Very sad new budgie almost dead

[lordpurchase]

I'm new to budgie keeping I have bought three budgies from a pet shop all came from the same cage "the cage in the pet shop was very over crowded"

I bought these budgies home and all seemed well and being from the same shop they got along ok. They are all young budgies one female and one male the other is to young to tell. The male budgie with the blue cere was not as chirpy as I expected so I didn't think anything of it at first.

Today the male budgie was very quiet. I noticed something was amiss. He wasn't chirping, eating or drinking even the female budgie had a good chirp.

 Anyway after a very short time there was something not quite right with the quiet budgie when his head started drooping and his body started shaking. The other budgies in the cage also noticed, and they didn't want to be near him. after a couple more hours he started puffing his feathers out and then he fell off his perch and started to die. I felt so helpless because there was nothing I could do for him. I tried putting a bit of water on his beak to encourage him to drink some water and he perked up for a few moments but sadly he was already dying. A part of me feels sad but also frustrated he is almost gone after one day of having him its really put me off keeping budgies. I just hope the others will be ok.

[Loz]

I'm so sorry, what a horrible experience. Very sad for the loss of your little friend.

Can you try to get expert advice from an avian vet? It would be good for all concerned to get some reassurance that all is well with your two remaining budgies. I would move quickly on this if you can.

If you can get past this, you'll find that keeping and looking after budgies is a fun and rewarding experience

[lordpurchase]

I live in London UK and finding an avian vet isn't easy and will be costly however there is an a vet near me so maybe they could give me some advice.

I have given the cage a good clean. I will give it another rinse with very hot water to be sure its all clean and I'll set the cage aside for a while before putting any of my other budgies in there.

I'm pretty sure the budgie died from a respiratory infection/disease as it seemed to struggle chirping when I first bought him I never saw the signs until he really declined quite rapidly and he was breathing hard before he died.

I did some research and the best way to save a sick budgie is to feed it by medical syringe and give it water with drops of apple cider vinegar. The biggest killer is dehydration and starvation. A sick budgie becomes weak because it wont eat or drink while its sick. Apparently people have saved sick budgies by doing this. I guess when a budgie is very ill and close to death there is nothing to lose in terms of trying to save its life. I wish I knew this before I might have been able to save him.

I hope my other budgies never get sick.

[Loz]

Hopefully you don't have to put your new knowledge into practice in future.

The folks here will suggest you obtain some F10 disinfectant (available on line) and thoroughly spray any and all cages, toys, food bowls and surfaces you use or have used for your budgies.

[criswell]

I'm really sorry this has happened. Poor budgie. How are they others doing?

[tweetiepiesmom]

So sorry your little one didn't make it. The apple cider vinegar recipe that many use here is 3-4 drops in 100ml of water. Many give it to their budgies for about a week once a month as a preventative. It helps with potential yeast infections - not sure it would do anything for a respiratory infection. I've also read here that people use Guardian Angel in their budgies water to perk up an ill budgie. Others will need to give you better instructions.

Pet stores with crowded cages are a problem because diseases easily spread. I do hope the other two will be fine and you will have years of fun with them.

[lordpurchase]

Mar 28, 2022 14:49:29 GMT criswell said:

I'm really sorry this has happened. Poor budgie. How are they others doing?

The others are doing fine eating and drinking and standing on there perches sometimes on one leg which is a good sign, however none of them are particularly bonding with each other. Occasionally there will be a small fight over the food bowl. Other than that they are doing pretty good.  

I was hoping they would be a bit more social with one another. If one budgie gets to close to another budgie its gets a peck. They don't like sitting to close to each other.  The female budgie has been sitting in one of the food bowls like she is nesting but its unlikely she will be pregnant as none of them have bonded. She has an amazing chirp on her it sounds like your somewhere tropical when she chirps and she chirps a lot for a female. I was told that female budgies don't chirp much. As soon as my rescue budgie starts chirping she will start chirping with him. 

[tweetiepiesmom]

We'd love to see pictures!!! Have you named them yet?

[Loz]

Can we see pics of the budgies and hear more of them but in a new thread? They ought to have their own.

[Kylie1969]

I am so sorry to hear about your little budgie.

So pleased to hear the other 2 or well and you will have many years of happiness with them both