Jen144

I went to a place where they owned budgies (5 of them) in a nice aviary. But..they were seriously very very badly neglected. The person who 'looks after' them, ie, give them seed and water and cleans the cage, was not there..I am going this afternoon to speak to him and suggest my taking the worst ones and treating them and giving them back, and taking a sheet of how to take care of budgies! If anybody could give me suggestions on what to write that would help very much. If I am able to temporarily (or permenantly, not sure yet) take the birds, I'll post some pictures of them. But I will describe what is wrong now: 1- There are 4 males and 1 female. The female has a nestbox all year round in the cage, and has been laying clutches again and again and only one baby (one of the males) has actually survived and fledged. 2- The baby, who is about 6 months old now I would say, has the worst scaly face I have ever seen. In a little while he (I'm guessing it is a he, I can't actually see to be sure :hug: ) will not be able to perch, eat, or even breath from his nostrils it is that bad. He is also very small, as his growth is probably stunted from the breeding conditions he is in. 3- All of the birds have feather mites as well, though the two sky blue males have it the worst. They have no tail feathers and have been plucking some of their feathers! They were sky blue but are more of a grey now, as the mites have been eating away their colour. I am planning on going there and telling them what is wrong, and offering to take the worst scaly face one and the feather mites ones, and treating them myself. Either that or take all of them and treat them, though one or two of the birds only have slight scaly face and feather mites so will be a lot easier to treat. Then I will give them back, along with a sheet of paper telling them how to actually take care of them properly, and I will be telling them what they have been doing wrong. Of course I won't word it like that, but that's the general idea. These people haven't been mistreating the birds per say, but neglecting them as they have no idea how to take care of them!!! Any help would be great, as would any ideas of how to convince them how serious this is...Thanks. If I do get them, I will keep updates here on how they are going.

that was kind of my point all the chick handling also. birds do not normally crush babys and unless their was like 11 chicks up to 7 is normal for a good laying hen and they move them aside from oldder chicks them selfs i have never had a mother squash a chick yet or it siblings if anything if thats the only worry just let nature do its thing i thought mum was not feeding i didnt relize you just been doing this to stop chicks being squashed some mothers have strong instinked to just exept chicks no matter whatshappening and if are use to being handled themselfs dont get stressed but jimmy does make a very good point be awear stress can even make her condition bad as she may not want to leave chick when their returned in fear they will be taken again and in return not want to leave remainding chicks alone and not feed herself take care with it all good luck once again Okay, update after the being gone so long.. the reason I was dong all the mucking around with the chicks was that Storm was not feeding the newly hatched ones. Turns out, she just plain did not want to feed them whatsoever. My guess is she decided she had enough babies? But I don't know so if anyone could give me a clue here why she was doing that that would be great, especially to stop her doing it again. So, she has 4 remaining babies, all beautiful and in great health. They are now 27, 25, 23, and 23 days old. I'll post some pictures sometime later. Here is a list of their colours etc: 1- Neriah, female Cinnamon (I was so not expecting this!!!) Normal 2- Ari, female Cinnamon Normal 3- Rune, male SF Goldenface DF Cobalt Violet Clearflight Pied. Fostered, is actually Storm's first grand 'child'. 4- Kato, female Cinnamon Spangle, maybe pied. So...with the Cinnamon, the only way those 3 could be is that Cinder is split for it, right? Quite a nice suprise I think. :hug: I have a question, also. Ari's wing colour is a very light tan, while Neriah's is a deeper brown. Does this actually mean anything or are the darkness of the cinnamon different between birds? Anthoer question about Neriah, is that her body colour is coming through. And she is a violet-grey-mauve sort of colour, but the brown from her wings is bleeding through her body feathers..so she is grey-ish and brown! Is this too, normal, or not?

Yeah I had one other pair at exactly the same time (the eggs were laid on the same day) but as I mentioned in this thread I think, the female got mites and I had to take her eggs..which were addled..and treat her. I don't have a lot of birds so not enough for a third pair unfortunately. Thank you very much for the help though, I didn't even know how to do that so that will help a lot later if I ever need to foster chicks etc like that. I had to take all the older ones as they would smother the newly hatched one so that it would not be fed by getting all the food from Storm before she even notices the hatchling on the bottom of the pile. I took 3 of the 4 and left one with Storm. I checked on Storm this morning, and the bub actually hatched in my hands..so it did not hatch yesterday afternoon when it was due. So, I've put all the babies back, as it won't need to feed for another 10-12 hours, and I can check on them at about 6pm (it hatched at about 8am) and take the older ones for an hour or so so the youngest gets a feed, maybe take the older one for the night. I do not like swapping babies around but I have no choice if I want to try to save this one's life.

