okay just back from the vet i brought a male budgie yeasterday he can`t fly so i tolk him vet tells me nothing wrong with his wings but he is a little over weight i explain to him since yeasterday i have seen him try and get on to a perch(he looks up and try to flap)but he dosent get more then 10cm off the ground my question is can i teach him to fly?if so how do i teach him?also vet did say he thinks he mite have come someone who tamed him he dosent bite and he allows you to pat him but dosent come to you they may have clipped his wings before!

 

 

thanks

 

 

shell

Make sure to quarantine him from the other birds for at least 30 days in case he is ill.

 

Are his wings clipped? If you're not sure, can you post a picture of him for us? It sounds like it would have to be a pretty severe clip if he's going nowhere at all. If they've been clipped before but have grown back he should definitely be able to fly. You wouldn't have to teach him.

 

How old is he?

 

Unless he's had a wing clip, he might be sick or injured. He should be seen by an avian vet to get a proper diagnosis. Sometimes an ill bird appears tame because it won't try to get away from you or bite.

 

A picture would definitely help rule out several things if you can get one.

i have know idea how old he is!and the vet said that their was nothing wrong with his wings no signs of wings been clipped he also said that everything was clear(cere eyes ect) i trust this vet as all my bird have gone to him and the nerest avian vet is in melbourne(im in ballarat about 2hours away)i wouldnt like to travel that far with a bird

 

i have also quarantine him and the other two birds i brought 30 day`s you say?i have been quarantine them for 45

 

here a picture too

 

 

 

 

thanks again

 

 

shell

 

ps had bloods done will have results tomorrow

Shell, definately 45 days quarantine is best. We tend to recommend 30 days because it's so hard to get people to quarantine, we figure that's the least acceptable.

From that angle the wing looks clipped. Any chance you can get a shot of him from the back or side? (Sorry, just trying to make sure. )

 

And yeah, 45 is better than 30. Some even do a full 90 so you're doing great. It's so tempting to not quarantine long enough so like Lin said, we tend to say "at least 30 days" as that's better than nothing.

Make sure to quarantine him from the other birds for at least 30 days in case he is ill.

 

Are his wings clipped? If you're not sure, can you post a picture of him for us? It sounds like it would have to be a pretty severe clip if he's going nowhere at all. If they've been clipped before but have grown back he should definitely be able to fly. You wouldn't have to teach him.

 

How old is he?

 

Unless he's had a wing clip, he might be sick or injured. He should be seen by an avian vet to get a proper diagnosis. Sometimes an ill bird appears tame because it won't try to get away from you or bite.

 

A picture would definitely help rule out several things if you can get one.

 

 

okay picture of back

 

 

oh and wing i just found out he do bite (ouch)

 

 

 

 

90 day`s oh i couldnt wait that long!45 day is long enough for me

 

oh and he dosent come to me he runs and tryes to fly away from me im just to quick for him he seem to be quite comforble once in your hand but he do make it hard to get him i dont think he is sick he`s eating drinking and has been singing

 

thanks again

 

 

shell

From the pictures, it seems like he should be able to fly. Maybe he is too heavy for his muscles to be strong enought to lift him off of the ground. He may not of have got the proper excercise from his previous home and when and if the clipped his wing's he may of have stopped trying to fly because he know he couldn't and didn't get enough wing excercise, wich resulted into getting overweight and not developing the proper flight muscles.

 

Did the vet tell you how much he weighed?

hi Budgie-Boy no sorry i didnt take note of what he weighed but my vet did say he was a little over weight but he didnt indicate to me that it was a big problem the budgie seems to be happy he is waddleing around the avairy floor singing

 

thanks

 

shell

Have you taken this in to account . Budgie may have injured one of he wings and it may not be healed or not has not healed correctly . That may be why he cant fly I know this had happened to me once before and the thing your budgie matchs what mine was doing

i tolk him to my vet because he couldnt fly(to get his wings cheaked)my vet said that he couldnt see anything wrong with his wings

 

thanks

 

shell

Being overweight can hinder their flight and sometimes they just get lazy.

However I wouldn't have thought it would stop him altogether.

Your budgie I suspect looks quite old to me-I wonder if he is very old?

Also strangely enough I have a grey budgie who is having great problems flying and the vet has said he is stuck in a moult and his feathers are not coming through properly-he looks extremely scruffy.The vets advice is no more that 10 hours of daylight, up his protein intake, massage head where feather sheaths aren't coming away and spray twice a week to encourage him to preen properly.

the budgie you picture seem to be a English budgie according to me is it bigger than the other budgies in hieght not in wieght english's are known to become over wieght Shell you could contact lukeanne on this board they know abit about english budgies they are a breeder of budgies and are very helpfull but english budgie normally tend to be about 54 gms that makes them over wieght He tends to look about 12 months of age to me . Most english when they get really old and heavy they cant normally fly or they stop flying altogehter becuase they are mostlikely to weak or heavy to fly or to old top worry about flying I cant really give any more help than this but to contact lukeanne on the board or send them one at echucabirds@kzone.com.au .

