And my budgie flock doubles in size!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Here they are at two weeks old! They’re covered in fluffy grey down and prickly feathers. Their feet are pretty much full-grown as are their claws and when I go to put them down, they can really grab on. They’re also pooping machines and I have to clean out their nesting box every couple of hours.

Mom is doing great after her scare yesterday and, in fact, I’ve noticed that her body and feather condition is looking super healthy lately. I don’t normally hand-feed her but just put the different foods out and they can all help themselves. She’s not much of an eater so with me feeding her every hour or so, she’s looking great!

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Look at them filling out! I love their downy ‘collars’. They sure do seem healthy.
I’ve seen posts on other sites about coconut oil being given to budgies and cockatiels and I know from my use of it that it’s a high calorie, cheap food. Do you give it to yours? I was thinking that if she gets and stays healthier then she won’t have nearly the struggle w/ her next (yikes!) clutch.

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I’ve never offered them coconut oil, I’ve never heard of it being given to birds - I’ll have to read up on it! There will be no next!!! I’ve had budgies for years and this is the first time I’ve had babies. I got complacent with her but I can assure you I will not let it happen again! I don’t think my nerves could handle it!:eek:

I do think it’s funny that at the beginning of all this I thought “oh I’ll let nature take its course” Yeah, right… I’ve lost more sleep over those little buggers and they’ve wormed their way into my heart. Little jerks!

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The kind I get is the inexpensive LouAna brand you’ll find in the baking aisle; I give it to my cats for their hair to move through them better and to add weight to them. It has no coconut smell, to me it has NO smell at all but pets likely think otherwise; I know the cats have loved it since they first smelled it, didn’t have to convince them to eat it or sneak it in their food. I also use it on my hair and skin and have to keep the cats off me after applying it.

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I know nothing about using it with birds, but coconut oil is great for so many things. I didn’t think about it for my hair! The ends get so dry in winter. Great idea!

Anyway, could you possibly get a pic of mama next time, Floaty? :slight_smile: I’m so glad your babies are doing well! They’re going to be the most loving little budgies. <3 My experience with birds is two cockatiels, one who was hand-raised and one who wasn’t, or not very well. What worlds of difference in personalities.

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I use coconut oil and a capsule press to make cannabis capsules!

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I only have a short pixie cut so I work the oil in from about an inch from my scalp to the ends and sit w/ my hot cap on low for 10-15 minutes before shampooing. For this chilly time of year it feels fantastic all around.
Seconding the call for mama pics!

Kayaker, is that b/c it’s food grade but (rumor has it) will not go rancid?

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I like it because it is solid in the refrigerator (where I store the capsules in a baggie), it melts nicely with gentle heating, and it smokes a bit at the temperature I like to heat the weed at for decarboxylation.

Never had a problem with rancidity.

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Squeeee! They are adorable! You’re doing a great job. Now I’m busily plotting how I can add a bird to the household. :slight_smile:

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Sure! Here’s a sleepy Mommy:

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And here’s Mom and Obese Uncle Blue and Deadbeat Dad Turquoise who are locked in the cage so Green can nap without being harassed:

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Poor fat Uncle Blue is nearly rotund! Thank you for these, your birds are very sweet characters.

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Fabulous pictures!!:smiley:
Glad you made it through the various dramas, they can get really draining!!! My budgie flock has had its share of troubles, over the years… sometimes I’m tempted to open the doors and let them fly free, (some have done so by themselves, when my attention slipped) but I know they are my responsibility. Its pretty hard when some weird problem happens that you didnt forsee…:frowning: serious guilt.
Jeez, I think we’ve kept birds for 15 years now…just sort of happened too…neighbors found a half drowned male budgie in their pool, and we took it in. Of course, he had to have a friend… or two…or three…ha. He ended up being the father of 10 or 15 birds too.

My birds love periodic doses of dandelions, or heads of lettuce etc…pretty messy. Corn also is a big favorite, either raw, cooked or loose. I give them the leftovers from what my larger birds (conures) dont eat, grapes, veggies etc…some they like, some they dont. They do love rich oils, great calories no doubt, but budgies have fat buildup issues, and are prone to troubles from that…especially if they can’t fly much, or have an exclusive seed diet, (which is a no-no) so I would take that into advisement.

Your babies will put on a ton of weight before they get ready to leave the nest, this is the fledging period, where they would be in hiding, after either “falling” or “flying” from the nest into the underbrush. The parents might not be able to get food to them, so they are somewhat on their own. They also have a tenacious grasping instinct at this point, so they will tend to just latch onto twigs etc and not let go.

I mention this, cause you might think something is wrong with them not eating, or kind of getting stuck somewhere and not seeming to move. (I bring branches into the aviary and safe greens like grasses etc, so they can hide a bit if they need too.)

Anyways, thanks for sharing your pics and stories. I care for a small private conure aviary, and we have about 30 or so budgies as well, mostly mine.

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Another thrilling episode of “When Dinosaurs Ruled the [del]Earth[/del]Floatyverse!”

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I think they may have reached their apex of cuteness - I can’t imagine they’ll ever look cuter than this with their fuzzy little bodies:

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What adorable little budgie pups!

How do you know Turquoise is dad and Blue is uncle?

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Green and Turquoise went at it like rabbits but she won’t let blue near her. Even now when she’s not mating at all, she loses her mind if Blue tries to woo her. Turquoise is also allowed to go down and stick his head inside the nest box to talk to her and look at the babies but Blue has learned his lesson to not go anywhere near it as she comes exploding out if he gets too close. She’s a little bit crabby pants right now but I figure she’s allowed to be.

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Floaty, any updates? How’s the flock doing?

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Everyone is doing great. Mom isn’t sleeping in the nest-box anymore. The first night she did this the babies cried all night and I thought she’d abandoned them (yay, more stress!) but everyone survived and now I know that mom is right on schedule for raising/weaning them.Here are some pictures from this morning:

Getting big:

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But still babies:

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Long wing feathers now and the beginnings of green tail feathers:

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They are looking good! They look like right proper birdies now. :slight_smile:

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Adorable!