Headlines
picture post: it's been a while...
Description:
you take my breath away
kiwi keeps lookout
shanks patrols the skies
"you want some of this???"
kiwi runs his own manicure business
"what color polish would you like?"
kiwi should have been named chicken little
kiwi and a BirdyBooty.com toy of happiness :)
YOU ARE DISMISSED ::salutes::
cross-posted to![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif)
budgietalk, parrots101, parrot_lovers more...
new budgie question
Description: I just got a new budgie (I already have one three-year-old who is thriving). I have had her for three days She seems mostly very happy and healthy; her feathers seem clean and shiny, she is eating and drinking, after some diarrhea at first she is pooping normally, and she seems fairly energetic. The only thing is, she seems to preen an awful lot. Is this normal for a new bird, or could she have some sort of problem? She doesn't seem to be pulling out feathers... more...
Any personal experience?
Description: i was wondering if anyone had experiences with avian harnesses with budgies. I've seen them on larger parrots, and some even on tiels but i feel like they may be too bulky for budgies? But i did see one nice brand here (http://www.mybirdstore.com/WHAT_S_NEW_EXCITING-AVIATOR_HARNESS_PETITE_X_LARGE.html) it seemed nice because it has an elastic on your wrist so the shock of running out of leash isnt harsh, (I mean the bird is clipped but i still would never take it out unrestrained). Since spring is around the corner and early summer will probably be the only nice time i can take him out without it being too hot i though i would ask now instead of at the last minute. more...
|| Grandma LunR ||
Description: Ty's a daddy!!! OMG!!!
Itried to tell everyone that it would happen... no one believed me. Well, my proof is growing feathers as I type. His/ Her name is going to be Miracle Maxine or Majic Max once sex is determinable, in honor of the fallen Maxine who died tragically just before the hatching. Brave Maxine fought valiantly for her life after sustaining fatal injury caused during a fight after Jayda layed her eggs in Maxine's favorite hiding place.
We will always love and remember her for her kindness and spunky personality. We love you, Maxine!!!! more...
Need setup pictures!
Description: Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know that I'd like to add more cage setup photos to budgietalk.com. If you have photos of a setup (that belong to you) that you'd like to share, please reply here!
Please include as much information about your cage as possible. Most importantly, the dimensions of the cage, model name (if you know it) and the pros and cons. What do you like about it? What do you hate about it?
We've had a cage setup post before but it's been a long time and it will be easier for me to get permission to use photos if we do a new post. (Not to mention, we've gotten a lot more members since then who might want to share.) more...
Bird getting on in years
Description: Hi all!
I was just doing some calculating and realized that my little bird Pell is now SEVEN! I am astonished at this, since I've never had a budgie over two, and Pell just keeps chugging along. She's never been sick a day, sings and chortles at all hours (up through midnight, even when covered) and eats well. She's having a bath with a bit of water and some watercress right now, as she's decided she likes greens. Her regular food is pellets. She gets out to fly a couple of times a week, usually for a couple of hours while I've got my cat locked up in the other room.
Anyway, now that Pell is getting older, I'm just wondering if there are any particular health issues or other problems I should be on the lookout for. Her cagemate died suddenly two years ago without warning. She has a different attitude than her cagemate, however, and has always been more relaxed and way less afraid of stuff. Any advice?
Oh, and here's a pic from a couple of weeks ago.
She gets occasional seed treats and yeah,
she had just torn apart a seed log
Advice on male/female pairs
Description: Hello all,
It's been forever since I've posted in here; I haven't lived with my birds for a couple of years (they're with my parents), so I rarely have anything to post anymore, unfortunately.
My question stems from sad news; Phoebe, one of my two budgies, passed away on Monday after a bad case of pneumonia combined with either a cyst or a tumor, and an enlarged liver. Now, Ollie (a female) is on her own. She's more sociable with my parents now that she doesn't have a budgie to keep her company, but we don't feel it's right to keep her on her own. A friend of mine has several budgies and has offered to give me one (this way we can get Ollie a friend that is about the same age).
Now, in my experience, male budgies are (in general) more sociable, and just have different personalities than females. I love my girl budgies, but I really would like to see how it is to have a male. BUT...Baby budgies are the last thing I want, and they're the last things my parents want. I know to shake/freeze any eggs that might happen and to put them back to avoid over-laying and babies, but my parents and I are worried about how any laying might affect Ollie's health.
