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Post by BudgiesBuddy on Sept 18, 2013 7:17:40 GMT
Hi and welcome to forum Goldie Letting budgies step on the perch while holding a millet spray in the same hand as perch, always works, sooner or later. They are tempted to go for the millet spray which they can't do without stepping on human hand. Thanks, BudgiesBuddy. I must be doing a variation of that. You're welcome Yes, that must be the case.
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Post by samwiseg on Sept 18, 2013 8:36:17 GMT
Sorry am so late on your thread GoldieNYC, but echo what everyone else has said - from a tragic beginning turning into a happily every after tale! Goldie is certainly beautiful and you both are tremendously lucky to have found one another Loved the fact that she tried to shower in the rain - she must have been used to bathing before? If so that is a good thing that you wish to encourage as many owners have some difficulty with getting their birds to take a bath! Anyways, I digress - so glad you found us and a warm welcome to you and Goldie
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Sept 15, 2013 16:23:58 GMT
GoldieNYC
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Post by GoldieNYC on Sept 18, 2013 12:18:44 GMT
Please don't clip her! I know it is very common in the States, but really there is nothing to be gained by clipping that can't be figured out another way, and there is no more beautiful sight than seeing your budgie fly about your room. So, glad the ring is bigger than it seemed, I would find another solution for the plastic-coated ties, in fact cable-ties are a good alternative. While they are relatively stiff, they have enough give in them not to cause injury, they are hard enough so that Goldie won't chew through them, and they are easily cut off to the right length if needed. Be aware of letting her chew on all and anything. Even though it may seem that she is simply shredding the material, there is a risk that small amounts of these materials, whatever they may be, are making their way into her crop which can cause all sorts of problems and can lead to the death of the bird. Natural material is the best - leaves, branches and bark of safe trees. I am even wary of paper, cotton, sisal etc even though they are natural fibres. Sorry. I've done it again, haven't I??? I am not trying to put you off, or come over all negative ...... just things we have all come to learn; I am all for learning from others rather than having to make my own mistakes ...... I do enough of that anyway! I appreciate your experience, Hezz. No clipping. And I will look into the alternative materials. I actually let her chew on wood most of the time - untreated.
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Post by Hezz on Sept 19, 2013 1:55:15 GMT
Yes!! No clipping, Wood is good, soft and untreated. If it is too hard, they give up and find something else, usually something like a good book or your son's school assignment! (Ive had that happen) You are in the prime place for accessing plenty of budgie supply sites for lots of interesting toy components. It is much more fun making your own toys (only to have Budgie-bird ignore your marvelous creations!!! ) Something else I just thought of - don't use any of those sand sheets you may see in all the pet stores. They can cause awful sores on the bottom of the birds' feet (bumblefoot) and can be very hard to clear up. The same goes for perches or ladders covered in the same sort of thing - sometimes they call them "cement" perches.
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Oct 8, 2011 14:18:45 GMT
ruthpaton
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Post by ruthpaton on Sept 19, 2013 10:02:28 GMT
What a lovely story of how Goldie chose you! Well done on giving her a home. It really sounds as though she has taken a first step toward being finger trained. I would just encourage you to keep going with that and all I would add is to practise regularly - a few minutes at a time several times a day would be great. It may be slow progress and don't be discouraged if she doesn't always want to comply. You've found something that works so you will get there. As far as windows and mirrors go, once she is staying on your finger you can show her that they are solid. I took my budgie to the window, tapped on it and let him tap it with his beak. He now avoids it and won't even go close enough to tap it himself! We have a conservatory too which he loves to sit in for a change of scenery and to see outside. I don't normally let him out of the cage in there but have put some of those adhesive transfers with pictures of birds on all the windows. That was a suggestion by someone on here quite a while ago. They look nice on the windows and, on the one or two occasions he managed to escape his cage while he was in there, he avoided the windows so I think they work in showing the windows are solid.
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Sept 15, 2013 16:23:58 GMT
GoldieNYC
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http://youtu.be/F9ADEs8IHJk Here's a new video, featuring the little yellow bird.
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Post by GoldieNYC on Sept 19, 2013 16:21:21 GMT
Yes!! No clipping, Wood is good, soft and untreated. If it is too hard, they give up and find something else, usually something like a good book or your son's school assignment! (Ive had that happen) You are in the prime place for accessing plenty of budgie supply sites for lots of interesting toy components. It is much more fun making your own toys (only to have Budgie-bird ignore your marvelous creations!!! ) Something else I just thought of - don't use any of those sand sheets you may see in all the pet stores. They can cause awful sores on the bottom of the birds' feet (bumblefoot) and can be very hard to clear up. The same goes for perches or ladders covered in the same sort of thing - sometimes they call them "cement" perches. I hear you - on the concrete perch. She didn't like the one I bought. It's used only for out-of-the-cage excursions. Her feet were in blackened shape when she arrived. They're now pink and healthy, happily enough. Here's a newsprint toy I made for her one day. She went crazy over it.
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Sept 15, 2013 16:23:58 GMT
GoldieNYC
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http://youtu.be/F9ADEs8IHJk Here's a new video, featuring the little yellow bird.
