Help!! | Budgie in retirement home

[alex joshua ross]

Hi,

In my grandparents' retirement home there are many fish and birds and one of these bird cages I'm a bit concerned about. The budgie (I think it's a budgie; small blue and white and some black bird; I typed in blue and white bird and the images that show up look a lot like it) kept in the cage (about 1,5 metres tall) has two very simple wooden perches, a ladder, a mirror, and two small coloured plastic jiggly toys and one wooden one, water and food, which is a very very plain bird seed with literally no variety. Just the same yellow orange-ish seeds. Nothing else. It seemed incredibly bare to me and I was wondering if this is how birds, specifically budgies if it's one, should be kept this way because, like, I have no experience whatsoever with birds but I would at the very least fill it up with toys and give it some more variety in its diet and give it a gosh darn hideaway or nest or something you know and he hasn't got any of that. I feel really sorry for the bird and here for advice on how to give him some more quality of life.

My personal plan was to ask the staff in the retirement home if I could pay for some toys out of my own pocket and decorate his cage a bit more, perhaps with some DIY cardboard hideouts or something or anything else I can just make myself. The items in his cage are only in the top half of the cage and there's nothing in the lower half at all and it looks pretty dead.

I was wondering if someone could help me with the basics of keeping a budgie/bird so I can maybe, just maybe, give him some quality of life instead of just the basics.

Kindly,

Alex.

[Lady]

Hi Alex,

Welcome to P.P. There is tons of information on the internet that you could read to give you great information about budgie like [Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]
I don't believe you could just fill up the cage and everything would be better. If this bird isn't use to toys it might not know what to do with them. Some birds are fearful of toys and need to warm up to them at first. My bird is this way, so I have to introduce new toys from a distance so she knows it isn't going to harm her. Then slowly bring it closer to the cage a little each day. Even seeing us humans playing with it can help.
We had a budgie and he seemed to like going all around in his cage to forage for fun things to do. Some enjoy foot toys very much and will spend hours playing with them. There are DIY or homemade toys that can be great entertainment for them too. Maybe you could make some and see if the folks at the retirement home would let you give them to the bird to see how it likes it, offer it as a gift to them for their little bird. Or maybe they could chose which toy and just put one in at a time as she or he become comfortable with the new toy. Putting fresh vegetables on top of the outside of the cage can also be a way to introduce new vitamin enriched food to them. Green leafy ones are a great start, you know ones that can hang down into the cage for them to reach, like carrot tops or strips of kale. Hope this helps some.

[Dragonlady2]

Welcome to the forum Alex. Lady (Alice) has given you some great advice. Another vegetable that smaller birds seem to like is broccoli. Please let us know how the little budgie is doing when you visit him/her again.

[alex joshua ross]

I feel the need to note that I don't live in the area. Like, at all. Budgie lives in Ontario, Canada, and I'm on a holiday from The Netherlands. I'm staying here til the twenty fifth and while I can advise the staff to upgrade the food and offer fresh vegetables, I don't know if they'll listen let alone actually do it, as the budgie is not their first priority. It IS a retirement home after all. I'm not sure if I can provide food toys but if the staff is okay with me helping out I can offer him more permanent cage items like toys and perches made from different materials than plain simple wood, possibly by slowly introducing them over time if he is fearful of new items. If he (or she. I don't know the sex of the bird either) is fine with new toys, should I hang them in both top and bottom of the cage or just leave them in the top for now? Does the bird need a home, like a nest or a small box he can retreat in from time to time? He doesn't have one of those either and while I have very little experience with birds, the cages that I have seen had some sort of hideaway.


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[Dragonlady2]

Thank you for trying to help this little bird. I would try to advise them regarding the fresh food. If you can find some bits of cardboard, twine, etc, and string them together, this may give him something to work on. If you hang or place anything near the bottom of the cage, the budgie may end up pooping on it. Toys and food are usually hung from the top or sides. Unfortunately, once you leave, unless there is someone who is interested, the budgie will bo back to the same conditions. What area in Ontario is the nursing home located? I ask because I will be moving there in a couple of weeks and if it is close to where we will be living, I could look into this.

