put him in the same little carry box that sick bird was in with all the diarrhea. Arrgh. I hope he doesn't get it now. This bird is much stronger. Clean vent (so far) and he's alert and got on a perch. He did some panting and shaking but nothing like the sick bird. I'm afraid "Liv" was right. I had no idea that they got the birds so cheap. I'm not going to frequent this store anymore because I really don't like how they treated the poor little guy. Thanks for your input. I never should have gone to this place in the first place. It was against my better judgement. Summer

Now the new bird has poop all down it's vent. It's pretty gross. Do you think it's sick? Should I try to take it back? It's finally sitting up on a food cup after I moved it's ladder and startled the poor thing into a flapping frenzy. It' been here 20 hours and is showing no signs of adjusting. I wouldn't worry except for all the runny poop.

Shelfie...bird number 1 is alert and chirping. Her bottom is clean. She's active. But she gets these sneeze attacks. Usually it's only 2 or 3 throughout the day. She'll do several sneezes in a row. But yesterday she was having long long fits of them. She has an appointment at an avian in a week and half. But I thought I'd try the antiboitics in the meantime. Poor Dave...bird number two. He's so scared. Now he looks like he's getting the runs. I'm guessing it's the stress. He's clinging to the wires in near the bottom of the cage. I thought it might make him feel better to see another bird lives here. He's upstairs for now and she's downstairs. No...you can't feel Shelfies chest bone. When I rubbed down her chest to belly she actually stepped up. Progress. Summer

I got a second bird to eventually go with the first one that I'm still taming. Must be close to two months now that I've her. I'm wondering how far apart I need to keep them? Would it be okay if they spent some time in the same room? How do you try to tame two if they aren't together? I mean you can't be in two places at once. Also my first bird ha a cold or something. She's been doing lots of sneezing and isn't eating as much. I started her on the antibiotics from the pet store. But I don't want her to get the new bird sick. Of course he might be carrying something. I'll try to get a picture of him up soon. The pet store lady said he's 3 months but I think he might be a little older. Poor kid is terrified. Thanks, Summer

I took her mirror out and she's been a lot more active in her cage. She finally has started coming down to my and sitting on it to eat her millet. I've stopped the step up work in the meantime and am just trying to build a little more trust. I got laid off last week and set my computer up next to her so we are getting to spend more time together to. Thanks for all the tips.

When you say her room...should she stay in one place? I keep moving her around the house. If I'm home by myself I take her with me. Tonight I didn't even try to take her out of her cage. I just had her step up and keep my hand in there while I sang to her. She puffed up and preened herself quite a bit. I'm thinking that shows being relaxed. I'll just keep at it. It's just so strange that she was seeming happy and playing with her toys and wanting to come out and then that stopped. I tried removing a lot the toys. I just left her one mirror and a ladder. She likes to look outside more than in the mirror. I keep her by window that doesn't get direct sunlight in the doorstairs and play classical music for her all day when I'm gone. But thanks for your advice. It's helps. I really just want her to be happy and don't know what's upsetting her. Summer Great advice there Montie

Not this past week. She won't come out even with the door open. Last week she did. She's a very nervous bird. When I first got her she stayed on the bottom of the cage all day. When it got dark she finally went up to her perch. I do the millet treat when interacting sometimes. Not always. She was doing so well she didn't seem to need it. My husband thinks the sanding we did recently might have freaked her out. I didn't think birds minded loud noises. Maybe he's right?

I've had her about 6 weeks now. She goes through phases where she's very friendly and wants to come out on her play gym. Then for no apparant reason she starts freaking out about being taken out of her change. Last night i really pushed her to come out. She sat on her playgym while I cleaned up the kitchen when I brought her back to the cage she didn't want to go back in. So I let her stay out while I cleaned up the living room. By now it was quite late I made her get back in even though she didn't want to. Today again she didn't want to come out. So I didn't push it. Am I misreading the fact she doesn't want to get back in her change when I think it means she likes being out? She sings and warbles quite a bit throughout the day. I caught her bobbing her head once. But she doesn't play with her toys or frisk around the change much. She just sings away. She's finally not making herself depoof everytime I say something to her. I've never had a bird be so hot and cold. I confused. Any insight? Thanks, Summer

I forget what they are...she's sleeping now. I think it's from the WBO - dark blue is 2008. The sign said baby parakeets and she still had some bars down to her nose when I got her some I'm pretty sure she's fairly young.

Thanks for all your responses. I've got some more pictures that I hope will help. The other picture was from about a month ago during molt. Here she after the molt. I'll definately get some vitamins for her. I have been able to get her to eat a little banna and apple with the millet sprinkle trick. She'll get lettuce too. good side of beak bad side of beak-see how it's lighter around the edge-the lightness stops at what appears to be a crack No more pictures please- she flew away. Blurry but you can see the rest of her body

Have you ever seen a parakeet do this? The budgie I got did this in the store...like a little dog. She hasn't done it since I got her. She was super sassy and playful at the pet store. She frisks a little at home but she's still settling in. Summer