So my questions to the rest of you budgie owners are the following:
- In your experience, does having two budgies, a male and a female, result in eggs all the time?
- How do your males and females interact?
- For those birds that do lay eggs, have you seen any negative effects on their health and general well-being?
Ollie (left) and Phoebe (right) in the shower
Description:
signature fro
budgies enjoying the sunlight
More pics of Sparky.
Description: So far so good. He's still VERY shy and we try to tread softly when around him. But he's adorably cute. Those big eyes and funny face.
Look at those colors! He's so cute... He's also been in that spot for a while and pooped a few times into his food dish! I'll have to clean that up. :)
Looking spooked.
Eating millet.
I laughed.
Description:
New friend.
Description: This morning Marc set up the bird cage with new perches and some of Scooby's old toys that she didn't really like. He told me he was ready to get a new bird and he wanted to go get one today. I took one look at the cage and burst into tears. It was so hard imagining a new bird that wasn't Scooby. The pain is still very fresh for me and I still feel sad for her every day since she died. Marc reassured me that the new bird will not be replacing Scooby at all. It'll be like one of her brothers or sisters that we will be giving a new home to. I know I wanted more birds but didn't think we'd get one so soon. But we did.
Isn't he kinda cute? He's got lovely coloring, yellow with some green, white and blue. When we saw him at the pet store we thought he was so deranged looking and ugly with those wide eyes! He was very animated and rambunctious. We were deciding between two other birds when he came up close to the glass and tried to kiss my face! It was adorable. So we changed our minds and got him instead. (We think he's a boy as his cere is still blank, it should turn blue if he's a boy.) So far we've had him for several hours and he's already singing and chirping with Marc. :) Already he has brought some sunshine back into our lives.
EDIT: Marc has decided Sparky is a better name than Sprite. But it doesn't matter because I like to call him "Lemon Chicken"! :)
more...
Description: Well guys, its been a slice, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'll be leaving the community since I don't have budgies anymore! My sister came and took them back since she got a place where she can have them now.
Thanks to anyone and everyone that ever offered me help or advice regarding those two crazy cats. You were all fantastic! more...
Scooby
Description: This community is wonderful. I love reading your stories and seeing pictures of your beautiful birds. It's a comfort to me right now as I am suffering the loss of my sweet budgie Scooby.
I wrote a little dedication for her on the day she died.:
Today (December 21, 2007) our little girl budgie Scooby passed out of our lives. She had been sick with a tumor for what seems like a month or so. She may have had it for longer but we'll never really know. The only thing we know is that she was a wonderful bird and knowing her has enriched our lives.
2 years ago in the summer, we went to our local pet store to pick out our new friend. Amongst all the big budgies, there was a little one with the cutest purple cheeks and she looked up, straight into the eyes of my husband. "That's the one." he said. So we brought her home. The first couple weeks we had her, she didn't move or do anything! We would get excited if she moved 2 inches to the left or right. We thought we bought a dud bird! Well, one day we decided to play loud rock music for her and she came alive! That was Scooby's thing. Music. We had it on for her everyday all day when we were at work. She would chatter and sing to her heart's content and flap her wings excitedly. She also loved to get her giant piece of lettuce everyday. It was as big as she was and she would attack it with gusto. It was funny to watch. And the bond she had with us is something we'll always hold in our hearts. She always had strong bond with my husband. She would get so excited when he would come home from work and start chirping when he walked into the room. It was so lovely to see them together. She didn't fly very much (which was one of the reasons why we think she may have been sick long before) but instead liked to walk around. We'd lie on the bed and she would walk up and down our bodies and peep and look around. Sometimes she would fly down to the carpet to go exploring. This year Scooby developed a stronger bond with me. Not until this year was I able to take her out of the cage and play with her. I would let her perch on my shoulder or on top of my chest while I lay in bed reading a book. She was the sweetest. The more I bonded with her, the more I loved her.
Last weekend we took her to the doctor after she had been "under the weather" for the past month. She was breathing heavy and always puffed up and sleeping. The vet took one look at her and shook her head. Not a good sign, she said. Then while examining the bird, she felt a lump in her abdomen. Even worse. There was nothing that we could do. This past week we nursed her the best we could, helping her around her cage if she couldn't do it, feeding her millet. I think she peeped only a few times this week. Last night was the last time she ate and drank. This morning she looked so tired and weak. I half covered her cage to keep her warm and went out to do some errands. Not even an hour and a half later, I came back and found her little body lying at the bottom of the cage. I picked her up and cradled her in my hands. I wept and wept. I wish I could have been there for her when she died. I wanted to hold her while she took her last breath. Her poor little eyes were still open and her little feet all curled up. I called my husband to come home from work. When he came home, we both sat with her body and petted her wings and gave her a kiss. We then buried her under a beautiful flowered tree in our front garden.
