Baby Budgies Update

It has been a while since I have updated. Zazu has stopped hand feeding for a while now. He enjoys his flying a lot and has gotten well at flying with 2 feathers missing from each wing.
Benu has also finally learned to fly. I would like to think that Zazu has helped him out. He still needs to learn how to fly as well as Zazu though. In the picture below you can see some blood feathers. His flight feathers are still trying to grow out from the bad chop job he had when I bought him earlier this year.
I let them both out from time to time and they both get along great. Below shows a good picture of them playing with each other.
I wish I had the space here for a big play gym for the both of them. For now they are content just flying around and landing on my desk, chair, stuffed toy hanging from the fan chain, and dog cages.

Baby Budgie: Day 41

This is how our normal day routine goes that I plan to continue (minus the hand feeding when he doesn't need it anymore).

The alarm goes off at 9am and Zazu is taken out of his night time hamster cage. He gets some out time to fly or interact. At this time I make fresh mash. After he gets tired he goes to his bigger day time cage. Before I go to work, I replace his mash with fresh sprouted grain/seed mix or another food item that won't spoil in 6-8 hours. He might get another time out of his cage before I head to work if there is time.

When I get home (and after I let the dogs go potty outside) Zazu gets to come out again. He also gets a small bowl of seed at my desk at this time. When he is tired, he is put to bed in his hamster cage. The cage is covered and put into the bedroom.

That is a day in the life of Zazu. Of course, sometimes Zazu doesn't agree with the routine so he makes attempts to escape his cage. Below are some funny pictures of his attempts.
Today he did get his wings clipped. =( It was a sad day but it had to eventually be done. I thought he might hate me while I did it, but he doesn't seem to remember much now. I only took 2 feathers off each side. He should be able to fly well again soon, then time for another clip...

Baby Budgie: Day 39

Today Zazu's meals were at 9am and 6pm. Looks like that is what it will be until he goes down to 1 meal a day. As it is, his breakfast is a eat-and-fly. He grabs a few mouth fulls then flies around for a while. He eats more of his dinner.

He is flying very very well. I just wish he would stop landing on top of my head. If I time it just right, I can put my head up infront of my head and he will land on that.

This morning he was such a cuddle bug. After his light breakfast and flight, he sat with me and made little mutters as I gave him scratches on his head and touched his beak.

I am so proud of how tame he is. He doesn't startle easily with new objects or sounds. He lets me grab him, but best of all, he steps up on his own very willingly.

He learned today water comes from a faucet and after some thought he tasted the water and ran under it. I suppose he doesn't still know what a bath is.

Here are some pictures of him enjoying his last snack of the night before being put to bed in his hamster cage.

Baby Budgie: Day 38

Zazu had some new experiences today. But first, Zazu is still fully flighted. He cried for breakfast then flew away mid meal. I guess he doesn't want as much right now. After a few flights, he is ready for his nap. He will just sleep whereever he lands so I bring him back to his cage when I notice him getting sleepy.
Then he got some time out with Benu. At first Benu wasn't so interested in coming out of his cage, but after some time he came out with a flutter. Benu still can't fly it seems and can only flutter across the floor. I am letting his wing feathers grow out so he can learn how to fly proper, which I don't think he ever learned from his horrible wing clippings.

Anyways, Benu did finally come out. I put Zazu on the floor and he ran straight for Benu. Benu ran from Zazu during most of the experience. What is funny is how much bigger Zazu is to Benu. My poor little gray boy is skinny. Zazu would try to touch Benu's back feathers with his beak and Benu would step away. They were so cute. Maybe Benu doesn't know what to do with such a young pushy baby.
With all the flying Zazu does, I have to keep him contained more in his hamster cage which is now much too small for his activities. So he got his adult cage today. Zazu was not happy about this at all. In time he will settle. I was hoping on getting him a nicer cage, but this one will do until the one I want goes on sale.
So will tomorrow be the day his feathers get clipped? It is so hard to clip those beautiful wings, but necessary for his safety here in the apartment.

Part II: Grains/Seeds

Ingredients
- 2 spoons of Amber Waves of Grain
- 2 spoons of budgie seed mix (without extras)
Note: You don't have to use the same products I use. Mix up the grains. Some suggestions are: amaranth (must be sprouted or cooked before feeding), quinoa, wheat, rye, kamut, spelt, triticale, oats, millet, etc. I bought this Amber Waves of Grain from SproutPeople because it has a large variety of grains without having to buy each seperate. I plan to add other grains seperately to increase certain grains from time to time. Make sure the budgie seed mix is plain seed mix. You don't want pellets, vegetables, fruits, etc in them because they will spoil.

