krosp

Aw he's lovely. What a transformation!

They're all very beautiful, love the colour combinations. Baby budgies look so sweet and lovable, but they'll be more striking as adults... kind of a win/win situation haha

Every time I see a new post in here I think there will be photos. Good on you all for getting my hopes up

Wow... would be very interested to see what he looks like when not trying to sprout a whole new fringe lol

WHOA! I've never seen anything like this bird before! Why does it have throat spots on its head?

Charley is so striking looking. He always stands out to me in your signature. I am sure he will be fine. He might feel a bit strange at first but they get used to things pretty quickly!

I don't know (so didn't vote). It was hard engaging Cosmo at first because he would chirp at any passing by bird at all. My husband likes making videos and any time he was fiddling with a video and played back something, and Cosmo heard himself in the background he'd go nuts. He's not so bad now, but I imagine he would have been so crazy at first if he had budgies outside. But maybe it would've just taken longer or more effort to settle in and tame, not actually made it impossible. I'm a bit concerned about the same thing myself - we are going away for two weeks in December and giving Cosmo to my parents to look after. They have budgies in an aviary, and Cosmo will probably be able to hear them even though she won't be keeping him with them.

I guess I made a mistake today and learned a lesson from it -- do not have Cosmo on my shoulder when I'm eating! I was having a potato salad, and he decided to join in and walked IN my lunch! Then he proceeded to fly off and leave mayonnaise footprints everywhere. So I had to grab him to wipe his little feet, to which he protested enormously. I couldn't really see any other way without having to grab him... but I knew he would hate me for it afterwards. Now it's only been a little while since, and he's really temperamental towards me. He'll step up on my finger... and then start attacking my finger and bite it a lot... and then after a while of biting he'll decide to head bob and regurgitate a seed... and then he's angry and attacking again. If I offer him a head scratch, he'll bite.. then he'll fluff up and let me scratch for a bit, and then go back to biting. It's like he sees my hand as a threat and a friend at the same time and can't decide which one it is. His behaviour seems very confused. Oops Guess there's nothing I can do now but be patient with him and wait until he gets over it, and not have him on my shoulder while I'm eating again!

Haha no I don't at the moment - just Cosmo. But a couple of times in the past I have introduced a second bird when I had a pet one for a long time, and it always worked fine.

Absolutely definitely girl, in my humble opinion :hug:

Aww he's so beautiful... I have never had a problem with bringing in a second bird well after a bond is formed with a first one. Quarantine is the only thing that makes it tricky (although of course it's totally worthwhile!) It's really nice seeing them bond with each other too, very special. Even if it is two boys :hug:

Well, I think he is in love with me and everything else that moves or is shiny lol It is sweet and entertaining, but I must admit I would rather he kept his seeds to himself!

Since I wrote this he's been trying to preen me lots. He preened my finger for a while, and then stopped and turned his head expecting us to take turns haha. Of course, I obliged.

Oh dear haha.... today he has been head bobbing at the window, and then he did it to my finger and regurgitated a seed! It's so funny to see him do the head bobby thing, and how the eye goes big and small, when he doesn't even have a grey iris yet! Maybe he's an early bloomer lol. He doesn't look as skilled at it as the older boys do. And he still looks like a baby so it's kind of funny to watch.

Oh how interesting - I would have thought black ink would be as bad as coloured ink. Thanks for the tip!

I don't know much about this but I do think they can do an autopsy and it's probably the best way to diagnose really because they could do a more comprehensive exam without harming a live bird. Just my guess tho, others should know more.

We line Cosmo's cage with newspaper, which is fine because it's one of those cages that has a separate tray underneath that slides out and he can't access the newspaper. But we lined his playgym with it too, and his absolute favourite thing to do is demolish it! He constantly rips up the edges of the newspaper. I don't think he eats any of it, but I do worry about that. It doesn't seem good at all - but then again lots of people line cages with newspaper. So I just thought I'd ask how bad is it for them? I'm prepared to totally get rid of it if there's any danger.

He sure does. He loves the sound of running water and plastic crinkling... but when there's music, he seems to prefer fast paced upbeat stuff. For example, sea shanties

I think that's usually a playful thing. If she's still fixed to the branch and not actually flying about then I have noticed they tend to do that playfully and excitedly. If they are flapping and squawking but actually flying around then they could be frightened. Although - given her age, maybe it's also to do with learning how to fly?

I'm so sorry to hear that. You've sure had a rough trot lately with that little family. I hope you manage to raise some of the chicks and that they will be really special to you.

Oh I am so sorry to hear that. I have always noticed Blueberry in particular on your signatures. She was beautiful.

I would be more inclined to think that they are all running away from you, and the other chick doesn't run for some reason. Either because it's sick or injured, has a bit of a more dopey personality, or just isn't scared of you. I don't think the other birds would reject it if it chose to run along with them too. Not sure what's going on but i agree with the others that it'd be a good idea to check over the chick closely

I think that everybody has made a lot of good points. Schools are set up to cater for different needs, but they really don't have the resources to do it perfectly. It's just not possible unfortunately. But that doesn't mean that school life will be miserable for him or that he won't have a good education. If he has teachers that really understand and want to help, and if that teacher fosters a supportive classroom, then it should be a lot easier. But he is going to need your help and advocacy every step of the way, and you will need to be very involved in planning what adjustments will need to be made, possibly educating the teacher sometimes, implementing things at home to keep things consistent between home and school, and fighting for his needs if the school is not taking something seriously. It's important to keep up to date with how he is finding school and nip problems in the bud before he becomes unhappy - it may be hard to unlearn negative feelings towards certain other kids or situations if he gets too upset by them. It's a tough job for you but nobody can do it better than you can. I think that it's hard to predict how much he will struggle in school, but it's important to find something that he is good at and can experience success in so that even if he does feel a bit out of place at school, he still has something that he enjoys and that builds his self esteem. That may or may not be within the school context. Also it's good to remember that all kids have good teachers and bad teachers, and have good periods and bad periods in school, and that all kinds of kids have times when school fails them and their parents need to step in and kick a fuss. With Jadon it may or may not happen to a greater extent than other kids. All the best with the planning and assessments ahead. I know it's pretty scary but try not to be too nervous about the school thing and all that you can't control- school can only do so much for any child but their parents and home life play the biggest role and you are obviously doing all you can in that way

My husband built one for Cosmo out of cardboard boxes, perches and a wooden ladder. It has some toys too. It's for our study when we have him with us when we're working. He liked it at first, but now whenever he's on there he doesn't stay too long, he flies onto my shoulder instead. I think it's because when he's on my shoulder he can see out the window. There's only one window and no way of putting his gym near the window. It's funny because his playgym is higher than my shoulder and he still prefers my shoulder. But, he doesn't mind playing on it now and again.

Hehe these are cute... I love watching birds have a paddle in their water or wet veggies etc. I didn't manage to catch him in the act, but this is what he looked like afterwards. (I hope these aren't too big. I have been having a lot of trouble with resizing on photobucket lately when the images are cropped.)