Injured Jefferson

[fiddlejen]

So currently working from home. But I do phone work, and Sunnies can be Loud. So I work in back bedroom, air filter and sound machine running between us. I go out and visit for break and for lunch. With cueing, Sunny has been doing really well with being quiet. I work 12:30noon till 9. Usually lunch around 5ish or so, I close the curtains. Sunny stays in her closed cage when Im not there.

I've been leaving the budgies out because - well - Jefferson Wants To Fly. I keep their front room curtained off when I'm working (that's one of the cues) and so far the budgies Respect The Curtain. They go back into their cage whenever they feel like it, and tuck themselves IN their cage to sleep when it gets dark.

Today lunch was 6pm. It wasn't fully dark, despite the rain, so although I closed the window curtains I still left budgies cage open.

We did start having serious wind gusts around 7ish. Maybe the budgies got scared? But they didn't call out, no alarm chirps or anything. (The white noise filters them out so they don't come thru the phone but I still hear if they call out or chirp loudly.)

So at 9 I went in the front and the budgies' cage was empty. And they were nowhere to be seen. I called and called & looked for them.

Eventually Calliope moved - she was clinging to a ladder hanging from a hook; she is white, so, invisible against white wall.

Jefferson took even longer to respond but eventually came out from behind a curtain.

Looking like this.

I cannot find any evidence of what happened. My guess is they panicked at a severe wind gust. Maybe he hit the glass cover of the overhead light? Actually my first thought was they had a fight -- although Calliope has Never done anything like that -- but I don't think Calliope could have made that gash.

I was pondering whether to go to grocery tomorrow am, but it looks like instead I'll be calling the vet.

Should I try to separate them overnight? Jefferson won't let me touch him so I don't think I'll get him into a smaller cage, but I could take out Calliope. On the other hand, they never want to be separated more than a few moments, so it might cause them more distress. (He is Not actively bleeding, by the way.)

 

[noodles123]

I hope others respond--not sure what to do..My instinct is to separate, but then again, if you think it was wind, then maybe not. I am more worried about internal bleeding etc (like if he slammed into something). I HOPE PEOPLE GIVE YOU BETTER ADVICE! sorry and good luck!!

 

[fiddlejen]

Well so far Im leaving them together. Jefferson is alert but, unsurprisingly, more subdued than usual. My pictures don’t really show just how symmetrical that gash is. Im ever more convinced there’s no way Calliope could’ve done it. And Jefferson would never fall or hurt himself unless he were startled or frightened.

Right now they’re settled in fairly close together. I often get the sense that Jefferson spends his nights, even whilst sleeping, “watching over” Calliope - and the rest of us too - but
tonight,even with both sleeping, it kinda seems reversed. Calliope seems entirely protective attitude right now.

So I’m thinking probably best to let them stay, calm & relaxed like that. The wind gusts seem to have stopped, but if they were to start up again, then I think I’ll move them both to smaller cage, in that case, for safety.

 

[LaManuka]

Oh Jefferson, you poor little bloke! For the sake of not stressing him any further I’d probably keep as much of his regular routine as possible, particularly if I was taking him to the vet anyway.

Sorry i don’t have any more sage advice for you but hope he’s ok!

 

[fiddlejen]

I found the evidence. Suspicious clump of feathers stuck to ceiling. I noticed the shadow, got out ladder to investigate. There are Not any feathers (NOR blood!) on the light fixture. So now, I think he maybe scraped his head on ceiling in panic-flight? (I prefer this idea better than thinking he collided with sharp edge of glass light fixture.).

 

[Scott]

Sorry to see poor Jefferson injured. I suspect it was accidental and likely caused by startle and "flight" response. Keeping them together in a smaller cage may be the ideal solution. Hopefully the weather will subside as well.

Please keep us updated!

 

[itzjbean]

Poor baby!

Best to keep them safe in their cages if you cannot supervise them outside of the cage. I've heard of many budgies dying from being 'free roam' birds in the house that get into trouble without their owners there to save them from danger.

 

[fiddlejen]

So today Jefferson is acting normal-but-subdued. Last night I did Not get much sleep. But not from worrying!

He was sleeping with an unusual-for-Jefferson (but quite reasonable!) attitude of "leave me alone let me sleep." However, he normally watches over us all, even when sleeping. So last night when Sunny started her usual Can't-I-please-Sleep-on-Your-Shoulder-Please routine, Jefferson quickly got Agitated by her fussing. Sigh. Once I realized the problem, well, I sat up with Sunny for Quite a while.

And this morning, inside the cage he Startled again... because the Sun Came Up. Yes that big yellow ball that was missing from the sky yesterday, reappeared. That was easily solved by covering the cage & closing curtains for a while. I took advantage of the ensuing calm to move him into the petsfit carrier for just-in-case. He was okay with that, once I positioned him to watch over both Calliope And Sunny from the carrier.

He's eating & drinking & moving around. All, a bit less & more subdued than usual For Him. For anybudgie else would be perfectly normal.

I called vet, they had me email picture. Got a response a little while ago to just continue observing, as long as he's behaving okay & no signs of infection, then no need to bring him in. (yay!) I upped the temperature a little, too, and found I still have a little fresh lettuce to give them, along with some extra millet. So - so far so good. I think he'll be okay.

 

[fiddlejen]

Poor baby!

Best to keep them safe in their cages if you cannot supervise them outside of the cage. I've heard of many budgies dying from being 'free roam' birds in the house that get into trouble without their owners there to save them from danger.