Instructions
1. Put your grains/seed mix into a sprouting jar and soak for 8 hours. I like setting the soak right before I go to bed. I also add a little ACV to the soak water. I don't add specific instruction on how to sprout, so please read up if you are unsure.
2. After 8 hours of soak you can rinse and use immediately. Keep left over grain/seed mix rinsed several times a day. It helps to shake the container around to lossen grain/seeds to airate better. Otherwise it can spoil quickly.

The amount I put above in the ingredients list is more than enough for my 2 budgies a day. I have started sprouting grains/seeds everyday. Well, every night I do the soak before bedtime. When I wake up, I rinse and use for breakfast mash. Then rinse a few times during the day and offer again for dinner mash. (Instruction on mash mix in another post.) Then at the end of the night I discard leftovers and set another soak before bedtime. And repeat.

Mash Diet - Introduction
Part I: Legumes
Part II: Grains/Seeds
Part III: Vegetables **coming soon**
Part IV: Summary **coming soon**

Baby Budgie: Day 37

Sorry, no new pictures today. Trying to get a flying shot but it is hard to predict flight sometimes.

He has been flying a LOT! I do mean a LOT! I may have to start his progressive clip tomorrow. It is such a shame I have to clip some of the feathers. At least it will only be 2 to start. Once he handles himself well with that, another one or two feathers. He has been maneuvering well and maintaining flight longer. He lands well too, so it just may be time for a progressive clip...

He is also down to 2 feedings a day. His last feeding of the night was earlier at 9pm instead of 10pm. He ate a little and flew off. So his feeding times are now 9am and 9pm.

Baby Budgie: Day 36

Sorry, there was no pictures the last 2 days. There wasn't much to report anyways. I still have him on 3 meals a day but it looks like 2 meals should be fine. I still might offer 3 meals a day with the middle one being a light snack.

Now for the big news. Zazu is now FLYING! Yup, finally. This morning was his first few flights. I am surprised at how many attempts he made before breakfast. Then again a few more attempts after his mid-day meal. He is getting his control down well, but his landings need more work. He needs to figure out better where to land... and my head is NOT a landing zone. Early this morning he did bump into a few things, but his night one was much better.

He will be going to his adult cage soon and he will use his hamster cage as his night time cage. I was hoping some nice cages would have gone on sale, but no... So a pretty one will have to wait.

Now for his pictures. Sorry, no flight pictures yet. Just some of him playing in his cuddle bed and being himself.
That's all for now. Updates won't be as often now since there isn't as much to see now that he has his adult feathers. The milestones that will happen now are:
1. Flies very well so 2 feathers on each side will be clipped back.
2. Learns to fly well in his new clip so another 2 feathers on each side will be cut.
3. Possibility of another clip of a feather or two depending on how well his flight is with the clips.
4. Down to 2 feedings a day.
5. Down to 1 feeding a day.
6. No more baby formula feedings.
7. Gets a new fancy cage.
8. Meets Benu face to face.
9. Getting a new play gym.
10. Blah blah blah

Hm, I guess there are more things to come. =)

Baby Budgie: Day 34

Sorry no picture update today. I will get one tomorrow. Physically he hasn't changed much at all. Mentally he is at the same spot as well. He has not flown yet. He gets 3 meals a day and soon will be on 2. He will be using a larger cage soon which will be his home. He has lots of personality.

Baby Budgie: Day 33

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Zazu went with us to my bf's mom's house for Thanksgiving. He got to meet the family again (2nd time for some and 3rd for others). He was passed around and everyone said he looked different from the bald baby he was. Zazu was happily perched on fingers, mouthed fingers, and ran across the smaller dinner table and partake in a little pumpkin pie. I am very happy that he was not afraid and spent all his time putting things in his mouth to feel/taste. Here is his pic of the day...

Baby Budgie: Day 32

Zazu is handling the 3 feedings a day better today.

He was rather clingy today. He wanted to be held, cuddled, and restrained. I did bring out his baby bed again so he can play in it. See below to see Zazu climbing into his baby bed.
Doesn't he look cute? He did take a little nap after these pictures.

I did put him in his baby bed earlier, but didn't get any pictures then. He did a lot of flapping then and looked like he was getting good lift. Shouldn't be long before he gets his first flight.

Baby Budgie: Day 31

Zazu is on 3 feedings a day. That is 9am-4pm-10pm. I normally would have done 11pm but he was crying bad since 9pm. Here are some pictures of him today...
I also made the birds some pancakes special for them. I used Jiffy corn bread mix (half a box), with apple sauce (instead of oil), some yogurt (instead of milk), and an egg. I added some baby bird formula and seeds to the mix.
They look big in the picture but the biggest was no more than a 2" diameter. Most were probably 1.5". I froze the excess so I had more for later. I have written up a recipe for some pancakes without the Jiffy, but I need to test run it before posting.

