floppingfish

No I'm afraid not...I have looked all over & all the cages are too small for all of them to be housed together. They have a ton of large cages for larger birds, but no large cages with closer bar spacing. There is 1 store that has a cage that would be perfect which they use for showing their birds so I asked them where they got it and/or if they could order me one...but they said they couldn't do that & wouldn't provide me with any information as to where they got it so I could look into it myself It's so frustrating! I have found one cage online so far that I'm considering...it's interior is 37-1/4 x 27-1/2 x 49 High. http://shopping.msn.com/prices/shp/?itemId...ext=bird%20cage Would it be alright?...I'm still looking but it would be nice to know if I'm looking at an appropriate sized cage for 8 budgies. Thanks for the help!

Hey everyone, I have been wanting to get a large cage to house all my budgies for a while, and well, after a few new additions to my group today (don't worry they're separate from the others), it is clear that is definitely going to be a necessity. So...I now have 8 budgies. What size cage would be appropriate? Also, does anyone have any recommendations of where I could find a cage like this? I've done some searches on ebay before but I have never turned anything up. I'm hoping to get a new cage & get it set up so taht when the new ones are out of quarantine, they can all go into the same cage at the same time. Thanks! I was also just wondering...is the 3/8" okay for bar spacing??

Thank you all of you for your help, input & kind thoughts. It is with a very heavy heart that I write that Bennie girl passed away last night at 10pm. It is still hard to wrap my head around it, as I truly believed & wished so hard for her to make it so I could get help for her. But it was too late. She passed in my hands while I was still holding her...she was so peaceful. It was hard to see & to experience, but it felt right to be there when it happened. I wrapped her in a cloth & told her I loved her one last time. She was a very special bird & I will never forget the love & the beautiful life that she shared with me. Originally named Bennett (as I was told she was a boy at the time of adoption), she truly did earn her namesake: Little Blessed One.

Mickey, You can use the following site to help you find an avian vet. Even if there isn't one directly in your city, there is bound to be one somewhere nearby. Avian vets are harder to find, I'll agree with you there, but they *are* out there. http://aav.org/vet-lookup/ Good luck!

Thank you Phoebe. Throughout today I have noticed that she is still trying to eat which is good, but she's struggling with it - from observation it seems almost as though she has something stuck in her throat which is preventing her/causing her difficulties. I have had her out of her cage as well (partially b/c any time I put my hand in her cage to make sure it wasn't too warm or to move her food etc she would *immediately* run over & try to jump on), and as soon as she's out the poor girl immediately scuttles into any position which allows her to be the closest to my body as possible in order to stay warm. She is also making these small noises, sometimes they sound like she's having difficulty breathing, but mostly they just sound like little chirps of "help me." It's so disheartening feeling like there's not enough that I can do to help her right now.

Thank you both of you for your quick responses. I have managed to find an animal hospital with an avian vet that will take her tomorrow afternoon. I have a heating pad of sorts set up under her cage & under a towel (it's one of those heating bags you put in the microwave for a few minutes). How would I feed her the yogurt?

One of my budgies is sick & I can't get in to see an avian vet until Tuesday evening. Realistically, she has been sick for a few days now, and now I'm kicking myself for not taking her sooner. At first I thought she might just be going through a heavy moult, but it is very clear now that that is not the case. She spends pretty much all her time sleeping, she is fluffed up, has *definitely* lost weight & she's not eating the way she used to. Her vent is not blocked, and her droppings by & large seem normal (she is currently quarantined, but until yesterday was with the other 5 budgies so it's difficult to tell). I am so worried that she is going to take a turn for the worse before I can get her to the vet. What measures can I take in the meantime to keep her comfortable? Warm? Eating? Bennie girl is my budgie that I adopted with a birth defect (she does not have any claws, just "stubs" for feet so to speak) & she has always been smaller than the others. In spite of this though, she has shown complete drive & determination to prove that she *IS* a "normal" budgie....she will continuously try to perch anywhere the other birds do (including plant stems which she can't grip), and no matter what she will always flap her wings to her heart's content to keep up with them flying about. She's only a year & a half...I'm taking the determination she's taught me she has & I want her to know that in this time of need, that I'm determined to show her how much her life means. Please help :dbb1:

Hey guys, Thanks for the reply. I hadn't even thought of weight, though looking at him it might be an option. He is housed with an english budgie (who is definitely overweight though we really don't overfeed her!). We've always found we need to give them perhaps a tad more food, b/c elsewise he doesn't get to eat very much since she will eat it all & push him around if he tries to eat first. Outside of taking him to the vet (my parents are really not in favour of it unfortunately) are there any budgie-weighing machines we could possibly purchase ourselves?? Since we do have 6 budgies in total, it might be a not too bad investment. Thanks again!

