Sad Budgies...

I don't own any budgies, but I have a friend that owns two budgies.

Well, it's actually his brother that owns the budgies.

These are the saddest little budgies I have ever seen. When I walked in and visited them, they were completely silent, for the most part. I heard them chatter like maybe once or twice. They do not move at all when a person is in the room. Their feathers on their body under their wings are completely bare, probably from plucking... they're also in the kitchen (they don't use teflon thankfully but still) and they just look really sad.

I know they're sad because a few months ago I tried my hands at raising budgies, before getting Cream (they were sick though from the store and they died in a few days, really sad) but they at least seemed happy and energetic. They chirped and flew around the cage. Cream, even though he's not a budgie, is very energetic and makes a lot of noises and climbs around in his cage a lot too. These budgies just stand there and look out of the cage.

I'm not really sure what to do. My friend doesn't know either. I don't know if the brother would be willing to let them go. They just look really depressed and I wish they would find a better place for them to stay, but I don't think there's enough room in the house suitable for them. I would take them under my wing but Cream is already enough for me, and I don't have any experience helping depressed birds. Do you have any advice?

There's really not a lot you can do, unless the owner is interested in helping them. Maybe he just doesn't know better how to care for them? You can ask....tell him about the right foods, toys, etc and see what happens...

Yep, I think he doesn't know how to make them more happy. I think they've tried with toys and stuff, but I know that a lot of the time my lovie doesn't play with toys unless there's food or if you show him how to do it. I don't think it's intentional. It's just really depressing, poor things.

It's very kind of you to try to help your friend's budgies. I think budgies get overlooked a lot because of their small size and that's a shame, they are great little parrots, capable of being great companions. Like Phlox said, maybe you can help by encouraging your friend to see their potential.

Oh poor babies

What kind of cage are they in? (Size?) what kind of diet are they on? Diet is most often the key contributor to plucking and unhealthy birds. What kind of toys does he give them? Maybe they would prefer other toys? My budgie flock's FAVORITE all time toy are yucca chips that they shred like little beavers lol they also like noise makers- crinkles and rattles.

Also, does your friend handle them at all?

The cage looked like it was about 30 inches wide, I wanna say about 18 inches deep and 24 inches tall, but it might be a bit bigger (I'm kind of just "winging it" based on my memory). The caged looked large enough for two budgies at least, and there were only two budgies. It's kind of in a slightly dark, tucked area though which might contribute to their sadness.

I have NO idea what their diet is, I've only seen them a couple of times. That could be very possible too.

I think they had a lot of toys with like, paper round things and bells and ropes and stuff. There were several toys that weren't in the cage, implying that he does try to cycle through the toys as well. There was one I think with a bell inside a plastic ball hanging in. I don't think I saw any natural perches in there though, which might be hurting their feet.

I think the birds are never handled, according to my friend (again, this is his brother's budgies). They're kind of just left in there to their own devices. They do have each other but I think they're mainly ignored by people. They seemed to be afraid of people when I looked at them. I don't think anyone handled them poorly per-se but because they were never handled they were scared. I'm not sure. They both are adults. One is older than 2 years, the other looks like it's probably between 1-2 years based on its eye colour.

They said they have tried to fix the plucking problem but they don't know what to do about it.

I only have one cute budgie but it took 4 months for him to start liking me. So it does take time.

But, it seems weird that they aren't singing. My budgie always made noise (I guess it depends on the individual). Maybe they should take them to the vet to make sure they are healthy.

I agree with the person above me a visit to the vet is in order. They seem sick to me. I would also check the food offer some pellets to him to give them or something offer treats.