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new budgie owner, any advice?

keith621

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I am a new user (apologies if I do something wrong) as well as a new bird caretaker. I recently decided to take care of my sibling's budgie as I felt quite bad for it (small cage, alone, hardly any interaction, etc.) and I feel that I am atleast slightly more responsible and caring in terms of animal care (I am older and am in general a pet person). However I am a fishkeeper and know more about fish than anything with wings. Any care tips, things to avoid etc.? More information: the budgie lives by itself in a pathetically small cage with some toys (it has recently been chewing on its perches as it doesn't have a cuttlebone, looking to get one). Additionally, is letting it fly freely in a room dangerous? I just don't want it kept in such a small cage.

Sorry if this is very long, but I appreciate any help! I been researching proper care.
 

sunnysmom

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Welcome and thanks for helping this bird. First, can you get it a bigger cage? Sometimes you can find nice used ones on places like facebook market place, etc for pretty cheap. What kind of toys does he have? What is his diet like? And birds will chew perches just because they like to. Also, what are the perches like? Actually, a picture of the cage would be helpful. There are things that are toxic to birds- like teflon, candles, air freshener- really any strong sent. So these should not be used. You can let him fly if the room is safe- ceiling fans off, windows closed etc. You just need to be prepared for how you're going to get him back in. Grabbing them really isn't advisable unless it's an emergency. So you might have to spend some time getting him back in at least the first few times. Treats often help. Is he hand tame at all?
 

keith621

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Welcome and thanks for helping this bird. First, can you get it a bigger cage? Sometimes you can find nice used ones on places like facebook market place, etc for pretty cheap. What kind of toys does he have? What is his diet like? And birds will chew perches just because they like to. Also, what are the perches like? Actually, a picture of the cage would be helpful. There are things that are toxic to birds- like teflon, candles, air freshener- really any strong sent. So these should not be used. You can let him fly if the room is safe- ceiling fans off, windows closed etc. You just need to be prepared for how you're going to get him back in. Grabbing them really isn't advisable unless it's an emergency. So you might have to spend some time getting him back in at least the first few times. Treats often help. Is he hand tame at all?
thank you for the welcome! I am unsure if I have the money or space for it but I'll look for appropriate cages that I can hopefully afford. They have quite generic plastic toys (rings, a mirror, etc. with bells). I heard that mirrors should be avoided with cockatoos but I'm wondering that's the same with budgies? And their diet is generic budgie seed with nothing else.
The perches are basic wood dowels, but I been looking at natural shaped perches and getting rid of them. I'll try and post a picture but I don't have the best technology for anything super clear, so I'm sorry about that! I don't think I have such hazards and I be sure to have windows closed and all that.
They are completely reserved and don't allow you to get close which is difficult so I just let them fly back into their cage by themselves. I want to train them and get them to trust me but I don't know how to start, I'll look for treats though! Hopefully this helped and thank you for answering.
 

A.K

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I think sunnysmom pretty much summed up everything you need to know, but here are a few things I might as well add:

- First, I found that playing videos of budgies chirping really calmed my bird down. She would tuck up her foot, and rock, chittering to herself.
- A birds diet should never, ever consist of only seeds. Try introducing him/her to pellets (Harrisons is a good brand) veggies are always great, just never feed him/her avocado, which is very poisonous. My budgies adored apples, grapes and bananas, although yours may enjoy others.
- My budgies seemed to like gazing at their reflections, although I’ve never given them a proper toy mirror, I too have read that they should be avoided, but I may be wrong
- For training, I found sitting next to them, while there in their cage got them used to seeing me. Try playing the sound of other budgies while sitting with them. If you see them closing their eyes, and then opening them, they are relaxed. Other signs are preening, soft chirps, tucking up a foot… etc. Important, don’t force them onto your finger by pressing it against their chest. I’ve seen YouTube videos of people doing this, and although the poor bird will step up, it will won’t like it and fear you. You need the budgie to trust you before it will step up
- I agree with sunnysmom, you should post a picture, as you’d get better advice for the cage and it’s set up.

