My pair of Budgies

[vangellis]

Hi, I just joined today.
I was wondering if anybody could advise me, I recently purchased (1month ago) a pair of young budgie's.
A Boy & Girl, I was told when I purchased them from a very reputable family owned pet-shop, that they were very young, I had to have everything delivered as I am housebound, when the birds arrived I looked at their eyes and saw that they were jet black (no pupils) by this I assume they are indeed, very young birds.
I also purchased a cage for them, but I didn't realise how large it was. it's roughly 3 foot wide, 28 inches back to front, and 4 foot tall. (it's massive & weighs a ton) I bought everything I could think of, a few toys, mirrors, bath, stainless steel seed & water bowls, (threw the plastic ones away) plus loads of millet, a large cuttlefish bone thing, grit, sand sheets & 5lb of seed and a water mist spray to give them a wash if they didn't use the bath, which they don't.
Now when I first had them, within a week I had the male sitting on my finger and also feeding him by hand, but the female simply doesn't want to know, if I put my hand in the cage she immediately flies to the highest point in the cage. and now the boy is doing the same.
Another thing that puzzles me, is that they will both sit together right at the top all day, no singing or chirping, nothing, complete silence. I have no idea what to do.
When I was a kid we had a budgie that talked and he also liked to play football on the living room carpet with a ball from a blow-football game.
I was hoping to get these about the same, but the way it's looking, I don't have a chance.

Thanks
Vangellis
Ps, at what age do you get their claws clipped, please.

[Morgan]

Well, for starters, budgies don’t need grit (especially insoluble grit which can cause impaction), though offering small amounts of oyster shells grit may be fine as it also contains some calcium and is digestible. But dinNt give them a whole bowl full because if they are feeling unwell they may just start eating it in large quantities which can still cause impaction.

Sand sheets also can cause bumble foot, so you should probably just try to return those or throw them away. Maybe someone else will have a better suggestion what you could use them for alternatively if you more like me and don’t like to waste things Are the sheets meant to be used as a cage liner though? I have heard of that, and maybe if the budgies don’t spend much time in the ground it would be ok to just use them up til they are gone? Get someone else’s opinion on that though because it still seems dangerous to expose them to the rough paper at all.

You shouldn’t need to clip their nails if they have all natural wood perches of varying diameters which will keep their nails filed somewhat. I know that beaks can become overgrown due to fatty liver disease (just something to be aware of), so if you see that happening don’t assume just having it trimmed is solving the issue. I have heard that some illnesses can cause nails to overgrow also but I am not positive about that.

As far as them staying up high and together, that is completely normal. You are a big scary human and they are two baby birds who know and can communicate effectively only each other. Since they are tame enough to not be freaking out and flying all over when you go into their cage, you can try to interact with them slowly by offering a known treat to them from your hand. You can also just sit next to their cage and talk to them, and play the winking game. Don’t look at them directly with both eyes, close one or turn your head so they can only se wine of your eyes, or blink often and keep your eyelids relaxed and almost sleepy. This breaks up your predator stare so they won’t think you are hunting them down to eat them!

Even pet birds are wild by nature - not domesticated like dogs - so you will have to be very patient and move slowly as not to scare them and earn their trust. Others will be along to offer additional advice.

[yellowfacedviolet]

Welcome. Just wanted to underline the portion of Morgan 's remarks about sand sheets. Do remove them ASAP. I can't believe they even still make sand sheets and sand wraps for perches. They're both trouble.

[blueelephant]

Don't loose heart with taming them. It will take time. All the above is great advice. Especially the winking which seems ridiculous but they do like. I sit and read out loud to a new bird which seems to go down well too.

You mention you have bought them millet. This can be a good treat to help with taming. You can offer a little bobble of millet through the cage bars as well as on your hand in the cage. Once I'd seen them eating millet (i.e. You know they know it's food) then I'd take it out and just use it as a treat for taming purposes. Otherwise there is less incentive to be brave and take it from the scary hand.

Regarding them being quiet, I've found young birds to be pretty quiet. It seems to take them ages to get chartering away. At first it's literally just occasionally squawking or contact calls. Give them six months and they will putting the world to rights with constant chatter.

One final thing do you have background noise on for them like the radio or TV? Birds don't like it when it's quiet as they think something is wrong. Background noise is reassuring that everything is ok.

Let us know how you get on and good luck with them.

