Success!

I got Kara as a rescue from the local Petco. She had come from a home where she'd been neglected or abused. They wouldn't say what specifically. But ever since I got her she has never really wanted to come out of her cage. Every time I'd stick my hand in the cage to bring her out she'd retreat to the far corner and then growl and nip at me when I got close.

I've been working with her though and over time I've been able to get her to step up on my finger (in the cage) and then I could sometimes bring her out, but it's always been more likely that as I brought her out she'd jump back on her perch at the last minute and further attempts sent her back to her safe corner again.

Until today that is. I tried a new approach to get her out of the cage.

Last night I was poking around the internet and I found Sally Blanchard's Companion Parrot Online website. She has advice for taking care of all kinds of birds, including Budgies. She recommends putting a bunch of the bird's toys just outside the cage and then eating something near them so the the bird can see and hear you eating and playing with the toys. She says if you do that for a few days the bird will come out on it's own.

So I set the bird play-set on a TV tray just outside the cage and opened the door, then went into the kitchen to get my food. By the time I came back, maybe 20 seconds later, there was Kara playing on her play-set. As I approached she jumped back in her cage.

So I went back around the corner into the kitchen and she came back out. I slowly approached, head down with my eyes averted so as not to appear threatening. This time she stayed where she was, happily chewing on a piece of wood. I picked up the play-set and took her to her window where she likes to watch the outside world.

No jumpiness, no nipping, happy bird, happy me. And it only took ONE day!!

RESULT!

Catching some morning sun.

Budgie Bread

Photo by Jim Meeker

I've been trying to get Kara to eat her fruits and vegetables and she doesn't seem interested at all. So I'm trying this. It's bread that you can make specifically for your birds. Here's the recipe that I used.

Budgie Bread Muffins

2 Cups Bisquick

2 Cups Yellow Corn Meal

2 Tablespoons Baking Powder

4 eggs (With the shells added for calcium)

3 6-ounce jars of baby food (any kind, I used Carrots, Squash, and Apple/Banana)

1 cup parakeet bird seed

1 cup pellets (I used ZuPreem Avian Maintenance Fruit Blend for parakeets)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Mix all dry ingredients together well in large bowl. Add eggs and baby food. Stir until all ingredients are evenly moist. Batter will be very thick and heavy. Put batter into well greased muffin pans. Fill them about half way. Bake approximately 20 minutes, or until cake pulls away from sides of pan. 

They smell awesome while cooking. I may have to make some for myself without the bird stuff.

Cool completely. Reserve enough for 2-3 days, and freeze the rest. Thaw as needed.

The regular muffin tin seems a little large for Kara and I have to break the muffins up for her to be interested in them. Next time I will use a mini-muffin pan. 

She's seems to like them and it made enough to last a while.

Kara helping clean