We miss her so much and will never forget her. We love you Scoobs forever and ever.
more...
Description: soooooo..... I've got two budgies, not hand tamed really, but i do keep their wings and nails clipped, and they do let me hold them on my finger for a bit after i do those things...
Anyways, its a boy girl pairing for SURE, with the boy around 2, and the girl minimum a year and a half. (because thats how long I've had her)
So... two days ago, I come home to find the lady chilling in their little hanging coconut hut thing. Come back a few hours later to feed my reptiles (because they're in my reptile room) and lo and behold, there was an egg in her little coconut thing! after some googling, i found out they can lay up to 8 eggs, and that they usually lay them every other day. Well, today was "every other day" and now there are two little eggs in her coconut. She looks adorable all fluffed up and sitting on them, but since this is her first clutch of eggs, i guess I have a few questions that almighty google can't answer.
Firstly, for anyone who has bred budgies before, how fertile will the first clutch be? I read it takes 18-20 days for the eggs to hatch, but how long can you leave them in there for her to "mother" when they're infertile? and how soon can you know if they're fertile or not?
Secondly, what should I be keeping an eye out for? or what vitamins/suppliments should I be trying to give to the female while shes laying all these eggs? I know with reptiles you want to suppliment them heavily with calcium after they lay eggs, but I saw one place online that you don't want to do that with budgies for risk of prolapse?
I'm kinda a newb at this, and definitely don't want to fail or anything, and wouldn't mind keeping a beeb for myself to tame unlike the parents... so any information would be wonderful!!
thanks! more...
Description: Pippin just said his first words :)
"Hi" and "Pippin." I thought I'd heard him say Pippin before, but I wasn't sure... now I am! What a smartybutt. more...
pictures/ intro
Description: So i just joined yesterday. We have 6 parakeets and love them all ;)
heres some pics of them and introductions to them
this is cafe. we found him in front of our friends cafe he owned. so thats were the name came from
this is cafe with his women olay
heres the rest of the gang
first one is lemon, then lime..then olay again... capachino (we call him chino) and mocha
and i like this one of cafe
more...
Young budgie vomiting? Help!
Description: I need some help from other budgie owners.
I've got three young budgies (under 6 mos.) living with me. I just took them in for their first vet appointment two weeks ago, and they all got clean bills of health.
Today I let the three of them run around on the floor of my apartment, monitored the whole time. I put a little millet on the carpet and let them eat it. They picked around the carpet a bit in typical budgie foraging-on-the-ground mode, but I thought I stopped them from eating anything other than the millet (and I just vacuumed recently, so there really wasn't much of anything on the carpet).
Fast forward to now, about two hours later. I look over into the cage and Alfredo, my youngest guy, is doing something weird. He's putting his head forward and retracting it fast, like he's gagging. And then he threw up some seeds.
It doesn't look like any courtship feeding I've ever seen (I've owned budgies before)... he's just sitting on the perch and doing the head-gagging every few minutes.
Should I take him to the emergency vet? Could some tiny bit of stuff on the floor be hurting him? I don't want to stress him and me out if it's not necessary to take him to the vet. Do some budgies just vomit/gag like that without courtship feeding anything?
Help!
EDIT: Aaaaand now he's down on the food dish, eating and looking okay. I really have no idea what is/was going on. more...
Featured Budgies on Budgietalk.com
Description: Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you budgie owners know that I'm going to be adding another page to the budgietalk site just to feature our little budgies. If you have an especially cute picture (or two or three!) that you'd like to share on the site, feel free to post it here or send it to terri AT budgietalk DOT com and I'll put it up! Please include some information about your bird (name, age, that sort of thing) and maybe a cute little story along with it. more...
Quick change to the survey!
Description: Sorry for the all the posts about this. A couple of people have been telling me that I really should have asked for the date of hatching and date of death in the life span survey but by that time I'd had so many entries that I didn't want to muddle things up in my notes. However, I'm really itching for that information now and am going to take a stab at collecting it.
