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.

Is he still gasping for air?

l would take your budgie to see an avian vet, if he is still gasping.

Pretty used to do that stretching of the neck and yawning, personally it sounds normal. The squawking with flapping of the wings or not is usually attention seeking the more you let them out to exercise you will find your bird is quieter. Do you let him out often throughout the day or week?

 

If you hear respiratory distress then like Cathy said call an avian vet immediately.

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. :-)

It sounds like he was stretching. That is a relief

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?

Don't know if ink would upset him, some chemicals can, maybe he's reacting to a new home etc. or noise of printer? If your worried it could be that, keep check next time you print and see if it has the same effect on him. Then take it from there.

No the ink on the printer would not make him sick very unlikely. Birds do not have a great sense of smell where an oder would bother them. Their eyes and ears are where their great sense comes into play. The noise of the printer probably got him all excited any loud noises usually get budgies excited in a good way most of the time because they are used to living in large colonies where it is always noisy. Silence for a bird means danger, noise means everything is going well. There is a taming article in the FAQ if you would like to read through it on taming.

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.

Don't know if I can help much but I'm pretty sure all the budgies i've had before have occasionally done the neck stretching/opening beak thingy! It looks freaky but usually stops after a while, in my experience! I assume it's some kind of stretching/sorting out something stuck in their throat!

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!