George is almost 9 years old. He had a stroke a few days before the 15th June and couldn’t move much, his left side was almost completely paralysed.
I knew that if I took him to the vet they would insist that I had him put to sleep as he looked very very sick.
At first I tried him in my hospital cage, but he could not climb around and wasted his energy trying to do so. He just skittered all over the place. So then I put him in a pet carrier that we use for transporting budgies.
Every 2 hours during the day I changed his piece of red millet, fed him water(also daily essentials vitamins) from a tiny medicine cup and changed the kitchen paper underneath him. It was almost like having a newborn again.
Each morning I would be surprised and thankful when I uncovered him and found that he was still alive.
Each day he would bite me harder and harder when I picked him up to change the paper towel.
One morning when looking stronger, he flapped around when he saw me and started to try to climb up the carry box to get out.
I put him at the bottom of Penny’s cage while I sorted out his carry box. To my surprise he started to climb the ladder and up the bars to the top perch.
I would let him stay in Penny’s cage for longer and longer each day until he got very strong. At first he barely had any balance and would have to flap his wings hard to right himself when he fell backwards.
He’s flying now and back to 80% of his normal self. He also sings a bit.
He and I are so happy at his progress and hope he’ll be with us for many years to come.
I have summarised this post greatly as a lot has happened.
Here are photos of his recovery.
It’s funny, but some budgies seem to have no go zones. Sky never played on the swing in front of the balcony doors, some budgies never land on the big mirror.
Peter has been with us for around 6 months, but in all that time he has avoided a particular cage.
Well, to my surprise, today, Peter decided to try that cage out for size.
First I noticed him in the doorway (Peter is the Sky Blue spangle in the doorway in one of the photos).
Then he made his way in. He stayed in for an hour or so. For a while it looked like he couldn’t work out how to exit the cage and I was about to help him when he figured it out alone!
Penny has now met all of the other budgies. She seems to be forming some sort of friendship with Iris.
We let Penny play on the floor for 20 minutes to an hour a day, supervised of course.
Today, Iris flew down to play with her, or at least to play with the mirrors that we had put out for Penny.
I hope Penny is having fun with us.
On Monday 3rd May, we took in a new budgie hen. I was told that she might be 5 years old and had previously had several clutches of chicks. She cannot fly, we are not sure why, but it could be because of continuously breeding and not having enough calcium.
She is in a cage on her own for quarantine. The floor is padded with two towels under the newspaper. She also has two ladders as she cannot fly or jump up to perches from the floor of the cage.
I have named the little hen Penny.
So far after feeding her carrot, Dill and Basil, she has tried Dill on it’s second attempt.
When quarantine is over, I shall let her meet one budgie at a time, if they want to come in and see her. Due to her not being able to fly, she wont be able to play normally with the others. I may let her run about safely (under supervision) on the floor of the living room when our toddler is in bed.
I do not encourage any of my budgies breed and do not provide nest boxes, huts or dark spaces for them to lay eggs. So far only 1 hen has laid a single infertile egg as nothing is 100% foolproof and hens can be very determined.
The budgies are having fun in the sunshine, eating sweetcorn and basil.
I have had to remove seed troughs from two cages because Iris keeps trying to destroy them and tip out all the seed. Also a water pot from one cage for the same reason!
Peter has made friends with just about all the boys. Every morning he will fly over to the top of the cage nearest to me and sing a little song while bobbing his head. He’s a very happy go lucky budgie.
Everyone seems happy. I hope it stays this way for a long time.
It’s Spring now and the weather is sunny most days. The budgies love to sing when it’s sunny.
They also sometimes like to bathe, mostly in their water dish.
Peter has integrated very well into the group. He enjoys spending time with George. I have also seen him playing with Blithe through the bars of a cage and bashing beaks. Plus he’s sang and played with Billy.
Here are some photos of everyone. I particularly like the one of six of the budgies on the swing, they look like a circus act 🙂
My budgies seem to have colour coded themselves. Last night George moved over to the yellow/green cage.
So now we have a blue cage and a yellow green one 🙂
Do budgies choose the way that they feel safe by spending time with similar coloured budgies to themselves? is it a survival instinct for camouflage?
I am pleased to announce that we have a new budgie friend. He came to live with us near the end of November.
We have named him Peter. His previous owner wanted him to go to a place where he would have other budgie friends to play with. He has 7 other playmates here and is very happy.
He’s a quiet little soul (so far, but I’m sure we’ll be able to tell more over time).
Peter will get on my hand for me to lift him into his cage for bedtime. He shares a night time cage with Blithe, Bertie and George.
I have attached a photo of him with Bertie – Peter is the Sky Blue spangle. Also a photo with all of his current friends.
Welcome Peter, we’re glad to have you here!
I’m very sad today – we lost our beautiful SkyBlue hen, Lucy.
She had a very short illness and I found her at the bottom of the cage this morning.
Lucy was approximately 4 years old , she came to us in March 2017 at the age of 6 months. She had been through a lot of health issues and also a few scrapes.
After vigorously chasing him around until he agreed that he was indeed her soul mate – she formed a very close relationship with George, George continued devoted to her and to feed and preen her all through her issues. Even though he had a brief relationship with Polly, he fed both hens and they never fought over him – I do not know where he got the energy.
We will miss your crazy antics and zest for life Lucy.
Photos attached of Lucy – George is the Green spangle sitting next to her.
