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Pictures Hey!

Lady Jane

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
8/25/12
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26,569
Location
Maryland
Real Name
Dianne
Feet look fine. Please check the bottom of them if you can. She has hormones surging right now. You can tell because her cere is the crusty brown color. After the hormones are finished surging the color will fade a bit. Not much for you to do except learn about egg laying and the need for extra calcium which you can supplement. There are several on amazon for sale. Cuttlebones are usually not sufficient enough. Here is the one I use

Amazon.com : Avitech Cal-D-Solve Calcium/magnesium Supplement 4oz : Pet Calcium Mineral Supplements : Pet Supplies
 

SquawksNibbles

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
11/4/17
Messages
3,257
Real Name
Kiera
Thanks for tagging me @LSA. Sorry it took me so long to get to this thread. You’ve gotten a bunch of great advice so far!

Thank you so very much for taking this little girl in. She is very cute and you are doing SO well with her already.

I would definitely recommend a vet checkup if you decide to keep her. Though it seems like you’re already planning that, so that’s just another sign that you truly care about the Budgie. :)

If she stays with you it’s important that she gets introduced to a new, better diet. It’s not very crucial now as she’s still settling in, but an all-seed diet can lead to fatty liver disease and vitamin deficiencies. Budgies need vegetables, seeds, and pellets in their diet. If you want your Budgie to eat veggies soon, you can feed her very finely chopped broccoli. A lot of birds really like broccoli (it’s the first veggie my birds tried). You can chop the tops of, and the tops will resemble little seeds.

It will take long for your new little one to warm up to you. You need to show that you are a friend. The first thing you can do (after giving her several days to just settle in to her new surroundings) is occasionally drop a treat in her food bowl. This will help her associate your hand with good things, like yummy treats. Once she seems a little more comfortable with you, you can start spending more time by her cage. Even reading by her cage can help. Maybe even read out loud. It may seem silly, but reading with a nice, soft voice may help, as well. Sudden, loud movements can spook her, so avoid making any of these. Spending time near her cage is about the best thing you can do to help her become more comfortable with you at the moment. This way, she can learn that you aren’t going to hurt her, but you’re not forcing interaction on her. If she doesn’t seem comfortable, but instead scared, definitely slow down a bit. After a while of giving her time to get used to you being there by the cage, you can even start opening up the cage door to see if she’ll come out. One very important thing to keep in mind is to be patient and don’t force any interaction on her. Although, the way it sounds, you are being patient and doing very well to your new friend. Great job! :tup:

Also, if you have any other pets, please do not let them interact. Dogs and cats are predators to little animals like birds. Dogs and cats still have predatory instincts. Even letting your dogs/cats and bird play can turn into a horrible accident. Cat saliva is toxic to birds. Even if your pets were to be ‘playing’ together, a play scratch/bite to your bird can be deadly. People here on AA have lost birds to cats and dogs. I would hate to see the same thing happen again. I’m not trying to scare you, and I do believe that dogs and/or cats can be in the same house as birds. It just takes a little work to keep them separated at all times.

If you have any questions, please, please ask! We are here to help you as you continue to care for your first parrot. I hope you’ll stay on AA for a while. :)
 

Mysdrym

Meeting neighbors
Joined
10/11/18
Messages
26
Location
North Carolina
Real Name
Jenn
There were no black dots on the paper this morning, so I take that as another sign that there's no worry of mites, which is good.

I've ordered a bigger cage, and it should come next week. I tried feeding her chopped up lettuce and spinach today, but I don't know that she ate any. I will give her broccoli tomorrow.

I talk to her from a ways away from the cage already. Should I not be doing that yet? I also talk to her as I'm doing things near her cage and try to move slowly so she sees it's nothing scary.

And I've been alternating between playing soft classical/old country music and videos of other budgies chirping that I found on youtube for her, especially when i'm not around. I can't tell which one she likes more just yet, but she'll chirp during both. I tried setting it up so she could see the video of the other birds, but I don't know if she noticed them or not.

Speaking of, would it help to get her a friend? I work 7 hour workdays during the week, and I worry she will be lonely.
 

LSA

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
4/20/18
Messages
4,319
Location
Parrotian Castle
Real Name
Leslie
You're already a wonderful parront! Another budgie sounds GREAT!

They really do best with companions. @SquawkNibbles has budgies that have staring contests and cuddle with each other while mine fight, kiss and preen each other. Budgies are bigtime flock animals as you see.

I used parakeet chirp apps, music and reading. Some members have budgies that love budgie tv. Mine don't. (My conures love anything bird.) It took JoJo over a week to drink water in front of me. At first it took JoJo a couple of weeks to adjust to anything new. Tommy, hours.
 

SquawksNibbles

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
11/4/17
Messages
3,257
Real Name
Kiera
You're already a wonderful parront! Another budgie sounds GREAT!

They really do best with companions. @SquawkNibbles has budgies that have staring contests and cuddle with each other while mine fight, kiss and preen each other. Budgies are bigtime flock animals as you see.

I used parakeet chirp apps, music and reading. Some members have budgies that love budgie tv. Mine don't. (My conures love anything bird.) It took JoJo over a week to drink water in front of me. At first it took JoJo a couple of weeks to adjust to anything new. Tommy, hours.


I do believe that Budgies do really well if buddies are around. Then again, it’s not always a guarantee that two will get along together. They’re still individuals and some just don’t like each other. But overall, Budgies are known to be very social critters and most do really well with a friend. In the wild, Budgies fly in very large flocks.

