Wendamus

How cute! My birds (still pretty new, got them in January) have only recently started tentatively bathing in their water. I tried and tried to get them to take 'showers' when I first got them, but I think they were still too new to everything. These pics have me tempted to take my kids outside and see how they like another attempt!

I love this forum - I just read through some FAQs and realized that the cage I thought was big is actually the minimum size for one bird, and is tall rather than wide. Since I've just gotten a third bird and would like to eventually have them all in the same cage (QT right now) I just ordered this one off of ebay. (The free shipping sold me!) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=380105253309 It's 30"Wide x 18"Deep x 36"Tall. I've been letting my first two birds loose all the time, but several close calls with cats have convinced me that isn't going to work in my house. I can give them free play time out of the cage every day when the cats are locked up, but they'll have to go back in the cage when I can't directly supervise. Therefore I'd like a cage that's a little nicer and bigger for them, in my everlasting quest to get them to act like birds instead of little scared unhappy statues. That link has lots of cages available, and links to an ebay store that has aviaries and multi-cage stands and other stuff, pretty good prices. I've also found that rather than paying $8-$20 for 'natural' perches, I can go to the hardware store and get dual-ended screws -- one end screws into the wood, and the other end accepts a wingnut and bolt. Then some scrounging around my yard turned up some nice branches - total cost about 50cents per perch. I boiled the branches before drilling the ends to soften them (and keep them from splitting) and it also killed any germs outside birds might have left lying around.

If you haven't read it, there's a pinned topic that might help in the budgie behavior section: http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....showtopic=12931 It doesn't talk a lot about how to solve this problem, but at least might give you some clues about where it came from, and other birds with similar issues.

Thanks! I'll get them back in there right away. Had a close call with a cat tonight, so I'm glad it's safe. It turns out this is a tough house to make safe for birds! I'm probably going to have to get them back into a cage, or at least convince them to move to perches up on the walls instead of sitting on the ground. I'll start another thread on the behavior forum on that. Thanks for the help!

I finally had to break down and use ant spray in the room where my budgies were. I saw the suggestion to use vinegar spray after I'd already done it, and I'll use it next time. For now, I've moved my budgies to my bedroom. I've wiped down all the surfaces where the ant spray hit, and vacuumed up all the dead bugs. I've put out a fan and opened all the windows. How long would you say before it's safe to put the birds back in the room? They've been out for about 24 hours. My bedroom is a higher traffic area than the office where they normally stay. My toddler comes in regularly, and I tromp in and out a dozen times a day. It's more social, but since the birds live loose, it also means more times a day for the cats to sneak in. In addition, there are open aquariums with no lids around, so it's not ideal. I'm not super worried - my budgie's wings are clipped, so it's unlikely that they could fly up to the aquariums, and we're careful about the cats. They're also more like bird statues on their perches than active, travelling little animals - they're very quiet most of the time. I'm more worried that they're going to get stepped on than anything. I know I should probably put them in their cage, but we're qt'ing a new bird there(beautiful white with black markings on her head, and bright blue under her wings), and they haven't used the cage in a month. So my ideal solution would be to get them back in the office, where they've been safe and happy.

Oh, thanks for posting that, it was greatly entertaining! Anyone know how to get budgies to exert so much self control?!

I know this thread is old, but I'm running into the same problem - ants in my bird area as well as crawling around on my fishtanks. I came to this forum trying to figure out how long I have to leave my birds out of a room after I've sprayed Raid (a common ant spray in the US) - I haven't figured that out yet, but I thought I'd post this link for the aviary keepers: http://eap.mcgill.ca/publications/eap4.htm The article is about diatomaceous earth - a silicate type of 'sand' that's very fine. When the ants crawl through the earth, its sharp edges slice through their exoskeletons and its drying properties remove so much moisture from their bodies that they die. I use this outside my home regularly, and it works very well - we've had flooding around the house, so it has currently washed away (and the ants are seeking high ground to get away from the flooding - hence the ant spray) but under normal circumstances its a very effective, safe pesticide. I recommend sprinkling it on damp ground - even though its non toxic, it has drying effects if it's inhaled, so damp ground and a wind-free day will make it most safe for your birds. I don't have an aviary to test it's effectiveness, so if anyone gives it a try, please let me know if it works for you!

Just go to this link http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ and download this software for the Windows Operating System (XP, or Vista - whatever you have). It should auto-install, and start. It's got controls that look like a tape recorder, the red round one will record. If you've got a built in microphone, that's all you have to do. I downloaded it and ran it on a Mac, and so I am not 100% sure the installation procedure will look the same on Windows, but it should be pretty close. I look forward to aviary sounds, I think my budgies will be thrilled!

