The wanderer and the 3 delinquents

[Monica]

First off, I have a confession to make... I haven't talked about this before, not really to many (including family) as I don't want to hear anyone being empathetic towards me or what I'm about to talk about. This also ties in with what this post will be about. When I got my first budgie, I knew nothing about pet birds cept that they ate seeds. I was on the internet for nearly 2 weeks straight after getting my first one, to learn all about keeping budgies. I went over all subjects, and over time my little flock grew. At one time, I had three budgies, none of which I could get to eat fresh foods. One of them, Saffron, I took with me into a petstore (probably to get a hamster wheel for her, since she liked to run in them). A lady was there with her young daughter checking out the budgies, and the little girl saw Saffron. She asked if she could hold her, and I let her (I myself was probably 13 at the time). Both child and mother adored her, and then told me about two budgies they had, Cosmo and Sunshine. Both were mean (they bit), and they worried about the safety of their child and soon to come second child. They were thinking about rehoming the two (the couple) and I had said I'd take them. The lady went home and talked it over with her husband. Two days later we got a call, and that's pretty much when I brought home Cosmo and Sunshine.

I could never tame either one, and being that they ate a seed diet with some lettuce, they weren't in the best of health at around the age of 5 years. The two taught my other birds to eat lettuce, and after that I tried them on other fresh foods, which they ate well! Sadly, Sunshine didn't make it very long and passed on. Cosmo never really did take to any other female budgie, and in his older years became somewhat of a hermit. He passed on recently, just a few days after taking in Tom and hearing about the male tiel who passed on. He passed away in comfort (snuggled up in a towel), being about 10-11 years old. Although not really tame, he was basically the "adult" of the budgies, as when I let the budgies out, he was the one to go back in first, therefore the rest would follow him in. Of course, he was normally the first one out, too. Thanks to Cosmo though, he helped me get my budgies unto a better diet and because of him, and how he taught the other budgies, I don't want anyone to feel empathetic.

Now that Cosmo is gone, when they are let out of their cages it now takes 5+ minutes to get them back in, instead of maybe 1-2 minutes. Today was pretty usual (apart from a slightly unexpected surprise), let the budgies out, feed all of them, get the budgies back in, and let them eat... Well, I was pretty tired so passed out for a while on our couch. Woke up later and went to check on the birds. When I walked in, I saw Georgia flying away from me, and found out they had escaped! Took me a while to get them back into the cage, as they REALLY didn't want to go back! I don't know how long they've been out, but I worry most that one might get injured via Noel. However, Noel normally tolerates them pretty well, even while eating (Smurf got within a few inches of Noel, kind of singing to her, before going back to his mate, Sophia). She lunges at them, but has yet to actually bite them. I might have actually seen her "peck" Smurf too, so when they are out they are supervised, as I don't yet trust Noel and them together (kind of like how Noel and Casey were at first). I have thought about letting the budgies be cage-free, if Noel ignores them.... the only problem there is that they'd eat her food! Even though Smurf is about 7-8 years old, he still acts like a "teenager"... So, there I've got the 3 delinquents...


As for the wanderer, well I guess it's that time of year again! Yesterday morning was a bit quieter than normal... Walked into the room and Noel was wandering around on the floor. Later in the day I found her sitting on top of Tom's cage. This morning, same as usual, cept when I walked into the room she AND Casey were sitting on top of Tom's cage. Noel isn't much for wandering around so she doesn't do it NEARLY as often as Casey, actually it's more so 'rare' to see Noel wandering about... Well, when the budgies were flying about earlier today, I also found Noel on top of the bourkes cage (since I moved them from my large silver cage to the smaller black tiel cage).

I'm not entirely sure WHY Noel wonders about, other than maybe to explore or forage, but sometimes she can't get back to her gym!

[jimpierce7]

well............well.......YOUR NOT THE BOSS OF ME AND I"LL FEEL ANY WAY I WANT!!

[featherduster]

Hummm....seems like "spring is in the air" at your house..:)

Be careful..