Old Photo of Roswell, Snowy and Monty

I found a photograph that was taken only a few days after Roswell and Snowy had been introduced to Monty. Roswell and Snowy still had purple ceres and were about 3 months old here.

They did so much to alleviate Monty's grief after little Eric passed away.

Such a cute photo too, I think you'll agree. :)

Blurry Budgies

This update was inspired by my friend Sweetpea's blog post: http://onesweetiepea.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/2011-review-failures/

Here are two perfectly lovely photos. Or they would be if Monty and Snowy had stayed perfectly still.

First photo I like to call "Monty Two face" - At times you have no idea which side of Monty will be present - Jekyll or Hyde, He can be a lovely and caring leader of the flock.

OR, he can be a naughty little tyrant that we call "Monty Big Balls". He starts manically chasing Jerry (if Jerry is annoying him by chasing Snowy) and demonstrating to him that he is boss. This has to be broken up as it can end in a fight. Monty does not give up when he wants to make his point.

Second photo is Snowy running around, unable to stay still. He's a total blur. Just like the "ants" running around with their lattes on the way to work in the morning.

Dumpling likes to sleep in the weirdest of places

I was just wondering where my little Dumpling was. He's a bit quiet and I can't feel any biting on my toes.

I looked down under my chair and he has curled up asleep under my foot, right by my big toe.

Silly boy. He's lucky I always check before I pull out my chair.  I want to get up and make a coffee but I can't disturb him, can I?

Budgie bedtime is a military style operation

Budgie Bedtime can be a very fraught process at times. I have to follow the routine to the letter otherwise chaos can ensue.

After cages has been cleaned, food and water are changed we can get down to the serious business of the day.

Monty, Snowy and Sky all have to be on perches that are near the front of the cage. Lilek must be on his shelf at the far right end. If this is not followed, Snowy will knock Monty off the perch and Lilek will leap to his shelf in the dark - squiggling and chittering at any budgie in his path.

Photo One shows incorrect bedtime positions, photo two shows correct ones.

Blueboy, Jerry and Roswell get some millet to share before bed, this makes Blueboy feel like a more welcome member of the group as they all cooperate and eat together.

Photo three shows the boys eating.

Photo four is Dumpling (Lilek) on his bedtime shelf, ready to settle down for the night.

Abbie and Hector like to mess around a bit, making weird strangled noises at eachother and trying to preen eachothers feet.

Photos five and six are the two of them messing about!

The lamp is on, budgies are partially covered. I go to wash up their bowls and toys. This takes about 10 minutes as they are left to dry overnight.

When I come back I put the budgies to bed, gently whispering the "Bedtime for budgies rhyme" and pulling down the cage covers for the night.

If I am very lucky they will not stir until my alarm goes off at 7.30am.

Bed times for budgies, Budgie Bedtimes.

It's our chair now

Roswell, Jerry and Monty have claimed my chair as their own. I only hope I am allowed to sit on it occasionally.

They even land on it when I am at my desk.

Look at tiny Monty next to Jerry and Roswell. Jerry is trying to stand as tall as he can, you wouldn't think he was a pet type and Roswell an exhibition bird.

 

Monty in Flight (again)

Caught another photo of Monty flying this morning. He's so fast it's amazing to get so many of him flying in such a short space of time.

Go little fella go!

Toy chewing culprit found!

I wondered who had been chewing up the new toys. Well we found him!

Snowy is the culprit. Caught in action here having a good old gnaw. I am really happy that he's using the toys for their intended purpose as I am always worried that they'll ignore new things.

Good Boy Snowy! :D

[categories budgies,snowy,toys,chewing,photography,cute,fun]

Brave budgies..

Yesterday Both Jerry and Lilek flew down the passageway.

Then Jerry flew into the bedroom and did several laps of the room.

Both Roswell and Jerry have been landing on my computer screen and just now as I was typing this Jerry landed on my shoulder!

Jerry (the explorer) has also been making "talking noises" although we can't make any words out yet!

What will his first word be? - probably "Naughty"

Who says if you have more than one budgie that they wont be tame or talk?

[categories budgies,brave,photography,fun,pets,birds,cute,mischief]

"We hear you have been having IT Problems.."

"..We are here to fix them. Jerry, get the tools.."

Monty taking off

Look at him go!

Progress of a Blueboy

Blue boy has recently moved in with Roswell and Jerry. He didn't have much to pack but he did bring with him nightly millet rations. He, Jerry and Roswell enjoy sharing these in the evening as a team-bonding experience.

It was decided that Hector and Abbie were being a bit mean to Blueboy, pushing him off the perch and not letting him eat. He was very reluctant to leave but now he enjoys his new digs.

Roswell and Jerry however are a lot kinder, of course there is a little shuffling about to get the best position but in the end they all eat happily side-by-side.

Blueboy is sleeping a lot better too - actually I have no idea whether he'd sleeping but he's calmer and quieter at night. Much less stressed.

Yesterday I witnessed Blueboy sing twice, Very small songs and quite short but it's the first time he has sang since September.

