Questions about my budgie.

[Franco]

I got a budgie back in January of this year. First time budgie owner. They had been on the same seed that the pet store had their birds on. They was the last one they had so i got them got a nice big cage. I found out after i got them that all the vets around here only deal with dogs/cats and not birds. I was reading that a seed diet only is bad for them and that they should be on pellet. Well the only pellets i keep finding at the pet store is the ones that have dyes in it which i read was bad for them. So they finally got some pellet food in but sure if he/she will eat it. As the seeds that they was feeding had seeds and small pellets and i noticed that he/she would eat like half the pellet not sure if they would actually eat it or spit it back out.
I got him/her a bag of that Kaytee Nutrisoft pellet food and I'm not sure if it is good for them or not. So i don't know how to switch it over to this new food as it does seem him/her are picky since i offer over and over veggies and he/she will nibble at it but not really eat it. Like they will nibble at the kale but not rip off a piece. Cut up some baby carrots he/she took a bite or 2 and same with broccoli pieces and florets.


I live in Pennsylvania in a 3 bedroom apartment. We have no spare room for just them so we got them in the living room. We cover him/her around 9:30 10 pm. Is it better to cover him when the sun goes down and it starts to get dusk? And uncover him when it gets dawn? It will get dawn around 7:35 AM and dusk around 7:30 8 pm. My wife and i will go to bed around 11:30pm 12am. Is this ok or should we go to bed when we put the cover on him/her.

We are trying to tame him/her. The other day i was putting in some new toys and rearranging his/her cage and they would get on my hand which they never did before and start nibbling on my fingers and on my webbing between my thumb and finger which kinda hurt but not much. Then they went for the finger nail and was trying to get their beak under the nail lol. I'll post a video at the end i tried petting his head but I'm not sure if his reaction was playful or telling me to back away.

When we finally got stainless steel food/water bowls he started going into the bowl and kicking his food out. Finally caught him/her on camera doing this tonight lol.

Now the other day a few days after we rearranged his/her cage we noticed a lot of down feathers on the floor and when we looked at them we seen what looked like pin feathers. When we got them the pet store employee didn't know how old he/she was but they still had all their black stripes on their head.

Picture of them when we first got him/her. Still got black bands on head. Maybe someone can tell me their age from that picture? Picture is to blurry to tell sex.



Then we noticed what looks like pin feathers as they look like other birds when i googled it. The first pic below i just noticed in the pic that his/her beak has double layers. He/she does have a cuttlebone and they was using it till i moved stuff around in the cage and it seems like he/she don't use it as much now. A couple of weeks ago i noticed he/she will start rubbing his/her head on toys/perches. The 2nd picture looks like a bald spot above his/her cere.


Maybe be able to tell gender from pics above? Didn't want to use flash as i read flash blinds them.


Since there is no avian vet around my town their nails are getting long will a sand perch work or something that will help sand their nails down as they are not fully tame will not go on finger when asked so I'm not sure how they will feel picking them up to cup in my hand and I'll be afraid to clip their nails as I'll be scared of hitting their quick.

Here is his/her cage setup. To small of a cage to much stuff in it any suggestions?

 

[Shezbug]

Budgies should have some seed in their diet, pellet only diets can be rather harsh on their kidneys (they are not big drinkers and are naturally seed eaters in the wild).
Your bird looked to be quite young when you got it, and does appear to have some pin feathers- some budgies will rub heads on perches and cage bars to help open the pin feathers if they have no one to preen them open for them.
If you can get some fresh branches and place them on a good angle running upwards then you can often be really lucky with budgies keeping their own nails short by wearing them down on the bark- I have not once had to do anything to my budgies nails in approximately 5 years but I did also get him a stone swinging perch a short while back and that will also be helping. You can add a flagstone perch for your little one to use for nails and beak maintenance (we have a vendor who sells them if you are interested).
Try hanging your kale, cos lettuce, broccoli, carrot tops, other greens or veg from the roof of the cage while they are dripping wet- many little ones love the larger leafy stuff dripping wet and will rub into it as they eat- my little guy will only eat fresh stuff when it is offered like this.

