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Please can I have some advice on how to get my budgies moving?

Skiwis

Meeting neighbors
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2/28/21
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Hi,
My budgies have never been particularly active. This is largely due to one of my budgies, Kiwi, having been bred as a show budgie. He is considerably bigger than my other bird Sky who was raised in an aviary. I do not believe that Kiwi ever learnt how to fly properly either, as his flying has never been the best.

Kiwi has since had coccidia in his gut, which I have treated using medicine from the vet more than once, however his droppings have been wet and sometimes smelly for quite a while. Recently, he has started coughing, which varies from day to day.

I have been trying to get him to lose weight by putting them on Harrison’s pellets (changed from a seed diet as prescribed by an avian vet) and leaving their food outside for the majority of the day.

When I am training Kiwi, he is reluctant to fly longer distances for food, is there a way that I could improve Kiwi’s flying?

Thanks,
Skiwis
 

Ripshod

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Bear in mind a budgie diet should include seeds, up to 35%. The best way to get a budgie flying is by getting them to practice. Loads of time outside the cage would be beneficial to both, leave the food inside the cage and they should go back in on their own when they get hungry.
My budgies have never been particularly active
Are they caged in a dark area? Additional lighting in their area will brighten their day making them more energetic.
Another thing I've had success with is YouTube vids of budgie flocks or aviaries. Even the morning song of natice birds can excite them. When danger is around everything goes quiet, so silence in itself is a warning. Making happy busy sounds by playing recordings like this can be a great stimulus.
 

Ripshod

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*native, stupid fat fingers!
 

Kassiani

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One additional technique I used for my blue boys was to target train them. From there, I began recall training. So that way I could get them to fly every day.
 

Skiwis

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Bear in mind a budgie diet should include seeds, up to 35%. The best way to get a budgie flying is by getting them to practice. Loads of time outside the cage would be beneficial to both, leave the food inside the cage and they should go back in on their own when they get hungry.

Are they caged in a dark area? Additional lighting in their area will brighten their day making them more energetic.
Another thing I've had success with is YouTube vids of budgie flocks or aviaries. Even the morning song of natice birds can excite them. When danger is around everything goes quiet, so silence in itself is a warning. Making happy busy sounds by playing recordings like this can be a great stimulus.
Thank you for replying,
I use seeds as a reward along with millet when I am training them. That is a good point about time outside of the cage as they do spend the majority of the time inside of the cage outside of the training that I do.

Kiwi is also more comfortable with training inside the cage and will come outside of the cage for millet, but doesn't usually come out on his own other than for food.

As for lighting, at night/ morning they are kept near the door of my lounge, so I could try moving them somewhere else in the room which has more lighting.
Thanks for your help!
 

Skiwis

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One additional technique I used for my blue boys was to target train them. From there, I began recall training. So that way I could get them to fly every day.
Thanks for replying,
I have looked into target training, but wondered what sort of sticks would be most suitable?

I realise that it would be a thin, relatively long stick and lots of people use chopsticks. Would chopsticks found in shops be safe for birds or should I create my own target training stick?
 

Skiwis

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*Update*

After a long visit to the vet including x-rays,
I discovered that Kiwi had an enlarged liver and heart.

He is now on several medications from an avian vet, including a liver supplement, antibiotics, Calcium Supplement and B - vitamins.
This has been quite a stressful experience for him, and trying to get him to take medication (most of which is twice a day) is going to be challenging. The vet has suggested holding him in a cloth to avoid ruffling/ damaging his feathers. Is it a good idea to share who gives Kiwi his medication?

However, I am worried about him starting to recognise the syringes over time, and getting more stressed than necessary about them. Is there anything that you can do about this?
 

kayosa

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Either he will get stressed or he will get more receptive to the meds. Prep your medication outside his room, then go and catch him. Choose one skilled individual to dose meds, no need to rotate unless the skilled individual is not available. This person will become better and more efficient at dosing the Kiwi, thus making it faster and less stressful.
If you need help, get it before you try to dose so there is less waiting.

I dosed both my birds with antibiotics once, one became a beak clamping bad patient, the other more skittish budgie became a fabulous patient because she want it to be done and over faster. So he might be okay with getting meds, or he might not be.
stay calm yourself! A calm person is better and more effective at giving medication then someone who is panicked and wants to be quick.
Best of luck to you and Kiwi, I’m rooting for you.
 

Farfah

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Hedwig was a much weaker flyer than my other budgie Nimbus. He would only eat seed when I first got him and I found that feeding him sprouted seeds really helped get him more active.

When Nimbus flies out of the cage, he would stand on top of the cage and call for him but he’d be too scared to fly after him. So I’d help him by taking him half way and he would fly the rest of the way.

I also had him flying to me for millet. I would gradually get him to fly further and further to get millet.

You could also add perches close to the cage to make it less intimidating for them to fly around. Now they both come out and fly around every morning. Hedwig still gets winded a lot sooner but at least he’s flying around more.
 

Skiwis

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Thank you for all of your replies!
It's getting harder to get Kiwi to take his medication over time. The Calcium supplement and the vitamin B drops are ok as I can put them in their water and food respectively. However with the liver support and vetmedin tablet (helps with Kiwi's enlarged heart), it's fighting a losing battle. I don't feel like it's fair to put him through being put in a flannel and being given medication - most of it seems to go on his feathers since he clamps his beak shut to avoid being given it. I've also noticed that both of my birds trust me a lot less now that I've started giving Kiwi medication.

Any advice on how to make the process less stressful would be greatly appreciated
 
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