SO! If you've taken the life span survey already PLEASE reply to this post and list your budgie's name(s) and their approximate dates of hatching and death. If you don't know specifics, just state the year. If you don't know that, just state that it is unknown so that I can confirm this in my notes.
If you have not taken the survey yet, you do not have to do this! I have now included these questions in the form.
Thanks so much for your time and I'm sorry for the inconvenience! more...
Budgietalk Lifespan Survey Progress
Description: First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has participated in the survey (see here for the original post). It's going to be up for a long time so if you haven't had a chance, feel free to take it when you do.
I thought I'd keep you guys updated on what I've found so here are a few interesting (though sad) numbers so far.
As I write this, there have only been 53 budgies surveyed. Obviously, I'm hoping that I can get many, many more than this.
- Of the 53 budgies surveyed, only 15 lived five years or longer.
- This means that 38 budgies died before the age of five.
- 17 of these died at the age of 2 or less.
At present, the average lifespan of the budgies surveyed is 3.6 years if I include those birds that died from accident/injury.
With accident/injury deaths excluded, the average is 3.7 years.
I have also found that in a survey completed in the late 1970's, the average lifespan was 6.5 years. However, this survey seems to have been even more casual than my own and didn't separate deaths as a result of accident or injury. more...
Budgietalk Lifespan Project
Description: Some of you know that I just lost one of my budgies (Arctic) and that six months ago I lost Paris. Since owning budgies, it's been a pretty steady stream of losses (I currently have seven now). This (along with a friend's similar project) prompted me to create a survey. The purpose of this survey is just to get a very rough idea of how long we really can expect our budgies to live.
I would greatly appreciate it if as many budgie owners (past and present) as possible would participate in this survey. The more information that I can gather the more informative this will be. It only takes a few minutes of your time.
Thanks to anyone who can help me out here. You can access the survey by visiting http://budgietalk.com and clicking the very last link from the menu on the left (Lifespan Project). more...
Budgie Photos!
Description: It's been forever since I've taken photos of my flock to share! Mostly I've been so busy with vet school that I've not had time to take photos at all, but I decided that tonight should be a goof-off night.
Kelp (the little green budgie and newest flock member) has integrated well and is eating everything the rest of the flock eats, from pellets to greens. She's even put on three grams! My other female, Sun, is still the pudgiest budgie, but has lost five grams thanks to the power of exercise now that her flight feathers are back in. Everyone else is doing well, as usual.
I don't know how to make the photos bigger with LJ, but you can click and view them full size if you want to.
Five budgies on my curtain rod. From left to right: Kelp, Salt, Seafoam, Sandy, and Sun. You can tell that Sun has a personal bubble.
Five budgies on my hand. Who says that budgies that play with others can't be hand tame? Show them this picture for proof that they're wrong! Notice how low Seafoam's sitting? (he's the once raising his wings) He's always been like that. I think maybe he's got a touch of splay-leg. It's also nice shot of Salt's opaline bars on his back.
Salt just being cute. He plays dead and can meow like my cat.
Sandy-bird, my five year old and favorite. He's still growing out his clip from my move back in May, but even as he is now, he can do laps around my living room. To actually clip him you've either got to clip under the coverts or into the secondaries.
My lovey-dovey budgie couple. No eggs!
Sittin' on the frogs.
Budgie conference around produce. Those of you with budgie flocks will appreciate how difficult it can be to get four flighted and one clipped budgie to stay in the same spot long enough for pictures on a counter full of possibly shreddable, or maybe even edible, fun.
On the left we have "Buddy Buddy." On the right there is "Lovey-Dovey." And for center stage, I present "Nom-Nom-Nom."
On the far corners are the fluffiest, stompiest budgies.
The End!
more...
Description: Insight Sand Perch for budgies - yay or nay?
I know that sandpaper covers are a huge no-no, but what kind of nail-trimming perches are considered safe? I'd like to give my budgies the option of having one in the cage, and I want to make sure that whatever I give them won't hurt them. more...
Description:
November 10, 2000 - November 9, 2007
It's unsurprising that such a small creature can make such a big impact in one's life. He was my first bird, acquired when I was 14, and it is because of him that I love parrots now. He made my mother, who never liked her childhood pets, understand what it is to love one. He gave my brother something to care about besides himself. He won me over with his charming personality and wormed his way into my heart. He finally lost his bravely-fought battle with a kidney tumor. I'm glad that last weekend I was able to see him one last time.
