Last Updated on by Mitch Rezman
Hi, I have a 7-month-old English budgie that was born with a splayed leg that sticks straight out. His wings were over-clipped when I got him at 2 months of age.
I have waited impatiently for his wings to grow out as my other parakeets are flighted.
I see from the way he perches like a kickstand mostly on a ladder that he has close access to his one wing with a bad leg and over-preens and chews on just this one which makes him flutter lopsided.
Editors note:
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Moving forward we will try to keep each post focused on a particular species of bird.
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He doesn’t seem to know he can start flying but gets around quite well.
Do you have any advice on how to stop this chewing of the one wing?
I would love to see him fly with his friends.
They have free time out on top of four cages with tons of perches and toys.
They have never figured out in seven years they could go around the corner down the hall, which is a great plus for me. They are my little babies, I refer to them affectionately as Keebler elves. Thanks for your help. Michelle
Yikes!
For those of you unfamiliar with splayed leg – it’s a leg that gets stuck in the wrong position of a very young hatchling and basically becomes a permanent deformity although we have seen corrections as viewed in this video.
Chances are this bird is too old to make physical changes so before we resort to extreme measures I’m going to advocate the introduction of at the very least one flat perch so your budgie’s good foot isn’t getting overworked.
I would like to know how often he gets bathed. Perhaps with the introduction of more moisture into the feathers praying could be reduced.
We can also suggest products like:
Hi Mitch, I wrote to you a while back about my handicapped English budgie
Kenny a while back. He has one splayed leg that sticks straight out and up. He likes to perch at an angle where he looks like a kickstand
Michelle W
I thought he was chewing his wing feathers on one side, but he now seems to have almost finished a long molt cycle.
He has started to fly with my other parakeets, although wobbly he can now do 90-degree angles.
It has been the longest six months waiting for Kenny’s feathers to grow back.
He was only 8 weeks old when I rescued him, and if you remember his wings were over-trimmed.
My 4 other parakeets are all flighted and out most of the day as I am home.
Kenny had an extra cage set on the floor next to the table (with one of 3 large cages I have in a cluster) with a long ladder up to the side of the birdcage on the table, with many wooden clothes pins clipped to the side of the table cage he used as a ladder (as this side had vertical bars).
Being on the top of this cage is the favorite Cool Spot for all the birds. I believe many, many times Kenny fluttered to the floor over the six months and then the long climb up three flights, actually made his leg and foot stronger.
The Lord works small miracles every day. Thanks for your reply I have three shelf perches that he sometimes used but doesn’t favor now that he is King of the Hill. Thanks for your blogs.
Hi Michelle
As you are finding out animals don’t know they have sustained an injury – all they can do is work around pain in order, to at least attempt to achieve a “normal” life.
Kudos on your persistence and thank you for engaging with our content
MitchR
Hi, I am currently feeding my parakeets but they seem to waste a lot of it.
What is the best parakeet seed?
There are so many, that I’m confused.
They don’t like fresh veggies or fruit, so I would like good overall food. I tried pellets and they refused to eat them. Thanks! Toni
Hi Toni
Higgins is one of the best brands for both seed and pellet mixes.
We keep a large food dish/ pie plate on the floor of the cage that all 3 Tweeky Clean feeders get emptied into nightly providing our budgies consistent ground-eating opportunities.
We also toss a few 1-inch-long millet sprigs at birdy bedtime for their nightly treat.
Millet is another issue and I deal with vacuuming seven days a week.
MitchR
I made the mistake of getting 4 budgies at the same time. Doh!
They are 18 mo old now. 3 boys and 1 probably girl. (I thought they’d all be males, oops) I’ve tried and tried and tried to finger-train them.
They don’t want me, they want each other.
Buddy and Sami are together and won’t play, ever. Sami sulks and pouts and sits. Buddy is ambitious and active and irritates Sami 24/7, so I’m planning on getting Sami his own cage.
I’m hoping I can get more responses from them being separate. I’m assuming they’ll have to be in separate rooms from each other?
The other two seem to have fallen deeply in love/bonded and are joyously flying in the “bird room”, feeding each other, and playing.
