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Post by pjbinchrist on Jan 29, 2014 4:20:16 GMT
Hello everyone. It's been two months since we brought home our baby budgie from The Pet Stop and I though I might share with you some of the things that are going on with her. I would love to hear your thoughts on some of the things she is up to and some of the things that are puzzling since I'm a novice budgie owner. Our budgie is a very active bird that at times shows behavior much like a male than a female. It's very clear from the light beige cere that our budgie is most likely a female. However, she is much more vocal than I expected from a female and she bobs her head and dances on her perches quite a bit. She is very social which probably is a result of us having her cage sitting in our living room right next to our lounge chairs. She will dance, tweet, squawk, click, sing, fly from perch to perch, perch to the side of the cage, and even fly without going anywhere either in mid-air or by hanging on to a perch. She is really active and I suppose that's a good thing but it doesn't change the fact that I wonder about her sex. She eats out of a food tray but doesn't like when there is too much hull in there and will squawk for us to "clean it out." She also has a small tray of oyster shell she uses. She has a millet feeder which she likes to take from but she has yet to allow us to get close to her with millet any other way. She drinks water out of a tray but we've never see her use it for any kind of bathing. As a matter of fact, we can't get her to bathe in a shallow plate of water or a small bird tub. However, she is acting as if she needs a bath as she is itching her head against her ladder and perches. Some have suggested using a misting bottle, but others have said never to mist a bird. Thoughts? Last thing is that she is severely tearing up her perches and ladder. She is chewing the heck out of them. We have a toy in her cage that has wood, rope, and other material along with a bell on the bottom of it. She doesn't use it much at all. We have a cuttlebone in the cage but she rarely uses it. It's just a matter of time before the ladder is broken. Any thoughts? I've enclosed more recent pictures of her and a picture of her when we first got her for comparison because I also think she's a lot younger than we thought when we got her. Maybe a picture comparison might help determine her age. The first picture is her when we first got her and the second two are now. You can also see the damage she has done to her ladder and perch. |
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Post by luvsanimals2 on Jan 29, 2014 4:57:01 GMT
looks female to me, now in fact my females do act like males, head bobs, sings etc. i believe this is normal behavior, its just that males do it all day long lol have you tried to give her fresh fruits and veggies? i use wood kabob for the chewing behavior, cuttle bone is used for lack of calcium, mine use this barely but iv seen them nibble on it. do you have a mineral/salt spool? this might help and its always good to have them in there. i would take the millet out, this should be given as a treat. i would try spritzing her and she how she reacts, it wouldnt hurt to try once  just to see the recent pictures to me are a bit blurry |
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Post by Pammy on Jan 29, 2014 5:35:02 GMT
Nice to hear from you again! The confusion should end. Your bird is a girl, no question. As Luvs said, some females are quite vocal and enjoy the head bobbing and dancing as much as any fellow. Head bobbing is actually a sign of joy, so you can rest assured that she is happy. Birds chew. Some seem to need to chew more than others. Like Luvs, I provide something called a birdie kabob. It's readily available in major pet stores like Petco and PetsMart, and isn't expensive. I've found mine to last a good, long time. My birds also tend to really love to chew on that ladder. Must be made of some mighty delicious stuff. So, no need to worry. Your baby girl is behaving perfectly normally. She sounds like a darling, and lots of fun to have around. |
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Post by dianapalmer on Jan 29, 2014 15:22:45 GMT
She sounds like a happy, healthy bird. She does look young in the first picture. Enjoy her!
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Post by pjbinchrist on Jan 30, 2014 18:04:30 GMT
New Pictures added...    OK, so no more questioning her sex. I'm just going with the fact that she is a girl. Glad she is happy since she loves to dance and bob her head. We get a real kick out of it! Luvs - we tried to give her a small piece of apple and she was afraid of it. We set it in her cage and she would go near it. We set it on her ladder and she avoided the ladder and moved between the top and bottom perch by flying or along the cage. She still seems a bit scared of things and makes me wonder if she's still pretty young or just skiddish. As far as chewing and such, she has a cuttlebone, and oyster shell for calcium. No mineral spool or wood kabob, but she does have a toy with wood and leather shapes, a cotton rope and a bell. Guess chewing on that is not interesting to her. I spritz her today and she was just OK with it. She seemed a bit scared and annoyed by it but didn't squawk. I'm glad we seem to be doing well with her, but we would really like her to trust us a little more. Training has been ongoing but slow at best. |
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Post by Pammy on Jan 30, 2014 18:34:54 GMT
Some birds just take longer to tame down than others, and some will never be super comfortable with hands or being touched. My Clausy is like that. He just really, really doesn't want anyone grabbing at him. He clearly isn't afraid of us, but he does act skittish when somebody starts looking like they are going to chase him. Well, I guess all of our budgies act that way when I put it like that, but Kringle, Noel and December will allow themselves to be caught by my kids. Clausy won't. Sounds like your little girl has plenty to chew on, but she just likes chewing the ladder best. Mine like chewing the ladder, too. In time, you and I will both have to replace chewed ladders for our feathered friends. That business with being afraid of the apple wedge is really quite normal. These little budgies of ours are quirky little things, aren't they? If you put a little piece of your daily apple in the cage everyday, Credo will ultimately stop being afraid of it, and will probably eventually approach it and sample it. Maybe she will learn to like it. |
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Post by saif on Jan 30, 2014 20:18:09 GMT
Try cutting the apple into smaller pieces? thats how mine like it |
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Post by luvsanimals2 on Jan 30, 2014 22:58:35 GMT
i would mash the apple up or any veggie/fruit and sprinkle some seeds on it, that way she will taste the apple but still eat the seeds, keep doing this but decrease the seed amount. defiantly looks female not in breedin condition usually cuttle bones are not meant to be chewed on but for calcium intake, it is too soft for them to actually "chew" on it |
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Post by dianapalmer on Jan 31, 2014 0:34:48 GMT
Based on Pammy's recommendation, I got a birdie kabob at the pet store today. I expected the birds to be afraid of it at first, but Piper and Emma are both going at it right now.
