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How to interpret weights

Kassiani

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First a little backstory about my two fids: I have two male budgies about 4 years old now. I got them as very young birds from a chain pet store. They have always shared a cage and seem to be good buddies. One has a dominant personality, and the other is more reserved.

Now me. I'm a widow. I got these birds so that there would be life in my home again about a year after my husband died. No, I did not know much at all about parrots as companions. Yes, I made all the usual mistakes (seed diet, no training etc.). They have not been out of their cage except for vet visits, so they are pretty cage-bound little men. Their health began to suffer as a result of their diet last fall. The unfortunate timing of this wake-up call for me was that my mother's health began to decline at the same time (breast cancer battle for roughly 35 years). I ended up traveling to help provide end-of-life care for my mother quite a bit, and the boys were cared for by pet sitters and neighbors.

Fast forward to about 8 weeks ago...their health was declining again, and I finally started to do everything I should have done in the beginning. I researched their dietary needs, I had them checked again by the vet, I have been target training them so that we can finally begin to bond. They are now on a chop in the mornings that contains various seasonal veggies, legumes, and sprouts, and I feed them an organic, cold-pressed pellet in the evenings that I have to grind in a coffee grinder and mix with a bit of seed to get them to eat any of it. I make my own seed mix now from millet, quinoa, oat groats, hemp seed, brown flax seed, chia seed, canola seed, and rolled oats. I offer a bath pretty much every day, although they are rarely interested. Since changing their diet, they have been more active, more vocal, and look more like sleek little parrots should--which makes my heart sing!

I am also working on bird-proofing a part of my home for them to be able to come out of their cage and get more flying exercise!

I weigh them, now, twice a day. In order to do so, I place one of their food dishes on a scale and the other on the cage floor. They tend to hop back and forth between dishes, so I can get twice daily weights on them. Here is what I've noticed: Their morning weights are much more variable than their evening weights. Is that normal? Is there something else I should watch for? I'm grateful for any advice!
 

Miss Annamarie

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First a little backstory about my two fids: I have two male budgies about 4 years old now. I got them as very young birds from a chain pet store. They have always shared a cage and seem to be good buddies. One has a dominant personality, and the other is more reserved.

Now me. I'm a widow. I got these birds so that there would be life in my home again about a year after my husband died. No, I did not know much at all about parrots as companions. Yes, I made all the usual mistakes (seed diet, no training etc.). They have not been out of their cage except for vet visits, so they are pretty cage-bound little men. Their health began to suffer as a result of their diet last fall. The unfortunate timing of this wake-up call for me was that my mother's health began to decline at the same time (breast cancer battle for roughly 35 years). I ended up traveling to help provide end-of-life care for my mother quite a bit, and the boys were cared for by pet sitters and neighbors.

Fast forward to about 8 weeks ago...their health was declining again, and I finally started to do everything I should have done in the beginning. I researched their dietary needs, I had them checked again by the vet, I have been target training them so that we can finally begin to bond. They are now on a chop in the mornings that contains various seasonal veggies, legumes, and sprouts, and I feed them an organic, cold-pressed pellet in the evenings that I have to grind in a coffee grinder and mix with a bit of seed to get them to eat any of it. I make my own seed mix now from millet, quinoa, oat groats, hemp seed, brown flax seed, chia seed, canola seed, and rolled oats. I offer a bath pretty much every day, although they are rarely interested. Since changing their diet, they have been more active, more vocal, and look more like sleek little parrots should--which makes my heart sing!

I am also working on bird-proofing a part of my home for them to be able to come out of their cage and get more flying exercise!

I weigh them, now, twice a day. In order to do so, I place one of their food dishes on a scale and the other on the cage floor. They tend to hop back and forth between dishes, so I can get twice daily weights on them. Here is what I've noticed: Their morning weights are much more variable than their evening weights. Is that normal? Is there something else I should watch for? I'm grateful for any advice!
You've come so far, you're doing an amazing job!!
Do they have huge morning poos? Are you making sure they do that before you weigh them? Isla and Bee do big morning poos but Mint doesn't.
 

Kassiani

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That's one thing I haven't noticed, I'm afraid. I have the light in their room set on a timer, so I'm sure they poop before I come in and open blinds etc. I'll try to watch for that! Thank you!
 

Zara

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It will be slightly up and down all through out the day as the cycle of pooping and eating is played out.
Jot the weights down on a calendar, try to weigh them after a poop in the morning and after a poop in the evening before bed. They should weigh a little more before bed as they stuff their faces to get them through the night.