[alex joshua ross]

The nursing home is in New Hamburg, somewhat close to Kitchener. It would be amazing if you were somewhere in that area and could look further into this. I'll try the DIY toy thingamabob and bring it along as soon as I maybe have purchased the perches, if staff is okay with this. I'll also mention the fresh foods thing but I'm not sure how the food is served for the residents, whether it's actual food or just smushed up stuff. If it's food they might as well give him some leaves as the kitchen is really close to the bird cage anyway.

Someone else mentioned millet and how paper can be used and shredded as another form of entertainment so I think I'm going to try that out too.


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[Dragonlady2]

We will live approximately 1 hour drive away from New Hamburg, although, I believe I know of a shorter route going the back roads. I can do some of my shopping in Stratford and scoot over to have a look. Let's see how they respond to your efforts and then I can determine how receptive they will be. The budgie may actually belong to one of the residents. Again, thank you for taking the time to assist. All of your ideas sound great and if they require supplies, food, etc, I may be able to assist with that once you return to the Netherlands. I was born in the Netherlands and am a landed immigrant. Small world.

[alex joshua ross]

Small world indeed. xD Thank you for your help so far!


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[Lady]

Wonder if the retirement home received any new toys from Alex yet?

[Blancaej]

Hope things work out for that poor little budgie.

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[alex joshua ross]

Small updates. Told staff I was wondering who was taking care of the birds and she replied it was a wonderful volunteer who cared for both the fish and the birds but I to be honest was a bit too. Idk. Anxious, I guess, to instantly say that his diet isn't right and he needs more entertainment in his cage. I'm going back soon again and will pick up a perch if staff gives me permission to do so. Also will ask if they could pass on a message to this volunteer about the birds' diet and toys for that one budgie specifically.


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[Lady]

Well it is nice that someone is volunteering to take care of the bird and fish, it is sad that none of the staff follows up and learns if they are being taken care of adequately. I would then take the thought that the bird (s) and fish are there as perhaps just something to look at :(. They are not anyone in particulars loved and cherished companion. I hope you get permission to give the little one something more to enrich it's time there.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Whilst we were on our holiday we stopped in at the care home where my mother lives. The first question the staff asked us was not "how are you?" but "did you bring the parrot?" They love him visiting. I think that to be a carer you need to be a compassionate person and they generally care about animals and birds as well but may need a bit of education and encouragement if they do not have pets in their home life.
There may be residents there who could help too if they had birds when they were able to look after themselves.

[alex joshua ross]

Updates!

I've managed to pass on a message to the volunteer, whom I've also met a little while later and was a lovely young lady who was very interested in what I had to say about the diet and the seed mix has been upgraded to something with a lot more variety in the time I haven't replied to this thread, and fresh vegetables are given when available, which isn't every day but usually every other day. I just arrived back in Europe and through family I've also heard that the bird now has a new natural wooden perch that splits into two and what I think is a sandy perch (they described it as a rougher, thicker perch that looked slightly grainy), so it seems to have improved. :)

I also considered getting the residents interested but most of them are kind of, well, not doing too great mentally and either forget about the bird moments after they leave or they simply can't hold a conversation anymore, so, yeah. I've managed to get one member of the staff interested though and she told me she'd keep an eye on him so that's great. :)


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[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Thanks for the update Alex, your actions are much appreciated as we all care a lot about bird welfare. Do you have birds at home? perhaps you could start another thread introducing us to them. I apologise in advance if you have already done this and I have somehow missed it.

[Dragonlady2]

Thanks for the update and thanks for caring enough to follow through.:goodjob:

[kendrafitz]

That is awesome!! You really did a wonderful thing. :)

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[Lady]

WOW Alex,

This update is great to read. You have done well! It isn't easy to always approach someone when we have a concern about how they're handling something that they have in their care. It is awesome to know that there are folks like you that will speak up for those who can't.
How wonderful that the staff member is willing to also keep an eye on the little budgie and make sure s/he is being looked after.

:goodjob:

[Blancaej]

You have done such a great job advocating for this little budgie! Awesome!