URGENT HELP

[sundancekid]

Hi everyone,

I haven't posted here in quite a while because life has been crazy. I'm going to cross-post in hookbills, but this board seems to be more active. I roll my big cage out every morning onto my shady front porch so my three little hens can enjoy the fresh air. My neighbor rang my bell about an hour ago and asked if I was missing a bird. I panicked, but glanced over and everyone was accounted for. She said a small green bird was hanging out on their porch and they thought he might be mine. He wasn't trying to fly away... just sitting there. I thought either his wings were clipped or he's in bad shape. So I grabbed my net, a hand towel and my hospital cage and went over to her house.

It's a beautiful male (I think) budgie. He flew short distances a few times, but I caught him pretty easily. He's very scared, so it's hard to tell if he's tame, but his wings definitely aren't clipped. He ate seed for about 10 minutes straight, drank some water and promptly went to sleep. I think he's exhausted I'm going to send out a neighborhood message to see if anyone is missing him, but I'm wondering if he was intentionally released.

I know nothing about budgies, so I need some help. Will the finch food hurt him until I can get something else? Anything in particular I should monitor other than his intake and droppings? Can he transmit anything to my finches? Obviously, he won't be sharing a cage, but I want to make sure they can't get sick from him if he has something. Thanks!!

[sundancekid]

Not sure why he's showing up sideways!

Edit: Fixed it!

[lovezebs]

sundancekid

He looks like a beautiful young adult boy.
Probably just exhausted, hungry and parched. Right off the top of my head, he looks to be in pretty good shape, but that's just from the picture.

I would definitely place him in a seperate room from your girls, just to be on the safe side. Even though he appears to be ok, one never knows. I would make sure to wash hands and sanitize all the dishes, perches and so on that he's using, again just as a precautionary measure.

I hope you'll be able to find his owners, but sadly, very often people just throw away these lovely little birds, figuring that it's 'only' a bird.

One of mine (before I got him ) marched up someone's driveway on his last legs and gave himself up. He ended up at the Humane Society, and then came to live with me .

A finch seed mix, will be fine for him, and some spray millet will be greatly appreciated.

Poor little guy.

Elana

[Angela&Shalamar]

No worries on the food. I actually by parakeet feed for my finches as it usually has les nyjer in it and my guys don't seem to eat it. Good luck with him. Since he's bee out in the wild it is possible he could be carrying something that could infect your flock add to that you don't know where he originally came from I would do a full quarintine. Seperate room, change cloths, wash hands the full nine yards. Good luck with him.

[debbie276]

He could possibly bring something into your flock, there is no way of knowing where he's been. I would quarantine him and watch.
Parakeet mixes have larger seeds such as sunflower so I would go get some mix specific to parakeets.
Good luck, please keep us posted

[sundancekid]

Thanks Elana! He didn't drink too much before he puffed up and took a nap. He has had one dropping so far, pretty dark and not much urine. Is there anything I can do for dehydration or to encourage him to drink? Maybe I can try some corn or peas tomorrow to get some more liquid in?

Do you house your budgie with your finches? Obviously not something I would consider right now, but if I keep him it would be so much easier to have them together. But I've heard the horror stories...

[sundancekid]

Thanks for the quick replies. He is across the house from the finches so hopefully everyone will stay healthy. Currently sleeping very soundly on a sand perch. If he seems perky in the morning, I think I will offer him some veggies to get some extra fluids in him. I've only personally seen him drink once so that's a concern. He's had about 4 droppings, all pretty dark without much urine. Hopefully he will be able to settle in a little more tomorrow and start recovering from his shock of being in the wild. Poor guy.

[Babs _Owner]

sundancekid

That little guy was sooo lucky to have the neighbors turn him over to you. He looks bright and healthy. Someone is probably missing him terribly.

I hope you find the owners. Maybe an escapee from a child's room?

[lovezebs]

sundancekid

Don't be surprised if you don't see him drink a lot. Budgies don't drink a whole lot compared to finches, and usually they will not drink Infront of you, unless they are extremely dry or know you really well.

Most of them are not necessarily great veggie lovers either.

Elana

[lovezebs]

sundancekid

How come this post is appearing twice?

No, you never house Budgies with Finches. Budgies can severely injure, or even kill Finches .

Elana

[Sally]

I'll combine both threads now that there have been some responses. Be sure to offer water in a little bowl on the floor of the cage. You can give him a little plain Pedialyte for the electrolytes, which will help him with dehydration. Cucumber is loved by most finches, I don't know about budgies, but it has a lot of water in it. I'd probably put a heat lamp on him tomorrow if he seems puffy or the least bit ill. Definitely keep him well quarantined from your other birds. Lucky little guy that he was found!

[Sheather]

sundancekid

How come this post is appearing twice?

No, you never house Budgies with Finches. Budgies can severely injure, or even kill Finches .

Elana

Lol Elana you always forget about me. Never say never!

Actually, it can work in an aviary, and sometimes the finches and budgies even form friendships. I have a flock of seven parakeets amongst zebra, spice, society, Java, canary, a few other finches plus doves, no drama at all. Wouldn't try it in a cage though, no room to escape if someone gets mad.

[vinay]

Good on you for rescuing him !
Hope you find his owners. Unfortunately many people think it is okay to set their birds 'free' without considering the consequences of freeing a pet bird who has no survival skills whatsoever.

It is better you keep him far away from all your birds as he could have caught something from the wild.
The picture isn't too clear but his beak looks overgrown. This could be due to scaly face mites. He might also be carrying air sac mites. Both are deadly to budgies and finches and could kill .
Luckily they are easily treatable with Scatt .
You should have him looked at by a vet to stay on the safe side.

You can offer him greens like spinach/cilantro/parsley etc. Most of my budgies love it

[sundancekid]

Thanks for consolidating this. Thank you all for your input so far. I have a few quick questions to leave here before I run in to my morning class.

1) He is producing a fair number of droppings, but they are black? This just indicates that he hasn't been eating, correct? When should I look for the color to start changing now that he has access to food again.

2) How much/often should he be eating? I'm used to the finches eating what seems like every 15 minutes

3) How active do you think he should be at this point? He's just sitting there, completely quiet. He gets flustered and goes to the side of the cage when I approach, but otherwise... Nothing. I don't want to overstimulate him or anything if he's still tired, but I don't know how active he should be if he's healthy.

4) Someone mentioned air sac mites. I will try to get a pic of his beak later. I was under the impression though that societies don't get mites?? I only have the 3 societies, no zebs, canaries or LG's in the house.

Thanks everyone!!!

[sundancekid]

Oh and I'm going to make flyers tomorrow and take them around the neighborhood. I just don't have time today. My husband already tried to pull the "if you can't find where he belongs, we aren't keeping him". I shot that down pretty quickly