I’m a teenager, and I have school, of course. Luckily, I do virtual school so being home with the pets is no problem at all. Plus, my pets are my best friends and I just love spending time with them. So I spend much more time at the house than I do out. But even though I spend pretty much all day home and could give a lot of time to a single Budgie, I honestly 100% believe that my two Budgies are sooo much better with each other. They spend all day together, and are basically by each others’ side 24/7. Like LSA said, my birds will get into the usual funny ‘staring contests,’ where they put their faces right up together, look into each other’s eyes for a while, and then just break apart. It’s so weird, but funny! My boys, Skittles and Nico, do not preen each other, although sometimes I have come into the room to find them snuggled up together.

Here’s a picture where they were kind of snuggled up together. Not exactly ‘snuggling,’ but you can see how bonded they are. They have a big cage, too, yet they’re pretty much always by each other.
AAF79E6D-B2CF-4237-A396-DDC0E0838C30.jpeg

Their interactions together are hilarious, too! Budgies are truly funny little guys and watching two play along so well is great. It makes me so happy just to see them so happy with each other.

Keep in mind that another bird means more food, toys, bigger cage, more mess, and a larger vet bill. But if you truly feel that you can bring home another Budgie and care for him/her well, I’d go for it. Although, please remember to quarantine if you bring home another birdie anytime! :)
 

LSA

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
4/20/18
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4,319
Location
Parrotian Castle
Real Name
Leslie
Quarantine is usually about a month. I've never heard of budgies not getting along but am FAR from knowing much about budgies! At least you'll have a second cage if they don't.

Keep in mind that another bird means more food, toys, bigger cage, more mess, and a larger vet bill. But if you truly feel that you can bring home another Budgie and care for him/her well, I’d go for it. Although, please remember to quarantine if you bring home another birdie anytime! :)
I defer to the more knowledgeable because I was about to say just the opposite except food (My Tommy eats ALOT.) and AV bills. To my thinking, they share toys (Most of mine are DIY.), cage and the mess is cleaned anyway.

I always forget AV bills because mine are discounted based on bird origin and I just pay the same monthly. (At least one bird in my flock is there monthly anyway.) I suggest you mention the Kiwi's origin. (You never know unless you ask.)

Whatever you decide, best wishes and thanks for adopting and caring for Kiwi!
 

SquawksNibbles

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
11/4/17
Messages
3,257
Real Name
Kiera
I defer to the more knowledgeable because I was about to say just the opposite except food (My Tommy eats ALOT.) and AV bills. To my thinking, they share toys (Most of mine are DIY.), cage and the mess is cleaned anyway.

Maybe you’ve had a different experience and therefore a different opinion. :) I 100% respect that. Of course, since my birds are in the same cage, they also share toys and most of mine are also homemade. I will sometimes see one of them being protective over a specific toy, so I just always make sure to add more toys so they have a bunch of different options. If I have some very simple foraging or shredding toys I’ll even add a couple of that same toy in the cage in different places, just in case. I totally understand your thinking, though. :)
 

Mysdrym

Meeting neighbors
Joined
10/11/18
Messages
26
Location
North Carolina
Real Name
Jenn
I meant to reply to this a lot sooner, but life's been busy.

As soon as I saw LSA's post, I was out the door to get a new parakeet, and I missed the part about quarantine. However, both birds have a clean bill of health, so crisis averted there.

My new bird, Lemon, loves Kiwi very much. They are super adorable together, and the bigger cage came in so they have plenty of space. Kiwi didn't seem to know what to do with the toys, but Lemon's shown her how to play with/on all of them.

Lemon's wings were clipped, so he can't fly around like Kiwi can and has to climb the walls to keep up with her sometimes, so I was thinking I'd let his feathers grow out. I know they're at risk for escaping with their feathers grown, but because I have dogs there's no way I would let them out unless it's a very controlled environment, so I think that'd be okay.

Still having trouble getting them to eat veggies, but it's a work in progress.

They are great at sharing toys, not so much food, so I've got multiple food containers in there for them. I'm also learning how to make homemade perches, but there's been a few hiccups with that, so I may buy them one to have in the meantime.
 

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geff

Walking the driveway
Avenue Veteran
Joined
8/19/11
Messages
265
Location
UK
Real Name
Geoff
Thank you to everyone!

I tried to see if my vet could take a look at her last Monday, but apparently she isn't an avian vet--or she is, but prefers not to deal with birds--so I thought I would hold off on finding a vet I could take her to until I'm pretty sure no one's going to claim her. I have Tuesday off, so if I still have her this Monday (I don't see how anyone would not want to find her, she's such a sweetheart), I'll see what I can do about a quick appointment. There was another vet place I called that was really friendly, so I might take her there.

Luckily, I'm a bit sensitive to smells like that, too, so I don't use scented candles or air fresheners. I'll check if I have any Teflon, but I keep her in a room away from the kitchen, so would Teflon pans and whatnot affect her in another part of the house?

Yesterday I thought she was preening, but then today she was tapping her toes, and the stuff I was reading said that those combined can mean mites. And I'll see about getting an empty spray bottle. I don't want to use anything that's had bleach in it in the past or cleaning chemicals.

And thank you for the tip on the lettuce! Right now I have a big piece hanging near her millet seed branch for her to peck at. I'll cut that up. Should I put that in with her seed tray, or something separate?

Oh, also! I'm calling her Kiwi!
Teflon is a hazard, I only use cast iron pans now, threw them out, along with other kitchen ware as many electric grilling machines are Teflon coated. Yep it is a lifestyle change, the deeper you research, the more you do without. But they're worth it.
Kiwi seems like she will have a responsible owner. Good luck with her in your family.
 
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