Hi guys, I was hoping to get a bit of advice on if you think this sounds like a sick budgie or not; or if there's any cause to take Jet to the vet. I feel that there is, but when I've mentioned it to either of my parents they're not really jumping on the bandwagon here. The reasons to think he might not be sick are that his eating habits are the same, and although he plays a bit less, it's not toooo much less, and his crop is clear. The reasons to think he mght be sick are the following: his flying ability has declined greatly (he used to be an excellent flier and now he is much slower, can't fly as far & flies a bit lower than he used to). Also, any time he lands after he flies he's always panting. My parents seem to think it's just "old age," (Jet is around 7 or 8), but I would much rather be safe than sorry. Anyway, any insight would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Hi guys, In May I adopted a budgie who is now about 10 months old. Although given to me as a male, I really do think it's a female, because her cere has never turned bright blue (how unfortunate she was named Bennett! (Laughing out loud)) Anyway, her cere does look like that of a female budgie out of breeding condition, but I was wondering, will it ever turn the tannish colour? Is it normal for it not to? I'm puzzled by this because my other hen's cere is always permanently brown, it doesn't change in the slightest (is that normal?) Neither of them have ever been bred (& nor do I plan to start, sweet as it may be), so I was just wondering if it was common for the cere to never change. I'm afraid I don't have a digital camera so there's no way for me to post any pics of them, but I thought I would see if anyone could offer any insight into the situation. Thanks!

Hurdyburdy this was such a great idea! I love looking at all the photos. I have to admit I'm torn...I love the innocent baby look they have, but I also love how their colours change and darken as they get older. Anyway you look at it, they're beautiful at every stage, such precious little feathered bundles! :ausb:

My parents also have a Hagen vision cage to house their budgie as well as the budgie of mine who stays at home. Hurdy Burdy I agreee with the weight of the cage, although having space in the stand to store things certainly is very convenient. We've never had any problems with cleaning it though, in fact my mom thinks it's the easiest cage of all the ones we've ever had. I guess it just depends on personal preferences. I one day (when I can afford it many years from now) hope to have a larger cage to house more budgies. Does anyone have any clue how many budgies the Montana Indoor Bird Aviary could house? It's beautiful!

Yeap I sure do. His name is Sparkle! I have to say, he is a cheeky one though, I almost think the Sparkle should be more about the mischievious look he gets in his eye when he knows Mommy doesn't want him running around under bed behind the big heavy boxes... :

Alright so this means that if he's a boy his cere will likely be pink, but it might also be blue?! I have to admit Rainbow, my parents didn't think it so funny, but they took it better than I was expecting. And besides, as soon as they see him, there's no way they'll be able to resist.

Thanks for the replies, good to know. I'm pretty sure I was correct in saying he's recessive pied. I don't have a digital camera (most unfortunately!!!) & I live alone so the earliest I'll be able to show him off (& his step-brothers & step-sister, of course) will be December when I'm home for Christmas with them. He is almost identical to Rainbow's Sunny though, except the blue colouring is in a bit of a different spot & a bit of a darker shade of blue, but the yellow & markings is the exact same. Thanks again for the replies.

Hi All, I went to the store for bird seed, and came home with, well, birdseed, new toys, new treats & a new budgie altogether...(Laughing out loud) But I just couldn't leave him, he's way too precious. Still doesn't have a name yet, I'm torn between a couple so we'll see what happens in the end! :fear I was just wondering, do you sex pied budgies differently from regular budgies? I know lutinos & albinos are sexed differently according to their cere, I just wasn't sure if pied budgies were as well. If it matters, I'm pretty positive he's a yellowface recessive pied, based upon others saying that's what their birds are & me saying "he looks like them!" :(Laughing out loud): Thanks!

I've informed my parents that under no certain terms are they allowed to bring either Jack nor Galen near the computer. If they came across this site who knows what they'd start doing!!

Thanks for the replies Risha & Lin. I guess only time will officially be able to tell if tey'll be so determined to have babies that they decide to look "elsewhere" for a nest (they are for a majority of the day, but tend to spend it in the area of their cage so should be safe....I hope! :blow: ) but I do feel somewhat better now. It's good to know I hopefully won't need to separate them!

