Leg Band

[Hayabusa]

Does your budgie have a leg band? Pogo does, but my Topaz didn't even though I got him from a pet store. I'm assuming all birds sold through a pet store would have a leg band.

So I'm looking at Pogo's leg band and notice it has a pretty good air gap where the two ends meet. I almost looked like it could irritate his leg, but I didn't see any signs of that and he doesn't seem to pay any attention to the band. I carefully squeezed the band by hand (its soft aluminum I think) to get the gap closed just in case it could pose a problem.

I've heard of some owner removing the band, but I'd be afraid to in fear of harming his leg if something goes wrong. I'm going to leave it alone now that it looks better now.

[Animallover]

My 3 didn't have bands, and I got all of them from a pet store. I don't know much about them, but from what I understand, certain places have different rules about banding birds' legs. I may not be right, that's just what I heard once.

[Monica]

Some states require that all birds be banded... As far as my birds go, I've only had two that have been banded... a budgie (now passed), and a mitred conure.

As per the band your budgie has, it's an open band, and if you want to remove it you should get it done by a vet. Open bands can be more dangerous than closed bands, however closed bands can only be put on a bird when it's 3-6 weeks old. Any older and generally speaking their bones have hardened too much to allow the placement of a band. This means that your budgie was probably banded once it was fledged or nearly full grown.

[Andres_424]

I've never had a Budgie with a leg band. But two of my lovebird have had one, but I decided to take it off since the lovebird without a leg band found it a little fun to play with it and started to bite at thier feet so I had to take them off to prevent squabbles.