Darnation...number 5 did die during the night.. :rofl: I'm going somewhere at 3 this afternoon, I'll take the brooder in the car (and hold the babies to keep them warm until we get to where we are going and I can set it up) and take 3 of the 4 bubs. They are 10, 8, 8, and 6 days old..I'll leave the 6 day old one with the mum and take the others, so when the next 1 or 2 eggs hatch today there is a lot less chance of them getting squished. I'll be getting home probably quite late tonight, so I won't have a chance to check on the newly hatched babies until tomorrow.. I'm seriously thinking of handraising at least 2 of the older ones..th next baby is due to hatch on Monday and I do not want all 3 to die like the other 2.... So wish me luck, however I manage sort this out.

Okay thank you.

Doesn't always..I've heard males are easier to get to talk, but quite a few people I know have girl budgies who talk as well. Some birds never talk at all, it depends more on the bird's personality that its gender. But males are known to be easier, I don't know if that is true or not.

Baby number 5 hs been fed by Storm. I put him in with her at 12 (after having fed him every hour since about 8), then took him out and let her feed the other 4--who I'd taken out when putting #5 in so she could just concentrate on him alone--and put him back in at 2. He's been fed! And he is in with all his siblings too. So it looks like things have turned around and I've managed to save a baby..I hope she continues to feed him, there's no worry about her keeping him warm but she had not fed him at all last night since he had hatched..I'll continue to check every 2 hours on them quickly just to see if he's been fed. If he is, then I will risk leaving him in there tonight, and hope she does continue to feed him. Tomorrow morning will tell if she has decided to continue feedng him. :yes: Number 6 and 7 (eggs #7 an #9..9 was fostered and I don't think it will hatch but I am hoping..and #8 will hatch 2 days after) will hatch on Sunday.

Okay thanks anyway. I think I will leave it for a bit, like a month (I've heard stories about people who dyed their hair a few weeks before they let their budgie chew on it and the bird died) to be on the safe side.

It's a mutation, where, unlike Jackson who is not a Recessive Pied, Jasmine will not get a blue cere. (ie, the part above the beak) and it will stay pink if Jasmine is a boy, or go brown if she is a girl. And she'll never get iris rings either..Jackson would have iris rings (white rings in each eye) but Jasmine never will. http://www.budgieplace.com/colorsguide.html Above is a link to website that explains all the mutations, with pictures, if you want to read it. How old is Jasmine? I bought a treatment from the petshop for my birds (who recently got mites) and it is quite cheap and working well. About $10 maximum I would say. Edit: Didn't see Kaz's post. Listen to her lol. :yes:

Good luck! I hope all goes well for you. :yes:

How long after you've dyed your hair is it safe to allow your budgies to chew/preen you hair again? I'm asking this because a few love to preen my hair and I just dyed it yesterday, so how long do I have to wait to allow them to do it again without risking poisoning them?

The young birds I've always bought had tails like that, from sitting on the floor of the cage..and it looks like his/her wings have been clipped and that's all...but I don't know about french moult though so wait for someone else to reply. Also, I think Billy is a girl. :yes:

You want to know their genders? Jackson is a boy and I don't know about Jasmine, he/she is a Recessive Pied and I don't know how to tell the sex of them..probably a girl though? And personally I think you should treat both of them for scaly face mites, they look like both of them have it starting.

Me again. :yes: Want to show off my little babies! Man they grow so fast, don't they?...here's the four eldest. Look at that big crop!