Sleep well, my baby. You've earned it. more...
Description:
you take my breath away
kiwi keeps lookout
shanks patrols the skies
"you want some of this???"
kiwi runs his own manicure business
"what color polish would you like?"
kiwi should have been named chicken little
kiwi and a BirdyBooty.com toy of happiness :)
YOU ARE DISMISSED ::salutes::
cross-posted to
budgietalk, parrots101, parrot_lovers more...new budgie question
Description: I just got a new budgie (I already have one three-year-old who is thriving). I have had her for three days She seems mostly very happy and healthy; her feathers seem clean and shiny, she is eating and drinking, after some diarrhea at first she is pooping normally, and she seems fairly energetic. The only thing is, she seems to preen an awful lot. Is this normal for a new bird, or could she have some sort of problem? She doesn't seem to be pulling out feathers... more...
Any personal experience?
Description: i was wondering if anyone had experiences with avian harnesses with budgies. I've seen them on larger parrots, and some even on tiels but i feel like they may be too bulky for budgies? But i did see one nice brand here (http://www.mybirdstore.com/WHAT_S_NEW_EXCITING-AVIATOR_HARNESS_PETITE_X_LARGE.html) it seemed nice because it has an elastic on your wrist so the shock of running out of leash isnt harsh, (I mean the bird is clipped but i still would never take it out unrestrained). Since spring is around the corner and early summer will probably be the only nice time i can take him out without it being too hot i though i would ask now instead of at the last minute. more...
|| Grandma LunR ||
Description: Ty's a daddy!!! OMG!!!
Itried to tell everyone that it would happen... no one believed me. Well, my proof is growing feathers as I type. His/ Her name is going to be Miracle Maxine or Majic Max once sex is determinable, in honor of the fallen Maxine who died tragically just before the hatching. Brave Maxine fought valiantly for her life after sustaining fatal injury caused during a fight after Jayda layed her eggs in Maxine's favorite hiding place.
We will always love and remember her for her kindness and spunky personality. We love you, Maxine!!!! more...
Need setup pictures!
Description: Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know that I'd like to add more cage setup photos to budgietalk.com. If you have photos of a setup (that belong to you) that you'd like to share, please reply here!
Please include as much information about your cage as possible. Most importantly, the dimensions of the cage, model name (if you know it) and the pros and cons. What do you like about it? What do you hate about it?
We've had a cage setup post before but it's been a long time and it will be easier for me to get permission to use photos if we do a new post. (Not to mention, we've gotten a lot more members since then who might want to share.) more...
Bird getting on in years
Description: Hi all!
I was just doing some calculating and realized that my little bird Pell is now SEVEN! I am astonished at this, since I've never had a budgie over two, and Pell just keeps chugging along. She's never been sick a day, sings and chortles at all hours (up through midnight, even when covered) and eats well. She's having a bath with a bit of water and some watercress right now, as she's decided she likes greens. Her regular food is pellets. She gets out to fly a couple of times a week, usually for a couple of hours while I've got my cat locked up in the other room.
Anyway, now that Pell is getting older, I'm just wondering if there are any particular health issues or other problems I should be on the lookout for. Her cagemate died suddenly two years ago without warning. She has a different attitude than her cagemate, however, and has always been more relaxed and way less afraid of stuff. Any advice?
Oh, and here's a pic from a couple of weeks ago.
She gets occasional seed treats and yeah,
she had just torn apart a seed log
Advice on male/female pairs
Description: Hello all,
It's been forever since I've posted in here; I haven't lived with my birds for a couple of years (they're with my parents), so I rarely have anything to post anymore, unfortunately.
My question stems from sad news; Phoebe, one of my two budgies, passed away on Monday after a bad case of pneumonia combined with either a cyst or a tumor, and an enlarged liver. Now, Ollie (a female) is on her own. She's more sociable with my parents now that she doesn't have a budgie to keep her company, but we don't feel it's right to keep her on her own. A friend of mine has several budgies and has offered to give me one (this way we can get Ollie a friend that is about the same age).
Now, in my experience, male budgies are (in general) more sociable, and just have different personalities than females. I love my girl budgies, but I really would like to see how it is to have a male. BUT...Baby budgies are the last thing I want, and they're the last things my parents want. I know to shake/freeze any eggs that might happen and to put them back to avoid over-laying and babies, but my parents and I are worried about how any laying might affect Ollie's health.
