One of our budgies, who is approximately one year old has started acting odd tonight. He is a good bird and has never been sick, but has always been timid as opposed to our other one who thinks he`s a guard dog!!

 

Anyway `Joey` (yes I know an original name!!) started lifting his wings up this evening and started vibrating them for a few seconds before lowering them. Occasionally he will move his tail while panting, but I can`t be sure because he always gets frightened very easy when people are close to him.

 

We stepped back and watched from distance to let him calm, but was still doing this thing with his wings. I really don`t know what else to add because we only noticed him doing it about an hour ago.

 

We`re in Canada, but this seems like a great budgie forum :redalbino: Hoping foreigners are welcome.

Welcome to our forums, I would say heat but it is not hot in Canada right now. Hang in there someone with more expertise may know :redalbino:

I've seen this before, usually in extremely stressed budgies. Has anything changed in the room he stays in at all? Any new objects in or around his cage or new people/pets/sights/sounds?

 

Hold out the wings and panting is also a sign of a very hot budgie; they try to do this to cool themselves. But if he's inside and the room isn't hot and he hasn't been extremely active (flying about, playing hard, etc.) this does sound a bit worrying. He may be having respiratory trouble. If it doesn't subside soon (as in within the next half hour or so), it might be a good idea to lightly cover his cage and get him to an emergency vet. If you aren't able to do this, just keep things calm and quiet. Dim the lights a bit and maybe cover three sides of his cage with a light weight cover so he feels more secure but so that you're also able to keep a passive eye on him. Make an appointment with the avian vet as soon as you can unless you can positively pin the cause of his "stress" on something harmless.

Well, it`s dark in their room now. He was fine this afternoon, the our son said that Joey suddenly started doing this thing with his wings this evening

 

As I said before, he`s an extremely timid bird. It doesn`t take much to get him scared and panting. Just I`ve never seen him do this thing with the wings. He lifts them up for a few seconds, and vibrates them really fast before lowering them.

 

I just checked on him, and he`s now sitting on his perch like normal. No heavy breathing or vibrating wings.

 

The room is not hot, probably around 18-20C. Maybe he scared himself somehow?

Keep a good eye on him, check his dropping tomorrow to make sure they are normal, and keep us updated.

Well, it`s dark in their room now. He was fine this afternoon, the our son said that Joey suddenly started doing this thing with his wings this evening

 

As I said before, he`s an extremely timid bird. It doesn`t take much to get him scared and panting. Just I`ve never seen him do this thing with the wings. He lifts them up for a few seconds, and vibrates them really fast before lowering them.

 

I just checked on him, and he`s now sitting on his perch like normal. No heavy breathing or vibrating wings.

 

The room is not hot, probably around 18-20C. Maybe he scared himself somehow?

 

18-20C is cool. he will enjoy a round 28 - 34C. Monitor him. Was it just a one off? How long was he doing this for?

Could the budgie just be exercising his wings? My two birds do a lot of rapid flapping of their wings at night - especially if they haven't been out of their cage to stretch their wings. It is probably best to have a vet look at the bird if this is a change in behaviour. It will give you peace of mind to know for sure.

Joey seems back to his old self today.

 

Before we went to bed, we checked in on him. He opened his beak and let out a big yawn - (Laughing out loud) !!! He wasn`t doing the thing with his wings.

 

This morning, he seems his old self. He`s sat on a perch, chattering away to the other birds.

 

We think maybe our son did something near his cage that scared him. He gets scared easy, and probably with us close to his cage wondering what was wrong probably scared him even more.

 

We`ll keep an eye on him but he seems fine now

that is wonderful news