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A Budgie Predicament

ZeusandTina

Checking out the neighborhood
Joined
6/17/17
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1
Hello, I'm new here! I'm not usually a forum person but I would be very happy if someone could help me out with my bird situation. Two years ago, I got two male parakeets named Zeus and Tango. They get along fairly well and are content. One will step up(Tango) and both aren't afraid of me, but whenever I let them out of their cage they fly around like crazy. Because of this, I don't let them out very often(I'm afraid they'll fly into something).

Two days ago, a friend of mine found a parakeet behind our local high school. She called me, and I took the new parakeet in a spare cage I had. Right now, this parakeet is in quarantine on the opposite side of the house as my other parakeets. I haven't had the chance to bring her to the vet yet, but she seems pretty healthy aside from how skinny she is from living in the wild. She's still acclimating so I've left her alone.

In general, I just need some advice. I eventually plan on moving all my birds to same room, but I'm not exactly sure who should live with who and how many cages I'll need. I would like to get my friendly male parakeet Tango 100% hand tame as well, but it's hard to do with his unclipped wings and his cage mate Zeus. Should I clip and separate Tango? As for my new unnamed parakeet, I would also like her to trust me and be hand tame, but I also want to give her time to settle in. Advice would be greatly appreciated!
 

expressmailtome

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MeinRabe

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Kay
I am only a casual budgie owner, so hopefully one of the budgie experts on here can provide some insight! In my experience, one budgie gets left out when you have three budgies. Like a third wheel. However this might not always be the case. I would also be worried about diseases in the new girl.

Is she hand tame? You should attempt to find her possible owner. Someone may miss her dearly. You should also consider this might be a feral budgie and a challenge to hand tame. Some birds just do not learn to accept people, so have realistic expectations.

I would read up on introducing new birds to a flock if you do decide to put them together to ensure nobody gets hurt.
 

PoukieBear

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Michelle
Thank you for saving this new little budgie! She will definitely need to be looked over by the vet, especially since she has been in the wild for who knows how long. It's a good thing you are quarantining her, good job!

If you'd like to tame Tango, it will be easier to do if he doesn't have a cagemate. You want him to bond with you, and you become his "flock". Wing clipping is a touchy subject for some people....if you do decide to clip his wings, make sure you do both sides (some crazy people only do one side! ugh!) and start off small. Clip two flight feathers on each wing. He will still be able to fly, but not quite as fast or as high as before. If he needs a little more, then clip one more flight feather on each side. Please don't do a harsh clip by taking away all his flight feathers so that he drops like a rock when he tries to fly.

Once your new girl has a clean bill of health from the vet, she can be introduced to your other two birds. If you do keep her in the same cage, you will need to take precautions to make sure that she doesn't get broody and want to mate/lay eggs. Reduce daylight hours with a blanket, move toys and food around frequently, you can even move the location of the cage frequently too.
 
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