So my questions to the rest of you budgie owners are the following:
- In your experience, does having two budgies, a male and a female, result in eggs all the time?
- How do your males and females interact?
- For those birds that do lay eggs, have you seen any negative effects on their health and general well-being?
Ollie (left) and Phoebe (right) in the shower
Description:
signature fro
budgies enjoying the sunlight
More pics of Sparky.
Description: So far so good. He's still VERY shy and we try to tread softly when around him. But he's adorably cute. Those big eyes and funny face.
Look at those colors! He's so cute... He's also been in that spot for a while and pooped a few times into his food dish! I'll have to clean that up. :)
Looking spooked.
Eating millet.
I laughed.
Description:
New friend.
Description: This morning Marc set up the bird cage with new perches and some of Scooby's old toys that she didn't really like. He told me he was ready to get a new bird and he wanted to go get one today. I took one look at the cage and burst into tears. It was so hard imagining a new bird that wasn't Scooby. The pain is still very fresh for me and I still feel sad for her every day since she died. Marc reassured me that the new bird will not be replacing Scooby at all. It'll be like one of her brothers or sisters that we will be giving a new home to. I know I wanted more birds but didn't think we'd get one so soon. But we did.
Isn't he kinda cute? He's got lovely coloring, yellow with some green, white and blue. When we saw him at the pet store we thought he was so deranged looking and ugly with those wide eyes! He was very animated and rambunctious. We were deciding between two other birds when he came up close to the glass and tried to kiss my face! It was adorable. So we changed our minds and got him instead. (We think he's a boy as his cere is still blank, it should turn blue if he's a boy.) So far we've had him for several hours and he's already singing and chirping with Marc. :) Already he has brought some sunshine back into our lives.
EDIT: Marc has decided Sparky is a better name than Sprite. But it doesn't matter because I like to call him "Lemon Chicken"! :)
more...
Description: Well guys, its been a slice, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'll be leaving the community since I don't have budgies anymore! My sister came and took them back since she got a place where she can have them now.
Thanks to anyone and everyone that ever offered me help or advice regarding those two crazy cats. You were all fantastic! more...
Scooby
Description: This community is wonderful. I love reading your stories and seeing pictures of your beautiful birds. It's a comfort to me right now as I am suffering the loss of my sweet budgie Scooby.
I wrote a little dedication for her on the day she died.:
Today (December 21, 2007) our little girl budgie Scooby passed out of our lives. She had been sick with a tumor for what seems like a month or so. She may have had it for longer but we'll never really know. The only thing we know is that she was a wonderful bird and knowing her has enriched our lives.
2 years ago in the summer, we went to our local pet store to pick out our new friend. Amongst all the big budgies, there was a little one with the cutest purple cheeks and she looked up, straight into the eyes of my husband. "That's the one." he said. So we brought her home. The first couple weeks we had her, she didn't move or do anything! We would get excited if she moved 2 inches to the left or right. We thought we bought a dud bird! Well, one day we decided to play loud rock music for her and she came alive! That was Scooby's thing. Music. We had it on for her everyday all day when we were at work. She would chatter and sing to her heart's content and flap her wings excitedly. She also loved to get her giant piece of lettuce everyday. It was as big as she was and she would attack it with gusto. It was funny to watch. And the bond she had with us is something we'll always hold in our hearts. She always had strong bond with my husband. She would get so excited when he would come home from work and start chirping when he walked into the room. It was so lovely to see them together. She didn't fly very much (which was one of the reasons why we think she may have been sick long before) but instead liked to walk around. We'd lie on the bed and she would walk up and down our bodies and peep and look around. Sometimes she would fly down to the carpet to go exploring. This year Scooby developed a stronger bond with me. Not until this year was I able to take her out of the cage and play with her. I would let her perch on my shoulder or on top of my chest while I lay in bed reading a book. She was the sweetest. The more I bonded with her, the more I loved her.
Last weekend we took her to the doctor after she had been "under the weather" for the past month. She was breathing heavy and always puffed up and sleeping. The vet took one look at her and shook her head. Not a good sign, she said. Then while examining the bird, she felt a lump in her abdomen. Even worse. There was nothing that we could do. This past week we nursed her the best we could, helping her around her cage if she couldn't do it, feeding her millet. I think she peeped only a few times this week. Last night was the last time she ate and drank. This morning she looked so tired and weak. I half covered her cage to keep her warm and went out to do some errands. Not even an hour and a half later, I came back and found her little body lying at the bottom of the cage. I picked her up and cradled her in my hands. I wept and wept. I wish I could have been there for her when she died. I wanted to hold her while she took her last breath. Her poor little eyes were still open and her little feet all curled up. I called my husband to come home from work. When he came home, we both sat with her body and petted her wings and gave her a kiss. We then buried her under a beautiful flowered tree in our front garden.
