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Post by petrosandlina on May 8, 2014 8:01:35 GMT
Hallo budgie people  Nice to meet you. I have a couple of budgies that are around 18 months old. The female layed three eggs and the first one hatched yesterday, or during the night before. Today i was waken up by a huge fight, only to find the poor female, with bloodied head, full of gashes, most of her feathers missing on the head and lots of feathers missing from her wings and body. Looks like the male one roughed her up really bad. None of the wounds look serious enough to threaten her life but i fear that if i hadnt broken them up, things would get far worse. The strange thing is that the male is the really calm and stoic one of the two. While the female, was always aggrssive, nervous and generally not a very tame bird. All the minor bickering that i have seen first hand has her, as an instigator, with the male budgie just brushing it off usually, and at best standing his ground. I know that baby budgies need both parents but i am afraid to let them in the same cage again especilly so soon after such a big fight. I am torn between the safety of the mother, and the safety of the babies. What should i do? Also, i am really curious as to what could make a very tame bird turn psycho on its beloved mate. Thank you very much for your time. |
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Post by BudgiesBuddy on May 8, 2014 11:43:09 GMT
Hallo budgie people Nice to meet you. I have a couple of budgies that are around 18 months old. The female layed three eggs and the first one hatched yesterday, or during the night before. Today i was waken up by a huge fight, only to find the poor female, with bloodied head, full of gashes, most of her feathers missing on the head and lots of feathers missing from her wings and body. Looks like the male one roughed her up really bad. None of the wounds look serious enough to threaten her life but i fear that if i hadnt broken them up, things would get far worse. The strange thing is that the male is the really calm and stoic one of the two. While the female, was always aggrssive, nervous and generally not a very tame bird. All the minor bickering that i have seen first hand has her, as an instigator, with the male budgie just brushing it off usually, and at best standing his ground. I know that baby budgies need both parents but i am afraid to let them in the same cage again especilly so soon after such a big fight. I am torn between the safety of the mother, and the safety of the babies. What should i do? Also, i am really curious as to what could make a very tame bird turn psycho on its beloved mate. Thank you very much for your time. Hi, and welcome to forum. While breeding, birds can behave in ways which they won't do normally. Remove the cock, and the hen would be able to raise two or three chicks on her own. Give her soft-food and hard-boiled eggs. Also put a millet spray in the nest box. Clean the blood from cage and nest box. Don't touch the hen if the blood has stopped. You can end up loosing the clogged wounds and a little more bleeding would result in her death. |
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Post by BudgiesBuddy on May 8, 2014 11:44:19 GMT
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Post by BudgiesBuddy on May 8, 2014 11:45:05 GMT
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Post by petrosandlina on May 8, 2014 12:59:55 GMT
Thank you very much for the info and the helpful links.
Good thing that the chicklet is alright. The hen seems to be scalped but without major bleeding.
Should i reintoduce him in the cage after the chicks grow up? I hate seeing him all by himself.
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Post by BudgiesBuddy on May 9, 2014 7:23:31 GMT
Thank you very much for the info and the helpful links. Good thing that the chicklet is alright. The hen seems to be scalped but without major bleeding. Should i reintoduce him in the cage after the chicks grow up? I hate seeing him all by himself. You're welcome Personally, I would not breed with this cock again. And I will need to know your cage/flight setup, in order to give my opinion about housing them together. |
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Post by petrosandlina on May 9, 2014 19:20:28 GMT
The cage is 35X33X28 with a couple of high perches and a swing. Its roof looks like the roof of this particular cage img.worldstores.co.uk/images/products/Imac%20Serena%20Gold%20Budgie%20Cage_A_L.jpg , And the nest is placed on the bottom of the cage with the opening of the nest close to the seeds. As for a flight cage, there isnt any. I let them out their cage two times a week for a couple of hours. Today the male was calling for the female, so i took him out of his cage, and he flew straight at her's. She called for her, and she came out with her little head, looking still like a burn victim, went right under him and he started feeding her in the mouth. I put him back in with her for ten minutes or so, under my surveilance to make sure that there wont be any brawls. I took him out again, and i plan to let him do a couple of conjugal visits per day when i can watch over them. |
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Post by BudgiesBuddy on May 10, 2014 5:59:54 GMT
If the size is inches, it is good enough for 4 to 5 budgies, provided that they share it happily |
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Post by petrosandlina on May 10, 2014 7:45:26 GMT
Unfortunately, the little one didnt make it through the night. I found him, and the two eggs, cold at the entrance of the nest. One of her eyes is swollen shut and she might have problem feeding him. His crop is empty. I would have checked the offspring sooner but I didnt want to handle the hen too much while she was in that shape, wounds and all.
