Budgie won't fly

[Norman Ratcliffe]

I have had a single female budgie for just over two years. During this
time she has only been out of her cage 5 or 6 times. She can fly but seems
reluctant to leave her cage. Am I doing wrong by not trying to make her
fly? I open the cage door every evening but she will not come out. Can
anyone advise me?

[Louis Boyd]

With that little human contact she is probably afraid to come out. That
plus a lack of exercise. If a human were kept in one room of a house
until they were teenagers they couldn't and wouldn't do much either.
--
Lou Boyd

[Monte]

I have had a similar experience with our 3yo cockatiel. We take him out of
his cage several times a week, but all he wants to do is sit on top of his
cage. If we play with him in sight of his cage he immediately flies
straight back home.

We bought a stand for him and that seems to have made him a little more
confident - sort of like home away from home. Very recently he has started
to take some exploratory flights, especially when we are in another room and
he gets lonely.

Maybe you need to prove to your bird that the 'outside world' is a safe
place to be?

Good luck.

Monte
uws(at)email(dot)com

Norman Ratcliffe <Nor...@ratcliffe31.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:7l3aeh$dqu$1...@news5.svr.pol.co.uk...

[Janet S. Levy]

Norman,

I raise budgies. They are very slow to try new things in many cases,
especially a single budgie. If you don't want to force the issue (no
reason that you should), continue to leave the door open in the evenings
but place a perch so it continues out the door from inside the cage to
outside. This allows the bird to venture out easily. Place a special
treat like spray millet on the perch, outside of the door or you can use
a favorite toy. If you use this method, you might have some luck but
you must be patient. Once she starts coming out, an outside play gym
as someone else suggested, is a great idea.

You are not doing anything "wrong" by not forcing her to fly, but flying
is a good exercise if your budgie has a tendency to gain weight at all.
My English budgies were all fat and many died young until I learned to keep them
in a flight and feed a lower fat diet. Some budgies will stay trim, though,
even without exercise.

Janet Levy

[Linda Ambrose-Bates]

[text snipped]
:
:My English budgies were all fat and many died young until I learned to

keep them
:in a flight and feed a lower fat diet. Some budgies will stay trim, though,
:even without exercise.
:
:Janet Levy

#################

Janet - I'd be interested in knowing what consists of a
"lower fat" diet for budgies. I've heard that they are
prone to fatty tumours, so this information might be
valuable in eliminating or at least controlling this
potential problem.

Thanks a lot. - Linda

[Linda Ambrose-Bates]

Jack - Thanks for the information. But when you say "modify the diet as
necessary", do you mean cutting back on their daily seed mixture and
adding more fruits and vegetables? Or restricting treats such as millet
and oats & groats?

Thank you, again. - Linda

########################

In article <7l9b57$8sd$1...@plonk.apk.net>, j...@apk.net (High Flight) wrote:

:Anytime you see a fat budgie you know somebody's doing something very
:wrong. By far, the best way to keep tabs on a bird's weight is to measure
:it on a regular basis. Then modify the diet as necessary to maintain a
:desired weight range. My first budgie (American female) ate like a hog,
:and never gained any weight. My current male English is very prone to
:weight gain, so I have to ration his daily intake.
:
:Personally, I don't see any harm in having a seed mixture as a part of a
:well-balanced diet; even though they're commonly fingered as a tumor
:culprit.
:
: Jack

[stevebr...@gmail.com]

On Saturday, June 26, 1999 at 1:00:00 AM UTC-6, Norman Ratcliffe wrote:
> I have had a single female budgie for just over two years. During this
> time she has only been out of her cage 5 or 6 times. She can fly but seems
> reluctant to leave her cage. Am I doing wrong by not trying to make her
> fly? I open the cage door every evening but she will not come out. Can
> anyone advise me?

I've had several baby budgies come out of the nest and never fly. I call them 'crawlers' as I have heard before of budgies that don't fly. If they live, they eventually seem to learn to navigate the flight by climbing, but flight is always downward. I'm not sure what causes this, but I don't suspect diet, because I give all of my birds, breeding or not, fortified parakeet mix plus all the kale, spinach, and grated carrots they can eat. I have had no luck at forcing them to fly, and it even seems contagious, in that if there are one or two crawlers on the floor of the flight when other babies leave the nest, often they won't try to fly either. I have had occasion to have as many as a dozen young birds languishing on the floor of my flight. :( Of course they are not fit to sell in that condition, so …. I generally resort to the extreme means of moving them out of the indoor comfort of the breeding flight to the outdoor flight, where they are subjected to the elements. That at least tasks them to climb high enough to fly back inside, as they don't last long if they can't get up to the feeders - and of course, winter here in Colorado is not comfortable. And yes, sometimes they don't survive. That's nature taking her toll.