We miss her so much and will never forget her. We love you Scoobs forever and ever.
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Description: soooooo..... I've got two budgies, not hand tamed really, but i do keep their wings and nails clipped, and they do let me hold them on my finger for a bit after i do those things...
Anyways, its a boy girl pairing for SURE, with the boy around 2, and the girl minimum a year and a half. (because thats how long I've had her)
So... two days ago, I come home to find the lady chilling in their little hanging coconut hut thing. Come back a few hours later to feed my reptiles (because they're in my reptile room) and lo and behold, there was an egg in her little coconut thing! after some googling, i found out they can lay up to 8 eggs, and that they usually lay them every other day. Well, today was "every other day" and now there are two little eggs in her coconut. She looks adorable all fluffed up and sitting on them, but since this is her first clutch of eggs, i guess I have a few questions that almighty google can't answer.
Firstly, for anyone who has bred budgies before, how fertile will the first clutch be? I read it takes 18-20 days for the eggs to hatch, but how long can you leave them in there for her to "mother" when they're infertile? and how soon can you know if they're fertile or not?
Secondly, what should I be keeping an eye out for? or what vitamins/suppliments should I be trying to give to the female while shes laying all these eggs? I know with reptiles you want to suppliment them heavily with calcium after they lay eggs, but I saw one place online that you don't want to do that with budgies for risk of prolapse?
I'm kinda a newb at this, and definitely don't want to fail or anything, and wouldn't mind keeping a beeb for myself to tame unlike the parents... so any information would be wonderful!!
thanks! more...
Description: Pippin just said his first words :)
"Hi" and "Pippin." I thought I'd heard him say Pippin before, but I wasn't sure... now I am! What a smartybutt. more...
pictures/ intro
Description: So i just joined yesterday. We have 6 parakeets and love them all ;)
heres some pics of them and introductions to them
this is cafe. we found him in front of our friends cafe he owned. so thats were the name came from
this is cafe with his women olay
heres the rest of the gang
first one is lemon, then lime..then olay again... capachino (we call him chino) and mocha
and i like this one of cafe
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Young budgie vomiting? Help!
Description: I need some help from other budgie owners.
I've got three young budgies (under 6 mos.) living with me. I just took them in for their first vet appointment two weeks ago, and they all got clean bills of health.
Today I let the three of them run around on the floor of my apartment, monitored the whole time. I put a little millet on the carpet and let them eat it. They picked around the carpet a bit in typical budgie foraging-on-the-ground mode, but I thought I stopped them from eating anything other than the millet (and I just vacuumed recently, so there really wasn't much of anything on the carpet).
Fast forward to now, about two hours later. I look over into the cage and Alfredo, my youngest guy, is doing something weird. He's putting his head forward and retracting it fast, like he's gagging. And then he threw up some seeds.
It doesn't look like any courtship feeding I've ever seen (I've owned budgies before)... he's just sitting on the perch and doing the head-gagging every few minutes.
Should I take him to the emergency vet? Could some tiny bit of stuff on the floor be hurting him? I don't want to stress him and me out if it's not necessary to take him to the vet. Do some budgies just vomit/gag like that without courtship feeding anything?
Help!
EDIT: Aaaaand now he's down on the food dish, eating and looking okay. I really have no idea what is/was going on. more...
Featured Budgies on Budgietalk.com
Description: Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you budgie owners know that I'm going to be adding another page to the budgietalk site just to feature our little budgies. If you have an especially cute picture (or two or three!) that you'd like to share on the site, feel free to post it here or send it to terri AT budgietalk DOT com and I'll put it up! Please include some information about your bird (name, age, that sort of thing) and maybe a cute little story along with it. more...
Quick change to the survey!
Description: Sorry for the all the posts about this. A couple of people have been telling me that I really should have asked for the date of hatching and date of death in the life span survey but by that time I'd had so many entries that I didn't want to muddle things up in my notes. However, I'm really itching for that information now and am going to take a stab at collecting it.
