Budgie Health

Whether you have just bought a budgie home or you are looking after an old friend, your budgies health should be of the utmost importance to you. Budgies are hard wired to look fit and healthy even though their may be something amiss. This is because in the wild weak, sick budgies will not survive as long because they will be the first in the flock to be picked out by a predator. However these masters of disguise do show some tell tail signs of illness. 

Common signs a budgie is unwell:

• sitting on the bottom of the cage for prolonged periods
• undigested, odd colored feces
• feces stuck to the vent area 
• tail bobbing
• puffed up feathers
• messy un-preened feathers
• lack of energy (not as playful) 
• unusual amount of sleeping (more than 3 hours during the day) 

If you notice that your budgie has some of these symptoms, the first thing you should to is to set up a hospital cage. The general idea of a hospital cage is that it keeps the budgie warm and sung and helps him/her to repair, or keep him/her alive until the little fella can be inspected by an avian vet. The hospital cage can be kept warm by anything from hot water bottles, fire lamps to electric blankets (However, you don't want it to hot otherwise your budgie will cook.) It is a good idea to cover the cage fully so it keeps the warm air in and the cooler air out.

Prevention is better than a cure. Apparently their has been a budgie health breakthrough, were vitamin D3 obtained by sunlight can have amazing effects on a budgies health. Read more on this breakthrough: http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/factsheets/Birds/Vitamin-D:-A-Sick-Budgie-Breakthrough/6123

Apple cider vinegar (ACV) is also thought to have amazing outcomes on a budgies health. More on the efficacy of ACV: http://www.naturalbird.com/mcwatters/acv_for_birds.htm

As budgie health should be the utmost import aspect of looking after a budgie, it is important to know how to cure and prevent your budgie from becoming ill and at worst passing away. So always keep an active interest in the health of your little budgie.

If you have any budgie health tips that you think should be included in this brief summary of budgie health, please feel free to leave them in the comments!