Posts: 449
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Post by GoldieNYC on Sept 19, 2013 16:24:39 GMT
What a lovely story of how Goldie chose you! Well done on giving her a home. It really sounds as though she has taken a first step toward being finger trained. I would just encourage you to keep going with that and all I would add is to practise regularly - a few minutes at a time several times a day would be great. It may be slow progress and don't be discouraged if she doesn't always want to comply. You've found something that works so you will get there. As far as windows and mirrors go, once she is staying on your finger you can show her that they are solid. I took my budgie to the window, tapped on it and let him tap it with his beak. He now avoids it and won't even go close enough to tap it himself! We have a conservatory too which he loves to sit in for a change of scenery and to see outside. I don't normally let him out of the cage in there but have put some of those adhesive transfers with pictures of birds on all the windows. That was a suggestion by someone on here quite a while ago. They look nice on the windows and, on the one or two occasions he managed to escape his cage while he was in there, he avoided the windows so I think they work in showing the windows are solid. We've got coating on some of the windows. Truthfully, she's yet to fly into a window. The big living room mirror has been more of a challenge. She's now taking to dive-bombing my field of view as I sit in front of the machine. It's really something!
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Post by Shirls on Sept 19, 2013 18:15:29 GMT
Goldie certainly likes her new toy. It's like kiddies with a cardboard box, discard the present and play with the wrapping. Lovely to see her enjoying herself. I'm afraid I agree with Hezz about that ring, it would really worry me, I know you said it was quite big, but anyway, it is your choice. Hope you don't mind me saying.
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Sept 15, 2013 16:23:58 GMT
GoldieNYC
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http://youtu.be/F9ADEs8IHJk Here's a new video, featuring the little yellow bird.
Posts: 449
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Post by GoldieNYC on Sept 19, 2013 18:41:41 GMT
Goldie certainly likes her new toy. It's like kiddies with a cardboard box, discard the present and play with the wrapping. Lovely to see her enjoying herself. I'm afraid I agree with Hezz about that ring, it would really worry me, I know you said it was quite big, but anyway, it is your choice. Hope you don't mind me saying. I certainly don't mind, and I'll keep a close watch on how she plays. In that sense she evolves through various habits. One of those habits, now, is to go after all the window coating I put up - peeling it off one corner at a time. She seems to know that I particularly value that coating ;0) My greatest gains are in keeping a variety of toys in flux. She desperately needs them!
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Post by Hezz on Sept 20, 2013 1:27:18 GMT
The cheapest toys are quite often the best, lol! She does enjoying getting up into the paper. In our cage and aviaries section there is a section called toys and enrichment: here ...... budgerigarsforum.proboards.com/board/31/budgie-toys-enrichmentHave a look through some of these threads will give you heaps of ideas for toys to make yourself. If I have already said/done this before ...... sorry. I am doing this a lot lately.
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Post by samwiseg on Sept 20, 2013 8:06:39 GMT
Yes!! No clipping, Wood is good, soft and untreated. If it is too hard, they give up and find something else, usually something like a good book or your son's school assignment! (Ive had that happen) You are in the prime place for accessing plenty of budgie supply sites for lots of interesting toy components. It is much more fun making your own toys (only to have Budgie-bird ignore your marvelous creations!!! ) Something else I just thought of - don't use any of those sand sheets you may see in all the pet stores. They can cause awful sores on the bottom of the birds' feet (bumblefoot) and can be very hard to clear up. The same goes for perches or ladders covered in the same sort of thing - sometimes they call them "cement" perches. I hear you - on the concrete perch. She didn't like the one I bought. It's used only for out-of-the-cage excursions. Her feet were in blackened shape when she arrived. They're now pink and healthy, happily enough. Here's a newsprint toy I made for her one day. She went crazy over it. Oh this is LOVELY! Reminded me of my Mont - she used to play in EXACTLY the same way! She seems very happy and excitable! Lovely bird. Just one thing I spotted - she looks to be rubbing herself against the newspaper sometimes, so I bet if you hung wet basil leaves in her cage she would bathe with them and eat them as well. Basil is very good for budgies
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Sept 15, 2013 16:23:58 GMT
GoldieNYC
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http://youtu.be/F9ADEs8IHJk Here's a new video, featuring the little yellow bird.
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Post by GoldieNYC on Sept 20, 2013 13:14:15 GMT
Thanks for the tip, samwiseg!
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Sept 15, 2013 16:23:58 GMT
GoldieNYC
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http://youtu.be/F9ADEs8IHJk Here's a new video, featuring the little yellow bird.
Posts: 449
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Post by GoldieNYC on Oct 2, 2013 17:55:29 GMT
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Post by birdguhl on Oct 2, 2013 21:42:55 GMT
Oh my goodness that photo... She looks like she is only just clinging on by desperation and might fall all that way down at any moment. From that to her centrally heated perch on your desk with such loving attention - what an outcome!
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Sept 15, 2013 16:23:58 GMT
GoldieNYC
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http://youtu.be/F9ADEs8IHJk Here's a new video, featuring the little yellow bird.
Posts: 449
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Post by GoldieNYC on Oct 2, 2013 22:45:56 GMT
Oh my goodness that photo... She looks like she is only just clinging on by desperation and might fall all that way down at any moment. From that to her centrally heated perch on your desk with such loving attention - what an outcome! My feelings exactly. As I look back on the first photos I took of her, the feathers were all fluffed out, her feet were black from filth, and she was sorely in need of food and water. She got all of that and more. One day I noticed that her feet were bright pink again. I was deeply relieved that she had responded to care and protection. Now she's protecting me.
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