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Post by luvsanimals2 on Jan 31, 2014 1:17:04 GMT
nice, my females absolutely loves to destroy them. i got the bigger one and seems like they dont like it as much as the smaller one
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Post by Sarah on Feb 2, 2014 2:56:37 GMT
She is definitely a female, just a peppy cheerful one. When we describe male/female behavior in budgies, we tend to be too severe. When we say that the males are the beautiful non stop singers, we don't really mean that females are incapable of song. Also, when we say that females tend to vocalize in harsh, squawking tones more often than males, we don't mean that males never make that sound or that it is the only sound females make. All these things are relative to the individual! The wood chewing is a good sign that she is female and healthy. She is following her instincts to build a nest and maintain her powerful beak by wearing it down properly. Just like a dog's chew toy, you should expect to have to replace parrot toys and perches from chewing - its a natural and healthy behavior. If you are concerned about funding Credo's chewing, you might consider harvesting wood from nature to make her perches and ladders from. If you are interested, let me know and I will make sure to teach you how to collect wood safely for your bird |
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Post by santinoandmondo on Feb 3, 2014 0:17:21 GMT
Our two hens were starting to chew up our window sashes when no one was watching closely so I liked the suggestion of the bird kabobs! Actually, I was going to order a couple of kabobs and happened to see that the parts were available for purchase at Smith & Foster. I bought the yucca pieces, cotton rope and small wooden pieces. I "drilled" holes for the yucca with a few twists of an awl. Then strung some yucca and wooden pieces up to make a toy. One of the hens Santino can rip up a circle of yucca pretty quickly so when half is gone and looks like it is going to fall off, I clip it to the side of the cage and she'll finish it off. Oh, Santino was the hen who was laying eggs a lot when I first joined the forum in December. I started to cover up their cage 12-14 hours, changed their diet to mostly Crumble, and she is started a 3rd clutch (!!!). I take them out right away but she has laid 3 eggs in the past 2 weeks. There is only newspaper on the bottom of the cage, and nothing that resemble a nest in the cage, but she is still popping out those eggs. Not sure what else to do for her. She seems happy and healthy otherwise. Sarah, I would like to learn how to collect wood when spring comes . It's too cold here to think about it. Thanks, Cherry |
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Post by pjbinchrist on Feb 14, 2014 20:48:40 GMT
Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. I have taken all your suggestions into consideration. Our local pet store only has the very large size kabobs so I'm waiting for them to get in an order for that and some Booda comfy perches to replace the soon to be chewed up perches and ladder. We have a wellness appointment for her on Feb 28th so we'll see how she is doing. It will be fun getting her to that since she hasn't let us get too close to her.
By the way, one of you mentioned she may out may not be sexually active. Will she lay eggs without a male. Is there anything we should be doing for her in that area? we use to cover her cage at night but we've stopped.
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Post by luvsanimals2 on Feb 15, 2014 16:31:24 GMT
some females will lay eggs without a male. its best to prevent it with a low fat diet, long night hours. they usually breed in the summer time with long daylight hours. we recommend at least 12 hours of night time, veggie/fruit with pellet/seed diet.
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Post by santinoandmondo on Feb 16, 2014 0:55:15 GMT
You have a very pretty girl.
Yes, one of our hens is living proof that eggs can be produced without a male. I'm covering her up 12-14 hours a night, added veggies/fruit (not terribly successful but still trying) and changed to pellet/seed diet. I made our bird kebobs with pieces that I ordered online from Petco. I'm glad I did as Santino, the egg laying machine, loves to chew on the yucca pieces and cuttle bones every day. Bought some wooden dowels today to build a playground to hang from the window.
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just to see
