Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Hello all!

I adopted two budgies from a rescue on Thursday night. They are adorable and I already love them to pieces. They seem healthy and happy in every way, except the male seems a bit...itchy. He scratches himself with his beak a lot more than the other one does, and occasionally he rubs himself against the bars of the cage. I've given them a misting bath with a spray bottle, but the scratching continues.

Is this normal? They're just getting settled in, so I'd hate to have to take him (on public transportation) to the vet already, especially since they freak out when separated from each other.

Help?

They really do need an initial vet checkup.

He could have some sort of skin irritation or be molting, but when I've seen this before, it is usually behavioral/stress. If so, he might like some sort of preening toy. Molly has one made out of strips of crinkled paper. She loved it. I didn't--Id wake up to this annoying crinkle crinkle crinkle sound at 5am.

Birds are so good at masking any illness that a baseline checkup really is critical. If you can't afford a full workup on them both right now, you could ask for just a basic exam without all the bloodwork and then do that later.

I bet the vet wouldn't mind you bringing both birdies even if only one is examined.

Yay for rescue birds!

Ah, cool, good to know. I will look into avian vets in my area and get them a checkup. Thanks!

ACK. UPDATE.

I missed the birds' vet appointment because I could not get them into their carrier. I tried for three hours. They are not hand trained in the least and were apparently not in the mood for the honey stick I tried to lure them out of the cage with.
I tried to catch them with my hands, but only succeeded in freaking them the fork out. I feel like a bad bird mom. Of course, after I canceled the appointment, they were all about the honey stick. OF COURSE.
I am still super worried about Jack, the itchy one, because now he started rubbing his beak against the perch and having Meg, the other budgie, itch him. I've noticed a couple of long tailfeathers in the cage too. Eek. I am so worried! I will try again next weekend.

Losing feathers is usually normal! And they will preen each other and rub their beaks on things to clean them off.

It's hard to tell if what you are describing is normal or not. Do you have a book on bird behavior?

I don't, but I've been reading a lot online. I finally calmed down about it...it seems like what they're doing is normal preening. I'm high strung because these are my first birds, and also the first pets I've had in adulthood. I want to take good care of them, dammt!
They do seem really happy and chirpy and I'm making progress in hand-training them. I'm going to hold off on the vet for now...I know they should eventually have a checkup, but my last attempt to get them into their carrier scared the crepe out of them so I don't want to traumatize them again until they've gotten more comfortable with me and their surroundings.