How long can a dog go without food? How much water does a dog need per day? What can aggravate the condition of a hungry dog?

It's sad when disease comes to our pets. However, this happens even to the most caring owners. Therefore, it is very important that in such a situation the pet owner does not get confused, but pulls himself together and acts clearly and quickly. Since, in particular, in parrots, and in other animals, many diseases occur very quickly (for example, this is how it happens), and if you miss the moment, you may lose the chance for your pet to recover.

Well, our publication today, in which we will tell you how to treat a parrot, where to start, will definitely be useful to you...

How to find out if a parrot is sick

It is very important to notice in time that your parrot is sick. This will allow you to start treatment for your feathered pet in a timely manner, and will significantly increase its chances of recovery. Therefore, we have especially for you compiled a list of symptoms of problems that indicate that your parrot is sick. This…

Sudden changes in the behavior of the bird.
Refusal of food and water or, conversely, increased thirst.
Anxious or apathetic behavior.
Weight loss.
Lameness.
Sneezing and discharge from the nose and eyes.
Deterioration of the plumage and its condition.
Redness of the eyes.
Change in consistency of droppings.

You shouldn’t wait until your bird shows all the symptoms from the list above. This may not happen. Having noticed at least one of them, you should already pay attention to the state of health of the parrot and show the bird to the veterinarian as soon as possible.

Choosing a veterinarian for a parrot

Find a good veterinarian for your bird

Ah, this is where the fun begins. As experience shows, there are not so many specialists who would treat parrots. Most of the veterinarians in our clinics are generalists, and we in no way want to demean their professionalism, however, treating cats and dogs is slightly different from treating parrots. That's why, if you are interested in the health of your bird, immediately after purchasing it you should look for a specialist who will treat it and advise you. So to speak for the future. Then, if you find yourself in an emergency situation, you will not waste time looking for a good specialist, but you will immediately know who to contact. It is very important. At the same time, it’s good if you find not just one specialist, but several - this way you will insure yourself against any unforeseen situations and force majeure. It wouldn’t hurt to look for contacts of specialists from other cities – email, phone, Skype number. With the power of the Internet, this is not so difficult. Each such contact is an additional chance for your feathered friend to recover.

First aid kit for a parrot

Sometimes, a bird needs first aid. And, the further fate of the feathered pet may depend on your efficiency, as well as on whether you have all the necessary means to provide such first aid at hand. Therefore, we would recommend that on the same day when you bring the parrot home - no matter what, a large bird (read more about keeping such birds) or a budgie, take care to collect first aid kit for parrot. All these products should be in one place and periodically you should check their expiration date.

Such a first aid kit must contain antiseptic wipes, adhesive tape, tweezers, cotton wool, hydrogen peroxide, activated carbon, an elastic bandage, scissors, a small towel (for fixing the bird), a universal salt applicator or heating pad, a teaspoon... Also, the first aid kit must be a notepad with phone numbers and contacts of your veterinarians, addresses and contacts of the nearest veterinary clinics. It won’t hurt to put in your first aid kit an ordinary ballpoint pen and paper on which you can write the veterinarian’s orders if you contact him by phone.

Even in the event of an emergency, when your bird is injured (read more about) or urgently needs your help, you can quickly react and provide first aid. However, as you noticed, there are no medications in the first aid kit - this is true, since their list depends on the bird’s illness and the doctor’s prescriptions. And we would not recommend you to self-medicate your parrot.

If you took on such an interesting business as - then you probably had to have a whole bunch of questions. Most likely, you will be interested not only in how to determine the pregnancy of a budgerigar, but also in how to choose a suitable pair of birds for breeding. We will definitely consider all these, as well as many other questions, in the following article.

Principles of breeding budgies

In order to breed domesticated birds, you just need to know a few basic rules.

Firstly, breeders will need to select a pair of wavy dogs suitable for starting a family. It is very important that the birds you choose show sympathy for each other and do not fight.

If you purchase a pair of parrots from different breeders or in different pet stores, you should first place them in separate cages, thus allowing them to get used to each other's appearance. Only after a week or two, it will be possible to try to place one parrot with another.

Secondly, the birds you choose must be completely healthy. Only young and strong wavy birds can subsequently bring you healthy offspring.

Thirdly, the breeder will initially need to decide in what period of time he plans to start breeding his charges. Under natural conditions, it occurs at the end of spring or beginning of summer.

However, if, due to some circumstances, you plan to shift this period to a later one or, vice versa, to an earlier one, then you will need to perform a number of certain manipulations.

For example, daylight hours during bird breeding should be slightly increased by using daylight placed near the cage.

Fourthly, the one you choose must be of a certain age. It is not allowed to involve in the process those under one year old, or, on the contrary, those who are too old and weak, over six years old.

