Note: no budgies were harmed ever during this story.
I did my research, i knew better, but I'm a terribly slow learner who never learns anything until she makes the mistakes a thousand times.
After a decade of being birdless, I finally filled the hole left empty by the parrot i was forced to get rid of when my parents divorced with 2 new budgies. I was certain they were a bonded couple, a male and a female. I named them Avocado and Keylime. I couldnt get them to bond with me because I'm impatient and want to love through hugging and squeezing and calling them George, and im a busy college student. But thats why I got 2 so they would always have each other. They were timid with my excited nature, and never wanted to venture out of the cage, though I left the door open for them.
After they matured and seeing Keylime bullying Avocado all the time, I realized that: A. while their cage is very big and tall, it wasn't wide enough. B. They are both girls, and Keylime was being very territorial.
I knew I needed to get a bigger cage... but hey what if I also got them boyfriends? I wouldn't provide a nest box, I'm against breeding since there are already so many. And they would also have even more company!
On the Internet I found someone looking for a good new family owner for her two budgies. She had the same cage as I did! The two new birds however, were a boy, Prince, and a girl, Luda. So much for boyfriends, but the more the merrier.
I adopted them and I combined the cages together, making it now plenty wide enough for all four of them. And the meeting with the new birds boosted their confidence that they all wanted to leave the cages. they could now fly about the room and sit on the top of the cage. Prince and Keylime bonded and Luda and Avocado would just kinda enjoy each other's company.
Now my budgies were a harem Anime. Kind of. Prince was actually really faithful to Keyime.
But you see, I still ached for a budgie to love me. And my impaitence and lack of practical thinking made it hard for me to earn the trust of these birds when they were fine with each other. The most I could do was get Avocado to step up sometimes, but she's still timid.
SO I get a 5th budgie, Sunshine. Aaaannndd during quarantine, I worked hard to earn her trust and instead scared the crap out of her because I just wanna hug er and squeeze her AND CALLHERGEROGE and I eventually just feel bad listening to her call out for the other budgies she hears on the other side of the house. It made me feel so guilty to think of keeping her separated forever for my own selfishness. So once quarantine was over she moved in with the rest.
Then she grows up to be a girl and I have 1 boy and 4 hormonal, territorial, girls.
But, they still have lots of space, in and out of the cage. They have separate bowls and toys and perches. My flock of 5 birds fly over my head on occasion and it's just amazing to watch. The majority of their mess is in the cage as they always fly back to it. An occasional bird dropping else where is no big deal. They don't want me to touch them but they love it when I sing and they yell at me when I leave. That is just fine, and I'm in birdy heaven.
But then I thought: what if I get the birds boyfriends?
Two boys are up for adoption, and I don't regret buying them. The punk kid selling them must have gotten them for a Christmas gift but obviously didn't know what he was doing for care at all for them. They had no toys, one solid perch, over grown nails, and were terrified. At least they had a bond with each other.
I promised to give these boys a good life, and they were overjoyed to join the flock. I named them Merlin and Archimedes. Merlin bonded with Sunshine, Achimedes bonded with Avocado, but to this day they still remain best friends with each other. They too don't want me touching them because I'm still unable to keep my hands to myself, but they would sing to me.
But now, troubles started to arise.
Hormones were starting to fly. We had 3 horny birdy boys who all had girlfriends and they were ready to find nesting places.
No longer did they stay on top of the cage. They were flying to the tops of my curtains, getting into my papers and art supplies. Landing on picture frames and digging around behind and through anything they could find. Bird droppings were now everywhere, things were getting chewed up, and I was growing more concerned for their safety.
Then they decided the kitchen (which is open to my living room, no I don't use cleaners or those poisonous frying pans) would be the best place to nest and ran about the top of fridge.
And then they got into MY MICROWAVE.
The vents on top of the microwave, which I never had looked at before, we're exactly the right size for a budgie to fit in, and Luda was hellbent on getting in there... and succeeded. Sticking her head out with a sheepish grin, I decided this wasn't going to work out.
My flock is now in my bed room. No longer are there things for them to get killed on, and more easily to clean up it is. The room is much smaller, but they still have open cage doors and are free to fly to a stand I have by the window and a stand on my wardrobe. And until I can buy or build a bigger flight cage so they have space without me giving them so much freedom, my perfect setup is compromised.
Now I have 7 budgies who don't love me that much. It's much much louder and noisier. Bird food costs a lot and the budgies are only just now giving pellets a chance. And instead of my perfect setup of sitting at my art table, I'm on the floor of my bedroom cause I always want to be with them.
Don't make the same mistakes as me.
...Now, it's not like I'm miserable. I love all of them and ive finally learned my lesson and I'm far more slow, calm and paitent. They are slowly learning to trust me. They don't HATE me, they constantly yell at me to talk and sing to them, they get mad when I leave. Avocado will sometimes step up is a sweetheart. And Luda is a naughty girl who will land on my head so she can leave the bedroom with me. She will sit on a shelf while I work on stuff in the kitchen, and the microwave is covered up during those times so she can't crawl in. I suppose because she's the only single bird, and was a single bird before prince came into her life, that she is still more open to human interactions. Giving me only a little bit of trouble, I can carry her back to the bedroom, or just open the door for her to fly back Into.
I regret not being wiser, but I don't regret owning my beautiful budgie babies.
TL;DR I have 7 budgies, 3 store bought, 4 rescued.
DON'T MAKE MY MISTAKES.
-Do your research! -Be patient! -Tame your budgies before adopting more. -And for crying out loud don't buy 7 budgies in the span of 9 months when you really don't have that much experience!
Submitted March 26, 2019 at 07:06PM by maidenchynna https://ift.tt/2OoOX24
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