Wendymoon

The cere was never a bright blue. We always called Bboyd a he but looking at the pictures again I thought the same thing, maybe Bboyd was a girl! But when I mentioned this to my mom she said what she remembered was at the end the vet said the bird had a tumor and it was testicular cancer. I've read since that the cere can change color in that case. (We didn't know what that meant back then.) Poor thing.

Bboyd's been gone for about 5 years now, but since I'm gushing about my new budgie it seemed only fair to do a little tribute to Bboyd. Bboyd was a good and pretty birdie. We had him for about 12 years. He talked a bit and did lots of whistles and always greeted us happily when we came into the house. He loved to sit on his moon and ring his bell, and he did a neat trick where he'd climb into the corner of the cage and flip upside-down! We miss you Bboyd!

Here's the latest with Bogie: Doing lots more chattering, he may or may not have said "birdie" yesterday! He's very happy eating millet when we hold it, but still not wanting our hands too close. Seems to have specific songs he likes and chirps to them when we play them. Moves around the cage a lot more, sleeps in his swing every night and goes up to it when we say goodnight & cover him. :-) Hates the pellets in his food dish and eats around them. (Gets all the way in his dish to dig for seeds.) BUT I think maybe just maybe he finally tried a bit of veg... some red and green peppers I chopped up and put with his seeds. Yay!

Just an update to let you all know I've seen Bogie do this little move again once or twice, but he seems just fine so I'm guessing it's just a clearing the throat move like most of you thought. It does look freaky but it doesn't seem to hurt or bother him!

Well, what I was worried about with the ink was if it had chemicals in it that would be troublesome. Maybe smells is the wrong way to put it, I just know there are different fumes that are toxic to birds. Anyway, it may not be related, but I'll watch carefully next time we print. I have looked at the taming article, nice tips in there. We're working on building trust and getting Bogie used to us/our hands. He has taken millet from us, hopefully stepping up is not too far away.

I just keep thinking about this and wondering what else it might be. I've been so careful about fumes of any kind, got rid of all my scented candles, always close the door to the room when I'm cooking (with non-teflon pans only of course) so I wouldn't think any smells would be bothering the bird. But the only other thing I can think of is that before the gasping/gagging (whatever it was) today, my husband had been using the printer in the room with the bird. Not just printing a couple of pages either, but a whole bunch. Could printer ink smells have bothered the bird?

Thanks for the replies. Bogie has seemed perfectly normal the rest of the day: breathing fine, eating, moving around, taking little naps, chirping. Maybe the gasping was just a stretching/yawning thing. If it keeps happening and/or he looks distressed I will definitely get him help. It just looked uncomfortable! (But how do I know what feels normal to a bird?) As for taking him out, we've only had him a week and he's only been out once (flew past me when I opened the door). I do want to take him out more for some exercise, but I'm trying to get him finger tamed first so he will come back to me and return to the cage without a lot of stress. He has been more active around the cage today, so that seems good. Sometimes he was looking like he wanted to move around but didn't know where to go; now he's exploring more and hopefully that will help him get some exercise and not be bored/frustrated. Since he's so new, we're still figuring what's normal for him I think. I've had birds in the past but each is a bit different. :-)

Bogie's doing some strange things today. The first thing is freaking me out a bit, I noticed earlier he was just sitting on his perch doing what looked like gasping or choking (almost like dry heaving?) stretching his neck and opening his beak wide. (None of my other birds ever did this, so I'm just not sure what to make of it.) I tried to search here and read some saying it was like yawning or hiccups? At first I was afraid he wasn't getting enough air, I opened the window a crack to make sure there was fresh air and went over to him and then he stopped. Then later he did it again a few times. He has been preening a lot, could he have a feather or seed caught in his crop and he's trying to clear it? He's also doing a bit of squawking randomly, like he'll be chirping fine and we'll be talking to him, then he just goes into a squawking fit! Is it attention seeking if we're already paying him attention? Is he voicing displeasure over something or just testing out the pipes? Any info you can offer would be appreciated. I'm just a nervous bird mommy.

They are so sweet together!

Well, there was a bit of excitement today when I was trying to offer Bogie some millet. He backed away a bit, then flew right over my hand and out the cage door! (I was really glad I had the room door closed.) He flew pretty well despite his clipped wings. After he walked around on the floor exploring for a bit I managed to get him to step up onto an extra perch and moved him back into the cage. Whew! Hopefully that's the last he'll be out until he's finger tamed. In other news, he's also already making little chattering noises to himself. Not just chirps and squawks, but the little noises that sound like he's working on mimicking our voices. I think we've got a talker! (Although it's tough to make out what he's trying to say so far as he likes to chatter when it's noisy, like today when I was sewing. For all I know he could be imitating my sewing machine, lol!)

For a couple days I've tried to get Bogie more used to me. I've been taking a little time to put my hand in with some millet. Today he finally got brave and leaned over to grab some! Didn't land on my hand yet, hopefully that will be soon. He's really funny and deliberate in how he does things. Stares for a while, then acts all nonchalant: stretching, scratching his head, then finally he makes his move! Right now he's staring at the snap pea in his cage, if he goes for it it will be the first veg he's tried. Here's hoping... OH and today I saw him getting a drink of water. Yay!

Not really. In the light it's purple-ish, but not white. Thanks all. I guess it doesn't really matter his type and age and all, I love him anyway. Just curious and wanted to ask the experts. :-)

And what about age? I know you're supposed to look at the bars on the head and the iris changes in the eyes, but I've also read that some types don't have these changes due to their variety. So then how do you tell?

Here's another picture, does it help seeing his wings to decide what kind he is? He's got the blue all under his belly and on his back between his wings. Any guesses on age? He's still a bit quiet but settling in more. He actually seems happiest when we are just in the room talking, maybe he feels more like part of the flock that way. Not impressed with any fruit or veg we offer so far, instead keeps working on getting every last bit of the millet that we gave him. Haven't seen him drink yet, but maybe he's just stealthy about it. It makes me happy watching him. :-)

Wow thanks all for the quick responses and warm welcome. :-) I will try and take more pics to post soon. Just got him settled in and didn't want to scare him too much taking lots of photos. Glad to hear everyone agree he's a he, I thought so too. Leaning toward naming him Bogie.

Hello all, I'm so happy to have found this helpful forum of budgie lovers! Growing up I had two different parakeets, and today I just got a new one. :-) I don't know all the names for the different colors, would you say recessive pied? Male or female? Glad to be here!