Posted February 22, 200817 yr Hi, i recently rescued a budgie, his family decided they didn't want to wait for him to grow up and dumped him in a park. when i heard this i went to the park and found the budgie sitting terrifyed on the ground. i bought him home, put him in a cage and have found him a new home. i believe he is around 13 or 14 weeks old, he still has grey down on his wings. i say he but it is a guess at the moment. his crop is brown near the beak but it is turning a bright blue at the top. i have rescued birds for the past few years but always larger members of the parrot family, i have an 18 yr old cockatiel who i have had since he was a couple of days out of the egg. my question is the budgie seems to be chewing on the bars of the cage, it is a decent size cage for one bird, he has a great appetite and natural timber perches to chew on but he seems intent on chewing on the bars! i am worried he is going to damage his beak. he had a mirror but decided that feeding it was a good idea so i have taken that away and replaced it with a bell, now he feeds me when i put my hand in his cage, he will sit on my hand and feed my thumb. is this normal for such a young bird?? any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you
February 22, 200817 yr Firstly....Hi and welcome :hap: Great rescue by the way :hap: The down you speak of isnt normal for a budgie of that age. Down is usually only on chicks under 3 weeks of age. To see down on the wings would indicate a chick that has been pucked in the nest and has trouble regrowing its new feathers due to damaged feather follicles. Usually seen on the wing butts. Brown cere usually indicates a hen. A photo will help us help you to work it out :hap: Re chewing the bars...he/she is doing what most budgies do when they first are caged... is going through the HOUDINI escape phase. He/she will stop. Try hanging some vegies off his favourite chewing spots...like some spinach or a spray of millet. Or put some toys there. Getting rid of the mirror was a good idea but they get "hormonal" also about refective toys so the bell should go too. Happy to help with anything. Have alook through our FAQ section as well......and ask anything you like Cheers kaz
February 22, 200817 yr Hello and welcome! I am from SA too :hap: well done for rescuing the little budgie. Do you have any photos? :hap: Keep us posted with her progress :hap: Edited February 22, 200817 yr by **Liv**
February 22, 200817 yr Hi and welcome to the forum to you and your budgie, fantastic job with the rescue, I can't believe they just dumped him in a park! Would love to see a picture of your little one .
February 22, 200817 yr Hi and welcome. You have definately come to the right place!. That poor bird. I can't believe someone would just dump it... horrible. Good on you for picking her up. Kaz gave you some great suggestions, but feel free to ask anything at all. Please keep us updated on this little one
February 22, 200817 yr Welcome to the message boards . I would say a picture of the cage set-up and the budgie would be awesome to help you determine the best we can with age, gender and such. Keep an eye on your bird's poops since it was out in the park he/she is probably very stressed out and you want to make sure that it didn't pick up any illness' along the way. In our FAQ section we do have under Budgie Health the Signs of a Sick Budgie.
February 22, 200817 yr Hi and welcome, looking forward to pics of bird and set up :bluebudgie: Well done on the rescue, it's good to see new members who genuinely care
February 23, 200817 yr Author hi i have some great photos but i am not sure how to post them in here. i have a feeling that the bird, Houdini is his name, was taken from him mum really young and he is having some developmental problems. he seems to have trouble grooming and has no fear of our dog. i have taken him to the vet and the vet is not really sure about his age. i usually take my birds to an avian vet specialist but he is a long drive away and i didn't want to stress the bird out. i am confident that he is healthy, his vents are clean and his droppings are normal birdy poos :bluebudgie: thank you for your advise it is really appreciated. i have had bigger parrots before and i have an old cockatiel but budgies are a completely new thing.
February 23, 200817 yr In my signiture, there is a link to advise you on how to post photos... Click on it and take directions from there Soon as the pics are up we'll be able to help you alot more with the vague details of houdini :bluebudgie:
February 23, 200817 yr Author http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj298/p.../houdini001.jpg http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj298/p.../houdini003.jpg http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj298/p.../houdini006.jpg here are a couple of photos, i hope the links work, again thanks for the support. the top photo is wacky my cockatiel, he is almost 18!! and he pretty much rules our house. he has never been a big cage bird, he uses his cage to sleep or if i go out but when i am working at home he is always out. Edited February 23, 200817 yr by Elly pictures are oversized, board guidelines are 450x450, in photobucket there is a resizer, thank you for understanding
February 23, 200817 yr Nice photos... first thing first, Houdini is a male and is not real young (couple of years maybe?) Your tiel is a sweetie. The only issue I have is with Houdini's cage. It really needs to be wider rather than taller... this allows for him to fly a little. Even if you plan on letting him have plenty of out of cage time, he still needs ample room in his cage. Check out this post for good v's bad cages: http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....58&hl=cages
February 23, 200817 yr He looks a lot better than i thought he would. He looks like he has just lost some feathers in a struggle or something. As for his cage, yes, it's not well suited, but its a whole lot better then him being alone and vulnerable in the wild
February 23, 200817 yr I agree with Maise on how old he could possibly be it is only a guess after they have had a couple molts .
February 24, 200817 yr Author thank you all, the cage is only temporary, the cage used to house 2 gouldian finches but they both died last year, they were about 6 yrs old and that is a good age apparently. Houdini will be going to live with my parents, they have a large country property and a good sized avery on thier back verandah(that came with the house when they bought it last year). the Avery is currently empty, but they are going to give it a good clean and put some new perches and stuff in it and houdini and some friends will move in.
February 24, 200817 yr The feather issue with Houdini is exactly what happens to an adult bird that parents have plucked it in the nest. Whehn the parent plucks the wing butts of the baby budgie the feather follicles are damaged in that area and the feathers never grow right again. He seems to be a bird of around 18 monthos to 2 years or older. Not a Baby. He is a sky violet as you can see he has the skyblue with violet over top making him look cobalt blue but he is a sky violet normal. Very nice bird. He looks healthy too despite his ordeal . Edited February 24, 200817 yr by KAZ
February 24, 200817 yr thank you all, the cage is only temporary, the cage used to house 2 gouldian finches but they both died last year, they were about 6 yrs old and that is a good age apparently. Houdini will be going to live with my parents, they have a large country property and a good sized avery on thier back verandah(that came with the house when they bought it last year). the Avery is currently empty, but they are going to give it a good clean and put some new perches and stuff in it and houdini and some friends will move in. Awsome! I'm sure he'll love it in the avairy! Good on you for helping this little guy out. I only wish there was more people like you and less people like the ones who dumped him! Edited February 24, 200817 yr by KAZ changed GUT into GUY
February 29, 200817 yr Author i am a bit sad today, houdini has gone off to his forever home with my parents. my cockatiel keeps calling him, it is strange, he was only here for a couple of weeks but i grew really attatched to him. i guess i am not the only one!
February 29, 200817 yr i am a bit sad today, houdini has gone off to his forever home with my parents. my cockatiel keeps calling him, it is strange, he was only here for a couple of weeks but i grew really attatched to him. i guess i am not the only one! They may be small, but it doesn't take long to grow very attached to them! You'll have to visit 'your parents' more often :(Laughing out loud): . I'm sure he'll miss you too... Edited February 29, 200817 yr by maesie
February 29, 200817 yr I'm sure Houdini will be very happy in his new home. Well done for rescuing him . It is very sad and rewarding at the same time to see an animal get re-homed. Well done!! (((((HUGS)))))
February 29, 200817 yr a bitter sweet moment, sad to see a rescue go but happy to see it go to a forever home. you did such a great job
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