We lost our little Charlie at 6pm on Friday. This was due to his liver condition.
We cherished the time that we spent with him, he was a very well mannered budgie with a big personality.
Thank you to Sue for letting us look after him.
(Charlie at front of pic)
Charlie (left) eats his birthday corn on the cob, with Sky.
Charlie has been with us a year today. he is approximately 4 years old.
Hector would be mad at Charlie for staring at his bird.. 🙂
Hello all, sorry I have not updated in a while.
Here is a photo a few lines about each bird, so you can see how they are doing..
Monty: He’s still “Big Bird” of the flock, despite being the smallest. He likes to fly out into the kitchen and sing to the Basil plant. He also runs up and down the sink, biffing at it. “that’s mine, and that, that is mine also”
Snowy: Mostly Snowy plays with Charlie, kissyface, preening eachother, feeding each-other. But he also likes an afternoon nap with “Ball-Ball”
Roswell: Roswell had to have a wing clipped a few months ago because he was “feather-picking on one side” We (and the avian vet) think this is a stress-related thing, due to his friend Jerry passing away some time ago. At the moment Roswell is cage-bound, but we let friends in and also let him out for a run around when we can supervise.
Sky: He is now a lot more popular. Sky is friends with Charlie, Roswell and Lilek and feeds all of them at times. He keeps Roswell company a few times a day and still has a major fondness for mirrors.
Lilek: My little Dumpling is still very much into being with us humans. He frequently lands on my husbands shoulder as he is at his computer and sings in his ear. He also still has a foot-fetish. If I ever go to the bathroom he will spend the time on top of the door calling to me. He will frequently sit on my table and bite my hand as it is on my mouse. But he is friends with Sky and Charlie, so he’s a lot more sociable than in the beginning.
Charlie: Little Charlie is a very happy bird, he is good friends with Snowy and most of the time they are inseparable. Charlie also likes Abbie, and much to Hectors annoyance will go and sit next to her sometimes. When Sky is in with Roswell, Charlie will squawk as part of his “free Sky” campaign, until I release him..
Abbie and Hector: Hector loves Abbie, Abbie likes him too. But Hector can be overwhelming so she will often hide from him. She also spends time trying to destroy things…the curtain, the mirror in Roswells cage…just about anything that she’s not meant to break..
Hector still Squawks in the evening to tell us it’s Abbies bed time: “Can’t you see Abbie is tired? She’s exhausted and must go to bed..” But really he just wants to keep the other boys away from her and have her to himself..
We know your game Hector..
Â
Lovely pic I took one morning of the fiends. Look at that red sky!
You would think that my little Lilek (aka Dumpling) was a little angel looking at this photograph of him.
Certainly not the little toe biter or "Bitey-Beast" that he is.
Charlie seems to be wondering what Hector and Abbie are talking about in the background.
Snowy took his mind off it with a nice relaxing head preen 🙂
At 25 degrees the only way to cool off was a little dip in the pool today.
Monty donned his lifeguard outfit and decided to supervise Charlie’s bath time splash.
Some of the Fiends had vet check ups on Monday. I wasn’t happy with the colour and consistency of their droppings but most of all I wanted to make sure they were okay.
They all coped with the visit pretty well, we made our way to the Vet Surgery in a cab as there was no way we were going to take four birds in a cage by public transport!
Each bird was expertly gently scooped up from the cage by the vet. He listened to their breathing and hearts, checked wings and vents. Looked at their little feathery faces to make sure eyes and nares were clear. They were also physically examined for any lumps or bumps.
After their check they were all told that they were very good boys by the vet and returned to the cage.
All were deemed to be pretty healthy boys. Although Charlie has a fatty lump (a lipoma) on his belly and possible liver problems indicated by his constantly growing beak (I have clipped it 3 times in 3 months) and the yellow tinge around his droppings.
Their droppings were checked for parasites and worms and given the all-clear (I give them ivermectin every 6 months so I am glad it’s working!)
Their weights are as follows:
Charlie 60g (slightly overweight by perhaps 10g)
Roswell 54g
Snowy 53g
Monty 31g (My little titchy king. He’s not underweight though he’s just a very tiny bird. His feet are almost half the size of the other birds)
Regarding the droppings the vet has suggested that we put them on a kind of “exclusion diet”. This means that for a week we give them just plain seed, he suggested that we switch back to Trill for this. Then after a week if their droppings improve, we introduce one food at a time and see what effect this has.
If any of their droppings don’t improve we will take them back when the other four fiends get their vet visit in a week or so.
All in all so far so good.
Charlie in the mean time has taken up ballroom dancing with Snowy to keep his weight down
Sometimes little Charlie likes to relax by going into Hector and Abbies cage (when they are not there of course) and having a sing song.
He bashes the toys and chitters to himself. Sometimes imitating a telephone or perhaps giving a high pitched “Bim Bim Bim” noise.
Charlie likes to spy on me from the top of the curtain just above my desk.
Earlier on he was feeding Snowy up there and they were scattering seeds all over the place. They were landing on me for a few minutes!
Cute but messy..
Featheredfiends 