Each morning Lilek tries to bash beaks with a reluctant Blueboy. It's good that other budgies are trying to socialise with him.

A new toy was bitten a bit the other day but Blueboy says it wasn't him. Sometimes I wonder if they realise that I want them to bite these things and play with them or they think that they are being naughty!

Pass the Loofah

The fiends had been pestering me for a bath today. Their wishes were answered.

I put out some luke warm, diluted camomile tea with basil leaves and coloured ping pong balls floating in them.

Jerry had so much fun splashing around that he got a little too water drenched and I had to lock him in with Roswell for 15 minutes to dry off as he kept plunging to the floor when he tried to fly.

This is a stern reminder of why bath times should always be supervised.

Jerry wins new toys for the fiends!

The budgies received a parcel today from Canada!

They watched excitedly as I sliced it open with some scissors. Inside were 7 lovely toys that Jerry had won in a competition!

Thank you Zohie they are lovely :)

I have hung them up all around the place and so far the birds are scared of them but one day when they are less chickeny, they will enjoy them :D

The fiends would like to show off..

Some photos to show..

Hector has been singing to Abbie while she sleeps. It's very cute to watch.

Dumpling has been flying to my feet a lot, he especially loves my Christmas socks.

Monty and Snowy have just been posing. Although Monty flew off as soon as I had taken the photo.

Fun frolics and drinking your meds

Blueboy likes me to know that he's drinking his calcivet. He shouts at me til I watch him then has a nip of water and flies off squawking!

Lilek is getting cheekier than ever. I put the budgies seed to one side while I had some egg out for them and Lilek found the seed and tucked in!

Here is a photo of the budgies relaxing in the evening for your enjoyment, aren't they colourful :)

And another of the cheeky Lilek..

The Blueboy Ultimatum

My little Blue fella Blueboy has been through the mill recently, ever since October he has been very poorly.

First of all I thought it might be Canker, so the flock got the treatment. Blueboy No better.

Then because of his being unable to eat on his own and constantly neck-stretching I thought maybe Air sac mites. Treated with Ivermectin. No Better.

So I took him to the PDSA and got some Baytril in case he had a respiratory infection. No Better.

I also bought iodine and added it to his water in case it was a goiter, he doesn't use the iodine block at all.

At one point he was not eating on his own and we had to syringe feed him crushed pellets, Guardian Angel and apple juice. Then he started to eat millet so I put some in his cage every night to make sure he ate (still am).

We took him to the Avian Vet and she said that he had Aspergilliosis so gave us fungizone meds to give him once a day for two weeks.  He had his last treatment yesterday. He hated being caught and syringe fed every evening but we got good at it and did it in less than 10 minutes.

He is still neck stretching and is very scared and nervous at nights and sleeps during the day. I have taken to leaving the cover on his cage at night slightly open and he's been better the past two nights. Less nervous and noisy.

I have been advised by the Birdcare Company (and have started him on Calcivet today) that it could be a calcium deficiency due to the following reasons:

Birdcare Company

"From what you have described it sounds like the bird is calcium deficient.  Calcium plays a huge role in the body.  

The first thing that you said, was that he wretches and stretches his neck a lot.  This can be a sign attributed to star gazing, which in turn is a sign of calcium deficiency.

The next thing that tipped the balance is that you said the bird is nervous, and excessive noise is being made.  Again this is a sign of calcium deficiency.

Another reason why I thought the problem is calcium deficiency is that your bird has a wheeze and a rattling breath.  There has been research done on some birds that have these sort of problems, and it has been found that it is due to calcium deficiency.  Birds do not make the mucous properly and also have a trouble coughing it out, this then gets infected and wheezing and rattling breath becomes apparent."

I asked What is Star Gazing?

I have noticed that he does this thing where he goes to the top of his cage and moves his head round one way and then the other, he has always done this.

Blueboy is one of our rehomed birds so we do not know of his history, we have had him for a year and two months.

Birdcare Company said

"From what you have asked, this sounds like star gazing.  It is a technical term for when birds look "over their shoulder".  It certainly sounds like a calcium deficiency that your bird has."

At the moment he's eating on his own and de-husking seed but could do with putting a little weight on.

I have high hopes for the Calcium restoring him to full health.

Special thanks to my friend for loaning me the money to take Blueboy to the vet. You know who you are and I will pay you back.  Slowy but steadily.

Also thank you to the Ebay seller that conned me out of £60 I paid for a netbook. I got a refund and it helped to buy more things for Blueboy. My Blueboy is worth more than a netbook.

------------------------------------------

Money spent on Blueboy so far:

Blueboys health: Priceless.

Item	Amount
Medicine and consult	£68.35
Aspergilliosis meds	£25.00
F10	£9.43
Humidifier	£9.99
Calcivet	£10.25
Probiotic	£7.75
Total	£130.77

We took him to the PDSA he escaped from the box, actually hatched his way out and sat on top of the box - don't worry he was also inside a Ferplast plastic pet carrier:

 Here he is from earlier today

We wish you a budgie christmas

The fiends wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!