Fifthly, the break between laying eggs should be at least six months. If you break this rule and want your pets to bring you offspring as often as possible, the female will most likely not survive and die.

Mating season

The beginning of the mating season in birds is visible to the naked eye. The male begins to show interest in the female placed next to him. He flirts with her in every possible way, shows off and simply attracts her attention. The female reciprocates the male's feelings.

If you are already seeing a similar picture, then it’s time to cook. Surely each of you knows what it can look like. Usually, they are either made by hand or purchased from pet stores.

In any case, no matter what nest house you choose, the female will definitely show interest in it and begin to restore order inside it. She will often jump inside him and scratch for a long time.

Signs of pregnancy in a parrot

Here we come to the main question of this article. So how do you know if your budgie is pregnant?

Many of us, as children, begged our parents to buy them a feathered friend, and most often this feathered friend turned out to be a parrot. Of course, the bird greatly decorates any home, bringing its own characteristic flavor. Parrots are not whimsical and find language with different pets. But we, people, want to understand what parrots want from us. Perhaps we can also help them with something or teach them something.

But how to understand a parrot? After all, he is not a dog or a cat, to which humanity has long been accustomed. Meowing says that the cat wants something or is in pain, the dog may whine or start caressing, but what do birds do? After all, they also understand and feel everything. Can't we understand them? It turns out that the “language” of birds, or rather their habits, speaks volumes, and knowledge of these habits and sounds made will facilitate our communication with birds.

How to understand a budgie

Parrots usually make sounds that sound like screaming. Usually our bird screams like this if he is very worried or, on the contrary, he is happy and cheerful. And when you see a parrot jumping in a cage, then perhaps you are contemplating the “parrot’s” joy! If his cry is emitted, but the vowel is slightly closed, and the beak is covered, then the parrot wants to assert something. If we had a transcription of the sounds and gestures of a parrot, then these would be translated as: “that’s right.” I meant it." Sometimes you can hear “chuck” in this cry.

If your chick is simply “mooring”, then this means that he likes both the situation and the atmosphere where he is. But this is not typical for birds; usually, in nature, they behave much louder.

If you have had the bird for quite some time and you are letting it out of its cage, then do not be afraid if in the morning it wakes you up or pushes you a little in the nose with its beak. These habits of parrots speak of goodwill and trust. At the same time, the bird may move its beak a little and make the sounds “sh/cha-sh/chwak”. In the wild, birds always exchange similar signs of attention among themselves. Therefore, it is no wonder that your parrot has no bird friends, one friend is you and therefore all the attention is for you.

The sound of “piu”, “chirp-chirp”, “chivi-chivi”

It is also worth considering the intonation with which a particular sound was pronounced. If he, for example, says “chirp-chirp” - this indicates that the parrot is wary, and if this sound turns into shorter sounds reminiscent of squeaking, then your parrot has not figured out what is happening. That is, your bird did not understand your movements or actions. Or perhaps you are taking away from your bird what it is attached to (another bird or any toy).

The parrot also makes a sound that resembles the sound “pik” or “piuu” to the human ear. “Piu” indicates that the bird is confused, and this sound is pronounced calmly, without aggression. But there is constancy: the sound is pronounced over a certain period of time.

More than once you have let your bird roam around the house or room. Usually during such trips, the bird finds a new favorite pastime. When she receives it again, the sound it makes is similar to “chivi-chivi.” Knowing these sounds will help you better understand how to understand a budgerigar or any other.

If the parrot is exhausted, then it does not open its beak much and says something like: “k-weeeee.” Even in Soviet cartoons, tired parrots were depicted with a similar pronunciation. If the bird wants to sleep a little, then this sound transforms into “keeeee-keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee“Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.” You can also understand the parrot’s strong dissatisfaction if you forcefully take it into your hands. Then his “kweeeeeeeee” will be simply heartbreaking.

If a parrot is dissatisfied with something, it makes a sound similar to the gurgling of water or, even worse, an unpleasant grinding sound. Parrots usually make this sound when there is more than one of them in the cage.

The sound of rumbling

Rumbling, like for any other animal, means a comfortable state. If your pet is purring, then everything is fine. Most often, such sounds are made by a “loving” pair of parrots. “Hryaya” also says that the parrot is doing well. This behavior of the parrot only indicates the good condition of your bird.

Behavior of budgerigars

Diseases can also be determined by the behavior of the parrot. The parrot stops eating consistently, sits on a stick with a ruffled look, is silent, there is shortness of breath, wheezing, the bird squints. Lethargy appears, sits motionless, or hardly moves. If the look is dull and the feathers are ruffled, then the parrot is sick and urgently needs to be shown to the veterinarian!