I hope I have answered some of your questions, others will be along soon enough to add to what I have shared and hopefully make your parrot keeping more enjoyable and less stressful.

 

[UserAZ]

My budgie has two cups in the cage with food and an egg carton on top (for foraging exercises, I throw crumbled paper so he has to toss them away and such).

In one cup, he has pellets. Depending which store I get them from, it be one of these:
- ZuPreem FruitBlend Small Bird Food (Petsmart, and some other local store near me)
- All Living Things Premium Pellets Parakeet Diet (PetsmartU+0029

The other cup I put in something I just buy (a small bag of something) at the store. For example, am currently using Brown's Tropical Carnival Natural Parakeet Food (Petsmart). He tosses out the fruit and eats just the seeds. When that runs out, I try something else.

On top of the cage, in said egg carton, I use a seed mix (Petsmart, Walmart, whichever I can afford). Usually has pellets and millets in it too. That is like his treat food he has to fly out of the cage to get to. I will not buy something that is just seeds. Has to have pellets, millets, and other stuff he can/wants to eat.

Also have on the side, spray millets. The treat of thy birdie.

I try to give him fresh fruits or veggies, but he ignores everything like that. The other week I tried eggs. Failed with that.

Because of the egg fail, I saw in PetSmart yesterday Vitakraft Egg Food Supplement. Giving that a go. I can say so far that 100%, he not caring for it.

Now and then I put a drop of apple cider vinegar in his water.

People mentioned here before, OASIS #80070 Alive and Well Pro-Biotic Tablets for Birds (Amazon). I finally got some. Only a few tablets, so really is a waste since he is not going to drink a whole tub of water in a week. Oh, maybe I should cut the tablets in half... hmmmm.

But that is what I do. He has a mix of foods for variety, to either eat or toss away.

Your cage looks like mine. He is alone in it too. Plenty of room, and he flies out and around the room.

Going by the pictures, I think the cere is light purple to me.

 

[Sparkles99]

Rocky is beautiful!

Looking at all the pictures, I see a female. I could be wrong, though. In some pictures I also saw a violet hue. But the lighting isn’t good in any of them.

Any daytime pictures?

 

[Franco]

Budgies should have some seed in their diet, pellet only diets can be rather harsh on their kidneys (they are not big drinkers and are naturally seed eaters in the wild).
Your bird looked to be quite young when you got it, and does appear to have some pin feathers- some budgies will rub heads on perches and cage bars to help open the pin feathers if they have no one to preen them open for them.
If you can get some fresh branches and place them on a good angle running upwards then you can often be really lucky with budgies keeping their own nails short by wearing them down on the bark- I have not once had to do anything to my budgies nails in approximately 5 years but I did also get him a stone swinging perch a short while back and that will also be helping. You can add a flagstone perch for your little one to use for nails and beak maintenance (we have a vendor who sells them if you are interested).
Try hanging your kale, cos lettuce, broccoli, carrot tops, other greens or veg from the roof of the cage while they are dripping wet- many little ones love the larger leafy stuff dripping wet and will rub into it as they eat- my little guy will only eat fresh stuff when it is offered like this.

I hope I have answered some of your questions, others will be along soon enough to add to what I have shared and hopefully make your parrot keeping more enjoyable and less stressful.

I have tried hanging the kale from the top and rocky nibbled on it more then on the side not sure if they took any bites. Will keep at it.

The fresh branches idea is great just not sure what trees are safe for them and to tell you the truth i wouldn't know one tree from another. And another concern is bringing any kind of mites or something else to rocky.

Any other perches that are good for nails. I'll look into the vendor you mentioned.

 

[Franco]

My budgie has two cups in the cage with food and an egg carton on top (for foraging exercises, I throw crumbled paper so he has to toss them away and such).

In one cup, he has pellets. Depending which store I get them from, it be one of these:
- ZuPreem FruitBlend Small Bird Food (Petsmart, and some other local store near me)
- All Living Things Premium Pellets Parakeet Diet (PetsmartU+0029

The other cup I put in something I just buy (a small bag of something) at the store. For example, am currently using Brown's Tropical Carnival Natural Parakeet Food (Petsmart). He tosses out the fruit and eats just the seeds. When that runs out, I try something else.