So this question is a little different from most of the other questions being asked here, but I figure breeders would be the best people to ask! (Laughing out loud) Visiting home after leaving my budgies with my parents for a month, I discovered that one of my boys is, in fact, a girl. But I do not want my little ones to have babies. I'm not necessarily against breeding per se, but as a student I wouldn't have the time, the space, nor the funds to really be able to take care of that. And I would never want to be an uneducated breeder at that! Is it "safe" then to leave the two of them in a cage together without worrying about them mating? Will she only lay eggs if she has a nesting box?? I'd really be upset if I had to separate them so I'm hoping things willl work out as they are! *crossing fingers* (Laughing out loud) Thanks!

He doesn't really have much at all Bea...basically imagine your bird's feet without its toes/claws...you can tell where one was trying to grow, but didn't quite make it. My nickname for him is Little Mr. Man cause he kinda looks like he has a human's foot, just without little toes :(Laughing out loud):

I will have to try & post some pics eventually, but Bennett's cage is officially set up to accomodate him & he's already sooooooooo much happier! I'm sure there will be a few changes in the days to come as he adjusts, but I really feel like the cage is so much better now to suit his needs. :artist We put in a makeshift platform at the bottom to raise the "bottom" of the cage to the portion where cage meets plastic. This way even when he's on the ground, he can still out through the bars, instead of being shaded in. We made him his own flatter swing, put some dishes for food & water on the bottom of the cage, and gave him a few different levels of platforms along the bottom which can serve as little steps going up to his other perches. He's so sweet, and has been so patient!! Even while we've been rearranging his cage, he would just sit on his perches peacefully, not even trying to get away or panicking at all. *I'm in love*

Thanks so much for all the replies! Bennett (meaning: little blessed one, I thought it fit perfectly) woke me up at 8am this morning to his sweet dear chirps. Seeing as my other little one, Galen (2?mos) is still soooooooo quiet (I think he believes that Jack can do all the talking for both of them! :(Laughing out loud): ), it was so lovely to hear. I don't have any pictures right now (no digital) but I am going to work on getting some really really soon, promise! My understanding from the store was that it was congenital and he was just hatched like that. But that's really all the background they were able to give me. They originally housed him with the other budgies, where he was fine, just spent a lot of time at the bottom of the cage. Then someone adopted him without realizing his condition, and when they did, they returned him Of course, on the plus side, if they hadn't returned him, the sweet boy never would have entered my life... Thanks so much for the website Rainbow, I've taken a bit of a browse of it & it looks like it's going to have some really helpful ideas!

Daz, that's a lovely story, thanks for sharing it! I'm going to work on making his cage more adaptable to his needs in the next couple of days, for now he has a rope perch & two perches wrapped in material so they're softer for his feet. In order to make it easier for him to balance while eating, I placed a flat (clean) ruler-type painting stick so he can actually lean over comfortably without struggling to not fall off as I saw him doing earlier today. Might sound like a silly question, and he didn't seem uncomfortable at all from my observation, but does it hurt their feet at all having only stubs, or is it just a matter of not being able to get around the same as other birds??

Bea & BrokenDreamz: thanks sooooooo much for your replies! It's just so wonderful to hear other words of encouragement, and other people having faith that he can still have the same quality of life as other birds. I'm afraid not everyone in my family has the same opinion, which made the evening a little heartbreaking for me. They just don't get that I don't only see "stubby" when I look at him, but that I actually see an alert little guy who, with a little bit of love & understanding, can grow to be the biggest champ of all. :sport:

I was at Petsmart today with my goddaughter, just looking around. I swear I only went in there to buy a new beak block! But then it happened: we started wandering towards the adoption centre. We rounded the corner, and then I saw him: I took a closer look, why was this budgie separated from the others?? And then read the sign: he was to be given free to a good home. No one would adopt him because of his birth defect. I looked closer at him, sitting on his perch, looked down & realized what his birth defect was & knew I couldn't leave the store without him. Basically his feet are little stubs. He's 3mos old, and will always require thicker/flatter perches as he can't grasp smaller ones to steady himself, but I just couldn't turn my back on him. All I imagined was an ill-prepared owner adopting him out because he was free and then not giving him the quality of life he deserves. We have an extra cage, tons of extra perches & toys, and an abundance of love to give. He's in his new cage now, doesn't seem too scared, even tried to eat a little bit & chirped downstairs to our other budgies when he heard them squawking up a storm...(Laughing out loud) Of course, he'll be going through a quarantine period (I'm still trying to explain the importance of this to my mother *sigh* but I do intend to stick to it fully), and I'm pretty sure he'll always need to be housed separately from the other birds (to be dealt with in the future), but my question for anyone out there: has anyone ever dealt with a budgie without any toes/claws and is there any immediate insight you can provide?