Great news, the baby has improved!! He actually started begging for food and bobbing his head! :yes: (a major step considering the last 2 feedings I gave him I had to force-feed him and hope like crazy none got in his lungs) I hope he continues to improve...I think in an hour (when his crop empties) I wil feed him again and see if he is stronger..then when his next feed is due I'll take out the 4 babies from Storm's nest and put him in for an hour or so and watch to make sure he is fed. If he is then should I let him stay there for another feeding or two from his mum, then take him and put the 4 others back? That way, he got the goodness of his mother's food, and I can still watch him and feed him again, and the older babies won't squish him again. Then I'll do that (swapping between a feeding from me, and one from Storm, taking away her babies when I put him in and putting them back when he is fed from her) for the rest of today...will that be long enough to make sure he is strong enough to get fed tomorrow?

Update: I risked giving the baby some very watered-down handraising formula, as when I checked on it and the parents it was getting squished by them and completely ignored. So I fed it a small amount of the warm mixture, and thank God I did not aspirate it... it has a small amount in its crop and I'm not giving more for a little while, it has virtually no crop because it has never been fed..so I am following what I have read on how to feed day 1 old chicks. It is soo sad, the poor baby has dark skin on its skinny little back and white wings and legs..very very dehydrated..and I can see its little keelbone is so sharp..I don't hold much hope for it but I will keep trying. I'm going to give Storm 2 of her babies back and keep the little one with 2 of its siblings, to help keep it warmer.

Number 5 hatched last night, but, as with Sora, has not been fed at all. I am not going to feed it and risk suffocating it too...so I took the 4 eldest (and am holding them to keep them warm while the brooder warms up) and left the youngest..and I will check again in an hour or so. So that Storm actually has no babies at all to concentrate on other than the one I want her to feed. This is the best thing I could think of at short notice, so if there is anything better I can do please please reply. Thanks. I'm also thinking of putting them in a small box with no lid, in the bottom of a cage with Banshee..and maybe he will feed them. (I'll have to keep his cage warm for them though) This is temporary, once the youngest has been fed a couple times and is strong enough I'll put them back..but any advice you can give asap would be great!!

Number 5 is hatching. (formerly known as #6 egg) 3 more eggs left to hatch after that. Still no answers to my questions?

Very sad news..apparently Storm can't handle sitting on 4 eggs, plus trying to incubate 5 babies and feed them all..at once, really. And I'm not suprised, she has had only 2 clutches (last year) and the first had 2 babies, the second one. So 5 babies is quite a new thing for her... See, I looked this morning and Sora was severly dehydrated. I took her out and she was already too weak to even give a feeding response. (ie, bobbing her head)She hadn't been fed since hatching, (yesterday afternoon)having been covered by the other babies and therefore not noticed by Storm. I tried to give her a little bit of water, but because I can't crop feed and never have I gave it through her mouth. Turns out she was even too weak to swallow properly, and she asphyxiated. It was quick so she didn't really suffer but I feel so guilty...not because I didn't catch it earlier, because there was possible no chance I could have unless I got up and checked on them in the middle of the night..but because I suffocated the litte baby! :sad: :rip: Goodbye little Sora. 4 more eggs to hatch, 2 definetly fertile and fine, 1 is weird...fertile, yet very underdeveloped for its age. The other 1 is the one I'm not sure about. I took Neriah and have been handfeeding her with great success, and now Storm has 4 eggs left and only 3 babies, all fed now. Here's hoping things continue to go well after the bad bit with Sora.

Just 3 hours ago I found 7 little baby (1 day old it looks like) mice. My parents were going to feed them to the cat as we don't want more wild mice in the house. But I couldn't live with myself if I knew I let them die that horrible death..so I offered to try to raise them myself. So now I have 7 little baby mice on my hands, absolutely no experience with mice, no pet mice and never had any, and don't know anyone who could help. So I'm in trouble here..all I've got at the moment is soy milk, so when I tried to feed that to them they understandably did NOT like the taste..I'm going to go buy some normal dairy milk in an hour (or less) and I'll try to feed them again. I'm going to give them to friends or try to sell them to the petshop if, by some miracle, they do survive. I have a lot of questions, so if anyone here can help, please please pm me ASAP. Thanks. :glare: P.S. Sorry this is about the health of another animal other than a budgie but I have no one else to ask and I know at least a few of the members have mice/rats or had them. They can just pm me if anyone can help so I hope this is okay?