I operate wimdows vista on my pc......but how do you get the aviary sounds from aviary to PC ? Ah, I've had a laptop for so long I didn't think about a desktop computer! Duh! I was thinking you'd just carry the laptop out to the aviary! It took me something like three re-reads to figure out what you were talking about! I gotta stop reading forums at 1:30 in the morning. I don't have any great ideas, unless you have a nice long digital microphone or you find a laptop laying around. Most modern laptops have built in microphones, so that's all you'd need. Alternately, I could talk my boss into flying me to Australia for some made up business need, bring my laptop, and visit your aviary. If the economy weren't crumbling around my ears, I might even be able to convince her! :-) Anyone else have aviary sounds they'd like to share?

What operating system do you use? There are free sound recorders for almost every operating system - for the Mac I use http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17392. Looks like Audacity is free for both recording and editing. I don't know how easy it is to set up on Windows. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ If anyone wants to record aviary sounds, I'm more than happy to post them on the web and leave them up indefinitely - I have unlimited space on my web hosting account, and we can keep a running list here on the forum of the links.

I noticed this with my birds, and went a different direction -- I figured it was because their natural instinct is to forage from the ground for scattered seeds, rather than eat out of a full seed basket. So I covered the grate with newspaper and scattered some seed on the ground. Since they mostly sit in one place, they can eat in the other parts of the bottom of the cage. They've spent some time down there picking at the scattered seed, and haven't gone after their droppings again. I don't know if that's consistent with other birds or not, it's just my experience.

Anyone have any recommendations in the States? I've been trying different seed blends, all marketed for budgies, and they still currently throw out more than they eat. Thanks!

Hi folks, I've had my budgies for about a month now, and they're settling in nicely. They're easy to handle and calm and appear to pay attention when I talk to them, I have hopes the male might learn to talk. However, they don't act like the budgies I see on youtube videos. They don't play with toys, they don't move around their cage, they don't chirp much, and they overall don't appear to be very happy. They do eat consistently, both their normal seed and millet spray. (They ignore all veggies/fruit/mineral blocks I offer, but I keep offering.) I can't tell if they're scared from their new environment, or if they don't like the toys I've given them, or what exactly is going on. However, some reading and guesswork made me think that maybe their environment was too quiet, and they felt threatened. They're isolated in the office to keep them safe from toddlers and cats. I work in there ~8 hours a day, but often the only sound is my keyboard clicking. So I went is search of budgie sound files, in the hope of providing them some background noise. I've found a whole bunch of 10-20 second files people have posted, which I downloaded. I also found the following: http://www.listeningearth.com.au/albums/Fr...HealthyPets.htm I downloaded this, and I love it - it's 63 minutes of wild budgie flock sounds - good quality and my budgies love it. I also spent some time downloading the sample files from the other CDs they have available for other bird background noise. I was wondering if people had other resources like this? I've accumulated about 4 hours of sounds, a lot of which is canary songs from: http://www.cwwcbc.us/tk/ And other wild bird calls from here: http://www.worldbirdingcenter.org/bird_info/ Any other things you all do to make your budgies feel more natural and at home?

Just wanted to follow up. Despite a couple more tries, we never got any significant medication into our boy. Eventually we quit trying, and he got better on his own with rest and low stress and lots of fresh veggies and treats. We're working on teaching him and Alice to talk. Due to quick movements by my three year old, they've lost some of their willingness to hop on a finger, but we've banned her from the bird room and we're working on taming them again. We're talking to them daily, and play looped recordings during the day when we're not around. We've also put together a playlist that we sometimes put on with songs we'd like them to learn. As they get a bit older, the edges of Alice's cere are turning a bit bluish. My housemate is hoping for her to be a girl, and cites Jasper (same age, dark blue cere) as evidence that it's just lighting, etc. I'm hoping for her to be a boy, because then we can get them an unrelated girl to mate with and spend the next year or so teaching them to talk. I just wanted to thank everyone for their help and to let you know that all is well, thanks to the expertise and support of folks on this forum.

