Worried about budgie relocation

[noblemacaw]

Not sure where to put this so am trying in this section.

My RFM Valentino is due to some home in the next two weeks so I spent several weekends preparing his living area cleaning and sanitizing it and his cage and had to relocate Lupe's English Budgies to the upstairs back spare bedroom. We have moved them for quarantine purposes.

Since they have been moved to the spare bedroom behind a closed door (cat likes to mess with them, the Budgie cage use to be inside Diego's cage so they had protection downstairs by their cage being within a cage. Yea, I know pretty weird) The door will need to be closed at all times when Valentino comes home.

Since they have been relocated and more isolated I think they became depressed. Lupe told me they are not playing with their toys or eating their cuddlebone and I have noticed they are not as vocal and the other night while I was in the computer room late at night they had a night fright incident so I went to check on them and gave them a night light.

I am concerned the relocation and the isolation is affecting Lupe's Budgies. She is the one that came to me with the concerns and now that I have thought about it I also share these concerns. I worry for the little parrots locked away in the spare bedroom.

The weird part is when we first adopted the Budgies they were put in the spare bedroom to live for their safety. They have each other and even though they were left alone they were fine but now that I had moved them to the downstairs living area THEN moved them back up to the same bedroom they do not seem happy anymore. I think by moving them to the more active part of the house they got use to the activity of seeing us and the other pets, I know Mihijo my Noble macaw was NOT into the Budgies he did give him company and they gave him company. (their cages were side by side) I think the move of their cage to their prior living area is not not acceptable to them.

Personally I feel they got use to the interaction of living in the more active part of the house and now are not doing well because of the isolation. I almost broke down and moved them back downstairs but that would break the sanitation and cleaning prep I have done for Valentino and the needed quarantine period everyone is going to have to go though.

At the very lease the Budgies are going to have to be in that spare bedroom for the next 90 days of the date Valentino comes into this house. I am not sure what other options I have at this point to help those little parrots. Lupe named them Mateo and Niko but I was calling them Reese and Harold because I could not remember their real names.

I feel concern for them and wonder if the quarantine period will do them great harm.

Noblemacaw

 

[henpecked]

Well, i think your doing the right thing with the quarantine. Happy to hear you take it seriously. I don't think getting a baby bird requires 90 days.IMO 30 days is enough. If he was a carrier to some hidden disease , chances are if it didn't show in 30 days it won't show in 90. This is just my opinion.If it was a high risk ( you know nothing about the bird) that's one thing. You know where it's coming from and should be allowed to contact their vet, at least have your vet contact their's. ( which is what i ask for). As for the budgies, they are a very social bird, not real independent. They are used to being in a flock and changes are hard for them. I bet the same thing happened when you moved them to the active part of the house. Until they adjusted they where more subdued. Yes they would like to be back where they were, but i think they'll be alright as long as they have each other. You are planning on moving them back, right?

 

[noblemacaw]

I would LOVE to move them back after the quarantine period is over but they will no longer have the protection of the larger cage their cage was inside of. I fear putting them back downstairs with just their cage for protection the cat would mess with them during the night after I went to bed. I know I can teach her NOT to and she is not real prey driven cat but she love to play with feathers and I think would harass them if they were exposed downstairs and it is that adjustment, teaching, training period I worry about.

Noblemacaw

 

[Birdlover11]

I agree with hen pecked, the budgies were so used to the activity, noises, hustle and bustle of downs stairs they now even though they have been in the room before are now scared . To flock birds , when it's quiet it means they're is a predator in the area, and it's dangerous. When they is some noise, like someone whistling while making lunch , tv, talking, it means the area is safe and it's okay . If your budgies will have to stay in the spare bed room take them out a little bit more . Also if you have a DVD player you could buy a cd of " happy budgie songs " or budgie noises and play it for a few hours a day as it will calm them down and they will not freak out from dead silence. I went on u tube and typed in budgie sounds and clicked on happy budgies. They recorded it from wild budgies in Australia , you could buy the cd and play it.i played for my budgie she first day the arrived and they calmed down a lot

 

[BillsBirds]

Also, when you move the budgies back, is there some way to maybe hang their cage? How big is the cage? Either from the ceiling, or from a birdcage stand? Then the cat cannot reach & harass them.

 

[MonicaMc]

I wouldn't recommend hanging a bird cage... at least, not with how high my cats can jump!


Are the budgies depressed or afraid? I wonder if moving back to a quieter area might be freaking them out more than depressing them... after all, it's rarely completely silent out in the wild. Perhaps it may help to play some music for them?