Out of cage, but not exploring

[Remi]

I've had my two budgies for one month. They are young -- about 4 months and 6 months. I put their cage in a room where it is safe for them to fly free. I leave the cage door open all day and they enjoy flying in and out, and being on top of the cage, but otherwise are not exploring. They also don't really explore inside the cage much. Is this normal? Will they eventually explore? I put a bird bath on top of the cage, but they walk up to it, then walk away. They are happy little boys, and very affectionate with one another.

[maxollie]

Hi, Patti! It sounds like they are doing great. I would suggest you get them a small play gym at the pet store, and place it close to the cage. Then, they can go from one to the other. Quite honestly, if it were me, i would not want them to do much exploring in your home because there are too many dangers....chewing on electric cords, flying into mirrors on the wall, or into windows and also if you have ceiling fans, they can fly into the blades. When budgies are out flying, they love to fly high and perch on the curtain rods. They also sometimes get into the kitchen area, and could get behind the microwave, or fly into the dish water. Years ago my Mickey crawled inside an old TV with tubes, and it was turned on. Back in the day those tubes were very hot. We called and called for him, looked all over the house. That day, my mom and I had been going outside to hang laundry. We though he may have got out of the house. After about an hour, we heard him and followed his chirps to that TV. Scooped him out with our hands and hugged and hugged him. It was only a miracle he did not get zapped from those tubes. He also does into the dish water one time, and we had to warm up the oven, turn it off, cool it somewhat, and wrap him in a small flsannel blanket to get dry. It was cold winter at the time!

Mickey lived to be mine years old. And back in those days they only ate seeds and had a cuttlebone. No one fed them fresh veggies and fruits back then..

So, if possible try the gym. And fix it with a few toys, as well as some seeds in a cup, and even some fresh veggies. The gyms are easy to clean! You can set it up however you wish too. Try putting the bird bath on the play gym bottom as well!

We will welcome your updates anytime! Soooo happy they are doing so well! Keep up the great work bonding with them!

[Remi]

I have them in a sitting room right now, because I was concerned about the dangers you outlined. I would like them to interact with their environment a bit more. I will get them a little play gym. They don't seem to be too interested in anything but each other (get in the the little birdbath I set up for you, boys!), but they are a joy. They haven't taken to fresh veggies/fruits yet, suspicious little creatures that they are

Way to go, Mickey!

[maxollie]

Well, time and patience always win over time. It is great they get along so well together. It is a joy to have budgies! I was 11 years old when I got Mickey and have had budgies for over 60 years. About 15 years ago I also started having cockatiels and budgies. Right now I have Muffin, a yellow budgie who is 10 years old. He has been blind for a couple of years. Penny, my male cockatiel is 3 years old. He is my drummer! He beaks rhythms on his food cup or on the cage floor. I once had 13 birds in my flock. I had a pair of budgies who hatched 4 beautiful babies, and 3 more male budgies. And 4 adult cockatiels! I just simply love both species.

[Remi]

Wow! You have quite a household!! This is my first time with birds, so it's a learning curve. There is a behavior I've noticed today that I'm questioning. One budgie (Leon), seems to be trying to groom the other budgie's tailfeathers (that would be Francois). Leon seems to be nibbling at them, and Francois seems to enjoy it, but the ends of his tailfeathers are a bit ragged now. What is Leon trying to do, and what, if anything, should I do about it?

[maxollie]

That is normal behavior. Did you have them DNA tested? It is possible you may have a female or even two, but generally both sexes preen each other. Males can mimic female behavior and so can males. I think they are just friends together having preening fun. They are very young as yet, and at about 9-12 months they will begin to get into puberty, they will molt baby feathers at about a year, and then the hormones set in, so at that time we will know if you have a female. Can you post pics of them sometime. I will look at there faces and ceres. I may be able to tell you their sex. Being so young now, it won't hurt the tail feathers much, and soon they will be molting baby feathers. We will welcome updates.

[Remi]

Not sure how to post a pic (the icon asks for a URL?), but I will post when I figure it out. The woman who sold them to me said they were both males. Their ceres are a bit dark, so I thing (hope) she was right.

I think they're just very bonded. Leon's being a little chirp master as I'm writing this, and Francois is singing backup.

[boomer girl]

I used the photo gallery on this site to download pictures here before. It is always hard but once you figure it out it gets easier. They used to have photo webpages like tinypic and other sites but now they all charge to use them. I heard that Imgur and flicker are free but that was awhile ago.