• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here
  • This forum is for advice about initial treatment given to your injured/sick bird until a qualified avian veterinarian is available.
    THIS IS NOT MEANT TO REPLACE VET CARE

Budgie acting oddly

Status
Not open for further replies.

penguin

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
9/4/10
Messages
1,965
Location
Portland, OR
Beckie, my normal female budgie, is acting oddly. She's not tame, but has flown to both me & the BF repeatedly today. She's eating and flying, but her cere is blue and one of her nares is reddish around the hole, and she's acting tired. She is molting, and I haven't seen her go into breeding mode lately. She is a bit of a seed junkie. Any thoughts?
 

Laurul Feather Cat

Cruising the avenue
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
12/12/10
Messages
11,162
Location
Steelton, PA, USA
Real Name
Lois
A blue cere on a healthy adult budgie usually means a cock bird. The redness around a nasal opening can mean the bird was literally picking it's nose with it's toe. The fact Beckie is landing on you means she is taming herself and wants company. If she is eating, acting otherwise nomally and her droppings are normal color and size, she may just be becoming more social. If she starts sitting around fluffed up, doesn't eat or starts sneezing excessively (not just one here and there), then worry and get her to a vet. To help ensure her continued health, try to get her to eat some veggies and/or fruit peices and maybe introduce her to some pellets to assure a balanced diet. Budgies in the wild do primarily eat seeds, but seeds are lacking in a lot of vitamins and minerals. Your Beckie sounds really cute.
 

birdlvr466

Hit the Road
Joined
10/15/09
Messages
16,655
Real Name
Pat
I agree dark blue cere are male budgies. Do you see any discharge? Do you have a humidifer and do you have a hygrometer to know what the humidity is in your home? Winter months are dry and if you arent running a humidifier chances are the air is too dry for your birds.
 

suncoast

Cruising the avenue
Celebirdy of the Month
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
13,464
Location
Naples Florida
Real Name
Ginger
Is he perching, playing, preening, pooing, eating and drinking okay? It could be the start of an infection because there is a seed or seed hull stuck in his nare. I would keep an eye on him and if he is still acting off, I would get him to the avian vet this week.

Ginger
 

Anne & Gang

Riding the Skies
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avian Angel
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
1,000,000
Location
Caledon, Ontario, Canada
Real Name
Anne
sounds likea male budgie to me....seed diet is fine as long as you supplement with healthy veggies etc....even pellet diet is not good entirely on its own..it must be supplemented...also sounds like he is trying to get your attention..becoming very tame....keep an eye on his poops and keep a sign on any wheezing or tail bobbing
 

ncGreyBirdLady

They call Me crazy like its a bad thing!
Administrator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
10/15/09
Messages
11,676
Location
Feathered Funny Farm USA
Real Name
Bonnie
It also sounds to Me that it could be a Male.Perhaps the combination of more flying and moulting is what could be making Him/Her more tired then normal!:hug8:
 

Birdasaurus

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Joined
10/17/09
Messages
4,990
Location
Suburb of Chicago, IL
Real Name
Andrea
How old is Beckie? Do you have a pic of the cere? Was it brown before this?

Sorry for all the questions, but the more info the better!

If it's never been brown before, then yes it's a boy. But females can change back to a white/bluish tint when they're not in breeding season. That is completely normal for a female. The pic would help us see the red ring you're talking about.
 
Last edited:

Pumpkin

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
5/11/10
Messages
3,215
Location
Canada Baby
Real Name
Tracy
Yup blue is boy. :) I agree with what others have said.
 

penguin

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
9/4/10
Messages
1,965
Location
Portland, OR
Beckie is about 5 yrs old & most definitely a female. She is sleeping right now. She has been extremely friendly today, preening my BF, and hiding behind his head. This is NOT usual behavior for her, so it freaked me out. I've never seen her cere this blue, but I have seen it brown and bumpy. I did take a few pics but I'm on the iPad so I can't upload them. I think she may have had a breakthrough day in terms of tameness, and is just tired due to the molt. I will try to get both new & older pics on here and follow up. I live in The Pacific NW, so I'm pretty sure it's not dry air. She does get plenty of veggies, but she is greedy about seeds.
 
Last edited:

penguin

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
9/4/10
Messages
1,965
Location
Portland, OR
So here's what we think happened; Beckie and Chester, our other budgie, had a spat, and Beckie decided we would be the cool kids to hang with that day. Sunday, the two had made up and she avoids us as per usual. Her cere looks normal and blueish brown, and she's almost over her molt. She is bathing as I write.
 

rikkitikki

Biking along the boulevard
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
8/10/10
Messages
5,515
Location
Papillion, NE
Real Name
Erika
That's really interesting. It will be neat to see if she does that again in the future and if you'll see more episodes of her acting tame. Did you get a chance to upload the pics of her nares somewhere? I'm just curious as to what they look like, that's something I find really cool is that you can tell the sexes apart by their nostrils :p
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top