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**

Baby Budgie: Day 26

Zazu has been able to climb to the ledge of his hamster cage bottom. His balance is getting much better but he still has a ways to go. He was riding on my shoulder earlier in the morning while crying for a bit after being fed. He seems to like this.
You see the bluish ting on his chest and legs? He has a yellow band through his belly. As you can tell, he still needs more feathers.

He loves his little hidey thingy. I used to put him in it when he was smaller while I held him at my desk. Kinda like a cuddle bed. On its side it makes a nice hide away. Now watch that red piece in the picture...
Now do you see that red piece? Hm? Well, I hope you got it right. It is in his mouth. I am glad I finally caught a shot of him putting food in his mouth. As to if he is consuming any of it, I don't know. All I care is he is interested in food items as a mouth toy for now.

I haven't seen much flapping lately so I wonder if he has other interests right now. Once he starts flying, it will be harder to keep track of him.

EDIT: I just made some birdie bread. Zazu was crying for some food but it isn't time yet so I gave him a nice warm piece of birdie bread. He attacked it and I think he consumed some. Maybe feeding him by spoon has helped because he was attacking the bread like he does the spoon taking his food down. I will feed him with the spoon daily, but still use the pipette for most.

Baby Budgie: Day 25

Zazu is fast approaching 4 weeks. He is still on 4 feedings a day. He has been learning today (and a little of yesterday) to eat from a measuring spoon. I forgot his pipette at work so his 2 last meals of the day were by spoon. I think he handled it well and wore his formula well too. I do have a feeling that he will be on 3 meals a day soon. He tells me off in the morning if I wake him up too early, which is funny. He still mutters after he is fed and is falling asleep, which is cute. And I am still very amazed how fast this baby runs on his feet. For lack of complete balance he sure moves. I bet he learns to fly next week.

This is the only picture for tonight. I am really tired and woke up just to give his last feeding and an update.

Baby Budgie: Day 24

I took the top off Zazu's hamster cage because it was hard to see what he was up to with it. I left only one ladder to the edge. He hasn't really been perching high in his hamster cage so until he starts climbing, the lid stays off.

With the top off his cage, I saw him doing a lot of foraging. He had his 2pm feeding and after some crying he walked around with his face on the floor mouthing little bits of seeds and wheat grass scattered. He also had a bowl of rehydrated greens from Beak Appetit, which you can see below. He is "into his food".

He sure likes his food.
He is sure a cutie.
So far to me he seems to be a boy. Here is to hoping.

Baby Budgie: Day 23

Zazu is still on 4 feedings a day. He has gotten better at climbing and spends time during the day in a small hamster cage, but he has yet to use the ladder in there. He just keeps climbing his buckwheat sock.

Below he was running around my table and somehow he ended up trying to get in my hand. I am not sure where he was trying to go, but I wasn't forcefully holding him in the picture below.

Here he standing still for a second before running off again. I can't believe how fast his feet take him.

He still isn't too interested in foods, but he does like chewing on the bars of his cage. Tomorrow I plan to make some bread or something to teach him to nibble on. I have been offering seeds and wheatgrass blades. Zazu is active for longer period of time before needing sleep. I am amazed how fast he is growing.

Mash Diet

I plan on making another post about the mash diet I feed Benu since eventually Zazu will need to learn to eat it as well. Here is a good post about the mash. It is long but has lots of great pictures. I will be making several more posts about the mash in different parts.

Part I: Legumes
Part II: Grains/Seeds
Part III: Vegetables
Part IV: Summary

Please check back later. They will include pictures. =)

Baby Budgie: Day 22

Zazu is sure something. He is much harder to get a still picture of him since he is running everywhere. This little guy would walk off the table if I didn't watch him. He is down to 4 feedings a day now, which is about every 5 hours. He also sleeps a little earlier and wakes up a tad later. But he sure still cries a lot...haha Here are his pics of the day.

New Plantings

Well, I redid my patio again. Some plants weren't doing so well and my guess is either it was the lack of full sun or the weather cooling down.

Jack Be Little - died off. Probably too cold now.
Other Squashes - didn't do well. Need more sun?
Dandelion - never did well since earlier this year. Will try planting indoors soon.
Millet - grew into grass but no millet. Dried and died later. Will try planting indoors some time.
Canary Seed - grew better than the millet but didn't look so good so tossed. No seeds.
Dwarf Sunflower - Still growing indoors and has developed a flower head. Hoping for seeds.
Greens - Kale, Chard, Collards, Spinach, etc. Does better in cooler weather. Planted too soon this year but now should be fine. I may plan a few of these indoors to see how they compare to the outside ones.
Clover - Didn't do well outside. I think it needed more sun or maybe the weather wasn't right. Flowering was a problem. Best to grow many months in advance. Will go another pot indoors some time.
Eucalyptus - growing well on the shaded patio. Grown from a seed this thing is now 2 feet tall.
Carrot - had problem with mushrooms so it was destroyed.
Radish - had problems with mushrooms so it was destroyed.

So right now I have some cool weather greens, eucalyptus, and sunflower growing. I will try bird seeds and some herbs as well when I get my patio situated with space. Oh how I wish I had a large yard to plant my own raised garden. My dogs sure enjoy cuttings from the vegetables...haha

Baby Budgie: Day 21

Zazu is now 3 weeks old. He has come a long ways from tiny pins to a bird with lots of feathers coming out and fuzz all over. This boy loves to eat. Today he spent time in his small hamster cage posted on Day 20. This will now be his day cage. When he no longer needs his first baby carrier container, I will also be providing a larger cage for the day and the small day cage will become the small night cage for what I hope is the rest of his life.

He finally is showing some blue shimmer on his chest under his beak. Looks like the middle of the tummy might become yellow. And noticed yesterday was some blue on his legs. He continues to make chatter as he sleeps. Also this morning he made his firat mad calls when I woke him up for breakfast...lol Here are his pictures.

Baby Budgie: Day 20

Ain't he a cutie?
Now for a while I have been very puzzled with Zazu's color, but I think I am figuring it out. For a while I have been wondering why he was so green. I thought he should be blue since his parents are white base. But the below picture shows his blue on his leg reflecting. Note the bright green on his rump too.
Tomorrow he will be 3 weeks old. Exciting!!!!