We Adopted A Budgerigar!

Do get him a friend. Budgies are social birds.
And now you are bringing back many memories...

I had a cockatiel (many moons ago), I clipped his wing (no, it's not cruel), and opened his cage every evening. He would climb out and just enjoy the freedom. And happily perforated the sleeves of my seven singles! Ok, I'm old.
On weekends, I would put him in the tree in the backyard. I put food & water in the tree, and sometimes, while I was visiting friends, (I was a teenager), I forgot about him! He would 'fly' down and walk to the kitchen and make a huge racket until someone opened the door. Then he walked through the kitchen, down the passage, into my bedroom, and waited for someone to put him at his cage.

 

I grew up in a regular suburb. The only 'predator' was the Southern (Common) Fiscal. And this guy was/is quite a menace.
I recall it looking down at my cockatiel, and him looking up, and being a typical youngster , hoping it would come down at my bird. I'm sure Frankie would have gotten the better of him .
Sorry... boys will be boys.

 

Because I thought he would F... up that bird.
I was a teenager! A boy! That's what they do. Mine's stronger than your's...

 

Who's a pretty boy?
Nice looking budgie Kes

Years ago I used to have a pair of African Lovebirds and they were allowed to fly around our apartment. One was very friendly and would sit on your shoulder watching telly with you or sometimes just sit happily chattering in your ear. The other one although quite tame and would happily perch on your hand, often gave a nasty nip when handled so it was always an adventure. The pair would chew the architraves, pelmet boxes and the wooden handles on the kitchen cupboards as well as shred any paper or magazine into long strips which they then tuck in their feathers. Near the family room window we had a nice big dead tree branch with a tray under it so they could chew that instead of the architraves and although popular the architraves still got quite a work over. When we moved out I had to get some wood filler and paint to repair the all woodwork so we could get our bond back.

 

Hi Emms. As a child I had a blue budgie (they're called parakeets in the US) similar to yours named Misty. He was so tame he would fly over and land on your shoulder to lightly nibble on your neck hairs or earlobes all the while making soft little noises. The cage door was always left open for him also. He got outside when my grandmother had a shawl on and the bird landed on her shoulder as she was going out. Needless to say we never found Misty after that. As Eldon said, it's a good idea to clip their flight feathers. My bird used to love 'drowning' small plastic monkeys in the water dish.

 

This little bird is blessed to have you give him a good home. He will grow to appreciate you and your home once he gets adjusted to new surroundings. As for him not eating he may be going through a period of missing and grieving for his former owner. Animals are in many ways just like us humans. Best wishes for you and this pretty bird.

 

Lovebirds are very good if you get them young and are used to being handled and you give them a lot of attention but even then they can sometimes become aggressive from time to time.
They shred the paper for nesting material and they put it in their feathers and when they can't fit any more in their feathers they fly off to make their nest somewhere. One day we went out for the day and forgot to bolt the door shut on the aviary in the spare room and came home late that night to find half of the A - M telephone directory shredded and both birds sleeping in a nest they made on the shelf of the buffet and hutch in the lounge room. It was cute and they were so proud of their nest. The next day they were a bit cheesed off when we cleaned up their handywork

You might also want to give Blue some vegies to chew. Over here milk thistles from the garden are very popular especially if it has the flower bud and also spinach, parsley, peas, carrots, silver beet, celery, cabbage, broccoli, cooked pumpkin, sweet potato, apple, rockmelon and apricot are all healthy choices
Blue is so lucky to be allowed out of his cage and when he has a companion he will start chattering even more and be more settled and content

 

Love your budgie…just gorgeous.

Years ago we had one exactly like him, calling him “Tweety” and as we also had a curious cat who always hung around the cage, we taught Tweety phrases including “I tought I thaw a puddy dat! I did! I did!...Scraaam cat!”

There was a healthy respect between the two and the cat was always happy to sit quietly by the cage whenever Tweety was inside.

Tweety was lovable, tame, very friendly with everyone even the cat…he’d often climb onto the cat’s back and gently nuzzle its ear which made the cat close its eyes and purrrrrr.

When we were home, we often left the cage door open and Tweety would sit on our shoulders as we moved about the house. One day, without thinking, I walked out into the garden with Tweety still sitting on my shoulder. There was a flurry of birds in the garden which startled Tweety and he suddenly flew off.

We never found him nor replaced him…the cat missed him just as much, constantly wandering around outside looking about for his mate who never returned.

 

Kes, your little bird is beautiful!

In addition to what katkat said about grieving for a former owner, the pretty bird may also be intimidated and uncertain by brand new surroundings. Newly adopted cats and kittens often need often need far longer than a week to get comfortable with new surroundings. Being small and vulnerable in a place where you don't know all the angels of approach and all the safe spots, is scary... it make sense to me that this might apply to a small bird as well as to any other small kinds of pet. If that is the case, it's just a matter of being patient and treating him well, and as soon as he feels safe, his full personality will come out, and he will start to explore.

 

Yes, Down Under...but somehow doubt he joined a flock as we lived close to the city in a beach area.

We just wanted to believe someone found him and took him in because he was such a lovely friendly bird.