[Hezz]

Two things to remember. Firstly, your memories of having budgies as a child are very likely to be limited to the majority of his time with you. When that first budgie came into your home, I will almost guarantee that he behaved just as your two are doing now. As a child it was most likely your mother, or some other adult who put in all their time into looking after and interacting with the bird when it first arrived. After a few months, possibly even as long as a year, that first little bird will have started to become one of the family, and that’s what your memories are focused on; not the early days when he was still new to the house and scored of his surroundings. A month is not a long time in earning a budgie’s trust.

Secondly, having two budgies is very different to having only one. Two birds don’t need to look to you for their companionship; they have each other. You are always going to be playing second fiddle to catching each of their attentions. So back up, don’t set expectations too high and simply enjoy their company while you aim to put a few trust deposits into their accounts. Always approach offering a treat, a tiny bauble of millet is enough, and don’t be in a rush to have them accepting your presence. They will learn to trust in their own good time.

[vangellis]

A huge thanks to you all for replying to my 1st post.
I have learned a great deal from your replies, Hezz was spot on
It was my mother who trained the budgie when I was very young, she did a great job honestly, when she used to go out the back too
hang some washing, the bird would sit quite happily on her shoulder,
It never once tried to fly off.
Thanks again
Vvangellis

[Morgan]

Jan 3, 2021 1:20:05 GMT vangellis said:

...
It never once tried to fly off.
Thanks again
Vvangellis

That is very sweet. I just have to give a warning though, that many people DO lose their birds this way. Even very tame ones can be easily spooked by something and fly off in a fright. Some are carried away by the wind even when they are clipped! So I just would not recommend trying this yourself even if, or perhaps especially if, you and your budgies become very bonded. It would be terrible to lose them that way, never knowing what happened to them! 😬

[vangellis]

Hi again.
Do you think I should remove the sand sheet on the base altogether?
The base comes out as a large white tray, and is very easy to clean, do you think they would be better off if I put nothing at all in there?
Thank's
Vangellis.

[vangellis]

Snowflake & Tom

My Granddaughters aged 4 & 6 chose the names, I'd prefer Tom & Jerry, but have to keep the peace.  
Tom is on the left.

[mona]

Jan 3, 2021 14:50:17 GMT vangellis said:

Hi again.
Do you think I should remove the sand sheet on the base altogether?
The base comes out as a large white tray, and is very easy to clean, do you think they would be better off if I put nothing at all in there?
Thank's
Vangellis.

I think you should.. You could use newspaper as a cage liner, if you are worried about cleaning. Just make sure that the newspaper print for your country isn't toxic ink.

Your buds are beautiful bdw 😍

[Hezz]

Definitely remove the sand sheets if the birds are able to come into contact with them. The easiest way to keep the bottom of their cage clean is to layer newspaper down on the grill that is over the tray. You can layer several days’ worth and simply remove the top sheet only each morning, leaving you with a nice clean cage for the day.

[Morgan]

vangellis - layering newspaper is what I now do after spending some time on this forum. I’m in the USA and my local grocery has a free weekly paper, and they always have expired stacks leftover at the end of the week. So even if you don’t buy the newspaper weekly, you can try your local supermarket perhaps? It is SO much easier to keep the cages clean every day!

And btw, I love how spacious your cage is! Better bigger than you thought it would be, rather than too small. 💛

[vangellis]

Jan 3, 2021 21:43:24 GMT Hezz said:

Definitely remove the sand sheets if the birds are able to come into contact with them. The easiest way to keep the bottom of their cage clean is to layer newspaper down on the grill that is over the tray. You can layer several days’ worth and simply remove the top sheet only each morning, leaving you with a nice clean cage for the day.

Hello Hezz.
I took the grill at the bottom out altogether, should I put it back in?

[Hezz]

I would. You may find that there is a small gap that potentially a budgie, mostly a hen, may try to get out through. With the grill in place and the newspaper over it, it is easy to pull up a sheet every morning without going through the whole pulling out the tray and cleaning that off, or needing to spend that amount of time with your hands inside the cage cleaning the bottom tray. Cleaning up each day gives you the opportunity to check what the overnight poops have been like. You can tell if the birds have been settled (poops in a small cluster) overnight or restless, check that they are normal looking in colour and form.

[vangellis]

Thanks Hezz, I've put it back in now. I've never seen a grid in a bird cage before, but then again, it's almost 60 years since I last had a budgerigar.