hi all well my friend bought a budgie the other day apparently at breeding age, she has the crusty cere but i'm not sure at what age that starts either. After not listening to my advice on solitry confinement she put budg in the avairy on sunday when i went to visit today she still has not really left the bottom of the cage. This evening she phoned to say she was still down there, I went to see her and the poor little thing was curled up tring to keep warm in the corner on the bottom all wet. So i bought her home and put her in a smaller cage and inside where it is warmer and dried her nar the fire. Her wings appear to be fine they havn't been clipped in anyway the only thing is she seems to be breathing faster than my birds.unfortunatly tommorrow i am taking her back to the pet shop but a little bit of info would be great, i cant keep her i already have three abandoned darlings coming on Wednesday. BOOHOO

it sounds like a respiratory infection of some sort but without having an avian vet check her over there is nothing we can say to really confirm. I wonder what her fate will be at the pet store , so sad the whole situation.

i know i hate to do it some babies in there are so young and i just dont have the room with already having 3 budgies 3 tiels and 4 new babies but they will get a little serve from me i'm sick of seeing stuff

Things do not sound good for that budgie. It may have been sick already when your friend got it, or maybe illness has developed since, but as you know she should not have put it straight in the aviary like that. And to leave it sitting on the bottom of the aviary and getting wet............ A new environment and moving a bird around will bring on stress and stress equals illness in birds.

Any bird that goes to the bottom of cage or aviary and sits there fluffed up and unmoving is a very sick bird. The heavy breathing you have described sounds serious. I would be very surprised if the bird makes it to be honest. This is very worrying

this mourning she is whistling every now and then she looks a little happier than she did last night is there anything ican do for her because she is a pretty little girl with her brown wings if she stays okay and i can get her better hubby will make my cage bigger so i can keep everyone going to get the other birds in trouble today heres hoping all are fine thanks Kaz for your help i will keep you informed how she goes.

If she had spent a long time in small pet shop cages she may be too out of condition to fly, especially if she's been on a poor diet with little or no exercise. That on top of the stress of a move to a strange aviary environment, little to no flying ability and wet conditions is a recipe for disaster especially at this time of year! Birds accustomed to sheltered in-door accomodation should NEVER be subjected suddenly to outdoor aviaries in the extremes of winter or summer.

 

If she continues to improve - a warm environment and proper diet should do wonders. A little medication - multivitamin or similar - would not hurt, but in her weakened state I'd be careful using anything too strong. By early summer all going well she should be fine for cautious release to an aviary if that's what you still want to do :budgiedance: If her flying is still poor, make sure there are low perches in the aviary so she can get off the ground until she builds up her flying muscles.

 

Good luck,

KathyW.

Sounds promising this morning Dee :budgiedance: Good thing you came along when you did, I think. This little budgie needs some tender loving care and as Kathy has said a very good diet also. All the best in her recovery. Karen :angel1:

i had a feeling that she may have been kept in a smaller cage because the little flying that she did do is only across for about 50 cm.i phoned the shop and he asked me to bring her in for him to look at , he did sound concerned which is great and gave me some more info to keep her well till i get there tomorrow.

thanks Kathy W

glad to hear she is doing better....keep us updated

hi all well i think she is doing a little better but a couple of things that i have noticed with her (Fiona) is that when she turns her head to the left i can see a lump on the right side of her neck you don't have to look to close to see the pulse racing through there, her tail end is bobbing and her bottom is sort of pulsating. Still just keeping her inside nice and warm hope that it all works. Dee

have you thought about taking her to the avian vet?

it sounds like she needs one, lumps usually don't go away and some are treatable.