With regards to the meds, I'm 90% sure he's getting none of them. I tip his head back and hold his beak open (He just loves that, lemme tell you) and squirt it slowly in. Most of the time, it just dribbles out the side of his beak. Today, I got 'lucky' and kept the meds in his mouth... so they just dribbled out his noseholes. The vet is 45 minutes away, so I couldn't go over to get help. He's getting better, less fluffy, more active, etc. I'm tempted to just quit the meds, but I'd like to find a reference, video, something about putting medication in the crop in case I need to do this again. Any Youtube or similar? If I should continue with the meds, will it help to put it in the water? I can reduce his water down to a small amount, but I'm afraid it'll smell foul to him and he won't drink it. Thanks again, this is a steep learning curve!

I'll ask about the crop tube, we're going back for a re-check in 10 days. They look lots better today, and I don't think we got a single drop of antibiotics down either of their throats, so I think they're just recovering from stress, or maybe a mild virus. I hope!

Just a quick update. We took both birds to the vet. They're doing a fecal analysis, which will be back tomorrow, and he says their (something in their throat) looks a little red, which indicates an upper respiratory infection. There's been no sneezing, but we're treating both of them with some antibiotics he gave us. If the fecal comes back with parasites we'll go back for worm medication tomorrow. He also said that Jasper may be a little underweight. He also suggested that stress could be adding to this, so we're only getting them out twice a day to give them medication for the next ten days, then we'll restart training them. They're already comfortable on our finger and our shoulder, so I'm guessing we won't lose too much ground while they settle in. Basically, I got the impression that although he advertises as an avian vet, he doesn't see a lot of birds. He knew more than me, which was good, but I wasn't convinced he was super sure of himself. He did offer to do a throat culture in case we were dealing with an antibiotic resistant strain, but that's more than I'd do for my own sore throat, so I said we'd wait to see if they responded to the antibiotics. Overall, he didn't seem too concerned, so I'm hoping I don't need to be either, and that everything is going to be okay. I'll let you all know if there is any news in the labwork tomorrow, or any response to the medication. By the way, the medication is a ground up antibiotic in suspension in something kinda sticky sweet. (I'm guessing corn syrup water or molasses) I've got a little syringe to give 1.5 ml twice a day. We've tried -- the birds don't bite, which is another tribute to their great personalities, but they don't cooperate, either. I'm not convinced we actually got anything into their mouths at all. Since the suspension has to be mixed vigorously right before giving it to them, I don't think I can just put it in their water. Any other suggestions on getting them to take their meds? Also, suggestions to fatten them up would be appreciated. We're already doing fresh budgie seed mix every day, fresh carrots, peas, apples and whatever else we have laying around in a bowl, and millet spray. Are they too old for the yogurt recipes in the hand-rearing section? Any other options? Thanks to everyone for all the help!

Hey, if their morals are different than the ones my momma taught me, I will give them their privacy, but I'll try to make sure they're just practicing, and not succeeding. Of course, as soon as I told my housemate that we couldn't breed them together, she said, "You know what that means, right?!" We're now talking about whether we should get another bird now in a couple of months (after all health issues are resolved) or if we should wait 'til next year and look for a fully adult bird. We're probably going to seek out local breeders, and maybe even try to track down the breeder for these birds if PetSmart keeps records. As a side note, the reason we were a little surprised that you couldn't breed them was that, with guppies it's okay, even common, to breed brother to sister. Inbreeding is used as a common way to 'fix' a desired characteristic. However if you get a deformed guppy it's not as emotionally heartwrenching as a deformed baby bird, so I'm guessing that's why it's not so cool in this situation.

Oh, this is great, thanks! I just spent the last hour reading through one breeding article after another and never did find a conclusive answer there! Thanks again! Of course, reading through all those posts with all the wonderful pictures has me absolutely convinced that someday I'd love to breed, but luckily I have close to a year before my female is ready, plus I'd have to get a new male. In the meantime, I'm going to focus on learning more about keeping, raising, training and enjoying these birds, they're plenty for now! I'll let you all know what the vet says tomorrow.

Thanks again everyone, for the help as well as the welcome. This is a really friendly place!! Today's report. He's still puffed up most of the time, but he's cleaned out half the food bowl in front of me, and is drinking as well. Plus, his millet spray looks like 20 birds got to it. So I feel a little better, like he'll be okay. I'm calling first thing in the morning to take him to the local avian vet, hopefully it'll all be nothing. As for breeding, we're also convinced they're brother and sister, probably from the same clutch. Their head stripes are exactly the same distance back, which I think means they're the same age, and even though their color is slightly different, their pattern, etc is almost exactly the same. Finally, two same-aged birds who both willingly hop on my finger from the same store? I'm guessing they were hand raised together. From what I've read on here, they're too young to breed anyway. One thing I haven't figured out from reading back messages ... If I keep them together in the same cage, and just never provide them a nesting box, is that sufficient to keep them from breeding, or do I have to separate them? We don't really plan on breeding at all, but I won't rule anything out. I got a few guppies last year, and that's grown into an 11 tank addiction, so I better read up on everything I need to do just in case! :-)