Next time the cock will be removed at least a week before the first one hatches. Should i reintroduce the cock now, or should i let her heal first?
The cage measurings are in cm.
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Post by BudgiesBuddy on May 11, 2014 16:35:44 GMT
With Dilly, I use to get up every hour in the night to feed her, check on her and temperature and humidity, change the bedding and so on. This is why we always suggest to breed with full preparation in advance. In this case, hand feeding the chick, at least once in the night, would have saved her. The cage is too small for breeding, even more so with nest box inside the cage. |
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Post by petrosandlina on May 12, 2014 11:18:31 GMT
Point taken. One should be prepared for the worst. With a bit more reading I could have saved the little one. I feel bad. When you say that the cage is small for breeding, do you mean that its too small to start breeding with, or that it is too small to accomodate the whole family in the first few days after the hatching? Probably both i guess, but still, i would like to know in detail. Is it possible that the male's aggression could have been boosted because of the limited space? I let the nest box inside all the time, as she seems to like sleeping in there. I have been doing this well before she started mating. The only thing that worries me now, is that her left eye, is still (swollen) shut. Just after the fight, it was open with no bleeding around, and it didnt seem to have any damage. So i guess its just swollen, or that a crust has formed on it and around it, so she cant open it. The nearest aviary vet I could find is a three hour drive from my home, provided that i can find someone to drive me for three hours on a friday afternoon... I dont know if i should wait for a while, or if i should try to clean it with dissinfectant and a soft gauze. On a lighter note, the girl is getting better. She is more active, she spends most of her time outside the nest, and it looks like she will be ok. Hopefully with both eyes. Again thank you very much for your help. You spend a lot of time helping people and their birds in this forum, and the only thing you get in return, is that you get to help people and their birds! Helping because they like to help, is the exclusive trait of decent people. Hat's off to you and to the rest rest of the wonderful bird people around here |
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Post by starlingqueen on May 12, 2014 11:35:45 GMT
I would take her to any vet available. Injury is not avian specific so any vet will do. You can at least get her examined and maybe get some antibiotics for her. Any wound needs to be looked at and can become infected.
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Post by petrosandlina on May 12, 2014 18:57:04 GMT
That should be the case queen, but alas vets around here limit themselves to cats, dogs and the usual agrarian animals. Most of them have never handled a live bird in their life, and those were the words, of an ernest vet. Three other vets were too "busy" to help us. I would have better chances with a vietnam vet, than with them anyway. So I annoyed a couple of people on the telephone, and managed to get the phone number of a university proffesor of Veterinary Medicine. Phd and all... After assesing the birds health via telephone, her advice was the same as the ernest vets. Give her Tobrex eye drops (containig a wide range antibiotic - www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/datasheet/t/Tobrexeyedropoint.pdf ), 3 times a day for a couple of days. If that wont work, then she will personaly take a look. So I went out and bought these drops. I took her gently in my hand, but she managed to fly away. It took me only half a minute to capture her, as her energy levels are low (although rising steadily). She fought for while, biting and turning her head like some demon possessed parakeet from hell. The moment she stood still i managed to get a couple of drops on her eye. It must have felt good, because she immediately calmed herself, and even allowed me to touch her eye with a tobrex inbibed cloth. And her little eye popped open! It seems to be a little red but I am pretty sure it will get better with the drops. So I am happy to report that miss feathers is on the way to full recuperation!  |
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Post by starlingqueen on May 12, 2014 20:11:40 GMT
Fingers crossed she will be OK. Well done for getting her some help.
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Post by Hezz on May 12, 2014 22:49:10 GMT
I do hope she makes a full recovery. Sorry about the chick.  |
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