Baby Budgie: Day 30

Zazu has been doing well. He started wandering out of his hamster cage today (well the bottom part only since the top part is removed during the day if I can watch him). So I do have to keep a closer eye that he doesn't scramble away. When the top was on his hamster cage, I finally noticed today him climbing the cage bars.
He is still on 4 feeding a day, but tomorrow he goes on 3 feedings. He is eating his seeds now. He sure loves those spray millet pieces that were in his dish. He gets 2 dishes for most of the day. One for seeds and dry food items. The other is for his wet mash. I need to introduce more greens to him though.
He has been testing his wings again today. But not enough yet that he will be doing any flying soon. He looks just like an adult (with a big gut).

Baby Budgie: Day 29

Zazu is still eating 4 times a day... He is insistant he is a fat starving baby chick...haha He hasn't been using his perch yet that I noticed so I put him on it. He seemed quite content sitting on it while preening. He still has those "uh-oh" moments with balance, but he isn't bad at all.
Time for a big yawn...
Preening his pretty feathers...
I found him finally interested in his bell toy. That is not to say he showed no interest in it earlier, but I didn't notice him playing with it until now.

Tonight is the first night he will be sleeping in his hamster cage. I think it is time he has more room than the plastic baby cage provides. It has been cold lately at night, but I have the heater set to a comfortable temperature for him. Soon I suppose it will be time to introduce him to his adult cage... He is growing up so fast...

Baby Budgie: Day 28

Zazu is now 4 weeks old. I have had him for 2 weeks. He is doing very well. He is eating adult food and foraging between formula feedings. I am still feeding him 4 times a day, but the 2 middle feedings are not as big anymore. I feel keeping him well fed with formula will encourage him to do more foraging on his own. So far this is working.
He is so much quieter when he has food in his mouth. He has become a little more independent of me. He is not as beggy all the time regardless if he is hungry or not. I am attempting to expose him to as many different foods as possible, including a little of whatever I am eating. I stopped scattering seeds on the floor and it in a bowl. When he is grown up, he will need to search a bowl out for food.

I have exposed him to seed mix, nutriberries, birdie bread, part of a mash mix (legume/grain/seed mix but no vegetables yet), and whole pieces of dark leafy greens from my patio garden. I should start adding mashed vegetables to his mash mix as well as showing him what spray millet is. I want to get some cooked varieties of food as well. This way as an adult, he won't be too picky about his foods.

He has been testing his wings today as well. I was so pleased to get a shot of his wings open while he was flapping. He is still not ready to fly or attempt to fly.
I wonder if this will be the week he learns to fly. He will probably switch to 3 times a day this week as well.

Baby Budgie: Day 27

Zazu has been eating some of his adult food today. I gave him a mash with the legumes part I made in another post mixed with seeds. It was 1 part legumes to 2 parts grain/seed. All sprouted of course. Here are some pictures of him eating early this morning.
Here are some pictures of him later tonight.
I was going to put him on 3 feedings a day, but it seems he may still need 4. Just one of them needs to be a small encouragement to forage on your own feeding.

It looks like he is starting to learn to step-up. I rather him step-up than me have to grab him.

Still nothing on trying to fly when I observe him. He does stand up higher though. He even tries to stand on his legs when he sleeps...lol
EDIT: Looks like Zazu is flapping his wings around. He just started fluttering.

Mash Diet Part I: Legumes

Ingredients
- 3/8 cup legume mix (adzuki, mung, pea, and garbanzo)
- 1/8 cup lentil
Note: I found those above mixes made for sprouting that are just perfect. It was getting irritating buying them separately.

Instructions
1. Sprout legume mix and lentils. I normally start the lentils a day or two after the legume mix because you only need a 1/4" tail for the lentils and a 1/2" tail for the legume mix. (There are many sites that talk about how to sprout legumes, so I left out all those details. I do add a dash of Apple Cider Vinegar to the soaking water though.)
2. Lightly blanch/steam all ingredients for 3-5 minutes. **Sorry I forgot to take a picture while blanching/steaming the legumes. The picture should give you an idea though.**
3. Chop it up in the food processor.
4. Freeze and store.
5. Thaw portions as needed.

The amounts above made enough legume mix that was 1/2" thick by 13.5" long by 3.5" wide. So if you need more, make more. I think next time I will buy a bigger sprouting jar just for the legumes. They are such a pain I rather do a very large batch then do this often.

Mash Diet: Introduction
Part I: Legumes
Part II: Grains/Seeds
Part III: Vegetables **coming soon**
Part IV: Summary **coming soon**