Worried about budgie female

[Budgiefeets]

Hi

My mother just got a female budgie and its still a "baby" under 1 year old.

We got it from someone who regret getting it and we only know it comes from a breeder and its a baby female.

1-2 times a day the budgie flaps its wings fast inside the cage and it looks uncontrolled.

We can see how the budgie holds tight around the branch/stick in its cage while it happens.

This happens few times a day but last short. In the evening the budgie behaves natural.

It dosent complain or say any warning calls like when they are upset.

We heard of excess energy but we have it out of the cage 1 time a day for 15 - 20 min, then it fly back to the cage and jumps inside.

Beside this wing flapping it does what a normal budgie do.

We are working on taming it and we allready got to the part where it sits and relax on our finger and it fly around well enough

eat and drink normaly and preen it self and chew in everything it can bite in incl our nose but it dosent hurt at all.

Sorry for my bad english

But is this normal ?

[mona]

Hey there..

My budgies flap their wings hanging upside down on the cage bars/swing or sitting upright on a perch - when they want to exercise their wing muscles.. Mostly that happens when they don't have enough out of cage time for flying or when they are really very annoyed/irritated. When annoyed, there's a lot of screaming first followed by wing flapping.

It sounds normal to me.. Experienced members may be able to add more 🧡

[tweetiepiesmom]

Yes, as mona says this is very normal and she is exercising her wings. She needs more time out of the cage flying around. When you let her out, leave the cage door open. You'll see that she'll come out, fly around and return to her cage to eat and rest several times. She'll find a place in the room where she likes to rest and perch and then she'll go back to the cage to eat. I let my two budgies out from late morning until dusk. They come and go from their cage as they want to.

[Hezz]

Once a day for only 15-20 minutes is not enough exercise time for a budgie. Let her out as much as you can but do supervise her as she will find trouble to get into if you leave her to her own explorations.

[Budgiefeets]

Thx for ur answers in here.

We do open the cage door that basicly is a bathtub for birds that hangs on the door opening.
But she wont come out on her own.We need to take her out on our finger fast before she returns to the cage or lure her with food. Then she stays a bit on our finger an chirbs and preen a bit and eventualy fly 1-2 rounds in the living room and go back to the cage and jumps in..we want her to be more out but she feels more comfy inside the cage it seems.

When we try to take her out again then she bites our finger ( not hard tho ) and says angry/irritated noises

So we dont want that to happen either. Also it dosent seem like she is use to fly since she "pant" alot after 1-2 flights but shakes it off.

We hope she will be use to be more out both mornings and day.

Also we tryed to give her millet but she wont eat that. If we give her these bird sticks ,then with in 2-3 days its eaten. There is plenty of seeds in the bowl tho.

Strange bird

[tweetiepiesmom]

Keep leaving her door open to give her the opportunity to come out. I suggest you put a millet strand in her cage until she starts eating it. After she discovers that it is good, take it out and use it as a treat to train her. The bird sticks are not very good for them because most of them have so much honey/sugar and long term is bad for their health.

Teaching budgies to eat good food and training them takes time and persistence. Most of all, enjoy your new little budgie.

[mona]

Mine were reluctant for a long time to come out of the cage - due to past experiences and the fear of new room. I just started clipping millet spray inside the cage and later on the cage door.

For caged birds, panting after free flying is bound to happen. Mine slept the entire next day, after free flight in the room.

Mine stay out since morning till evening. When it's not possible for me, I make sure to let them out for half day at least. I have added a platform perch just outside the cage below the cage door.. In a new room, to encourage them to come out, I move their seeds on that platform perch.. Mine are food loving birdies - they follow food everywhere to land..

[Budgiefeets]

We will try with the millet again

Today we tryed to add some toys outside the cage while she was out on my finger, then she discovered the toy on the cage and she started playing with it and started preening her self instead of jumping back in.

So now we bought some more activity toys to put on her cage outside also and a small play ground in wood, so she has a comfy zone outside the cage also. This was progress today.

And we will let the cage door be open so she can come out her self

[Hezz]

That sounds very good - coming out and not retreating straight away. Don’t be afraid to bring her out though, even if she is telling you she wants to stay put. Gradually getting her to experience more out of cage time is the only way she is going to get fitter and healthier. It doesn’t have to be a traumatic experience, but if you wait until she feels like making the move, she may never do so! Many people will tell you to never bring them out but to leave the decision up to the bird. I don’t agree that this is needed, especially with a hen, as hens are much more likely to become cage aggressive. This way she gets used to you being in and around her cage and it is becomes not solely her cage with no intruders allowed.

[Budgiefeets]

Now we hope she likes the new playground we bought for 25 $

[Budgiefeets]

Jun 2, 2021 22:05:52 GMT Budgiefeets said:

Now we hope she likes the new playground we bought for 25 $

Turns out it was some bad quality playground..

there was a swing and some stairs on it but the swing holder pole was uneven so the swing is uneven now and the glue that came with it would not stick at all..so we altered the playground a bit and made the best out of it. We placed her on it and she was biting a bit in the wood and started to sleep a bit on it

She dosent look scared at stuff and she want to investigate with her beak.

[Hezz]

If you are at all handy with a wood saw, it is most times less expensive, more fun and much safer to make things like play gyms yourself. You can add anything you want to them and at least you know what the wood is that it has been made from and whether the glue is safe to have around birds. You can use a hot glue gun, but do so outside, away from the birds, while working with it. Once it has cooled it no longer gives of toxic fumes, so is safe for the birds to play on.

Sounds like she is settling in, and great news that she isn’t put off by new things.

[Budgiefeets]

Jun 5, 2021 1:13:38 GMT Hezz said:

If you are at all handy with a wood saw, it is most times less expensive, more fun and much safer to make things like play gyms yourself. You can add anything you want to them and at least you know what the wood is that it has been made from and whether the glue is safe to have around birds. You can use a hot glue gun, but do so outside, away from the birds, while working with it. Once it has cooled it no longer gives of toxic fumes, so is safe for the birds to play on.

Sounds like she is settling in, and great news that she isn’t put off by new things.

Yes at least we can reuse the platform it came in one day and build our own playground. but then again we dont have any tools since we live in a flat where we cant make loud tool noises and we are not handy at all

[mona]

I had no experience with tools like that too.. but birdies taught me 😂🙈 So, now I have a wood saw and couple of other non noisy tools at home. For mine, I bought the base online where I know the wood and quality - I had used a pinewood drawing board - unpolished one.. which worked out well for their playgym. Rest of it could be made at home.. I couldn't make out what mine would like for a long time, so we did a lot of trial and error for birdie toys, tree and playgym.. 🙈

Glad to know that she is enjoying her time out of cage.. 🧡