Budgie with vibrating wings

[RavensGryf]

I thought I'd ask all of you who are familiar with little birds, or particularly Budgies.
Lately we will notice that Pix will stand on a perch and his wings will be vibrating like mad. Reminds me of a hummingbird! He'll do it for a while at a time. Pix is on a diet (ordered by my avian vet), and it seems like he does this wing vibrating when all his ration of food is gone. At first I assumed poor guy, he's starving on the diet because he gobbled it all up in one sitting, and it's a neurological response to hunger? I talked to my vet today and he said no, that it's a "begging" behavior.

My parrots, and any parrot I've ever had or ever seen has not done this, even when their food is gone. My other Budgie doesn't do it either. Any thoughts on what my vet said that it means he's begging for food?

 

[Nakiska]

Actually...could be.

We just adopted a sun conure from an elderly woman who felt it was time to re-home him due to her failing health. He get's sooo excited when we get home from work he'll sit in his cage staring out at us, wings vibrating like you describe and will do that until we let him out!

Total begging behavior!

I've never heard of a bird doing it when their food is gone though...but all things are possible

Toni

 

[Terry57]

I have one regular budgie and one English budgie that does that as well, if I am picturing it the same. It's like they are trying to take flight from within the cage and just flap away. Is that what your's is doing?

 

[RavensGryf]

Thanks Toni and Terry, I know it would be better with a video, but I don't know if I can get one. I think I know what you both are saying about how your birds vibrate with anticipation. It's not the same with Pix. In your birds, are they sort of holding their wings out and crouching down? Pix is holding his body in a normal upright position, and his wings are tight against his body. His wings are vibrating FAST! Faster than what I think you're describing. I've never seen anything like it

 

[Terry57]

Oh, that is totally different from my guys...wonder if the vet is right about it? I have never seen anything like that before.

 

[RavensGryf]

Now, I'm wondering if the vet thought I was describing what you described previously. When you use words without someone actually SEEING what you're talking about, it can be misunderstood. I can see where THAT would be a begging gesture. What Pix is doing is definitely something I've never seen before in any bird. I didn't think even a budgie could literally vibrate that fast. His wings are nearly a blur!

 

[Jumpingtadpoles]

Why is he on a diet?

 

[Frumpydumple]

I know what you mean, but I don't think that has happened to any of my birds before, but if I hold Cookie's wing out sometimes it starts to vibrate really fast for some reason, not the same thing exactly, but I just thought I would say it anyway. I don't really know what could cause both a birds wings to randomly vibrate though. I think I read about what you're describing somewhere, but I don't know where I read it or what it said caused it.

 

[RavensGryf]

Why is he on a diet?

Short answer - because he became extremely overweight, and diet was ordered by my avian vet.

More details - We got Pix and Twigs before Christmas 15 months ago. They were probably older juveniles or near young adults. Their initial vet visit showed that they both weighed 31-32 grams.

Pix and Twigs were housed in the same cage until recently, where they ate exactly the same things... A little fresh foods that they would accept, and Harrsion's lifetime maintenance formula. After almost a year, all of a sudden Pix started looking a bit bigger than Twigs, but we kept thinking it was our imagination... Until, Pix started getting WAY bigger than Twigs despite that they ate the same things. Around this time, we noticed too that he seemed like he was constantly eating. When I finally handled him, I found his abdomen was bulging so large that poop would sometimes stick to it, and it would hang over the perch. When the vet examined him, he found large fat deposits all over his body, even on the sides and back making his frame appear much bigger than it is. He is 51 grams.
My vet explained Budgies are too small to draw enough blood for a more extensive panel, and too much blood would be needed for a thyroid test - which would be needed to see if it's his metabolism. His cholesterol was off the charts. This bird ate NO seed, and remember his cage mate still to this day remains 32 grams.
WHY did this weight gain happen? The vet simply cannot say conclusively. He recommend me getting some iodine mix (from him) to mix in water which should help regulate his metabolism and hunger signals IF in fact it is that.

The daily exercise with his "personal trainer" didn't work. For weeks he was flying back and forth til he was tired. He'd rest, then more flying. Climbing a long ladder over and over, running in a hamster wheel. He's still 50 or so grams (last week). He has his own cage now with his strictly measured portion of food. My vet just told me about adding the iodine to see if that helps. Other than that, he seems fine and happy. Noisy as ever, loves playing with his toys and hanging out with his best friend Twigs.

 

[RavensGryf]

I know what you mean, but I don't think that has happened to any of my birds before, but if I hold Cookie's wing out sometimes it starts to vibrate really fast for some reason, not the same thing exactly, but I just thought I would say it anyway. I don't really know what could cause both a birds wings to randomly vibrate though. I think I read about what you're describing somewhere, but I don't know where I read it or what it said caused it.

I tried looking it up on the internet, but I don't think they're talking about the same thing. I've had birds for a long time, and I've never seen anything like it. This is definitely something unusual. I really should try to video it and show here and show my vet. If my vet saw it, he would have a better idea than me trying to describe it in words.

 

[Frumpydumple]

Does he get enough calcium?

 

[RavensGryf]

Does he get enough calcium?

He does he eats Harrison's which is pretty nutritionally wholesome. They say he doesn't need additional calcium, but he has a cuttlebone anyway, he loves it as a toy. He also gets sunlight when possible.

 

[Frumpydumple]

I don't really know what could be causing it then. Probably nothing serious though.

 

[RavensGryf]

Hopefully. What I worry about is that my vet says if he doesn't get his weight down, he will likely develop diabetes, or have an otherwise shortened lifespan.
I know pet store budgies are not carefully bred. Overbred, and maybe inbred? Hit or miss if you get a genetically "good one" or not

 

[MonicaMc]

He's probably overweight because of the pellets and he was simply consuming too much of them. Going through a similar issue with my mitred conure. He hardly ever gets seeds except as a rare treat. When I got him he was eating Zupreem Fruitblend and weighed about 230+ grams. I switched him to Zupreem Natural. No changes. When Zupreem made their large bags smaller but didn't change the price to reflect the changes in the bags weight, I switched him over to Roudybush.

When one of my birds was having some health problems, I figured I'd try switching to Harrison's for her, as well as the rest of the flock. As suggested by Harrison's, I started with the High Potency for several months before switching to the Adult Lifetime. Well, while on the HP, Charlie gained a *lot* of weight! He gained so much weight that he became tired after flying where-as previously he was able to fly several times without wearing out. I thought he'd lose weight once I put him on the AL formula, but he didn't lose any.


It probably didn't help that I'd feed him a certain amount of food in his dish and he'd eat what he wanted throughout the day without finishing it, but now instead of leaving some, he's finishing it off - thus packing on the weight.

I plan to switch him back to Roudybush, but just to be extra cautious, I've got the regular formula, Daily Maintenance, the Low Fat Maintenance diet and the Rice Diet ordered.



For now, I'm limiting the amount of food he gets, encouraging more flight exercise, and am considering a sprouted diet with him. (well, for my entire flock - something I've wanted to do for years, but am afraid food might go bad before it's finished growing, even though I've successfully sprouted multiple times)



As far as your budgies having a high amount of pellets within their diet.... well, that does concern me since they do better with some seed in their diet. Seeds could lead to fatty liver disease/liver failure while pellets could lead to kidney failure and/or gout.