Owning Budgies by Marianne Marlow – Guest
Firstly I would like to say that it’s an honour to be asked to write a guest post and I am happy to do so. I love Avian 101 it always has such colourful photography!
My name is Marianne. I live in London, England, and look after nine budgies. I wouldn’t say I own them, they more own me. The Fiends names are Monty, Snowy, Roswell, Jerry, Sky, Blueboy, Hector, Lilek and Abbie. They have their own personal human to take care of their feathery needs. I feed them, put out their baths, clean their cages, put them to bed, and make sure that they have plenty of toys!
Playful bunch
As budgies have the mentality of a three year old child, it’s like looking after a bunch of naughty children. They aren’t really mean to each other but I do have to occasionally step in to break up squabbles and tell them off. Telling them off usually means that I show my finger and thumb as a “beak” to make an aggressive budgie back off, but it rarely comes to this. Discipline is really important for a group of budgies in a front room as it stops submissive budgies being bullied and picked on by the more dominant ones. It’s really important to be consistent and to tell the budgies “No fighting, no biting, no pulling on tail feathers”. That way they can all lead happy little lives together.
This whole budgie obsession started off in 2009. My sister in law took in a couple of budgies temporarily, but she had cats so she couldn’t keep them. She gave the budgies to the RSPCA, I realised that I really wanted to take them but it was too late. Then it brought back memories of my Dad having a budgie when I was young. His name was Cheeky and I remember him being blue. I remember my Dad saying that Cheeky loved Top of the Pops and that he used to bounce up and down on his perch to the music.
Abbie playing upside down
Unfortunately, my Dad had to give Cheeky away as he found out that he was allergic to birds and they sparked off his asthma. My parents told me that Cheeky had flown back to Australia, something that haunts me to this day. If they had told me the truth, that he went to live with the people upstairs, then I could have visited him!
Anyway, I digress. I really wanted budgies so in November 2009, after some research, we went to a good pet shop where we got Monty and Eric. Eric was a Dominant Pied Sky Blue and Monty a Normal Sky Blue. We chose them because they seemed like great friends. Even though they were in a cage with lots of other budgies we could tell that they had lots of personality. Wherever Eric went, Monty would follow like he was looking after him.
Devastatingly little Eric didn’t live very long. We woke up one morning to find that he had died during the night. After a period of mourning we put plans into motion to get a couple more budgies, Roswell and Snowy. Roswell is a Normal Grey and Snowy an Opaline Grey Cinnamon Pied. It turns out that three is a crowd. Despite Roswell being interested in Monty, Monty became great friends with Snowy. Roswell felt left out, becoming jealous and antisocial. He frequently pinged the bars in frustration, and would occasionally jump directly between Monty and Snowy to get their attention.
Monty in a bowl
After some time trying to figure out what to do about Roswell’s behaviour, we brought in another little fellow – Jerry! Jerry is a Normal Green budgie, as close to looking like the budgies of Australia as it gets.
I was admitted to hospital in January 2011 with breathing problems. It seems that I have an extreme reaction to bird dander and dried bird droppings. Although not common, it is a well known condition called Bird Fancier’s Lung (Hypersensitivity pneumonitis). The reason why there are not more of these cases in the world is because people do not have the exposure to birds that they once did. It is an extremely serious condition comparable to smoking 80 a day. I had to stay in hospital for five nights with oxygen and strong drugs.
When I was released we decided that it was time to adopt a strict daily cleaning regime. We also purchased an air purifier and powerful vacuum cleaner with a Hepa Filter. My daily regime involves using newspapers on top of the budgie cages. My husband thought of doing this as it is easier and more hygienic. In the evening I pull the papers off and bundle them into a bag which is put outside. I clean all of the toys and playgrounds that the budgies have used during the day, plus their food bowls. Perches are inspected to make sure there are no droppings. The outside and inside of each of the three cages are wiped down free of dust and debris. Newspapers are also laid down where droppings typically gather. These are also removed, every other day.
My latest addition is Abbie. She is our ninth little “Ringwraith” and came to us in July 2011. Her owner called her Albie, but we changed it to Abbie as it sounds more feminine. She’s a pretty little four year old, so it’s a shame to have a man’s name. Abbie (Dominant Pied Violet) was originally with another budgie but apparently he escaped. Her owner didn’t want her to be on her own but didn’t have time for another budgie. She has settled in here really well, she gets fed by Hector and Jerry and loves hanging upside down. We also find, that being a hen she has an unfortunate habit of nibbling things. She is a little vandal that has stripped plastic from wire clothes airers. She has also bitten the wood on our budgie screens and tried to break the plastic locks on the cages.
Lileks getting extra attention by owner
We have introduced Abbie to vegetables which she has taken to really quickly. I am happy about this as I like my birds to have a varied diet. I feed them carrot, courgette, mange tout, corn, spinach, parsley, basil, dill and many other things. There are lots of foods that budgies can have but also some that you should never feed them. Chocolate, avocado, alcohol, caffeine are all big no-no’s. Owners should also be wary of many house-plants, as the leaves can be fatal to budgies. Perfumes and cleaning products can also give off strong fumes which are not good for budgies air sacs.
My budgies are a lively bunch, singing from morning until night. They are allowed out in my front room all day long. We even built special screens for the windows, made from wood and aviary mesh. We can therefore freely open the windows when the budgies are out so that we can get what is laughingly considered fresh air in London. As far as we are aware, these are the only screens of this type in the entire world.
They have a big swing, hoops, wire racks on the wall, playgrounds and have fresh leaves pegged up daily. Their preferred bathing method is either a wet plate of Basil or a glass, see-through shallow bowl, with some colourful plastic balls in it.
I would like to be able to get my birds a huge cage that they can all roost in at night. At the moment they have three large cages, but none of them are big enough for all the birds to sleep in. The problem is that there is not enough room for them to stretch their wings at the same time, without squabbling and fighting.
I really enjoy sharing my day with budgies even though they can be a lot of work to look after. They all have their own individual personalities, like little snowflakes. I am not sure that people realise how different each one can be, with their funny little ways and noises. For example Abbie and Roswell enjoy hanging upside-down. Monty likes to sit in a bowl and eat seed and oats. Blueboy pings the cage bars at night if he thinks there is too much noise. Snowy likes to sing to his Green ping-pong ball. Lilek is slightly obsessed with my feet, although he’s growing out of that thankfully.
Giving homes to budgies is addictive. I now have nine budgies, even after finding out that I am dangerously allergic to them. I have promised my family that I will no longer add to my flock. I admit that I shouldn’t have so many budgies, but at the time I was completely ignorant of Bird Fancier’s Lung. Sure, it had not helped my fathers asthma but I considered giving up Cheeky was an overreaction to being told he was allergic to birds. However, five of my current birds are re-homed from people that couldn’t look after them and wanted someone else to take them. I believe that I have done the right thing, which is not always the same as the sensible thing or the easy thing.
OMG this is a banquet!
This article and photographs are © Marianne Marlow, my friend from the UK, visit her blog at:
http://featheredfiends.wordpress.com/
H.J. Ruiz - Avian101 
Stay healthy Marianne! You are so dedicated to your lucky little fiends:).