Why Does My Budgie Sit On The Floor?

Question

I got my budige on saturday and it is about 3 months old. Saturday it was fine and flying around but the last 3 days it just sits on the floor all day. Also it wont drink water out of the dish or eat food out of the dish i dont think it has drunk anything since i bought it home and it only eats because i put food on the floor. Does my budgie hate me? What should i do?

Answer 1

Your parakeet is just going through shock. He/she was taken from his previous home (pet store) and now he has to get acclimated to his new surroundings. Don't give up though, play with him, make sure there is always music or tv as background noise for him. Get him toys and in a couple days he will be fine.

Parakeets usually do well when there is a lot of activity in the house. So make sure he is not just left alone with no noise around him.

Answer 2

Are u sure ur Budgie is as old as the pet store claimed? im not sure how "normal" budgie poops should look?
but I know from first hand experience that some pet stores will sell birds which are not as old as the store claims, I bought a baby teal who the store claimed was 3months old he sat on the floor of his cage wouldn’t eat unless I sprinkled food on floor of his cage and the only time he seemed to take a drink was when I kept moving his little water bottle around after him, "his poops" looked very watery and any seed he had ate was jus passing straight through him cos he wasn’t even able to husk his seed :(we ended up getting professional help for him as I couldn’t bear to take him back to the store "he had his head feathers ripped out by other birds in the pet store aviary" turns out he was most likely aged approx 9 weeks when the store sold him to me,worst still I was told that he hadn’t been weaned properly & had I not sought help he would most likely have died within the following two days!

Thankfully after 4 long weeks of TLC by experts "being hand fed" n sleeping on a hot water bottle he’s now back home with us and doing great :) he has started to say occasional words like Hiya and Thank you lol, he says them very fast but u can still understand what he’s saying, I hope ur budgie is ok “look out for whole seeds in his droppings” if u do see this then maybe he hasn’t been properly weaned?

Answer 3

Um...hand fed birds typically hang out on the floor when they're fed, maybe (and I'm a big bird nut and have NO expertise whatsoever with the smaller species with the exception of Caiques) he's just reverting back to his hand fed days out of fear and anxiety from the new place. I'd say if he doesn't seem to be sick, he's eating and drinking from down there, get him out and handle him and see what happens.

I don't know if you have a vet handy, but this would be an excellent call for him, or for your breeder. I'm praying you didn't get your bird from one of those grocery store places (Wal-Mart sells birds, and I'll buy one from there right around the apocolypse) and you actually have some recourse as to what's happening.

If it's a hand fed thing for him, where he's wanting to go back to hand feeding and being a baby (in which, really...he still is a baby) that could work to your advantage in gaining his trust and being able to handle him for the rest of his life.

Answer 4

Firstly, if the budgie is on the floor of its cage with fluffed up feathers and hasnt eaten or drank anything, he's sick, birds are rlly good at hiding that there sick, so when you finally see signs it might be too late, but my suggestion is call an avian vet and ask them to have a look at him as soon as possible, if you were like me and have no idea where the closest avian vet is, go here http://www.aav.org/vet-lookup/ and fill out what it asks you and it'll give you the closest one, but if you arent attatched to him or anything yet you can just take him back

Answer 5

Sounds to me like your bird is sick. When birds are sick they will go to the bottom of the cage and their feather will be puffed up. Also check it's nostrils and see if you can see any drainage coming out of them. If you can take the bird back to the pet store I would. Also I wouldn't get another from that same cage he/she came from because there could be others sick. If you can't take it back try putting a heat lamp on one side of the cage so he/she can get under the lamp to heat themselves up. Make sure the bird can get away from the heat if he/she needs to. Also at the pet store they have tablets you can put in their water if they are sick. You said it wasn't drinking any water then you might need to check and make sure he/she isn't dehydrated. Take him/her out of the cage and flip him/her on it's back in your hand and softly pinch some of it's skin off it's breast/belly and gently pull outward and then let go. If the skin goes back quickly then the bird is not dehydrated and is getting water. But if it goes back slowly then it is dehydrated. If that is the case you need to get some baby pedelite and get a eye dropper and drop small drops in the birds mouth. Not too much because you can kill the bird if it goes in his lungs. Also you can do that if you get the tablets to dissolve in his/her water for it's cold. I know this stuff because I raised exotic birds for 8 years.

Answer 6

Ahhhh pooor thing! If it is psychological hopefuly he will be up and flying around soon once he gets used to his new surroundings - maybe your bird is lonely and needs a mirror or a plastic companion - they are flock birds, but the cause could also be physical in which case if symptoms persist (that's what they say on medication packets right) consult your vet. Good luck!

Answer 7

if you have only just got it the bird will be feeling stress and its best to leave it alone for a few days try covering the cage and apart from checking it occasionally keep it covered and it will climb up on its perch its self
don't leave the food&water on the floor

Answer 8

I think you should contact the person you got your budgie from as they may be able to give you better advice. Hope this helps you out and your budgie is fine.

Answer 9

It isn't active. You should start playing with it, keeping it happy. The dirty wings were probably from the dust build-up that has been forming since it just sat there. Give it fresher food. It might just mean it is REALLY bored and bored and bored and bored.

Answer 10

Owning two parrots I agree with clammy, take it back. I bought a parakeet and it did the same, died a few days later. Dont want to upset you but they are fragile when young.