Advice please - Bimbo is making a low pitched noise

[budgiebudgie]

Bimbo my lovely hen is now about four months old.  Still so young.  She's been a bit 'off' this evening, although husband says she was bright and very noisy all day (when I was at work).  If anything, she seems tired tonight. I've put her cover on and she isn't protesting to come out. 

She's doing quite a lot of purring - not just today but on and off for weeks.  But she's doing it in particular this evening.   It's like a low noise, and it sounds contented, but it could be discomfort or anything. I don't really know.  It's like a low rumble.  Not unpleasant-  but, well, like a purr.  Or a kind of gentle growl.  Growl sounds aggressive though, and this noise isn't aggressive exactly.  It's somewhere between purring and growling and groaning.  But again, groan has all sorts of suggestions of pain and discomfort, and I don't think she is in discomfort.  I certainly hope not.  It's the possibility that she is, that has brought me here.

Can anyone tell me if this noise is a sign of anything?  I'd be grateful.  I think it might be tiredness.  This would make sense.  She was off colour yesterday with extremely watery poo, but I think this was because I offered her a saucer of water to have a flap in, but rather than take a bath she drank some of the water - two or three times.  Her poo is normal again today, thankfully.  

[Hezz]

Budgies rarely bathe without drinking quite a lot, so yeah, her runny poops are most likely from too much water, particularly as she is fine today. Budgies have a vast repertoire of noises that most people don't realize until they own them. They aren't all shrieks and tweets. Your description sounds perfectly normal to me.

[OP]

Especially hen noises.

[budgiebudgie]

Thanks, both, for the reassurance. Where I work, there's a firewall preventing me from getting to forums, so hope it didn't seem like I wasn't responding.

Although I'm a novice, she does seem like a most peculiar bird. When I got back from work today, she seemed to be in an incredibly tactile mood - wanting to move as close to my dozing head as possible (I had a nap) and actively wanting to be held in my palm, rolling around and cocking her head in delight. There's nothing wrong with her, I've realised. She's still making that noise, but it seems to be a fairly happy cooing or roosting noise.

She doesn't like most of the toys I've bought her, but will spend ages happily checking out random things left lying around, for example, this evening, a small pair of tweezers - perhaps because of the shiny stainless steel?

She will not go in any 'bath' I make for her, in a saucer or shallow bowl, but has tried to dunk her whole body into a small pot of drinking water - it was like dunking a too-big biscuit into an eggcup. I didn't see her do this, but it was all she could be doing, as she was soggy in her cage.

Also, she would have happily jumped feet first into a bowl of hot porridge I was eating (if I hadn't banished her to her cage). I'm extra careful now to have her in her cage when I'm eating hot food, as she tried to wade into a bowl of soup. Yet will she go into a bath of water?? No way, Jose.

She has a large swing in the living room, a twig-like hanging tree (also in the living room), a star-o-bells thing on one of her perch, and a shooting range. She's not interested in any of these things. Yet she will spend half an hour jumping on the buttons of the TV remote control. She does play with a ball I bought her which is meant to be for cats.

She is soooo loooovely!

[budgiebudgie]

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[budgiebudgie]

Trying to have a bath in the drinking water! But she won't get wet any other way.

[milliej]

My young male Tyler tried having a bath in the seed pot that I put water in, before I got them a new bath now he only goes to the bath when Bonnie goes in....what is it with these males my hens have always been fine and they all have different 'quirks' in their personalities. Bonnie is quite quiet relatively speaking, Tyler is loud for his size, he's tiny and Mischief my old bird is bigger and noisier. You're very fortunate to be able to handle her like you do, she isn't frightened of your cats then, perhaps she's learned 'that' noise from them?

www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Bird-Bath-Budgies-etc/dp/B002MY4Z9E/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1427313012&sr=8-16&keywords=bird+bath+for+cage

[budgiebudgie]

Hello Milliej,
They are not my cats!!! They are neighbourhood cats. If I had to choose between my own cat and my own budgie, there'd be no competition. I feel as though the neighbourhood cats are kind of harassing us, a bit, although I haven't seen them for a few days. I don't like the way they stare. They stare as though they are looking at a plump goldish in a bowl. It's unnerving.

I am really lucky to handle Bimbo the way I do. Sometimes she seems to crave the closeness of being held and cuddled and messed with. SHe loves having her feathers all roughed up and seems to like being enclosed by my hand, like its a cave. On other days, she just wants to fly about. Totally depends what mood she's in.

Your lot sound mischevious! And noisy! Interesting that Tyler tried to bathe in his drinking water. Perhaps this is what youngsters do? I was quite amused when Bimbo did it. She looked so bedraggled afterwards.

[suesbird]

Jo likies bright green pieces of paper, ear rings and anything orange, baths have to be in the kitchen sink in about 3 inches of water!

[budgiebudgie]

Suesbird, I will try the sink for a bath, thanks for sharing that.

[suesbird]

What a brilliant picture for a caption