Hi All,

 

Our little girl, Ernie (we just couldn't rename her as we gre so attached to the name), is going well now. She's eating plenty of fruit and veg with her favourites being rocket and celery.

 

She's pretty much fully tame now. Will always step-up and comes out of the cage easily on first attempt. She used to just turn around on my finger and just flap back to her perch. This was fixed by always feeding her some millet every time she did come out and she learnt quickly.

 

She gets grumpy in the morning when we sleep in and can hear morning noises with her night cover still over her cage. Just started chirping until someone takes it off. She'll then settle and wait for the finger that brings her out. She still loves her cage and after about 10 min will always try and make her way back to it. And just sit on top until someone opens the door to let her back in.

 

I've taken her outside without her cage and she loves to walk through the tall grass picking through the leaves and dirt. We've clipped her wings so I'm not worried about her flying away, just have to keep a keen eye out for the neighbours cats. I'm trying to get her used to the perch on on of the hanging plants and feed her millet there often. My theory behind this is that when her wings grow back and she, touch wood, finds an window accidently left open, that she will immediately fly to this spot for comfort. Hopefully, I will never have to test my theory.

 

I never realised how much budgies love music. We have the iPod next to her cage and play it quietly when we are out and about. We'll sneak up and find her singing along to the music, bopping her head. In fact, she only seems to make warbling sounds when there is music in the background. I rarely hear her make other sounds (apart from loud chirps) when there is no music.

 

I'm also thinking of painting / spraying her cage black as the white makes it more difficult to see through as she is a light coloured bird. Can this be done safely as to not hurt the bird (she does use her beak to climb around the cage). Any recommendations of paint/spray type if it can be done.

 

Lastly, her beak is still light blue and hasn't changed at all since we got her. She's definately got white iris's now (has for the last 3 weeks) but still has the bars on her head. At what age does the cere change colour? What age do they lose their bars? I realised that I have no idea how old she is.

 

I'll post some more photos soon of our little Ernie... thanks for listening

 

Cam

Hi All,

 

Our little girl, Ernie (we just couldn't rename her as we gre so attached to the name), is going well now. She's eating plenty of fruit and veg with her favourites being rocket and celery.

 

She's pretty much fully tame now. Will always step-up and comes out of the cage easily on first attempt. She used to just turn around on my finger and just flap back to her perch. This was fixed by always feeding her some millet every time she did come out and she learnt quickly.

 

She gets grumpy in the morning when we sleep in and can hear morning noises with her night cover still over her cage. Just started chirping until someone takes it off. She'll then settle and wait for the finger that brings her out. She still loves her cage and after about 10 min will always try and make her way back to it. And just sit on top until someone opens the door to let her back in.

 

I've taken her outside without her cage and she loves to walk through the tall grass picking through the leaves and dirt. We've clipped her wings so I'm not worried about her flying away, just have to keep a keen eye out for the neighbours cats. I'm trying to get her used to the perch on on of the hanging plants and feed her millet there often. My theory behind this is that when her wings grow back and she, touch wood, finds an window accidently left open, that she will immediately fly to this spot for comfort. Hopefully, I will never have to test my theory.

 

I never realised how much budgies love music. We have the iPod next to her cage and play it quietly when we are out and about. We'll sneak up and find her singing along to the music, bopping her head. In fact, she only seems to make warbling sounds when there is music in the background. I rarely hear her make other sounds (apart from loud chirps) when there is no music.

 

I'm also thinking of painting / spraying her cage black as the white makes it more difficult to see through as she is a light coloured bird. Can this be done safely as to not hurt the bird (she does use her beak to climb around the cage). Any recommendations of paint/spray type if it can be done.

 

Lastly, her beak is still light blue and hasn't changed at all since we got her. She's definately got white iris's now (has for the last 3 weeks) but still has the bars on her head. At what age does the cere change colour? What age do they lose their bars? I realised that I have no idea how old she is.

 

I'll post some more photos soon of our little Ernie... thanks for listening

 

Cam

 

Hi Cam

 

Love the name!!!! I'm thinking of getting some Cockateils soon, and wanted to call them Bert & Ernie, but didn't know how to get around the name thing... can't seem to think of good girl's names I like. If you don't mind, I think I'll go with your idea... Bert and (miss) ernie ... Like it!

 

She sounds like a sweety.

I wouldnt worry about the name thing. We once had a cat called GEORGE. George went on to have a litter of kittens

 

We never ever got around to renaming GEORGE

I wouldnt worry about the name thing. We once had a cat called GEORGE. George went on to have a litter of kittens

 

We never ever got around to renaming GEORGE

 

 

True... once you pick a name it sort of sticks... They don't know they have the wrong name anyway (Laughing out loud)

Thanks for the replies. Ernie still has her blue cere, when does this change to brown?

 

Ernie now has a new housemate. Ollie the Samoyed. And I'm hoping they get on well. So far I've sat Ollie down and held Ernie on my finger about half a metre away and let him talk. I want Ollie to think that Ernie is DEFINATELY not food.

 

Also, did anyone have any advice for painting a cage black?

:ygbudgie: Glad that all is going well in your household!