Thunder's appearance

[Azalea]

Thunder is the mostly grey Budgie in these pictures. We've owned him for not quite eight months. I wonder if he is overweight, or maybe he is a little bigger and older than the others?

He and Griffin (blue) are the mild-mannered ones in our Budgie group.

[Loz]

Handsome budgies!

Hopefully someone will be along with a more experienced eye with an opinion on Thunder's weight.

For what it's worth, the pics suggest to me that he's at the heavy end of acceptable - I wouldn't want him to gain more weight.

Are you able to weigh your flock on a regular basis? It's a very useful diagnostic tool and can provide early warning of developing issues.

[hitman]

Could be that one of his parents was an English budgie and was slighty on the larger side. Can you find out from where you got the budgie?
If not make sure you are giving a mixed diet of fruit and veg and plenty exercise. If the bird is becoming lazy and not flying then it might be overweight

[Loz]

Bodyshape tells you if a budgie is carrying extra weight.
If the chest noticeably sticks out over the tummy, that's a tell as the chest is where excess weight is normally carried (a sort of reverse of what humans display!)

[Ira]

He might just be larger.
But if you can hold him, have a feel of his chest. Can you feel his keel bone? Is he squishy?
Gwen has a lipoma on her chest and you can see it sticking out and rounded sometimes.

[Azalea]

Jan 17, 2024 7:49:35 GMT hitman said:

Could be that one of his parents was an English budgie and was slighty on the larger side. Can you find out from where you got the budgie?
If not make sure you are giving a mixed diet of fruit and veg and plenty exercise. If the bird is becoming lazy and not flying then it might be overweight

We "rescued" him from a chain pet store. A manager might tell me who they order birds from, but I doubt those commercial breeders will care to find out who his parents were. I know this is one disadvantage of buying from the pet store chains.

He is behaving normally: flies around the bird room, eats pellets and vegetables, plays with toys, hops around and "chatters" with the other Budgies.

[Azalea]

Jan 17, 2024 5:15:58 GMT loz said:

Handsome budgies!

Hopefully someone will be along with a more experienced eye with an opinion on Thunder's weight.

For what it's worth, the pics suggest to me that he's at the heavy end of acceptable - I wouldn't want him to gain more weight.

Are you able to weigh your flock on a regular basis? It's a very useful diagnostic tool and can provide early warning of developing issues.

No, I have not tried weighing them. Most will briefly perch on my finger when I am not holding treats/food, and all of them will sit on my hands if I do have food - except for Violet, the newest. She does not trust me yet, which is understandable.

[Loz]

In your shoes, Azalea, I wouldn't be too concerned based upon the pics. I would definitely invest in a suitable set of scales for weighing your flock on a regular basis.

Besides, weigh days can be fun!

[tweetiepiesmom]

I have an inexpensive digital kitchen scale. I put a little dish with millet on it, tare it out and capture the budgie's weight when he lands to eat. When I had two budgies, I'd record the weight of the first to land and then subtract that from the total of both birds on the scale. It worked pretty good for me.

[Marianne Marlow]

loz is Boba 67 grams?!

[Loz]

Jan 17, 2024 22:25:17 GMT Marianne Marlow said:

loz is Boba 67 grams?!

According to the display but I get the occasional errant value. I wonder whether eggs are on the way.

Boba is a big budgie in terms of stature, my biggest in fact but she doesn't appear overweight. I'll be doing weighings again on Friday so I should get confirmation one way or the other. If it's accurate she'll be my heaviest bird and second only to Berek at his heaviest. Berek did look obviously overweight then, though.

[Hezz]

As Ira has said, looking at a budgie is no good indication of whether the bird is fat or not. Weighing them on a weekly basis gives you a look at how they are trending - up, down or stable. The only way to tell is to feel the breast-bone (keel) of the bird. If the keel cannot be felt, the bird is too fat; if the keel feels sharp and prominent, the bird is underweight. You should be able to feel his keel but not too sharply and you should be able to feel his breast muscles on the side of the keel indicating good muscle development.

His chest could be extended at the time of the photos being taken simply because he had had a big feed, (this is where his crop sits) or it could be something more sinister such as a sour, infected or impacted crop.

[Azalea]

Thank you all for your comments and advice. Sorry that I had not gotten around to responding to each of you.