manzana

Was Merlin okay when Pretty passed away? That's another thing we were worried about - that the budgie left behind might be heartbroken when he loses his friend.

Thanks for all your advice, Elly, and for responding so quickly too. We're really appreciative.

Hi Neat and Liv We're definitely not trying to rehome Billy. We just want to work out what the best thing to do is as far as Billy's happiness is concerned. Right early on we wondered whether we'd made a mistake getting only one budgie, but a couple of months in our specialist bird vet advised us that it wasn't a good idea at that stage. We thought we might have left it too late. We weren't hinting for help but genuinely just wondering whether it's a good or bad idea to introduce a second bird to one that's been living solo for 2 years. We thought if you were all generally optimistic about the idea, great... we'll certainly go through that process. If not, we'd be grateful for any advice about alternative ideas. We'd both be devastated to lose Billy, and absolutely would not consider finding a new home him unless personal circumstances meant keeping him was impossible, which is far from the case. I had a feeling the kindest thing to do is to get Billy a friend, but wanted the advice of budgie experts such as all of you before welcoming another little life into our home. That is just so lovely of you Lily... thank you for the sweet offer. Wow. You're right - it is hard to find someone you trust and who is good/comfortable with birds to look after your own! I know exactly what you mean about feeling bad about your budgie not being able to fly around, for example. How have you found having just one budgie? How old is your little guy? Have you ever had the same worries about him being lonely or does he usually have company? Funny you should mention radio - we do keep the radio on for Billy - 612 ABC usually, but maybe we should try 4BC!!

Hi all, I remember when we first got our budgie Billy we found this site incredibly warm, welcoming and helpful. Nearly 2 years on, we are completely in love with Billy, who is a very happy and well adjusted bird. Billy flies free in our house between his home (a big cage with natural sticks, food, water and fun stuff) and a number of 'play stations' we've positioned all around the house to make life exciting for him. He is happy amusing himself for short periods but mainly interacts a lot with us. When we're not around, he is noticeably more quiet and takes quite some time to perk up. For all the time we've had Billy my partner has been working from home, so for much of every day he and Billy have been keeping each other company. When I get home at night, I spent plenty of bonding time with Bill. When we've gone away we've been lucky to have very close friends of ours (who are comfortable with birds) come and stay at our house to look after Billy. It was a very happy arrangement. But a number of things have changed. Firstly, we've moved from Canberra to Brisbane as a result of my job, and no longer have friends we can call on to help look after Billy. Secondly, my partner is about to get a different job which will mean he's no longer working from home. We also want to be able to go on holiday (for a weekend, a week, or even 3 weeks) but feel we can't do that until we have worked out a happy solution for Billy. He's got a fantastic personality - very sociable and no nonsense, fun, full of character, very lovey dovey and quickly adaptable to new situations. In the absence of knowing anyone to help us look after Billy at our place, we thought it might be best if we get a second bird. We haven't considered this lightly - we know we could lose closeness with Billy - but feel his day-to-day happiness is more important than that 'risk'. However, we are worried that he might not bond with that second bird, and don't know how we'd cope with that situation. We need to do something though. Just yesterday, we went away for the day, leaving early in the morning and getting back early evening. It was obvious that Billy had had a very quiet, lonely day. Took him a couple of hours to get sociable and even then he seemed out of sorts. This isn't the first time we've noticed this - he really does respond well to the human contact he's become so familiar with. We'd be grateful for any thoughts/advice on our situation. Billy enjoying a scratch while 'helping out' on the laptop