Parakeet/budgie help NBR

[Eepster]

There is an lost parakeet hanging out with the sparrows in my dad’s yard.  I plan to capture him, hopefully tomorrow morning.

Any advice, my bird experience is not vast.  I bought a bag of parakeet food.

[LBJ10]

I suppose it depends on how tame he is.

[Stickerbunny]

Catching them is hard, even if you’re experienced and the bird is used to you. He’ll likely try to fly off with the sparrows if he’s hanging around with them, if you approach. But, just try to go slowly and not spook it. My mom caught a loose parrot in her yard with an old shirt thrown over it, but it all depends on how tired they are and how spooked they get. Some budgie calls played on a tablet or cell phone might entice it to come closer during the day if it stays away from you.

If you do catch him – you can offer fresh foods (no avocado, onion.. the stuff the buns eat is fine though), seed and water. And check places like 911 parrot alert (website), craigslist and vets in the local area (50ish mile radius) to see if anyones looking for a lost budgie. If you plan to keep him, you’ll want a cage (my advice is order online, in pet stores they sell TINY cages that are way over priced and too small for budgies to fly in) and good seed brands are volkmans, dr harveys, ecotrition is OK for pet store brands (I buy organic blend sometimes). Something that isn’t 90% white millet and has a variety of seeds.

Signs of illness to look out for are lethargy, staying puffed up and near the bottom of the cage, poor feather quality and off-color poop. There are websites dedicated to poopology (lol) to see healthy birds poop, I won’t gross people out by posting any pics. Generally, under stress their droppings can get a little watery and exact color varies (from tan to green and even red if it’s been eating dyed foods) but the urate (white spot) should be white no matter. A vet checkup would be a good idea if you plan to keep it, since it’s been out in the wild. There are a few things they can cross-transmit (though not horribly common and often fatal to the birds), so follow good hygiene until you know its health status.

[Eepster]

Thanks SB.

I’ll see if I can get some parakeet call videos on my phone.

I have already found a couple of lost parakeet listing that might be him, so hopefully he is going home soon and I won’t need a long term home for him. If it turns out he isn’t the one from either of the listing, and I need to house him I’ll look online for something better than petstore cages. I guess they are kind of like petstore bunny cages.

[Stickerbunny]

Yeah, they are a lot like pet store bunny cages. Some of them are large enough, but they tend to run $300-$500 … which is ridiculous, cause I buy larger cages than they have online for $100. *frown* Also, you want a plain square cage not round, or house shaped or anything (birds feel safer with corners) and wider is better than taller, if you end up going for a home for him.

If he has a band on his foot, if it’s a closed band, it will have numbers on it that may lead you to the owners as well. A closed band is placed while they are babies, so usually has some info on when they were born, who the breeder was etc. If an open band, they don’t tend to have much info on them.

[MoxieMeadows]

I can’t give too many tips on catching the bird. but for food, seeds, pellets and fresh fruits and veggies are good for them to eat. I’ve never owned a bird, but my older sister is obsessed with birds as much as I’m obsessed with rabbits. (maybe more.) She knows A LOT about birds, and has owned parakeets before. I can ask her any questions you have about birds, she most likely knows the answer.

If you catch the bird, try to contact the adds.
I recommend Don’t give too much info about the bird at first, because there are people who post ads like “missing cat,” people will contact them with a pic of the cat they found and the person will say that the animal is theirs when it’s not. Tell them to give the color of the bird, specific markings ect.

p.s. Don’t be fooled by those little beaks! They can bite!

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