Hope this helped.
 

sunnysmom

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Mirrors in general aren't a good idea. However, taking it away at this point might just be stressful as he may see it as his "friend". If it's not causing issues, like he won't leave it or becomes cage territorial etc. I would probably not worry about it at this point. A better diet would be the first change- along with a bigger cage when you can. Better perches too. Some dowel perches are okay but you don't want all the perches to be dowel as that can cause feet problems. Birds normally like toys they can shred, not plastic. There was just a good post on toys you can make yourself. I will find it and add it here. There are some good training videos too - Pamela Clark and Barbra Heidenreich are two good resources.
 

Sparkles99

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I’d try to get larger diameter perches, not just natural shapes. Some of what’s sold in store as perches are really twigs.

Be sure any used cage you consider is clean with no hidey holes for bugs. There are a couple of horror stories on here about cages coming complete with cockroaches, which could make your budgie & your attempts to improve its life very unpopular with your family.

Any photos or a name?
 

GreenThing

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Welcome and good luck with your new friend!

If your budgie recognizes spray millet, that will be a powerful friendship tool. If you can bird-proof your room, it is definitely good for a budgie to have out of cage flight/explore time for a few hours a day. Since your is so used to being in a small cage, it might be very reluctant to explore. Does your budgie come out of the cage when it is open? How close will they come to you or allow you to come before flying away? If so, if the only place with food is the cage that is a fairly fool-proof way to get a budgie back inside (although if they have all day access to seed you might be waiting.... a long time).

You mentioned an all-seed diet. You will want to be careful not to make abrupt changes, but diet can play a role in taming (making millet more motivating) and more importantly in a budgie's long-term health. The best thing you can work on introducing are a good, nutritionally complete pellet like Harrison's or Roudybush. I limit the amount of seed my budgies get per day (a bit less than 1tsp in the morning and another before bed), otherwise they won't choose to eat pellets. You could also try clipping up wet greens like romaine lettuce or dandelions (mine LOVE dandelion) to see if your budgie takes a nibble.

Budgies really come to life when they have freedom to explore and feel safe! And you came to the right place to begin your budgie journey, I have had my two for almost a year and the folks here have been an invaluable source of knowledge and support. Since you are a fishkeeper I would say that budgies are like the bettas of the bird world-- incredibly adaptable and therefore taken advantage of and put into environments that they might physically survive in, but not thrive. If you really put in the time and patience you will see a whole new side to your bird.
 
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Lady Jane

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As a safety measure make sure this bird cannot fly into the fish aquarium. Thanks for helping the bird. You can get a reasonably priced flight cage.
 

Ripshod

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One practical tip I don't recall seeing mentioned here - let poop dry before trying to remove it from soft furnishings. Wet poop likes to spread :wtf:

One other thing. We never own budgies, they own us.
 
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A.K

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One practical tip I don't recall seeing mentioned here - let poop dry before trying to remove it from soft furnishings. Wet poop likes to spread :wtf:

One other thing. We never own budgies, they own us.
Yeah, if you try to wipe wet poo, it’ll just smear, and make a mess. Let it dry into a hard little ball, then pluck it up with a tissue, or vacuum it up
 

Scorpi0

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Greenthing is correct that putting some millets in your palm and having your budgie eat from your hand will build trust and become friendly with u much quicker.

One thing I would add is if youre gonna let your bird fly around the house, make sure you have blinds or curtains covering your windows so it doesnt try to fly through and hurt itself. After you have become friends and your bird is sitting on your finger, you can slowly introduce it to the windows by taking it close to the glass and letting it peck at it. After some time, they will learn that its glass and they cant fly through. Then you can start leaving your window blinds/curtains open.

I got all my birds as babies with their feathers clipped so they werent really able to fly at high speeds to hurt themselves, so they learned by flying into it at very low speeds anytime they would get spooked by something. Now they know and happily fly around the house all day doing some cool aerobatics. :airplane:

Post some pics!!
And thanks for trying to give those budgies a better life!!!!
 
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donutweall

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Since budgies tend to poo in their dishes, it can be very handy to have a scrub brush with a built in soap dispenser for easy cleaning of dishes. Sometimes my flock soils their water dish multiple times a day, so making cleaning as easy as possible saved a lot of time!

Picture of what I mean:

00203cc0-1e03-47b9-9f6f-30ff45c0c49e_1.6731b80414ed0272a7b844149c5dbedf.jpeg
 
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