SO! If you've taken the life span survey already PLEASE reply to this post and list your budgie's name(s) and their approximate dates of hatching and death. If you don't know specifics, just state the year. If you don't know that, just state that it is unknown so that I can confirm this in my notes.
If you have not taken the survey yet, you do not have to do this! I have now included these questions in the form.
Thanks so much for your time and I'm sorry for the inconvenience! more...
Budgietalk Lifespan Survey Progress
Description: First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has participated in the survey (see here for the original post). It's going to be up for a long time so if you haven't had a chance, feel free to take it when you do.
I thought I'd keep you guys updated on what I've found so here are a few interesting (though sad) numbers so far.
As I write this, there have only been 53 budgies surveyed. Obviously, I'm hoping that I can get many, many more than this.
- Of the 53 budgies surveyed, only 15 lived five years or longer.
- This means that 38 budgies died before the age of five.
- 17 of these died at the age of 2 or less.
At present, the average lifespan of the budgies surveyed is 3.6 years if I include those birds that died from accident/injury.
With accident/injury deaths excluded, the average is 3.7 years.
I have also found that in a survey completed in the late 1970's, the average lifespan was 6.5 years. However, this survey seems to have been even more casual than my own and didn't separate deaths as a result of accident or injury. more...
Budgietalk Lifespan Project
Description: Some of you know that I just lost one of my budgies (Arctic) and that six months ago I lost Paris. Since owning budgies, it's been a pretty steady stream of losses (I currently have seven now). This (along with a friend's similar project) prompted me to create a survey. The purpose of this survey is just to get a very rough idea of how long we really can expect our budgies to live.
I would greatly appreciate it if as many budgie owners (past and present) as possible would participate in this survey. The more information that I can gather the more informative this will be. It only takes a few minutes of your time.
Thanks to anyone who can help me out here. You can access the survey by visiting http://budgietalk.com and clicking the very last link from the menu on the left (Lifespan Project). more...
Budgie Photos!
Description: It's been forever since I've taken photos of my flock to share! Mostly I've been so busy with vet school that I've not had time to take photos at all, but I decided that tonight should be a goof-off night.
Kelp (the little green budgie and newest flock member) has integrated well and is eating everything the rest of the flock eats, from pellets to greens. She's even put on three grams! My other female, Sun, is still the pudgiest budgie, but has lost five grams thanks to the power of exercise now that her flight feathers are back in. Everyone else is doing well, as usual.
I don't know how to make the photos bigger with LJ, but you can click and view them full size if you want to.
Five budgies on my curtain rod. From left to right: Kelp, Salt, Seafoam, Sandy, and Sun. You can tell that Sun has a personal bubble.
Five budgies on my hand. Who says that budgies that play with others can't be hand tame? Show them this picture for proof that they're wrong! Notice how low Seafoam's sitting? (he's the once raising his wings) He's always been like that. I think maybe he's got a touch of splay-leg. It's also nice shot of Salt's opaline bars on his back.
Salt just being cute. He plays dead and can meow like my cat.
Sandy-bird, my five year old and favorite. He's still growing out his clip from my move back in May, but even as he is now, he can do laps around my living room. To actually clip him you've either got to clip under the coverts or into the secondaries.
My lovey-dovey budgie couple. No eggs!
Sittin' on the frogs.
Budgie conference around produce. Those of you with budgie flocks will appreciate how difficult it can be to get four flighted and one clipped budgie to stay in the same spot long enough for pictures on a counter full of possibly shreddable, or maybe even edible, fun.
On the left we have "Buddy Buddy." On the right there is "Lovey-Dovey." And for center stage, I present "Nom-Nom-Nom."
On the far corners are the fluffiest, stompiest budgies.
The End!
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Description: Insight Sand Perch for budgies - yay or nay?
I know that sandpaper covers are a huge no-no, but what kind of nail-trimming perches are considered safe? I'd like to give my budgies the option of having one in the cage, and I want to make sure that whatever I give them won't hurt them. more...
Description:
November 10, 2000 - November 9, 2007
It's unsurprising that such a small creature can make such a big impact in one's life. He was my first bird, acquired when I was 14, and it is because of him that I love parrots now. He made my mother, who never liked her childhood pets, understand what it is to love one. He gave my brother something to care about besides himself. He won me over with his charming personality and wormed his way into my heart. He finally lost his bravely-fought battle with a kidney tumor. I'm glad that last weekend I was able to see him one last time.
Sleep well, my baby. You've earned it. more...
