|
Post by TwoGreenBudgies on Nov 16, 2015 0:49:51 GMT
Hi! My name is Meredith. I'm new to the boards, and just wanted to introduce myself and my boys, Toby and Mac. They're approximately 6 years old, and until yesterday they had spent their lives back against a wall in an antique shop. They were in an antique cage (it had an ornate metal frame with chicken wire sides, and a tall, solid, conical top that made the interior very dark), and had been fed exclusively on millet from the time they were acquired by their previous owner. First thing we did was buy them an appropriate cage, and get them settled in. They're MUCH more active and vocal now, making little happy chirps and playing with their new toys. I am also working to transition them onto a healthier and hopefully more balanced diet, so I started with crumbling some some Avi-cakes in a couple of their feeders. I offered them a small piece of carrot this morning and they were under the impression that it MUST be a stick of dynamite. They stayed as far away from that orange foreign object as their cage would allow. smh. Anyway, we're glad to be here!
|
|
|
Post by Hezz on Nov 16, 2015 7:17:27 GMT
Hi and welcome, Meredith. Welcome too, to Toby and Mac. Good luck telling those two apart ..... on first impressions,anyway. Well done with the rescue operation; I am sure Toby and Mac's lives are about to get a whole heap more interesting.
|
|
Apr 28, 2024 16:12:50 GMT
Deleted
Posts: 0
|
Hello!
Nov 16, 2015 7:27:55 GMT
via mobile
Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2015 7:27:55 GMT
Good luck with your budgies. I hope they settle ok. I look forward to reading your posts and seeing how they are doing. I had 2 budgies last year that I got from someone else and like yours they hadn't seen a piece of carrot before and mine were very frightened of everything. Just give them time and patience to adapt. They are lucky you found them - onwards and upwards from here.
|
|
|
Hello!
Nov 16, 2015 7:51:10 GMT
Post by OP on Nov 16, 2015 7:51:10 GMT
Hello and Welcome Meredith, so good of you to rescue Toby and Mac. They probably didn't know it but they must have spent a miserable time in that shop. They have a good life to look forward to now.
|
|
|
Hello!
Nov 16, 2015 8:17:07 GMT
Post by samwiseg on Nov 16, 2015 8:17:07 GMT
Hi and welcome Meredith! So glad you found Toby & Mac and of course us too! Hope you find us all a helpful and friendly lot
|
|
|
Post by TwoGreenBudgies on Nov 16, 2015 15:34:52 GMT
Thank you for the warm welcome everyone! I haven't had a budgie since I was a kid ( a long long LONG time ago LOL!), so it's really kind of cool to have the chance to bring these two into my life and hopefully offer them something better than what they had. Of course back when I had Peepers, it was common practice to feed them the typical millet seed bird food you'd find at the grocery store, and offer them grit for digestion. Then came the invention of teflon... I cringe at how ignorant we were back then. *~sigh~* Anyway, Toby and Mac are going to need help figuring out that there are other things to eat besides millet. They're the first seed junkies I've ever had, so this is all new territory for me as well. I'd appreciate any advice and help you guys might be able to give on this. As for telling them apart, Toby is a little smaller, lighter green, and has a yellow patch on the back of his head.
|
|
|
Hello!
Nov 16, 2015 17:42:50 GMT
Post by suesbird on Nov 16, 2015 17:42:50 GMT
Hello and welcome from Jo, Pip and my.
|
|
|
Hello!
Nov 16, 2015 17:55:18 GMT
via mobile
Post by jellybean on Nov 16, 2015 17:55:18 GMT
Hi Meredith, welcome to the forum. What a change in lifestyle these two lucky little guys are going to have. Great to have you join us.
|
|
|
Post by TwoGreenBudgies on Nov 16, 2015 19:32:01 GMT
Hello and thank you! I'm so glad to meet you, and very blessed to have found this place for sure. I'm so happy right now....both Toby and Mac gave me their first "greeting stretch" when I walked into the room a moment ago!! To me, that's a pretty good sign that they're settling in and hopefully beginning to recognize me as a friend. Of course, I may be reading more into it than what is actually there, but I still think it's a good sign anyway.
|
|
|
Hello!
Nov 16, 2015 22:52:52 GMT
Post by skysmum on Nov 16, 2015 22:52:52 GMT
Beautiful boys, welcome from me and mine. I have three just like that, love the greens Well done for giving them a better life
|
|
|
Hello!
Nov 16, 2015 23:50:01 GMT
Post by Hezz on Nov 16, 2015 23:50:01 GMT
The best way to convert them away from seed, I think, is to offer them something that resembles their natural native food as closely as possible. If you are able to get some seeding grass, leafy carrot tops, leafy greens, even small pieces of eucalyptus trees wet down and hung in the cage. Grass and grass seeds are their true natural food, even weeds out of the lawn are good. You will need to experiment with how they prefer their veggies once you have them eating anything else besides seed, and be prepared for most to be wasted. Growing some of your own seed can be rewarding, particularly if they are in the same area as the pot you have the grass growing in.
|
|
|
Hello!
Nov 18, 2015 15:21:36 GMT
Post by TwoGreenBudgies on Nov 18, 2015 15:21:36 GMT
Thank you Skysmum and Hezz. We're heading into winter here, so finding seedy grasses is pretty difficult right now. I have been trying to encourage them to try some chopped up fresh celery leaves, with tiny pieces of carrot, and sprinkled with dried parsley leaves, but I think they're under the impression that it's really some sort of terrible trick I'm playing on them, and they'll have none of it. That's okay. I'll keep offering it (and similar things)every morning. This morning, I added a bit of their seed over the top of the celery leaves, and Mac finally got up the nerve to go down and gobble a few seeds before retreating back to the top perch. It's a start at least! LOL!
|
|
|
Post by jellybean on Nov 18, 2015 17:12:32 GMT
I give mine a piece of carrot, but I leave it whole, just clip it to the cage, they also like soaking wet basil leaves hung up in the cage which they tend to bathe in Carrot tops are another favourite, not only do they like them, they also like to play in them But their all time favourite food is seeding grasses, if you can get these anywhere your birds will love you for it:-
|
|
Apr 28, 2024 16:12:50 GMT
Deleted
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2015 20:17:26 GMT
I just bought some basil today when I went shopping
|
|
|
Hello!
Nov 19, 2015 3:30:59 GMT
Post by TwoGreenBudgies on Nov 19, 2015 3:30:59 GMT
Excellent idea Jellybean! I'll pick up some fresh leafy greens at the store this weekend to try. When I hung a baby carrot in their cage the first day they were here, they were terrified of it and kept themselves pinned in the farthest corner of the cage. They've never been offered anything but millet, according to their previous owner, so they're suspicious of anything that isn't tiny, shiny, and round. LOL! However, they did end up picking out the celery leaves from their seed this morning, so at least they got the taste of it. Hopefully they'll decide they like it and will learn to eat it now.
I do have some left over fescue seed that we used to over seed our lawn this fall...I could possibly grow some of that for them or maybe get some chia seed to sprout? When spring gets here there will be an abundance of grass seed available, so I will most definitely stock up and plant some for them!
And Polishrose....I absolutely adore your budgie's sweet face!
|
|