The problems are when you see large changes in weight, ie around 10% or more.

so I'm sure they poop before I come in and open blinds etc.
Change the tray papers before bed and you should see that morning poop on the paper in the morning, it will likely be larger though some birds do poop during the night so it´s not as noticeable.
 

Kassiani

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OK, I can manage the paper change before lights out, and I've been keeping their weights in a spreadsheet, so I'll be able to calculate the percentage of weight change. Thank you!

Edited to add: They do poop all night, because there is always a cluster below wherever they have decided to roost.
 
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Mybluebird

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Great job changing their diet! It seems to be something budgie parents struggle with. Both my guys poop all night long and there is a cluster below in the morning. Good thing they don't go flying like crazy when you put the scale in or do you leave it in all the time?
 

Kassiani

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The scale only goes in when they get their main feeds 2 x daily. Morning and evening (about 2 hours before lights out). They are not hand tame enough for me to get them to step up and transfer them to a perch on the scale. So I'm limited in what I can do at the moment.
 

Zara

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I put a bowl of seeds on the scale, Tare, then pop the bird in the seed bowl to have a good munch while I check weight ;)
 

Mybluebird

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I've been struggling with how to weigh my guys. They are semi-tame and will get on my hand to eat a treat and for a few seconds as they are out and flying about. They perch on the cage but not anywhere else. Is it possible for you to post a picture of the scales/food dish setup so I see if it might work for my guys?
 

expressmailtome

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I put a bowl of seeds on the scale, Tare, then pop the bird in the seed bowl to have a good munch while I check weight ;)
Very clever! I have never heard of that before. I just put a nut on the scale, but for small birds that is a perfect idea.
 

Kassiani

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Yeah, that’s what I’m doing with the budgie boys. One dish on the scale and one off. They will start eating at one dish then move to the other. Voila! Budgie weights! And sure, I’ll get a picture in the morning :)
 

Kassiani

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I'm proud to report, lol, that one of my birds (Juju) did have an amazingly large poop this morning, and one did not. And it is Juju whose weight is more variable in the mornings! So, there's that :)

I'll take a photo of the scale and dish setup I use for their weights a bit later this morning.
 

Mark & Da Boyz

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On the weight I have learned you can drive yourself crazy worrying about it. I now check twice a week and don't really worry about what they weigh, as long as they are healthy and the vet happy with it, I just note what it is for each bird. On small birds, Parrotlet, Lovebird, Budgie or any of the little one a good meal can be 5-10 grams. So for a Parrotlet they can go from 30 grams to 40 grams from just a meal. I learn to track trends if a bird is gaining or losing all the time it's vet time. BTW I was taught this by a vet. IT's like taking you BP twice a day I was told, once in the morning once at night.
 

Kassiani

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Thanks, Mark!

Yes, I have been weighing them more frequently because they had elevated liver enzymes and were on a 2-week course of antibiotics. While they were still taking the medicine, I weighed the 3 times a day, lol!
 

Elysian

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The first budgie I tried to bring home died suddenly after just 4 days, and the (non-avian) emergency vet I went to claimed she was really thin, even though I'd weighed her at 1.2 ounces and that should have been around average..

That's just to say that once I grieved and brought my new budgies home (a male pair) I was scared and OBSESSED with weighing them each twice a day. Morning and night. On a brand new gram scale to be more accurate than ounces.
Just before they started molting their weight started slipping from a daily 32/34 (one of them is heavier) to 32/32, and then 31/30, and I freaked out and went to the avian vet and she said: THEY ARE BOTH VERY HEALTHY :D
(They started molting a week later, so it all makes sense now, and then were back to normal weight about 2-3 weeks later)

I got some forum advice telling me to chill out and calm down and just weigh them once or twice a week unless they are actively sick, because even though weight loss is an early sign of illness - weighing every day just causes anxiety about the fluctuations, which are natural :)

So yeah, I won't tell you to not weigh every day - it gave me a sense of control to know for sure - but definitely focus more on the weekly average. The day to day changes more than you might expect, and its when they are consistently dropping week to week that you actually need to worry.
 

Kassiani

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Thank you Elysian! And I’m so sorry you lost such a young bird :(

I probably will start weighing them only once a day at some point. I guess I’m just afraid that such little birds are good at hiding being sick. And I know weight and droppings are early indicators.

Here is a picture of my weighing set up at the moment :) 99BF823A-6082-4E53-9F7B-14ECF9C0CBFD.jpeg
 

Mybluebird

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Ahhh, thank you! I'm just starting to get my guys into foraging so they don't go to the bottom of the cage yet. I'm working on it! My kitchen scale is much larger so I'll check into getting a smaller one.
 

Mark & Da Boyz

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I'll remember your trick when I have to get BB on the scale...he hate's the "T" stand.
 
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