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Pet Forum / Birds / Birds / February 2008Is This For the Birds?
Here's the deal: we've had 3 birds for most of a year -- 1 yellow male 'keet, one blue male budgie, and one green female budgie. They share a cage by the bed and get "open cage" (free flight within the room) hours from roughly 1-7pm daily. They get along with each other famously and tolerate us humans pretty well, too! So: a month or two ago, my g/f heard about a woman w/4 female budgie, also all in one cage (3 hand-fed and one rescue) which the woman turned out to not have time for. So we now have a quartet of chirpers who have NEVER been out of their cage. The other three like to climb around the outside of their cage and visit with them during the afternoons, but apart from that, we're not really doing much more than the original owner as far as expanding their horizons. Opinions? I know we bit off more than we can chew -- none of the four are capable of much more than panicked flying into walls if let out, but I don't know how easy it'd be to find a guaranteed better situation for the 4 gals. Would it be best if we got them clipped and tried to work with all 4 at once at that point? - Dr Strangemonde >Here's the deal: we've had 3 birds for most of a year -- 1 yellow male >'keet, one blue male budgie, and one green female budgie. They share a [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > - Dr Strangemonde Awwwww That was so great of you to rescue them! I'll bet your house is LOUD at times. :) You don't say how long the woman had them, how old they are, so it's hard to know if they can actually fly well. When I rescued a 2-year-old English from a pet store, it was obvious she'd never been allowed to fly because she had NO strength in her "flying muscles". She tried to join the rest of our brood, who have free flight in the bird room, but ended up on the floor all the time. After 2 years, she can make it from one cage to another, but still has to work pretty hard at it and can't maintain height for long. For that reason, I would discourage you from clipping your birds. It will take so long for their feathers to grow back in, setting them back even farther as far as muscle development. It will also put them in a bad position as far as being able to escape from your original bunch. There will probably be some territory sparring for awhile before all of the birds find their place in the hierarchy of your home. The challenge I see, as I'm sure you do too, is how you will get those untame birds back into the cage once they're "let loose". In our bird room, we have 3 cages, a table with a playpen, 4 window perches and a perch tree with 5 perches. That provides plenty of places to perch so if they do end up on a wild flight spree, they don't have to bang into walls or windows searching for a place to safely land. Hopefully your room is set up to accomodate 7 free flying budgies comfortably and safely. If there's a way to let only 1 or 2 of the newest birds out at a time, along with your original residents, that's how I would handle the situation. But they would have to be supervised closely to make sure they're going to get along and won't be hurt by the new environment. My birds tend to follow the lead of each other, so perhaps your older birds will be able to lead the newer ones to 'safe ground' and even back into a cage. I'm thinking you may have a lot of work to do before you let the newest birds fly free, but it will be worth it for them. Good luck!! Becky > If there's a way to let only 1 or 2 of the newest birds out at a time, > along with your original residents, that's how I would handle the [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > back into a cage. > Becky Sounds like something to try, at least. So far, unfortunately, in my experience, I've seen more "bad bird teaches good bird negative trait" scenarios than the other way around... - Dr S. I would bird proof the entire room, close the door and watch them! Perches are a really good idea. If you can spend some time just watching them they should be okay. We have an African Gray and a Blue Fronted Amazon... both males. They get along famously, even though the people we got them from said they did not. Because I am here to supervise I have been able to allow them to inter-react since we got them and in all this time there have been no problems. In fact they are quite bonded with one another. LOL Now, if I am not here I would not leave them unsupervised, but as it is they pretty much have run of the house. But I think with budgies, once you can see how they react to one another, you will be fine. It will not take more than one day or so of your supervision. The Budgies would be remarkably easy to tame. It really only takes a little persistence from their person. If you don't feel like taming them, that is fine too, because when they get hungry they will go back in their cage on their own. Birds are dependent on a fairly regular routine, so it would not take more than a week or two to get them into the routine and they will go back into their cages all by themselves - whether they are hand tame or not. Just some thoughts for you. > ..... It really only takes a > little persistence from their person. Huh? You said that it only takes a little persistance from *themselves*. Did you mean to say, 'It really only takes a little persistance from their owner.'?  SignatureDave www.davebbq.com >> ..... It really only takes a >> little persistence from their person. > > Huh? You said that it only takes a little persistance from *themselves*. Did > you mean to say, 'It really only takes a little persistance from their > owner.'? I think it means that the budgies own the person :-) Alan >>> ..... It really only takes a >>> little persistence from their person. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > I think it means that the budgies own the person :-) Budgie slavery. Yup, that sounds about right :-) SignatureDave www.davebbq.com |
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