Advice on Female Budgie (please!)

Hello!

I’m completely new to this forum so please forgive me if I’m not writing in the correct place or if it’s not in the correct format. I’m starting this to ask for some advice please, as we only want to be the best bird parents we can be.

Bit of backstory: last year, I found a budgie on the side of the road, outside somebody’s house. I knocked on the door and asked them why they’ve left their bird outside, and for everything they knew on the bird so that I could relay it to a vet (of course I wasn’t going to leave it alone, I had to help the poor baby). They told me they knew nothing about it, no gender, age, backstory - not even a name. They closed the door and I took them home with me, then to a vet the next day. The vet asked if we could care for the bird as COVID had them at full capacity in their rescue centre, which we agreed to, happily! We bought a bigger cage, and are pretty certain she is a girl (no idea on age), and called her Kiki.

Somebody told us we needed to buy her a little nest to make sure she was warm in the winter, and we did so as they had birds in the past. Please know, we usually do all the research in the world before getting an animal, however we had never expected to get a bird, and so we’re really trying to learn however things crop up we haven’t looked into. We just want to give her the best, we love her to bits.
Anyways, today she has looked a little fluffier than usual, and for the first time has taken interest in her nest. We found her sleeping in it just now (for the first time), and when she noticed me, she had a bit of a shout at me then went back to sleep. I decided to look up if she’s alright as she usually sits on her perch, and it says she could be about to lay an egg, and it could be caused by having a nest in the cage. I feel awful - I don’t want to cause her any distress or discomfort. Please, please advise me on what to do. Can I help her at all? What’s my next steps?

If it helps, she has been very energetic today, running and flying about as always, and happy as usual. She hasn’t been acting off, apart from sleeping in the nest and maybe a little fluffier.

I’ve tried adding a photo of her on this (not sure if it’s worked - I’m so bad with this website!) for reference. If by any chance you could guess at her rough age, this would be so appreciated as nobody knows.

Thanks so much and sorry for this ramble. I really appreciate any help.

Hi ConfusedBirdParents, welcome to the forums to you and cute little Kiki! Thank you so much for giving her a loving home - for the life of me I will never understand how some people can be so cruel to another living creature!

Unfortunately the advice about the little nest is not the best, particularly with a hen who may be prone to take that as an incentive to go lay an egg, whether she has a boyfriend or not. My Lilly the lorikeet is a mad keen little egg layer given even half a chance (she thinks I am her boyfriend!) and I have to be very vigilant in keeping her away from anything she may even remotely perceive as a nest, otherwise eggs will most definitely follow. They really don't need a nest or hut of any kind to sleep in so you are best to toss it as a preventative measure.

If it has been a year since her last visit to the vet, then this might be the ideal time for her to have a check up. I'm not sure if your previous vet was a certified avian specialist. If not, the following link may help you to find one......

https://www.aav.org/

They may also be able to determine whether there's an egg on the way or not, particularly if it's in the early stages. It's not necessarily a bad thing for her to lay an egg or two, but you don't want her to become a chronic layer like my Lilly was in danger of becoming because it can cause health issues in and of itself.

Once again, welcome aboard to you and Kiki, I'm glad you found us and I hope she will be ok!

Hi LaManuka! Thank you so much for your helpful response. We will most definitely have her checked over at the vets to be safe, and will remove the nest as soon as it is right to do so.

I feel much more calm thanks to your message, and I’m glad to hear you’ve found positives and methods to help your lovely little Lilly. We’ll definitely be doing all we can to prevent this happening again - we just want a happy bird!

Thank you so much again, I really do appreciate your time!

You're more than welcome, I know what a worrying time this can be!

I would however recommend that the nest be removed sooner rather than later - Kiki may not yet have an egg on the way but the likelihood increases the longer she has access to that nest. Hopefully you have caught this before an egg develops but do keep a very close eye on her between now and when you get her to the vet. I wish all the very best of luck to both of you!

Thank you! We’ve woken up this morning and she was in the nest but once she saw us she immediately flew up and came to see us. I’ve removed the nest and there are no eggs, everything looks completely normal, she also didn’t care that I was removing the nest if that means anything?

We’ll keep a close eye on her in case an egg has developed, however so far so good! Thanks so much again.

Thanks for the update, that's good news! I hope you will keep us updated as to Kiki's progress and share some more pictures in future, she is such a little sweetie and I cannot believe some heartless individual simply left her out by the side of the road. She is so lucky to have someone like you who clearly loves her enormously and I am so pleased that you joined our community and that Kiki is now part of our extended virtual flock

I’ll definitely keep you updated on Kiki! You’ve really helped in making us more rational to the situation, so thank you very much again it’s lovely to be part of a nice flock, even if virtual!
Literally when I found her she was on a manhole cover in a dirty cage. There was a clothes peg holding a handwritten sign that said “bugie needs new home” (Id attach a photo but I’m not sure how to do that!) so I knew we absolutely had to rescue her. We love her to bits, I never realised how much a bird could mean to me!