Yes. I do take the 15- to 60-minutes of getting him back into the cage if I'm leaving the house for the day. However with work-at-home I check on them every few hours. And I normally hear them chirping and singing. I'm think the wind gusts, which probably caused a Startle, probably prevented me from hearing.

Beyond that... I actually am resigned to the belief that he or Calliope may get into some fatal trouble eventually. If it was just Calliope I would certainly keep her caged, or only Out when in My Presence. But Jefferson. He has only two goals in life. His second goal is to watch over everyone. But his First is to Fly. Limiting him to his cage... well it would be like telling a writer not to write, or a musician to not make music.

Or perhaps more to the point -- if you loved a daredevil. Someone whose Passion In Life was Extreme Sports. They take their life in their hands but that is their joy. If you try to take that away from them, you take away the one thing that matters most. Jefferson makes it clear, that is how he feels about being able to Fly. And, since he assumes everybudgie must also feel that way, I can't keep Calliope caged either, without distressing him.

((Again, if I leave the house for a significant time, I do take the time to persuade them back into their cage. But when I'm here - even in a far-off room - keeping them caged just doesn't work.))

 

[LaManuka]

Good to hear Jefferson is doing better today

He sounds a lot like our Valentino. Val is not hand tame and usually has free range around the bird room which adjoins our living room, but he does tend to stick pretty closely to Fang who is a notorious perch potato so they’re both pretty trustworthy. We can close the living room off from the rest of the house if we’re just popping out for groceries but we do cage them for safety’s sake if we’re going to be out all day. Val actually seems to quite like his cage and often sits inside it singing his little heart out for hours even when the door is wide open so it’s usually easy enough to cage him. Occasionally though we do have to chase him which I do try to avoid - even though he flies like a brick he’s still hard to catch (or maybe I’m just too old and too slow!)

The Crown Princess Lilly Pilly however, a less trustworthy bird you would rarely meet. I cage her any time I need to leave the room for more than 5 minutes because if there’s trouble to be found, she’ll find it.

I hope Jefferson continues to improve for you. He could hardly have picked a trickier time for a potential emergency!

 

[wrench13]

I hope Jefferson continues to improve! Tough guy!

 

[Scott]

Wonderful update, hope Jefferson continues to improve.

So Jefferson was born to fly! Are you concerned he may have a serious accident? Is it a lack of caution or skill or simply the odds of random injury? Assume you ensure windows and doors are closed when he is out?

 

[fiddlejen]

Wonderful update, hope Jefferson continues to improve.

So Jefferson was born to fly! Are you concerned he may have a serious accident? Is it a lack of caution or skill or simply the odds of random injury? Assume you ensure windows and doors are closed when he is out?

Yes, the latter - simple odds of random injury. I mean -- I've done my best to parrot-safe the front room. Working on parrot-safeing most of the rest of the apt too, and, actually getting there - which is amazing since I'm a bit of a clutterbug. But c'mon really? The textured ceiling paint??

(Windows and doors closed, yes always. I'm fortunate to live in an old-style New England double-decker with the "airlock" entryways--(outer door, tiny hallway, inner door)--both front and back. I do live in fear of making a mistake and leaving something all the way open. But I do my best to be attentive, & lifelong habit to Not leave doors nor windows open, even before I had birds.)

 

[fiddlejen]

So Jefferson seems to be recovering well. Friday he mostly slept & didn't eat much. Friday afternoon I took Calliope from their cage, since she seemed to be bothering him. Not intentionally, more like she wanted to be near him and he was just like "please leav eme alone pls". So I moved her to a sleep cage. First I left her near the main cage but she kept calling to him (and he was like, "leave me allone i hava headache".) So I brought her into my "office" (aka back bedroom). She was calm there, and everytime I checked on Jefferson he was calm too.

At one point, he went to the spot which he normally uses to demand a cage opening. Mr. BodyLanguage... he stood there looking so Mournful. Like, "i want to fly but cant even aks because I hav headache!"

I gave him big sprigs of millet as the best way to gauge how he's feeling. Jefferson cannot resist millet. Friday, though, he only had a few nibbles.

Anyway, that was Friday. Saturday he started to perk up. I kept them separated part of Saturday to help him rest. He did ask to come out (the answer was "No") but clearly still had less energy than usual. Bit of head-rubbing going on, losing some extra feathers, so the bald-line is widening up. I think that's to be expected. He ate most of the millet. Not Quite as much as normal, but pretty close.

Sunday he was almost back to his normal self. Ate all his millet. Managed to get out while I changed water. However. I think he was still tired because he barely resisted at all when I fetched him back in. Only hopped off the little ladder-perch twice before yielding.

But last night on the phone my mom ---(AFter she stopped trying to tell me how LED lights are distressing my birdies by picking up satellite signals, and instead listened to my story of Jefferson's injury)--- she mentioned the extreme wind forecast for today. (Oddly my weather-app still doesn't show the wind alert, but I verified online.)

So early today, Jefferson still sleepy enough to handle, I put him in one sleep cage & Calliope into the other, and brought them back here with me. I think if Jefferson panics inside their regular cage he'll probably worsen his head injury. Whereas the sleep-cages while spacious are not quite large enough for budgie to take wing. And when the wind roars & tries to shake the house he clearly wants to do just that.

Beyond that, he's been eating & drinking, & asking to come out.

So at this point, I believe my Top-Gun Flyer, Mr. Bossypants Jefferson, is nearly back to normal. (Aside from his new horizontal-Reverse-Mohawk hairstyle, that is!)