Lonely parakeet

[awesomeartst]

Hello! I'm very worried about my Bab. I've had him, and one other parakeet, for a year and a half now, and just last week Blu, my other bird, suddenly passed away. Bab has been acting very strange since then. He's been very aggressive, but has been a lot quieter too. He's also been eating less, and just today he started sneezing a lot. Is he just lonely without Blu?

[liz]

Yes and he is in mourning for his lost friend.

[Bird woman]

Although your bird is bound to be traumatized over the loss of blue, you should take bab to the vet If you don't know why blue died and the other seems to be showing signs of possibly getting sick , I sure wouldn't assume that it's just a reaction to blue passing away. Blue died for a reason and I wouldn't take the chance. BW

[Pajarita]

Yep, he is sick and, most likely, got the same thing that killed the other one. Is your bird getting a good diet (whole grains, greens, veggies, etc) or are you feeding it seeds? Because, if you are and going by the sneezes, he could have a respiratory infection from a lack of vitamin A.

[awesomeartst]

I've tried feeding him things other than seeds but he's never really liked them? Like any fruits and vegetables he's never eaten. And I live in a place where I am unable to get different types of foods for him.

[Wolf]

Usually the reason for a parrot to not eat a variety of foods such as whole grains and fruits and vegetables is that they do not recognize these items as being food. This is because they were not weaned to a good fresh food diet and then the new owner did not know that they would need to teach the bird about food or even how to go about teaching the bird to eat these other foods.

With the small birds such as budgies they don't normally have a lot of fruits and vegetables in their wild diet. They mostly get what fruits they eat in the wild from those that have fallen from the tree and probably busted open. However they would eat leafy greens and should have no problem with some partly cooked whole grains. Mine do like peas as they are soft enough for them to bite and eat without a problem and they really like several types of leaf lettuce. I make my gloop recipe for them out of the same one that I give to the larger birds but before I give it to them, I chop it up really small so that they can eat it easily. Sometimes if I am in more of a rush I run it through the food processor to make it small enough. I am sure that they would like things like blueberries and blackberries and these would be more in line with the fruits that they would eat in the wild.

They are just like other larger parrots in that they prefer to not eat alone and the best way to teach them to eat a better variety of foods is to sit down with them and eat these foods yourself and to share it with them. This sharing of food is also a bonding activity for them. I have had my birds for about 4 to 5 years and am still teaching them to eat a better variety of foods, so don't expect it to happen overnight as it can take a very long time to get them to even try some foods. If you look at it as a bonding and an enjoyable thing to be able to share with your friend instead of a thing that you have to do you will be less stressed at the time it could take and will be more likely to keep up the practice of sharing food with them and be more successful as well.

I hope that this will help you and your bird in this area. But please take the bird to the vet and have it checked out. Make certain that the vet knows that you recently lost the birds friend and that you want to make sure that this one is healthy.

[Loriusgarrulus]

You coud try initially putting a few small items of fruit and veg in among his seeds. It could be weeks before he tries them, but he will get the idea they are potential food.
Frozen fruit and veg defrosted are fine if you have limited access to fresh.

[Pajarita]

Actually, budgies are not fruit eaters (it's not really part of their natural diet) but they can get used to eating veggies if they are small enough so baby sweet peas, finely diced and lightly cooked carrots, sweet corn and even baked sweet potatoes are usually things they like. And, greens, they LOVE all kinds of leafy greens -try putting a whole leaf dripping water (and make sure it is dripping water) on the bottom of the cage, they like to take baths on them (they rub their bodies against them) as well as eat them. In the meantime, I would make sure he is getting a multi vitamin/mineral supplement in his water (it's not the best thing but it will help).