christine

Did you end up taking him/her to a vet?

Hi Melbourne Budgies, What club is that you were mentioning? I looked around but the only club I could find in Box HIll is the Australian Parrots Club - is that the one?

You poor thing Budgiegirl. I hope everything turns out all right for you and Jelly bean.

Thanks for that. I think I will come along to the Box Hill club. I have owned a few budgies over the last year and and am finding them beautiful, fascinating and delightful but tricky in terms of health. I bought one with scaly face thinking she just had a cute beak for example!! You know I lost a budgie lately and I have now replaced her with an adult boy (Ron) who is simply beautiful. He is purple with white wings and a white head. He has almost no markings on his wings at all!! (I'll post a photo when I learn how) I decided to go with a boy because even though I am really tempted to breed and am priming my husband for an aviary, my experience to date is that it can be heart rending to see these delightful little fellows go down, so I am sticking to boys while I get my head around the basics. Listening to others is what I really need. And as for boring, I am a sewerage engineer by day - so you know what, I bet I can out bore anyone. I'll look up Box Hill Club on this website.

Hi guys, About clubs - are there any clubs just for people interested in budgies and not breeding or showing? I am out in Mitcham and wouldn't mind learning a bit more. Chris

What a beautiful bird - I always love the white and blue combination

He is good. isn't he? He was extremely thorough and actually ended up drawing a flow chart on the white board exploring all options. I once took a budgie to a local vet who is great with my dog, and is always very honest and caring, but it quickly became apparent that he had absolutely no idea of what to do. I took the same bird with the same problem to the Burwood vet and his competence was immediately apparent. I won't go any where else now. In reference to your comment Kaz about childrens' pets, I admit that my first birds where purchased for the kids, but now I regard them as far too tricky a pet to be allowed to be managed by children. I won't even allow them to choose a new bird now. They get too caught up in the colours.

Hi guys, I also thought that Cho was egg bound as she had had two eggs a couple of weeks before she got a swelling around her vent and a loss of feathers in that area. Inoticed the swelling for three days before I took her to the vet, but being inexperienced I thought perhaps she was just going to lay another egg. I took her to an avian vet that I have found (based in Burwood and absolutely fabulous). Initially one vet said that she thought that Cho was egg bound and gave me oral calcium and an antibiotic to administer. I went back the next day, as planned and saw a different vet. He said that he couldn't feel an egg at all. He attempted to catheterize her to drain the fluid to see what the problem was, and she nearly passed away during that procedure. The fluid that he was able to drain was clear, indicating no infection, and there was no egg material. At this stage she was finding it difficult to breathe as the fluid was filling her air sacs, and his advice was that the prognosis was poor and that she was suffering. After a lengthy discussion he reluctantly recommended euthanasia. He then conducted an autopsy to determine if the decision was correct and found that she had an enlarged uterus, and several large cysts about 0.5 cm in diameter. He advised that the only option for saving her would have been several bouts of surgery with intensive post operative care between each. That course would have been very expensive (think in thousands, not hundreds) and had a poor chance of success. The final diagnosis was advanced female reproductive tract disease. For the record, the euthanasia was very merciful, and I held her throughout. The medication included an anesthetic which relaxed her and freed her from any pain. It was very sad, but was the best outcome in the circumstances. In relation to selecting her at the pet shop, the vet told me that it would not be possible to have picked the condition prior to it developing, and that it was not preventable through feeding or housing. He said that medication, including massive doses of calcium was of no help. He also said that the only way to address this disease would have been a hysterectomy. My purpose in joining this forum is to start educating myself a bit more in relation to budgie care. I have now learned the hard way that they are delicate little beings that need to have their nuances of health monitored. I am not sure that given the complexity of the disease that she suffered that there would have been any better course available to her, but having access to more experienced people will assist me in determining the right time to take her to the vet. The dilemma that I was not required to make was that of deciding how much to spend on rescuing this budgie. Spending hundreds I am comfortable with, but I am not sure that I would spend thousands. Am I alone in this? Have any of you needed to place a dollar value on the life of one of your budgies?

Thanks so much to everyone for the help. As an inexperienced budgie owner it's nice to know of a source of advice in relation to managing them. I appreciate your help. :hap:

Great!! I already have a little green boy, but my recent experience has shown not to worry about colour anyway - just go for health!!

Sounds good to me Melbournebudgies. By The Way, what colour are the adults that might be available?

I know what you mean by the health of the budgie. We bought Cho from a pet shop only two months ago, and she seemed fine, but obviously she wasn't. Mind you, it may have been that who ever sold her didn't realise what was going on either. Any tips on how to spot a good bird?

Thanks Melbournebudgies. As we have two cats taken from the wild (excellent hunters) we made a decision not to allow the birds to leave the aviary, so them not being tame is not a problem. I also have a second cage that is about 1.6m x 0.6m x 0.6m that I could use for quarantine without them being compromised. What are the likely dynamics of having three budgies, though?

Hi, I am quite new to this forum. I did have two budgies until this afternoon, when Cho had to be euthanised . She was quite ill with a "ladies problem", so it was a mercy for her to go, but it leaves poor old Harry all by himself. I think that I would like to stick to males at this stage, and am wondering about some advice. My questions are: where is a good place to get a pet budgie (I am in Mithcam, Victoria), how many males should you have together, and how do you introduce them? I have a mini aviary that is about 1.6m high, 0.9 m wide and about 0.6m deep. I am looking forward to your worldly advice. Chrisg