Julie&echucabirds i really dont know what going on with him i watch him and he wants so much to fly always looking around, thinking about it he dose look like he`s is getting on with age but like i said i have know idea how old he is i think i will give you friend an email and see what she thinks

i brought him a 1 metre ladder tonight so now he can climb up and be with the rest of the birds

oh and i noticed with the inside of his wings he has a lot smaller feathers as i have no other tame birds i could have a look at i dont know if they should be like it?

 

thanks for all the replys

 

 

 

shell

Oh good luck with him Shell, have to say I think he's lucky he's with you and not someone else

I gather the vet didn't comment on those feathers? If you want to post a picture of it, one of these clever clogs will tell you what they think

I have a sneaky suspicion he has the same problem as my grey OR he is very old.

And just look at the similarity too,mine is an English budgie and is very big:-

By the way shell my friends user id on here is Lukeandanne if you want to pm them .

 

cheers or email them

Julie oh my they look the same bar the colour so did the vet say if you do the things you are suposed to will he fly?

do you know how old you budgie is?

 

echucabirds not sure on how to pm yet but someone tells me how(hint hint)i will do that

 

lin no he didnt comment on feathers his feathers on the inside are only about 2-3cm long(quick someone go and have a look at the inside of their budgie wing)

 

thanks

 

 

shell

Julie oh my they look the same bar the colour so did the vet say if you do the things you are suposed to will he fly?

do you know how old you budgie is?

 

echucabirds not sure on how to pm yet but someone tells me how(hint hint)i will do that

 

lin no he didnt comment on feathers his feathers on the inside are only about 2-3cm long(quick someone go and have a look at the inside of their budgie wing) :fear

 

thanks

 

 

shell

 

The vet said that at the moment he hasn't got all his flight feathers which is why he can't fly properly but he said that they SHOULD grow back,giving him the care that we are doing. He has to keep the more serious 'Beak and Feather Disease'in the back of his mind though but at this stage he doesn't think it is that.

Budgy2 (the grey) is only two in December but he looks much older doesn't he?

 

To pm:- if you go to the persons profile you can pm them from there.

I've had to deal with flightless budgies before... I once had bought a budgie from PetSmart (the second one, and the last one as well), and because I was afraid that he wasn't going to eat, I clipped his wings to keep him grounded so he'd be around food. Months went by, and I had aquired two more budgies, and one day, I noticed that he couldn't fly like the rest of them, though when I had bought him, he was an excellent flyer, better than most I see. He had all his flight feathers, and he was in great shape, but he just couldn't fly....

 

Well, he just probably didn't excersise his wings like he used to, so I started to toss him to force him to fly. I'd wrap my hands around his body, then toss him onto a bed, where he would land. The better he got, the farther I would toss him, until he was able to fly completely on his own without my help, and was able to gain as much height as the others. Sadly though, his flying abilities weren't like they used to, and he just became a normal flyer like the others. I believe it took me about two weeks to fully train him (maybe longer, can't remember), and I would toss him onto the bed several times a day.

 

Now however, I have another budgie who is older, and is a bit overweight, though has lost some weight. I trimmed him a while back so I could take him outside without him flying off, though I let his wings grow back. He is about 10 years old now, weighs about 38-40 grams (he used to be up at 45grams, though he's always been pretty big for a normal budgie), and because of that last clip is unable to fly. I've been working with him some, but not too much as he is older, and I don't really want to stress him out much.

thanks for all replys i have now named him, his name is billybob!he is a real tropper as i said i put a ladder in their so he could be with the other birds i thought he mite try and try fly down and hurt him self but no his so smart he`s climb the ladder and he climbs down too

 

Mfids-oh my i couldnt toss him even to a bed i would be scared of hurting him thanks for you info anyway

 

 

 

thanks guys and girls

 

 

 

shell

There could be another explanation

 

depending on how hold he is, he could have been clipped BEFORE he leaned how to fly. In which case, he simply never learned. Learning how to fly is as hard as learning how to walk for us...

 

Birds that get clipped before their first flight had a long reeducation to go before they can learn how to fly.

 

It may sound silly, but i had to offer that explanation, just in case...

Edited October 17, 200519 yr by Natouk

There could be another explanation

 

depending on how hold he is, he could have been clipped BEFORE he leaned how to fly. In which case, he simply never learned. Learning how to fly is as hard as learning how to walk for us...

 

Birds that get clipped before their first flight had a long reeducation to go before they can learn how to fly.

 

It may sound silly, but i had to offer that explanation, just in case...

 

 

i did think of that i did ask the vet but he said they could have been clipped but if they had they were all grown back and i have been told that he is fairy old so im guessing he wont fly he is loving all the attention he`s getting so i think he dosent care for flying now!

 

 

thanks

 

 

shell

Budgies that get their wings clipped before they learn to fly can have weak breast muscles for the rest of their lives which limits their flight. Maybe that's the problem.

Budgies that get their wings clipped before they learn to fly can have weak breast muscles for the rest of their lives which limits their flight. Maybe that's the problem.

 

good point bea maybe!

 

thanks

 

shell

That is quite possible, though a bird, if it tries hard enough, may be able to develop their flight muscles later in life, as it's not impossible.