Parrotlet Perch & Diets, Hanging (Bat) Budgie, Conure Life Spans, Grey Diets & More

Last Updated on February 16, 2023 by Catherine Tobsing

I have recently purchased a new parakeet (Budgie)

As my beloved 7 yr old Sparky died. He is very young as the cere above his beak is just changing color from white to blue.

When I cover his cage at night he is on his top perch but when I get up in the morning Budgie is hanging upside down from the top of his cage. He has a perch high up but moves to the roof when I am sleeping. Any ideas?

Martie H

We are sorry for your loss. To your point none whatsoever Martie. Birds will be birds. It would be interesting to know when he makes the move if he is anticipating getting let out in a certain time?

Birds know the precise time of the day. BTW hanging upside down in place is not a lot of stress on his feet. Birds have no muscles in their feet so there’s nothing to get stressed out just 2 long tendons that lock the feet in place based upon the angle of the ankle.

Cockatiels hang upside down a lot. We called our all-white Popcorn “bat bird”

File under “one thing leads to another”

Saw your blog post about the green cheek conure cage set up.

I’m particularly interested in a Hagen grooming perch. I have a parrotlet. Does Hagen (I think that’s what you called it) make a size small enough for him?

I need a perch that attaches with a metal bolt and wingnut since the other type of grooming perch (with large, black plastic screw and cap) only attaches to vertical bars and our cage has horizontal 1/2 inch spacing. Thank you.

Name: Carol P

Sorry about the audio that was a Facebook live which we have now done twice and twice has had audio issues. We’re going back to the old-fashioned way and shooting scene by scene uploaded to YouTube and editing from there it is always much cleaner thank you for the feedback.

Here is a more granular view of how grooming perches work video

How many years does a green cheek conure live?

Jennie O.

Hi Jennie

The experts will tell you 25-30 years, maybe. The exact life expectancy of any bird varies so much. A bird that is re-homed five times is going to have a shorter lifespan than a bird who was with the same humans his entire life as an example. A bird in the wild has more exercise and more food variety but can be eaten by a predator long before it dies due to old age.

I try to provide an in-depth answer on bird life spans in this blog post. Please let us know if you have further questions

I have an 8 year old TAG (Timneh African Grey Parrot).

Her diet now is mostly safflower seeds and cashews. She weighs the same thing as she did when she was 6 months old.

She rejects all other seeds. She likes some cluttered dairy, cheese, grapes oranges and pistachios. What do you recommend I try to give her for a better diet. She has no behavioral problems. She spends 12 hours in a separate night cage. She is free flighted during the day.

Catherine Tobsing replied

Dear Martha

Only a DNA blood test can truly tell you if you bird is doing well or suffering from the diet you are feeding it.

Please note dairy is un-digestible by parrots and goes through your bird intact. As long as you are not giving her a lot that could gunk up her digestion then that is fine.

Citrus can cause heartburn-like issues if given too late in the day so it sits in the crop. Best to give in very small bits earlier in the day so it can be combined with other foods to escort it through the system without sitting alone in the crop. Grapes are fine but really should be well washed, organic or not, grapes get a load of pesticides.

The sleep time sounds great as well as the free flight.

Getting more veggies into her would be the main area I would try. Hanging a slice of leafy romaine every morning over the food dish encourages it to be pulled and ripped at and maybe even eaten.

Some folks try to remove the food (seed, pellet, etc) dish in the morning and replacing with a dish of cut up veggies and fruits for a few hours before replacing with the original dish.

I would consider a multi-vitamin that you sprinkle onto the wet food (fruits, cheese, etc) as she is not getting enough in the nuts and seeds alone. Calcium powder sprinkled as well is good.

I hope this helps.

Greencheek conure emergency/torn lower beak & tongue.

Vet recommends syringe feeding. What do you sell & could you FedEx Overnight? Many thanks,

Gena

Dear Gena

I am so sorry for your poor birdie. We do have syringes here. We have hand feeding formula and also, Mash both can be fed via syringe.

I have this 60 cc/mm syringe on the website for $3.00 which can be used and washed out after each use.

editors note: beaks are being rebuilt with 3d printing

toucan with prosthe

I have Adult Lifetime Mash in stock today, I won’t have the High Potency Mash in until Tuesday. (back in stock)

This food is one that can be cooked, blended, and fed with a syringe for good nutrition. L’Avian Bean Cuisine is another good choice for a “soft bird food”

What has your vet suggested you feed your bird with? You can take any pellet and grind it up and add hot water to make a slurry to feed your bird.

Please give me a call toll-free at 877-287-0810 and we can discuss a shipment that can go out today.

Does your avian vet have the supplies and food you need now? Please let me know if I can help with an order today.

Chatting with Guest

You: hello how can I help

Visitor: which blend of Goldenfeast bird food would be best for a parrotlet without being of a powder consistency

You: are you seeking a pellet or a food mix?

Visitor: food mix. no pellet. he does not like pellet food.

You: The two smallest mixes are Australian Blend which does have very small bits and the next up would be Petite Hookbill.

You: anything else?

Visitor: no. thank you for your help

Good morning! I’m just wondering if you have a favorite budgie seed.

My 3 budgies have FINALLY (mostly) transitioned away from seed, but they still enjoy some. There seem to be so many choices–any favorites? Thanks! Betsy

Dear Betsy

I am partial to Hagen Living World Budgie mix because it is a complete diet in a bag.

Seed, dried veggies and fruits and tiny Tropican pellets too. It was devised to be used at the Hari institute where they breed and research birds. They did not want to constantly disturb the birds by cleaning up the big mess of fresh fruits, etc and made this formula which is cleaner. It is one of our biggest sellers for Budgies.

You said that you have transitioned them off the seed. I assume you are using a pellet? If so, you may not want to use Hagen Budgie as it already has pellets.

After that, most Parakeet seed mixes are very much the same, millet plus some oats and maybe some dried greens.

We find a big change though for them with Goldenfeast bird foods.

These items are unique and are very popular.

Thanks, Catherine! I followed your advice about a month ago and made Birdie Bread the Harrison’s original mix, stirring in a lot of the Harrison’s pellets. I also stirred in some seed, just to sweeten the deal, so to speak. They loved this, and it enabled me to actually get them to EAT the formulated diet rather than just picking through the plain pellets to eat the seeds.

I think this evening I’ll figure this out and probably order a bag of the Aussie stuff (for enticement) plus a bag of one of the seed mixes (to mix in with the bread mix + pellets). I know they should be eating more fruits and veggies, but anything like that that I put in their cage is treated as a giant monster.

Thanks again! – Betsy

aggregated by mitch rezman
approved by catherine tobsing

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