Auzzie (male) will get on my finger to come out of the cage but is ‘wild’ after that. Sunny (a yellow female) zooms right past me and won’t come to me. I tried to have them all together and Buddy and Sunny (yellow female) just fight to the floor, so that’s a no-go. I’m so frustrated!
I feel I’ve made a huge mistake and will never have a happy flock that will sit on my hand and let me pet them.
I’ve looked at all the bird training sites and they’re always about parrots who will sit there and let you click and feed.
These crazy parakeets just will NOT do that. They’re too skittish. What in the world can I do or try? It’s been a year and a half and I’m nothing more than a budgie maid. Not what I was hoping for with these sweet babies. Hope you can help.
Thank you! Peggie
Yes Peggie, you may have made a mistake in getting 4 parakeets at once if you wanted to have them as tame pets.
Birds of a feather flock together and you have no feathers.
I recommend you get them a nice big aviary-type cage and let them enjoy life without being handled. Be sure to include several perches at different heights and include lots of toys and other items that can offer hidden perch places where a bird can retreat to when it feels a little annoyed by another cage resident.
We did not intend to have multiple parakeets either. However, it started when a customer came into my store with a keet he just caught outside on a cold day and gave it to me.
Mitch was enchanted and had the little gal (we named Bacon) on his hand right away.
We thought she was tame. Well, after a week of good food and housing, she regained her strength and was no longer going to have anything to do with us…and as soon as we let her out of the cage, flew right into the window pane.
We realized she was a feral (wild or lost) parakeet and we would not be able to tame her.
She was extremely skittish and we decided to get her a buddy instead as parakeets do not do well alone if they don’t enjoy a human’s company.
So along came Eggs who was a hand-fed baby but once housed with Bacon, made Eggs jumpy too.
We decided to locate another couple of keets to make them all more comfortable.
We were given an adult pair by a local breeder and introduced them (Toast and Jam) to the cage and tossed in some millet spray and low and behold, they did just fine. We love to watch them.
For yourself, consider a new bird, one all for yourself.
We wish you the best.
Catherine
A question and 3 answers from Quora about budgies chirping
How can I get parakeets to stop chirping?
Skye, who was once owned by an Amazon Parrot replies:
You probably won’t, unless you rehome, release, or euthenize them.
Don’t take home an animal if you cannot stand the things it does when it is happy – if you got a cat and didn’t want it to purr, you’d likely be seen as crazy and unreasonable. The same is true for budgies.
Budgies are social animals, like most other bird species. They will communicate, which can be annoying.
Either get used to it, invest in earplugs or headphones, or give them to a shelter or new family where someone is educated about their new pet.
Comment from Caitlin G, Dog and Cat Trainer/Behaviourist (2016-present):
They are probably chirping because they want something.
When my lovebird chirps too much –
- I check the water dish, is it clean?
- Check the food, is it full?
- Provide fresh veggies, a water bath or a mist, some new toys, or take the bird out for some socializing/playtime.
There is usually something the bird wants/needs. If you cannot figure it out, the bird probably just wants attention and love!
Benjamin T. Comments:
Make them unhappy. Seriously though, if you place a towel or light blanket over the cage, your parakeets will probably quiet down as it appears dark (sleepy time) to them. However, parakeets are very sociable and need to communicate.
OUR Input: Birds may quiet themselves when covered, but it is NOT a solution and is cruel to expect to use covers for that purpose. It is thought that a covered bird falls asleep, but they don’t.
In conclusion
Birds are noisy – but there are degrees. As mentioned above we have multiple budgies.
When their bird light comes on in the morning at 7:30 the chatter begins.
I find it enchanting. Much better than having flowers that don’t do much else than die after a few days.
The cage with six budgies is a living breathing community and I have found that they clearly have their own routines.
I used to give them a full millet spray every other day until the Captain pointed out to me that they didn’t understand the every other day concept so we now give them smaller pieces daily at bedtime.
When a flock of birds is making noise, they are happy and feel safe. If a flock of birds is quiet you can bet that danger is imminent
Written and Approved by Mitch Rezman and Catherine Tobsing
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