Beautiful Green Budgie - can't find owner (NYC)

3369 Views 12 Replies 7 Participants Last post by StarlingWings, Oct 14, 2016

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Discussion Starter · Oct 13, 2016

Hello!

I found a green budgie, this little fella, huddling outside my front door for warmth in NYC on Monday near midnight. He seems in good health, at least a year old, and I've been reading up on budgies like crazy to ensure however much time he spends with me is happy.

We kept him in a shoebox (with lots of holes in it) for the first night, with some seed mix and water in it, which I think he ate some of. Or at least stood on top of it, which I witnessed. Tuesday when I got home from work I got him a cage, cuttlebone, toys, seed mix, millet, and litter. When I opened the shoebox, eventually he climbed on an edge of it, at which point I got him to perch on my finger and put him in his new home.

Problem is, I have never owned any sort of bird at all, and it's getting me worried that he hasn't yet really moved away from his top perch outside of occasionally climbing on the wall near it - since as you can see his water and seed mix is closer to the bottom, so I don't think he's eaten much. He's still afraid of hands, so I'm wary of trying to do too much in his cage until some more time passes.

I just hung a small branch of of spray millet from the side of his cage and he's nibbling on that a ton now, so I think he's hungry, but I don't know how smart these birds are so I can't tell if he's just more comfortable eating from the perch he's been used to so far and he's too scared to go anywhere else, or if he genuinely doesn't know that he has food and water lower down.

Any advice on what I should do? Should I just leave him alone and hope he finds it? In general... what other stuff have I missed? I know they need veg and fruit, so that's on the list. But most of the stuff I've read that tells you how to handle a budgie is about how young they were when you got them, or whether or not they were handled in the pet store. And I know zero of these things about this bird.

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FaeryBee

· #2 · Oct 13, 2016

Hi! :welcome: to Talk Budgies

It is normal for your budgie to be very quiet for a few days until he becomes accustomed to his new environment. You can cover the top and three sides of the cage and play some music or the TV for him when you are not talking with him. Budgies perceive quiet to mean "danger" so you'll want to have some noise for him during the day when you are at work.
If you have food and water dishes that will attach to the side of the cage near the perch, you can add those to the cage until the little guy becomes more comfortable. Just move slowly and talk to the budgie calmly and reassuringly whenever you are near the cage.

Karma to you for rescuing the sweet budgie and for trying to locate the owner.

You'll want to replace the dowel perches in the cage with natural wood perches such as grapevine and multi-branch perches.
Take a look at this link for recommendations:
http://talkbudgies.com/housing-budgies/31719-essentials-great-cage.html

I would give him at least one swing - most budgies like swings and prefer to be as high in the cage as possible.

May I ask the dimensions of the cage you purchased?
Length x Width x Height?

Please take the time to read through all of the How To Guides, the FAQs and the stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.

You'll find most of your basic questions about budgies and caring for them will have been answered after you've read through all of them.

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Budgie Articles
http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/295001-list-stickies.html
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Avian First Aid
Why Quarantine?

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-general-budgie-info/227841-50-common-budgie-dangers-watch-out.html

http://talkbudgies.com/budgie-breeding/327881-heartfelt-plea-forum-members-new-old.html

http://talkbudgies.com/housing-budgies/24411-cage-sizes.html

http://talkbudgies.com/general-budgie-talk/339826-resource-directory.html

When you upload pictures as thumbnail attachments directly from your computer, tablet or phone, the forum automatically defaults to landscape.

To upload full-sized pictures with the proper orientation, please use a photo-sharing service such as PhotoBucket and follow the steps in these instructions:
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For gender and/or mutation help - Lighting and Angle DOES matter

By the way, all photos entered in any of our forum contests must be a full-size photo and not a thumbnail attachment so it's good to know how to upload them!

If you have any questions after reading through everything, please be sure to ask!

Glad you decided to join us and looking forward to seeing you around the forums.

:wave:

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Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 13, 2016

Thanks so much for all this info! I really appreciate it. The cage is (in inches) 16.5 length, 11.8 width, and 22 height. But the ceiling is a little vaunted so there is space up top.

I will definitely get him a swing, great idea! And I had no idea about the dowels.

I had a branch of millet hanging near his top perch and he ate plenty of that so I moved it down to the bottom one to encourage him to explore, hopefully that works. I'll read all the FAQs now.

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immorgan

· #4 · Oct 13, 2016 (Edited)

I'm so glad you found this poor baby! Does he have a band on his leg? The ID on it could help find the owner. Post on craiglist and other sites, and put up flyers in vets offices nearby

He's very lucky to hand ended up at your door

it sounds like you're doing a great job of taking care of him!
Edit: I had the same basketball toy for my budgie. I recommend either removing the toy or removing the mirror. Budgies tend to become a bit obsessed with their own reflection, which generally isn't healthy.
To remove the mirror I wedged a safety pin behind the mirror and popped it off (like a crowbar). Stormy still has a lot of fun with the toy without the mirror :thumbup:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Toast

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 13, 2016

No band on either leg that I can see

I put up posters on my block, a craigslist ad - I had a couple people email me based on both, but none of them were the owner.

It at least seems to me like someone had trained him a little, he got onto my fingers when I first found him without too much trouble, but I can't really tell if he was just scared or not. Since I put him in the cage he's been avoiding my hand whenever I have to put it in (unless it has millet in it)

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immorgan

· #6 · Oct 13, 2016

Toast said:
I put up posters on my block, a craigslist ad - I had a couple people email me based on both, but none of them were the owner.

