physically challenged??

[novicechick]

Hello,
I'm new to the forum and relatively new to owning budgies (my mum was the proud owner of several when we were kids), so I have a few questions.

Firstly, we bought our new friend Sirius (my son named him after his favourite character from harry potter) on Friday from a local pet shop. I had bought one for my mum as a mothers day present a couple of weeks before, and to my untrained eye they all seemed of good health, happy and kept in good conditions in the shop. My son chose Sirius, who was running around the bottom of the cage away from the other birds at the time.

When we got him home and introduced him to his new home, we noticed his tail feathers are quite ragged and were wondering if maybe he might have been picked on by other birds (he is small compared to the others in the shop).

I have also noticed his left foot is turned inwards compared to the other. He often sits on one leg, but it's the bad one he sits on, so I  don't think it bothers him much, but he is very clumsy when climbing around his cage! To me, it looks like a deformity rather than an injury. I  fully intend to let him out of the cage regularly, but not sure if this will cause him issues.


These are things that may have prevented me from buying had I seen them in the shop (I have recently had eye surgery so my vision was fuzzy!), but now I have him I'm glad I did, especially if he was being picked on! Otherwise he seems in good health, climbs around his cage a lot, chit-chats and eats and drinks well.

[suesbird]

We have had Pippin 3 weeks from a breeder and his tail feather look ragged too, looks like they have been mopping the floor, I wondered about being picked on but could be just dirty. He is obviously young and would be clumsy, if you look at Pippins photos on 'Pippins feathers' you can see where he has cut his tummy by falling off a perch. I know they sleep on one leg, and he sounds happy, eating and drinking

[porthos]

Hi and welcome the ragged feathers can be due to being kept in a small cage with the other birds, birds tend to perch on one leg this means they are relaxed and content, I would get him checked over by a vet though if you are concerned about him and if his foot is deformed might be an idea to make sure he is ok

[starlingqueen]

Can you post pictures of him? Can he fly at all, have you seen him flap his wings and hop to other perches or does he climb the sides of the cage to move around?

[rae]

Hi, I can't help, as I'm super inexperienced with my first one too. But everyone here has been so helpful to me. I'm sure you will get help. I would second the vet check though. It made me feel loads better once he was looked over and we got some good advice from the vet as well.

[novicechick]

Yes he flaps quite happily around his cage and hops between perches, but his favourite seems to be climbing around. He does seem to wedge himself into awkward corners but doesn't get distressed, just flaps around til he finds his way out. He seems to like dangling upside down on his ladder but I can't tell if this is intentional or if he's just a bit of a doughnut! When going from his lower perch to the floor, he tends to just lean forward til he falls off, rather than hop. He always lands on his feet however, if I thought he was hurting himself it wouldn't be at all funny (which it is!). I'll try and get a good pic of him.

[novicechick]

The best I could get so far....

https://instagram.com/p/1IvOYOt4XH

[suesbird]

He's lovely

[starlingqueen]

He's very cute. I can just see what you mean by his foot, It does look slightly deformed but it shouldn't hold him back.
More clearer pictures would be nice. Just so we can see his wings and tail, make sure he's healthy, which he does seem to be so far.

[reajen01]

He's beautiful, what a lovely shade of blue I can't help with the health questions but there are plenty of folks here who can advise (as you can already see

[novicechick]

He is lovely, and quite sociable I think, he already seems to be fine with my hand in the cage. We couldn't take him back to the shop, but want to double check I don't encourage him to do anything that might hurt him!

https://instagram.com/p/1IyorGt4eA

[novicechick]

https://instagram.com/p/1Iy0jjN4eZ

This is a rubbish one but you can at least see the end of his tail.....ish!

[starlingqueen]

He seems to be OK. Wings and tail look fine apart from being a bit tatty on the tail. One thing I do notice, is that a sand sheet on the bottom of the cage. If so please consider removing it and replacing it with newspaper? Sand sheets and sanded perch covers cause damage to the buds feet that can lead to a condition called bumble foot which is very hard to treat. Also natural perches are much better for their feet than the dowel ones. The varying widths exercise their feet. Does he have any toys?

[novicechick]

I was planning on getting new perches anyway, these are just the ones which came with the cage, and I think I need to get slightly smaller ones, so at least he has one he can fully grab onto. He has a mirror and bell, which he completely ignores so far, a ladder which he likes and a swing which he also ignores. I didn't want to overcrowd the cage to start with, but will more than likely replace the mirror with something else if he's not bothered in the next week or two. As for the newspaper, my other half works for the local rag, so I can get plenty of that! About to clean out the cage now, so will replace it. Thanks.

[starlingqueen]

He may take more notice of his toys once he settles down. I only asked because I didn't see any in the photos. You can make your own perches with safe tree branches. Apple or willow are good. Make sure you wash them thoroughly, most people on her use F10 disinfectant that is safe to leave on the branch or whatever you clean with it.