We also note that the parrot may not show that it is sick for a long time. And if it does, only an experienced veterinarian will notice it. And if you have already noticed a problem, then most likely the disease is already progressing. At first you may think that your pet has become much calmer or exhausted, but this is a mistaken opinion.

Watch your bird's breathing. If she begins to breathe so that you notice tremors in the chest, then this is an alarming signal. If your bird starts sneezing, then most likely it has a cold. Then move the cage to a warmer place and let your pet warm up. Birds, like people, can catch colds and get pneumonia, and this disease cannot be cured without special medications. We hope that our advice will be useful to you, and that your parrot will always be cheerful and healthy.

7 days after birth, sometimes 2 days earlier, the chicks open their eyes, and after a day or two they notice the first stumps of feathers. Feathers on the back, tail and wings appear in the third week of birth, but the plumage acquires a formal appearance by the age of one month. The difference from adult individuals is only in size and color; it is blurry and without shades.

In conditions of captivity, reaching one month of age, small parrots are already leaving the nest and walking along the floor of the cage or aviary, adult birds are watching them and both parents and other parrots bring them food. After some time, the chick begins to take food on its own. From this moment on, as a rule, the owners part with their pet and hand it over to other good hands.

It is possible that in a pet store you will buy a completely mature or even old bird instead of a young chick.

How to determine the age of a budgie?

In order to understand the age of a budgie, you need pay attention to the following factors:

When you first look at a bird, pay attention to wavy “cap” on the head. In young budgerigars, such waves begin from the beak and spread throughout the head. The exception is the albino and lutino breeds; these parrots are not designed by nature to have such a pattern. The babies will remain this way for about 3-4 months, then the first, juvenile molt will occur.
A young budgie the eyes are large and completely black, and in an adult the pupil is surrounded by a white ring. Older birds can be identified by the lack of feathering around the eyes. The iris appears by six months, however, the appearance of a white rim around the pupil is an individual process and can occur in some cases only after 10 months. A wide light rim means that the parrot is over a year old.
The chicks have a black beak. Until one and a half to two months from birth, parrots have a black smear on their beak, which will soon disappear on its own; this will happen when the parrot grows up. Sometimes it happens that the beak loses the black spot earlier, on the twenty-fifth or even twentieth day of life. This feature is typical for lighter species of parrots. Adult birds have a straw-yellow or greenish beak.
Budgerigar chicks are capable of flight once they reach the age of one month. Although the plumage is still developing, it is usually sufficient to obtain the first flight experiences. Therefore, if the seller claims that the chick cannot fly yet, you should be on guard. A baby parrot for sale, by the time it has reached its age, usually more than a month old by this time, is already able to explore open spaces.
Guess the age of a budgerigar m according to body size. An adult has a body length of about 20 centimeters.
Young parrots have a short tail. But it is capable of growing to adult length approximately two months after birth. But it’s worth knowing that this could also be an adult bird that has lost its long tail feathers for some reason unknown to you.
By one and a half months of age, a budgerigar distinguished by formed plumage, from now on the parrot should have a “feather to feather” appearance. If you are assured that the bird is young and the feathers have not yet fully grown, then the bird is probably sick or old. The plumage of incompletely formed chicks is dull and unclear in contrast. Over time, it takes on a bright and clear appearance. The chick's plumage is removed and the bird acquires adult plumage at six months of age or a little earlier.
The criterion for determining the age of a budgerigar is wax color(this is the area of the beak where the nostrils are located). Basically, the cere of young parrots is colored light pink, bluish or beige. After puberty, which occurs at the age of six months, it acquires a darker color. It should be taken into account that such metamorphoses apply to a greater extent to females. Males usually have a pinkish-purple cere, and it does not change over time. However, everything has its exceptions and the cere may have a blue color, as well as blue fragmentary spots. The color of the wax is not a determining factor; when making a verdict on a bird regarding its age, all signs must be considered comprehensively.
Spots on the neck also give away the age of the wavy bird. They are distinguished by their characteristic shape; the older the parrot, the smoother the contours of the spots become. Young pets have throat spots in the form of numerous sectors and semicircles of irregular shape.
Finally, it is very easy to determine the age of a budgie by examining its paws. If the scales on the paws fit tightly to each other, creating the impression of a smooth surface, you know that this is a young “specimen”. Over time, individual scales of a parrot become noticeable; accordingly, the older the bird, the looser the cover of its paws becomes.

Attention!

How long does a budgie live?

A budgerigar lives approximately ten, maximum fifteen years. When comparing its life expectancy with a human, the age of a one-year-old parrot is equal to the age of a ten-year-old child. But this comparison is very conditional.