Help!
Moderator: Mods
Help!
I know this is a forum for IRN's but I'm wondering if anyone here can help me with budgies. Another friend of mine has budgies. I took two of them in for a few days to treat them for parrot mange (mycosis of the beak or scaly-face) and overgrown beaks. When I looked at the vent of one of them (their both female) I noticed her abdoman was very red and swollen. I suspected eggbinding and gently rubbed her abdoman and vent area with vasaline for the lips (unorthadox I know but I was going on instinct and not much info). Anyway a few minutes later she passed a very soft egg. Phew! What a relief! My question is what to do now? She is breathing ok now and has started eating again but she is now insisting on standing in her food bowl something she wasn't doing yesterday. I don't know if this means anything or not but I would really appreciate some help as I am doing this blind a such a thing as a vet, avian or otherwise, is unheard of here. Thanks! Rachael
Great intuition on your part, with the vasaline. I'd think she's getting ready to lay her full clutch and has chosen her bowl to do it in. As long as she's eating, she's probably fine. Budgies lay an egg every other day until their clutch is "complete". If they are going to lay five eggs and you take the fifth away, she'll just replace it. So let her sit on her eggs until she becomes disinterested.
Maybe you can add another food bowl, lol. ^_^
And watch for eggbinding again. You did a good job.
Soft eggs may be from not having enough calcium. We use cuttlebone to supplement calcium here. Some calcium rich veggies might help if you can get the budgies to eat any. And sunlight helps form vitamin D which helps the body absorb calcium.
Veggies high in calcuim:
turnip leaves
green peppers
spinach
asparagus
cucumbers
radishes
celery
swiss chard
carrots
lima beans
cauliflower
kale
kohlrabi
Maybe you can add another food bowl, lol. ^_^
And watch for eggbinding again. You did a good job.
Soft eggs may be from not having enough calcium. We use cuttlebone to supplement calcium here. Some calcium rich veggies might help if you can get the budgies to eat any. And sunlight helps form vitamin D which helps the body absorb calcium.
Veggies high in calcuim:
turnip leaves
green peppers
spinach
asparagus
cucumbers
radishes
celery
swiss chard
carrots
lima beans
cauliflower
kale
kohlrabi
I've been called 'birdbrained' before, but somehow I don't think this is what they meant. say:hah-nay
Thank you Melika, Mikaela. You are lifesavers! This is exactly the stuff I wanted to know. She is now eating,drinking, chirping and exploring my office. It is wonderful to be able to share my bird worries and get help in response. Having animals here is an even bigger responsability then it is in the West as I can't just rush off to the vet. The funny is I've had animals all my life and haven't had a problem with any of them no matter where I've been, now suddenly I've got injured birds, picky birds, sick birds etc. Ah well, I guess it gives me a chance to learn!
-
ScarletKnight
- Posts: 135
- Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:23 pm
- Location: usa
hey
hope your birds are doing well. i currently started breeeding love birds and conures. not by choice, they jsut did it on their own. if you can't find a right nestign box or think it is to much of hassle . i have came up with a nesting bag (lol) if u want i can send you directions). it is simple and fairly easy built. In process of making one for my irn kairi i just gotta get him to trust me he tolerates me a lil now i want him used to me then i will make one for him. i think nextign boxes are good but i don't trust any of my birds they seem to like chewing the wood and the cloth works a lil better and doubles as a toy for them lol . mikela and other one two what you think of this ken. by the way the one with india my aunts irn eyes started to change from complete black he or she is abotu 13 months old
scarlet
scarlet
Thanks for the vote of confidence Mikaela. It's a relief to know I did the right thing. The budgie's stomach is back to normal and she is back with my friend with instuctions on how to go on (my friend not the budgie! 
.
I will check up on them everyday.
Yes please Ken. I would love to have the instructions to your nesting bag. My IRN destoys anything wooden I put in there.
She has made friends with my son's female lovebird. Veda (the lovebird) is at this moment hanging out in Sudevi's cage. They spend hours talking to each other. It is so funny to watch them together.
Oh, by the way thank you Melika for the pelletless website you sent me on my other posting. It is invaluable.
Take care for now all! Rachael
.
I will check up on them everyday.
Yes please Ken. I would love to have the instructions to your nesting bag. My IRN destoys anything wooden I put in there.
She has made friends with my son's female lovebird. Veda (the lovebird) is at this moment hanging out in Sudevi's cage. They spend hours talking to each other. It is so funny to watch them together.
Oh, by the way thank you Melika for the pelletless website you sent me on my other posting. It is invaluable.
Take care for now all! Rachael
No problem, and it's great to here the little budgie girl is back to normal. ^_^
When I was breeding lovebirds they preferred wooden nestboxes. It gives the female something to do while incubating, chewing the wood that is, and they seem to prefer personalizing their boxes. Also, wood boxes help keep the humidity unlike cloth. Female lovebirds will sometimes bathe in their water before entering their nestbox. They do that to increase the humidity in the nestbox. That helps prevent eggbinding. Eggs also need to be kept in the proper humidity to develop, otherwise you may end up with dead-in-shell babies, or eggs that never develop that far to begin with.
But if you're not breeding, just giving the female something to nest in and don't care about hatching babies nothing is wrong with a bag (or if you live in a warm/humid climate with the bird outside with no air-conditioning). I think it would be good for females without a mate. Note that lovebirds are territorial about their nest, so you may never get your hand in that bag to inspect the eggs!
When I was breeding lovebirds they preferred wooden nestboxes. It gives the female something to do while incubating, chewing the wood that is, and they seem to prefer personalizing their boxes. Also, wood boxes help keep the humidity unlike cloth. Female lovebirds will sometimes bathe in their water before entering their nestbox. They do that to increase the humidity in the nestbox. That helps prevent eggbinding. Eggs also need to be kept in the proper humidity to develop, otherwise you may end up with dead-in-shell babies, or eggs that never develop that far to begin with.
But if you're not breeding, just giving the female something to nest in and don't care about hatching babies nothing is wrong with a bag (or if you live in a warm/humid climate with the bird outside with no air-conditioning). I think it would be good for females without a mate. Note that lovebirds are territorial about their nest, so you may never get your hand in that bag to inspect the eggs!
I've been called 'birdbrained' before, but somehow I don't think this is what they meant. say:hah-nay
Guess I'm lucky. It is very humid where I live most of the year round. It only gets cold for about a month and a half. You need sweaters 'til about nine in the morning and the rest of the day you're in your shirt sleeves. About a week of that time you need a coat in the early morning hours but that's about it.
Here you don't find wooden nest boxes unless you get a carpenter to make one specially. They use pots with a hole in the side. I haven't tried our lovebirds out on them yet but the budgies love them. I'm trying to decide which way to go.
Here you don't find wooden nest boxes unless you get a carpenter to make one specially. They use pots with a hole in the side. I haven't tried our lovebirds out on them yet but the budgies love them. I'm trying to decide which way to go.