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View Full Version : Noodle-The One And Half Winged English Budgie



Feathers First Aviary
11-17-2013, 08:15 AM
This is Noodle the pudgy budgie. Noodle was bred by a show breeder. The breeder was hand feeding him, I'm not exactly sure why because I don't believe he normally hand feeds his babies, he may have been abandoned by his parents and he didn't have another nesting pair to foster him but as I said, I didn't really think to ask that so I may be wrong. But anyway, this breeder was hand feeding little noodle but he had to go out of town so he asked my breeding partner(wow that sounds bad, maybe I should have said business partner instead :tongue-new: ) if she would keep him for the week while he was out of town. She agreed and as soon as she went to give him his first feeding she noticed that something was different about this little baby. She immediately took a picture and texted it to me under the heading, "does this bird look different to you?", of course I noticed right away that he only had half of his left wing. He was only about two weeks old and completely naked other than his fuzzy white butt so it was almost impossible not to notice that his one wing was half the size of the other and had no joint in it. It wasn't a wound either like the parents had bit part of his wing off, it was normal skinned and looked just like a stump so it's obvious he was hatched that way. I have no idea how the breeder didn't notice this in the first place but apparently he hadn't. She texted him the same picture explaining what she had discovered. The breeder then asked if we would want him(there's no way he would be able to be shown in exhibition like this)to raise him as a pet. Long story short, I quickly became the new mommy of a handicapable english budgie! I originally planned on finding him a new home when he was weaned but like every other special critter that crosses the threshold of our front door, I fell in love and that was all she wrote, I quickly admitted to my partner and hubby that he was never leaving, I was smitten.

As Noodle grew I realized his wing was not the only special thing about him, his longest front toe on his one foot is slightly curved and crosses over his other front toe and despite being hand fed and handled all the time he is a bit neurotic. When he was younger he was super cuddly and loved to be petted, one day it was like a switch was flipped and he no longer likes to cuddle and if you try to pet him he screams and then bites your finger. He still enjoys being held though and will readily step up if offered a finger. If you try to pick him up in any kind of a restraining way, like to trim his nails or extend his wings like I am doing in the photos he will scream bloody murder until you put him down. Also, the reason I referred to him as the pudgy budgie is not because he is overweight or anything, it's because as a baby he was huge, bigger than any EB I have ever raised, now that he is full grown he is the size of a normal english budgie but we still lovingly call him our pudgie budgie.

Despite the fact that he has a bit of a screw loose we absolutely love having Noodle around, he has become our resident spokesbudgie for anyone that has never seen an EB before and would like to see the difference between one and a normal american. Everyone falls in love with him as soon as they see his little Nemo wing. :)

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The noodles I was eating were just plain noodles in low sodium veggie broth so when he hopped up on my bowl I figured I'd let him have a taste if he wanted :)
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I couldn't believe how much he enjoyed the noodles but I guess he was very aptly named because he LOVED them!
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Honesty
11-17-2013, 09:53 AM
Noodle is beautiful colours:)

Feathers First Aviary
11-17-2013, 10:02 AM
Thanks Wendy :) By the way he acts while visiting his lady friends he's sexy and he knows it!! :D

kendrafitz
11-17-2013, 11:49 AM
What a great story. I love the pics, especially of Noodle happily eating noodles!

spiritbird
11-17-2013, 12:59 PM
Noodle is a lucky bird to be in your care. He is totally cute.

Debra
11-17-2013, 01:31 PM
He's absolutely gorgeous! I have a soft spot for the blue birds (and I only have 1 lol). I, too, would have kept that little one. I also have a thing for the special needs birds.

Feathers First Aviary
11-17-2013, 01:34 PM
A breeder that I have on my fb posted a crooked legged baby hahns macaw yesterday, it is taking everything I have not to ask how much he is. We have wanted a hahns for awhile but we may be taking in a bird that needs some vetting soon so I must resist :(

Blancaej
11-17-2013, 01:42 PM
Noodle is beautiful! Great story! :)

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