New To Budgies

Aloha All,

I used to be on this forum for a long time, but as 2 years ago I moved to Maui and was birdless. Some of you may know me as SoCalWendy. I did change my name, new start. Leaving Kiwi (parrotlet) behind in California was extremely hard for me, but here in Hawaii parrotlets are on the forbidden list and I could not bring her here. I did place her in an amazing home and she is thriving. But I miss her everyday

I was at an event last weekend when a friend of mine approached me about a little young male parakeet that was being neglected and wanted to know if I wanted to take him. Believe me it wasnt an easy decision. I am working full time now, my husband and I are new empty nesters. I went and saw him, of course took him home. I know nothing about Parakeets, but I knew where to come other than websites and YouTube. So here I am again, but under a different name to reflect where I live now. By the way, birds species here is slim. I wish I could find another parrotlet (it would be illegal, but I don’t care) :22:

I told my husband I would wait a year, then another year before I get another bird. Just to see if I can live without one. So here I am, with this new bird, and feel like such a novice, knowing nothing. I just want him to be happy and healthy. Right now he wants nothing to do with me, eats like a bird (pun intended) I haven’t seen him eat or drink much, and he only eats seed. Ugh!

Any advise is helpful and much appreciated.

Mahalo!!

Welcome to you! Long time no hear!

Welcome back, Wendy! So glad to hear you welcomed a new bird to your home! I don't have any budgie expertise, but as you know many members do. For now, your original good instincts will pave the way to refinement!

Aloha Wendy and Mahalo for giving this little guy a much needed home! Looks like we barely missed you! We left Hawaii in 2017. We lived on Oahu but I much preferred Maui.

Budgies are the best Ignore any advice to use the “heart to heart” method of grabbing your budgie and forcing him to be still; for some reason that’s really common advice for budgies.

I’m so sorry you had to leave Kiwi; that list of prohibited species is air-tight

Will you be there long-term?

Hawaii has a thriving parrot loving community; search for the Facebook groups! They already know all the good vets, rescues, safe places for boarding, etc.

We are so glad to have you back! Aloha e komo mai back to our community!


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Flboy said:

Welcome to you! Long time no hear!

Click to expand...

Thank you. Transplanting to Hawaii was a huge undertaking. And being without Kiwi was so depressing to me. That’s why I stayed away. I have my concerns about this guy. He is stepping up but would rather not have anything to do with me. I took his mirror out of the cage, it’s on his playstand. He ONLY want that mirror. Doesn’t touch any other toy. He just sits there completely unanimated. He barely eats and drinks. I have offered a little fruit, and some nutriberries, he refuses. And gave home some water off my finger. I am going to get some millet today and see if he will eat it. Pellets are out of the question right now. But eventually I want to get him off the seed. He is already upset, I know. I know it will take time, and I am being impatient (so my husband says) what does he know!! Ha! Anyway, I am going to stick around. I have a much larger cage order for him.

We love Maui over Oahu too. (No offense to those who are on Oahu)

“Budgies are the best Ignore any advice to use the “heart to heart” method of grabbing your budgie and forcing him to be still; for some reason that’s really common advice for budgies.”

I am not sure what you mean by this, can you explain?

I’m so sorry you had to leave Kiwi; that list of prohibited species is air-tight

Oh it was agony leaving her. She was the best lil bird. Temper tantrums and all!

Will you be there long-term?

Yes, we do not have any plans on going back.

Hawaii has a thriving parrot loving community; search for the Facebook groups! They already know all the good vets, rescues, safe places for boarding, etc.

I will have to look into this, thank you. I find there is not a wide variety of bird species available on Maui. Or I just don’t know where to look.

We are so glad to have you back! Aloha e komo mai back to our community!

Mahalo, for the warm Aloha!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

We love Maui over Oahu too. (No offense to those who are on Oahu)

“Budgies are the best Ignore any advice to use the “heart to heart” method of grabbing your budgie and forcing him to be still; for some reason that’s really common advice for budgies.”

I am not sure what you mean by this, can you explain?

I’m so sorry you had to leave Kiwi; that list of prohibited species is air-tight

Oh it was agony leaving her. She was the best lil bird. Temper tantrums and all!

Will you be there long-term?

Yes, we do not have any plans on going back.

Hawaii has a thriving parrot loving community; search for the Facebook groups! They already know all the good vets, rescues, safe places for boarding, etc.

I will have to look into this, thank you. I find there is not a wide variety of bird species available on Maui. Or I just don’t know where to look.

We are so glad to have you back! Aloha e komo mai back to our community!

Mahalo, for the warm welcome.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

My budgies took to leafy greens pretty easy, they were adult rehomed to me. Try bok choy, romaine, dandelion greens, believe it or not these greens are packed with nutrition and vitamins. I just stick them whole on twigs throughout the cage, they have also nibbled on broccoli for me. Budgies...well for me I think you need two they are so social and seem to get depressed alone....others my have different ideas, but i think they will also friend other species if you are wanting something different, mine get along with my GCC and one of my Quakers tolarates them sitting by her.. these guys can have the psittacosis as they are often bred in big Avairy might worth having a vet check k him out. Welcome back

Welcome back Wendy!!! I remember when you moved to Hawaii, but I didn't know that you had to leave your bird behind...So glad you've taken-in this little Budgie! He needs you, it definitely sounds like he hasn't a whole lot of attention or interaction..or love.

It does sound like he was originally hand-raised if he's stepping-up, it just sounds like he was put inside a cage with a mirror and then left alone, and fed nothing but seed. That's unfortunately not at all uncommon for Budgies, a lot of people view them as "throw-away" birds, even though they can live into their 20's. So that mirror has probably been the only friend/flockmate he's ever had. So it's going to take time and patience, and a lot of talking to him and "passive" interaction with you guys to get him to trust you and realize that you're his new flock.

As far as the food goes, a lot of Budgies are weaned onto only seed, and never even shown a veggie, fruit, pellet, treat, etc. The millet sprays are a good place to start, usually they'll eat them pretty quickly. Laura had a good idea about giving him dark, leafy greens (I clip them to the cage bars and they go crazy for them). It's just going to take time and slowly introducing him to new foods, and letting him see you eat them too. Right now he probably doesn't identify anything that you've given him as being "food" except for that seed mix. It"s just going to take time...