On top of the cage, in said egg carton, I use a seed mix (Petsmart, Walmart, whichever I can afford). Usually has pellets and millets in it too. That is like his treat food he has to fly out of the cage to get to. I will not buy something that is just seeds. Has to have pellets, millets, and other stuff he can/wants to eat.

Also have on the side, spray millets. The treat of thy birdie.

I try to give him fresh fruits or veggies, but he ignores everything like that. The other week I tried eggs. Failed with that.

Because of the egg fail, I saw in PetSmart yesterday Vitakraft Egg Food Supplement. Giving that a go. I can say so far that 100%, he not caring for it.

Now and then I put a drop of apple cider vinegar in his water.

People mentioned here before, OASIS #80070 Alive and Well Pro-Biotic Tablets for Birds (Amazon). I finally got some. Only a few tablets, so really is a waste since he is not going to drink a whole tub of water in a week. Oh, maybe I should cut the tablets in half... hmmmm.

But that is what I do. He has a mix of foods for variety, to either eat or toss away.

Your cage looks like mine. He is alone in it too. Plenty of room, and he flies out and around the room.

Going by the pictures, I think the cere is light purple to me.

Well the seed that rocky is on right now is Great choice fortified parakeet food from Petsmart. It's the only pet store in my town. It has seeds and pellets but the pellets are colored.

May i ask what the drop of apple cider vinegar does in the water?

He isn't tame yet so i'm not to sure on letting him out yet. Afraid i will have a hard time getting rocky to go back in the cage.

The video above i posted of rocky nibbling on my fingers, i don't know if it is a defensive measure cause i was messing around with stuff in his cage or him trusting me. I know at the end of the video i pet his head and it looks like he was trying to attack me.

Hope he is a male so my son don't have to change their name lol. If rocky is a male later on we can get a female and name her Adrian lol. My 15 yr old name them rocky.

 

[Franco]

Rocky is beautiful!

Looking at all the pictures, I see a female. I could be wrong, though. In some pictures I also saw a violet hue. But the lighting isn’t good in any of them.

Any daytime pictures?

Thank you.

It's still winter here and still a lot of clouds out so not much sunlight out and the way my house sits the sun is always on the kitchen side of the house and the living room is in the shade.
Will flash hurt them to get a pic with flash. I am using a samsung s20 fe to take the pictures. Any other way to get a good picture with the way my house is? More lighting? Above on the side?

 

[UserAZ]

Well the seed that rocky is on right now is Great choice fortified parakeet food from Petsmart. It's the only pet store in my town. It has seeds and pellets but the pellets are colored.

May i ask what the drop of apple cider vinegar does in the water?

He isn't tame yet so i'm not to sure on letting him out yet. Afraid i will have a hard time getting rocky to go back in the cage.

The video above i posted of rocky nibbling on my fingers, i don't know if it is a defensive measure cause i was messing around with stuff in his cage or him trusting me. I know at the end of the video i pet his head and it looks like he was trying to attack me.

The pellets I give him are colored, fruit flavored ones. They not too artificial with stuff. You can check out the names of the brands I use. Harder for me to go pricier and healthier, and I really do not want to buy things online if possible. I like physical stores. Well, I like having physical stores to touch things and look at them closely physically.

The apple vinegar is for health benefits. I just do a drop or so in the one tube of water, so it is not so strong for him. It was something I read on this website last year. But a quick online I grabbed this:

Apple Cider Vinegar For Budgies (9 Uses For Budgies)

Raising a budgie is a lot of responsibility, these birds need to be given the correct amount of nutrients for them to survive and thrive. If you’re looking to see if you can use apple cider vinegar…

crittercleanout.com

In the bird’s body:

Nutrients
Giving apple cider vinegar to budgies is a simple and easy way to get more nutrients into the bird’s body. This vinegar has a high concentration of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that are great for the bird’s body.

Apple cider vinegar contains vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, chlorine, potassium, sulfur, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus as well as trace minerals.