Nevermind about my first question. Number 5 has arrived!! Welcome to the world little Sora. Still would like to know the answer to my second question though, about that egg.. It is due to hatch on the same day as number 7, so I'll soon find out..in about 4 days. And here's some pics of the babies I took this afternoon. Nariah, being held for the first time at 7 days..his eyes are starting to open now too! Rune, 5 days old: And four (number 5 hadn't hatched when this picture was taken) of the babies: I'll check on them again and take more pictures on Thursday afternoon, when I will also see if number 6 has successfully hatched. By the way, I've just looked at the pinned topic about red, plum, and dark eyes, and is it just me or does Rune look like he has plum eyes? I know the picture is blurry but can you see the colour of his eyes well enough? That was the reason I even took a picture of him today (was planning to on Thursday approximately, when he was older), when I looked in he caught my eye as it looked different to the rest of the babies.

Okay so number 5 is due to hatch today. So I checked just now and candled all 5 remaining eggs too, while I was there. So now I have two questions: 1- When I candled egg number 5 it was hatching, the air bubble at the top was like how it is described..what is it called, draw down or something? Anyway, that's not my question..The egg had one little hole in it, the baby was moving inside but not cheeping so probably having a rest. So, how long should I wait before the baby should be fully hatched? Just so I know if it will need help, I do not want it dying in the egg, that would just be too sad. I actually don't know how long it takes for them to hatch so I'm asking now. 2- I fostered one of Budgie's eggs (I took out all her eggs because they all looked addled, except for one I wasn't sure about..so just in case, I put it under Storm. It had been incubated but was left out for an hour or so before I gave it to Storm, so it's most likely dead now anyway right?) to Storm and I candled it too along with the other 4. And what it looks like is rather strange. I'll try to describe it. Exactly half of it (the bottom half, if the narrow end is the top) is dark..the top is entirely an air bubble. Compared to the other -fertile- eggs,the air bubble in it is huge! What does this mean, is it addled or actually fertile?? It is the same colour on the outside as the other eggs, addled eggs go a gross grey colour and fertile ones are white, aren't they.. Anywho, if someone can answer these questions that would be wonderful. Thanks.

Oh sorry you don't understand what I said. They live all day with free reign in her room, and the cage is for them to sleep in at night, I'm just saying the budgies and lori aren't kept locked up together in a cage. The nest was for them to breed.. So even in a whole room it may attack them? I just recently saw a picture of someone (could be on this forum actually) who had a lorikeet in with an aviary with the budgies so I assumed that would be okay?

Okay thanks all for the replies. I will be asking her for my bird back, and I'll quarantine her (the bird) for double the period of time and be extra careful? I know, really dumb idea for her to keep them together. She does keep her birds in her room (she has perches along the walls) and their cage has the nest box-with no babies or eggs yet thankfully- and it is only for them to sleep in..though the lori has taken to sleeping in the nest...probably feels safer as it is just a fledgling. Yeah I agree it probably would be a better idea for her to give it a wildlife carer, but she wants to keep it (and she found him) and both her parents are fine with it, so what can you do. It's her choice. I'm not mad at her, she didn't know and I have done similar when I just didn't realize how bad it was. But she really shouldn't have risked it with my bird, she can do it with her own but has no right to risk mine without even asking. Ah well.. So you can tell me what kind of lori? Don't quote me on it being illegal about releasing him, that's just what I heard from someone else who rescued one that had been hit by a car (it later escaped) so I'm not entirely sure about that. I think it is illegal becuase they don't want people buying lorikeets and then releasing them into the wild...

Well. Update. I phoned her today to see how he was going, and apparently she has: Fed him sugar water and fruit (mushed up) from a syringe. Treated him for mites and fleas. And then put him in with her budgies!! She reckoned they would be fine because he probably wouldn't have any diseases because he is young, and he's been treated for mites and fleas so it's all okay. I told her that was a veery bad move and that her budgies were at risk, but it is too late now. What really sucks though, is that one of the budgies is mine that I have temporarily given to her for a joint breeding program! Here's hoping they will be okay...She's decided to keep him (and apparently it is illegal to release a lori into the wild whether or not you found him there in the first place, so she can't just let him go..but it's her choice and her parents are fine with her keeping it.) So yes...when I do get my budgie back what should I do, if he carries/ has FM and passes it to her (and she doesn't catch it but becomes a carrier of it) she'd give it to all my others wouldn't she!! Anyway, advice please.