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Budgie falls hard to the floor

meheartbirds

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Cynthia
I purchased two budgies recently who already had their feathers clipped. They were in a large cage because I had 8 budgies. Four of them escaped recently when their cage was outside and they flew away. It was devastating. The ones who were clipped did not escape.
Now I have a dilemma. Do I keep them in the large cage? The reason I ask is because one in particular got all his long flight feathers clipped and he frequently drops HARD to the bottom of the cage because he cannot fly even a little bit. I feel that this is hurting him. I have a flight cage that I can use instead, that does not have a long drop to the bottom.
Any thoughts?
 

Birdbabe

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Pad the bottom with a soft towel so he dosent hurt himself, the large cage ( in my thoughts) will give them space so they dont fight and have room to get away from each other if they need to, and dont fight over food and water..
@Lady Jane ? Thoughts?!
 

Lady Jane

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Cynthia please post a photo of the cage they were in first. Some people's idea of a large cage is different from other people.
As far as this one bird not being able to fly at all. First I would give feedback to the person that cut the flight feathers so they will not do this to other birds. Request that they review education on how to safely cut flight feathers so that a bird can still glide to the floor and not fall. I would invest in a couple nice, tall ladders. The breeder of my birds also cut the flight feathers when they were babies so it was just about 1 year before they grew back. The tallest ladder I placed on the floor and leaned it against the cage up to the door. Both my birds learned to climb up into the cage and of course this helped with their confidence by not relying on me.
The second ladder, a little shorter, I placed inside the cage and this truly helped with mobility around the cage. You could even get two for inside the cage. Length is important so I would measure before you buy any. Also if the ladders have those little hooks on one end it is safer to just remove them. If you have predator pets in your home by all means do not have your birds outside the cage if a dog or cat are in the same room. So I await the photo of the cage you are referring to for further guidance.

When I first purchased ladders one of them did not have steps wide enough for the birds to safely climb. I just measured mine and they are 3.5 inches wide. If smaller my birds got their head stuck between steps. Of course I have English budgies which are somewhat larger than American budgies.
I do not like the ladders that swing as the bird walks on it. Little birds may feel unstable. I do prefer the wooden ladders with no color to the wood steps or rungs. Here is an example (I got mine in a pet store so I could examine them and measure them before purchase.

Amazon.com : North American Pet BBO22783 Bob Ladder Keet for Pets, 24-Inch : Bird Ladders : Pet Supplies
 
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meheartbirds

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Cynthia please post a photo of the cage they were in first. Some people's idea of a large cage is different from other people.
As far as this one bird not being able to fly at all. First I would give feedback to the person that cut the flight feathers so they will not do this to other birds. Request that they review education on how to safely cut flight feathers so that a bird can still glide to the floor and not fall. I would invest in a couple nice, tall ladders. The breeder of my birds also cut the flight feathers when they were babies so it was just about 1 year before they grew back. The tallest ladder I placed on the floor and leaned it against the cage up to the door. Both my birds learned to climb up into the cage and of course this helped with their confidence by not relying on me.
The second ladder, a little shorter, I placed inside the cage and this truly helped with mobility around the cage. You could even get two for inside the cage. Length is important so I would measure before you buy any. Also if the ladders have those little hooks on one end it is safer to just remove them. If you have predator pets in your home by all means do not have your birds outside the cage if a dog or cat are in the same room. So I await the photo of the cage you are referring to for further guidance.

When I first purchased ladders one of them did not have steps wide enough for the birds to safely climb. I just measured mine and they are 3.5 inches wide. If smaller my birds got their head stuck between steps. Of course I have English budgies which are somewhat larger than American budgies.
I do not like the ladders that swing as the bird walks on it. Little birds may feel unstable. I do prefer the wooden ladders with no color to the wood steps or rungs. Here is an example (I got mine in a pet store so I could examine them and measure them before purchase.

Amazon.com : North American Pet BBO22783 Bob Ladder Keet for Pets, 24-Inch : Bird Ladders : Pet Supplies
These are the pics of the cage they were in. I moved the 4 budgies last night to the flight cage until I decide the best thing for them. Despite having a ladder one of them fell a lot because of all the activity in the cage. Now there is only 4 so they are not knocking into each other as much. I attached a pic of the cage they are in now.
IMG_0117.JPG IMG_3110.JPG
 

meheartbirds

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Also I am thinking of placing the flight cage on the floor "if" I use it so they can get out and walk around the room. Suggestions are so helpful in here. Thanks. I will take the hooks off Lady Jane on the ladder if you think it best.
 

meheartbirds

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IMG_0118.JPG
I went ahead and put the budgies back in the large cage. I had it out in case my budgies returned to it. They did not. I have all the doors open to their cage and the cockaktiel cage so they can all go and come as they please. I put some padding on the bottom of the cage. I put the ladder at the bottom so they can climb to the outside of the cage. Great suggestions Mary Jane.
Below is a pic of their new set up. You can see the cockatiel Phoenix is already on top of their cage. He HAS to be near them lol.
 

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Lady Jane

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Thanks for the photos. I don't think the ladders are long or tall enough. Do they reach the cage door? I cannot tell. You have flat top cages which is good because you can make a play area up there and hang things from the ceiling. Take a look at mine and you can see what I am writing about. Set up for budgies.jpg



 

Fergus Mom

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Awww Cynthia @meheartbirds I'm so sorry that none of the budgies flew back to the cage after escaping!
Hoping that they flew down somewhere and someone rescued them.

Great suggestions by Lady Jane here!

I would also suggest more ladders and perches on the inside sides of the cage. Although mine do slide down the vertical bars they have on the front of their cage, they use the sides a lot for climbing, as mine have horizontal bars. The only horizontal bars on yours are the cross bars, so that would be difficult to get to the bottom by climbing. Is the clipped one who cannot fly a young Budgie?
 

meheartbirds

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Thanks for the photos. I don't think the ladders are long or tall enough. Do they reach the cage door? I cannot tell. You have flat top cages which is good because you can make a play area up there and hang things from the ceiling. Take a look at mine and you can see what I am writing about. View attachment 285305


How nice! I love it. Did you make those play things? The ladder does go from the door opening to the floor. You're giving me ideas again lol.
 

meheartbirds

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Awww Cynthia @meheartbirds I'm so sorry that none of the budgies flew back to the cage after escaping!
Hoping that they flew down somewhere and someone rescued them.

Great suggestions by Lady Jane here!

I would also suggest more ladders and perches on the inside sides of the cage. Although mine do slide down the vertical bars they have on the front of their cage, they use the sides a lot for climbing, as mine have horizontal bars. The only horizontal bars on yours are the cross bars, so that would be difficult to get to the bottom by climbing. Is the clipped one who cannot fly a young Budgie?
Fergus Mom,
People keep coming up to me in the neighborhood and asking me if I have found them yet. Even a dear child came banging on my door to ask me if I found them. Today I gave up. I spent last night looking for them and calling out to them. The woods and such were so quiet it made me very sad. They were sweet little babies and were starting to trust me and enjoy flying right over my head. Life goes on.
I had recently purchased two budgies that are very young and one especially got clipped more than usual. They can barely fly. But I have to say when I left for work tonight the one who keeps falling hard was sitting on top of the cage. I had to laugh because I did not think she could do that. She let me put her back in without biting me which surprised me because they are wild.
Thanks for the suggestions about perches. I actually have many perches to put inside that cage but I ran out of time today. I do however need to go buy more ladders.
 
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