When looking for an apple cider vinegar to buy for your budgies, make sure you buy the apple cider vinegar that contains “the mother”.

“The mother” consists of strands of proteins, enzymes, and friendly bacteria, this is the material that sinks to the bottom of the apple cider vinegar bottle.

Make sure that the apple cider vinegar that you buy for your bird is organic, naturally fermented, unpasteurized, and unfiltered, this type will contain the most amount of nutrients.

Deworming:
If your budgies are infected with worms, then you can give them apple cider vinegar to treat this problem. Apple cider vinegar is safe to use in budgies and it will kill off any worms making it an effective and harmless insecticide.

Improving the bird’s digestive tract:
Giving your bird apple cider vinegar will help kill off any bad bacteria in your bird’s digestive tract.

If you choose to feed your bird apple cider vinegar to help improve the bird’s digestive tract, make sure that you offer a probiotic to the bird to reset the bird’s gut flora.

You have to do this because the apple cider vinegar will not only kill off the bad bacteria in the bird’s digestive system but the good bacteria in the bird’s digestive system as well.

Make sure the probiotic that you choose is given a week after the apple cider vinegar treatment is given.

Other internal health benefits:
In addition to the above, apple cider vinegar can help your bird burn fat, strengthen the bird’s immune system, help clear toxins in the bird’s body, help relieve constipation, help get rid of diarrhea as well as get rid of any stubborn fat on your bird

I think the nibbling in the video is playing, or testing waters of how tasty you are. My Tweety is not very playful. He is like a cat. Just wants to be fed and left alone. When I do try to pet him (here kitty kitty), he would sometimes go for the "I bite you" type of bite. Or peck, whatever people call them. When he pecks (which would have more of bite (no pun), or string to it, he wants to be left alone. If he acts like in your video, I let him as I think he is playing... or finding a weak spot in the finger to gnaw at later.

I am OCD. I never wanted a bird to have to chase, clean bombardments of occasional poop from mid-flight (how does he hit the wall), and trying to get him back in his cage. But I do now (there is a story). When he flies around the bedroom, am fine. I just have to check my bed and water (on desk) for droppings now. It is when he flies into the living room I have to chase him. I got some things not easily clean if he poops on them, like Chinese paper room dividers and my starship Enterprise-D model I made and painted. The tricky part at times is if I have to go out, and I need him back in the cage so I can close it. In the end, I will as he eventually flies back into his cage if I need him to get back in there so I can close it. But, all that took time and months for him to even start flying out of the cage on his own. After I let him settle (in the beginning), I would leave the cage open and let him explore on his own when he was ready.

 

[Sparkles99]

It’s winter here too. Just take a picture in natural daylight by a window.

 

[UserAZ]

I have not had a good, real winter since 2005 when I left Boston, MA.
Raleigh, NC is nothing but hot summer weather to me. Twelve months a year. Does not matter if 32F outside one or two days of the year (I still have to use my AC [but I keep my bird warm, no worries]) or the rare times it snows, I am always hot and not feeling a "winter" for twenty long years.
Be thankful for your winters, or send them to me!!

 

[Sparkles99]

Ours has been a really fake winter this year. Our climate is becoming warmer & dryer. This winter the change has been so dramatic that everyone is talking about it!

 

[Shezbug]

@UserAZ I am unsure just how correct all that ACV info you posted is... I believe ACV feeds good gut bacteria and I do not believe there is any truth in the comment about it killing off worms. ACV can be a great supportive helper for our gut but it is not a miracle fix all and there are way too many incorrect bits of info floating about regarding its benefits.

 

[UserAZ]

I only do it as an occasional supplement to water. I read somewhere on this website last year about giving it to birds and that was just a website I pulled up this morning. Are you saying should not be giving it to the birds at all then?

 

[Scorpi0]

UserAZ, I use the Oasis Alive and well tablets for my birds. The water tube I use holds exactly a 1/4 tablet’s worth of watrr. So I cut my tablets into 4 pieces each as best as I can…it doesnt come out perfect, but its not a big deal really.