It at least seems to me like someone had trained him a little, he got onto my fingers when I first found him without too much trouble, but I can't really tell if he was just scared or not. Since I put him in the cage he's been avoiding my hand whenever I have to put it in (unless it has millet in it)

He may have been in a bit of shock at first, which explains why he was so docile. It's totally normal that he won't go near your hand without a treat

they're very food-motivated.

It's great that you're doing so much for this little guy! I wish you the best of luck in finding his family, or being a great bird parent if you can't find his original owner

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Toast

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 13, 2016

Thank you so much for all the help! Pretty much right after I put the blanket over 3 sides and the roof, he started exploring a lot more of his house. He's also very talkative when there's any music on, or a conversation going on in the room, so I guess he's doing well.

It may just be because I've never had a bird before but he pretty much stole my heart. A small part of me is hoping his owners never turn up.

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FaeryBee

· #8 · Oct 13, 2016

Toast said:

Thanks so much for all this info! I really appreciate it. The cage is (in inches) 16.5 length, 11.8 width, and 22 height. But the ceiling is a little vaunted so there is space up top.

I will definitely get him a swing, great idea! And I had no idea about the dowels.

I had a branch of millet hanging near his top perch and he ate plenty of that so I moved it down to the bottom one to encourage him to explore, hopefully that works. I'll read all the FAQs now.

Click to expand...

Toast said:

Thank you so much for all the help! Pretty much right after I put the blanket over 3 sides and the roof, he started exploring a lot more of his house. He's also very talkative when there's any music on, or a conversation going on in the room, so I guess he's doing well.

It may just be because I've never had a bird before but he pretty much stole my heart. A small part of me is hoping his owners never turn up.

Click to expand...

Budgies have a way of stealing one's heart very quickly.
If you do end up finding the owner for this budgie, there is a good chance you'll decide to get one now that you've found how special they are.
It sounds as though the budgie is settling in very well for the short amount of time he has been with you.

With regard to cages, bigger is better as long as the spacing between the bars is no more than 1/2".
The very minimum recommended size cage for one budgie is 18x18x18.

I would suggest you might want to consider returning the cage and getting one a bit larger.

I don't know where you bought the cage but the "big box" pet stores generally have no problem with you returning cages as long as you clean it well first.

You'll probably find a cage with a flat top works better.

This would be a decent sized cage for one budgie if you are interested.

Prevue 26x14x20

Best wishes! :wave:

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immorgan

· #9 · Oct 13, 2016

Toast said:
Thank you so much for all the help! Pretty much right after I put the blanket over 3 sides and the roof, he started exploring a lot more of his house. He's also very talkative when there's any music on, or a conversation going on in the room, so I guess he's doing well.

It may just be because I've never had a bird before but he pretty much stole my heart. A small part of me is hoping his owners never turn up.

Welcome to the world of bird ownership

my heart just melts over every bird!
As hard as it is, I would try not to get too attached to him just yet, because someone might be looking for their baby

Or, if the owner doesn't show, you may have made an unlikely friend

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nuxi

· #10 · Oct 13, 2016

Hi and welcome to TB! I'm glad you rescued the pretty green boy and will keep him if you can't find the owner!:thumbsup: Please keep us updated!

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aluz

· #11 · Oct 13, 2016

Welcome to the forums!

It's great you have managed to rescue and take in this lost stray budgie in need of help and shelter. It's good to know he will have a new loving home if the owners aren't located.
Best of luck with everything!

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BlueBirdNYC

· #12 · Oct 13, 2016

Hi..... I'm in NYC as well. I've had a new budgie for about 6 weeks... he's about 6 months-ish. He's great.

That is a beautiful budgie you rescued. Just gorgeous. My budgie was nervous and uncomfortable for at least a month in the new environment. He continued to settle in and blossom into his environment and personality. ....It takes a lot of patience and a lot of time. Patience and going slow is the name of the game. My budgie surprises me every week... in a good way.

I have the cage that FaeryBee recommended, and it's great. I made the mistake of buying a "roof top" cage and flat top is so much better. I use the old cage as back-up. It's too small. I bought it to transport the bird home... knowing that I would upgrade.

Here is the same cage FaeryBee linked to... however it's a cage "kit" that comes with a lot of great accessories in addition to the cage. If you sign up for Overstock's email list, you often get a 15% discount.... which brings the cost of the cage down to about $60 and shipping is free. It's a good value. I received some useful accessories with it (Mineral block, swing, mineral perch, etc.) Not all of the bonus "kit" accessories were great but some were good... and when I priced everything that came with it separately... the cage kit for this 24" x 22" x 14" cage... was a great deal:

https://www.overstock.com/Pet-Suppl...efccid=G3NXXBWZ32IJUBKCFNUWU66GIE&searchidx=0

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StarlingWings

· #13 · Oct 14, 2016

Hi there and :welcome: to the forums!

What a beautiful little boy, I'm so glad that he ended up with you to take care of him :hug:

For not knowing anything about birds before he turned up, you're doing a stellar job and it sounds like he is very happy with you!

If you do find the owners, I agree you very well may get your own little budgie to look after now

If not, well--he couldn't have found a better parront

You've been given great advice, as well as lots of useful information in the links provided :thumbsup:

If you have any questions after you've read through everything, please be sure to ask as we'd love to help

Meanwhile, keep us posted on how he's doing!

Cheers and best wishes :wave:

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