Thanks everyone! The bleeding feather has only bled the one time. I had styptic powder, which I tried to put on. The bleeding stopped and he hasn't bled since that time, about 48 hours ago. I actually thought we'd lucked out and everything was fine until he got all fluffy and sleepy. The female seems fine. I don't have any other cage to put her in. Is it worth rigging something together to keep the two of them separate, in case he's contagious? If so, any suggestions? I think in a pinch I could just shut her, loose, in the laundry room, she's very calm. I don't have an official heat lamp, but I have shop lamps with big incandescent bulbs which put off a fair amount of heat. We keep our house pretty warm, and I'll move him to my bedroom for a few days so I'll be the first to notice if the heat drops. Once we noticed he was stressed, we left him in the cage with it 3/4 wrapped in a big towel, except to examine him to make sure the feather has definitely stopped bleeding. I don't have any bird specific calcium supplements, but I have Repti-cal with D3 for my fish, it's in a powder form. They seem interested in apples, so I'll try applesauce with some calcium in it to see if that helps. Any other liquidy/gel-like treats I could slip it into, or maybe just their water? I have a cuttlebone, but they seem completely uninterested. The only other thing I could think of to do was to give him privacy, so I took the female out as much as possible. They seem to really like each other, but I thought he probably didn't need to waste any energy establishing who gets the good perches, or who's got the prettier tail feathers. They're both in the covered cage for the night now, and I think he's eaten some more millet tonight. If that feather starts bleeding again I'll pull it, thanks for the article. I'm feeling silly about how emotionally attached I've gotten to these birds in a couple of days, but they're such sweethearts! They let my toddler hold them, how awesome is that? (She's always closely supervised, and has a pretty good head on her shoulders for a 3 year old.) I have high hopes for a long happy relationship, I'm really hoping he makes it through this. The silliest thing is, I didn't even go to the store for birds. We'd sworn, after several bad experiences with wild, unapproachable, untameable birds, that we weren't going to get a store-bought bird; we were going to a breeder and getting hand-raised, young birds. I went to PetSmart to get some equipment for my fishtanks, and we were just looking at the hamsters and birds to entertain my daughter. But the associate brought out this sweet little female and let her sit on my daughter's hand, and I was in love. It would be bitter irony if we finally found perfect birds through chance, and lost one before we had a chance to get to know them.

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I've just brought home two parakeets, a male and a female less than a year old, but definitely past their first molt. They're both very friendly, obviously hand raised, and I love them, but today (two days after being home) he's started fluffing his features, and sleeping a lot. The first day I brought him home, the pet store folks clipped his wings (with no apparent problems) but the first time he fluttered around in his new cage, he started bleeding from one of his feathers. I'm not sure if the newly clipped feather split and started to bleed, or if he hurt himself on one of the natural perches exploring his cage. He probably lost two or three big fat drops of blood, but then seemed fine. Today, ~48 hours after that incident, he is very sleepy and all fluffed out all the time. He's eaten some millet spray throughout the day, but he sure looks stressed. Of course, this started showing up on Saturday night after all the vet clinics are closed. I called around to emergency clinics, but the closest one with an avian vet on duty is 40 miles away. They said it would probably be more stressful to him to bring him all that distance, and as long as he's eating I should just keep him warm and dry and take him to a local vet on Monday. If he stops eating/drinking I should bring him in. Does anyone have any ideas what's going on? The new cagemate? (seems strange, since he came from a group cage at PetSmart) Is it the broken feather? Stress from moving and being handled? His poops are a little watery, but nothing I didn't expect from a change in food/environment, etc. The only other thing I can think of is that we have been handling both of them quite a bit. It was so exciting to get birds that were so friendly that maybe we overdid it? Here's some pics of him today: http://www.wendamus.com/guppies/fish/100_3733.JPG And some pics of him and the female yesterday for contrast. http://www.wendamus.com/guppies/fish/New%2...es/100_3705.jpg Any help would be appreciated. Should we keep his cage covered? Leave him in it, but uncover it? Any special treats we could offer him to encourage the eating? Any triggers to call the vet? Am I freaking out for nothing? Thanks!