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Re: Broken wing (humor bone)
Posted by Marcos Gomez on 3/10/06

On 3/10/06, Fran wrote:
> On 3/10/06, Marcos Gomez wrote:
>> Thanks Fran for your suggestions. At this point, I really only
>> wonder one thing. (I'll try to be concise)
>>
>> The vet says I should keep him in a smaller cage. He is constantly
>> chirping and warbling with his buddy in the other cage. Isn't that
>> causing additional stress? The vet wanted him in the smaller cage
>> so he would not be as mobile. In theory that is fine. But in
>> reality, he keeps moving around and pinning himself to the cage
>> bars trying to get to his chirping buddy. He loves his buddy,
>> chasing and preening endlessly when together.
>>
>> So here is the question, isn't any possible benefit of him being
>> isolated in a smaller cage so that he can heal, outweighed by the
>> fact that if he was back with his buddy in the cockatiel cage, he
>> would be close with him, and thus less stressful? To make matters
>> worse, his buddy is stressed because he misses the bird with the
>> broken wing.
>>
>> I am just at the point where I feel they need to be together again,
>> and I want to pull him out of loneliness and isolation of the
>> little cage to put him back with his buddy in the big cockatiel
>> cage. The vet just does not seem to understand the true dynamics as
>> to what is happening here.
>>
>> Comments welcome....Marcos
>>
> Marcos,
>
> Well, I think what your vet is worried about is exactly as you
stated, that when together
> they are chasing and preening endlessly. If they get together and
get active, the splint
> may very well be displaced, or working together they may be able
to "preen" it off.
>
> The general rule of thumb is to isolate an injured bird so it can
rest and recove. However I
> understand your point that the birds are under a tremendous amount of
stress. Does it not
> help to have their cages side by side?
>
> What do you think about putting the healthy bird in with the injured
one. This way he
> would still be in a smaller cage with low perches, but will have his
buddy with him, and
> possibly wouldn't be able to move around quite as much as in the
large cage. If things
> start to get too rowdy, you can take the well budgie out.
>
> If they did manage to get the splint displaced your vet could
rebandage it. By the way,
> what are their names?

Hi Fran....
My injured bird's name is Von sherbach (Vonci) and the healthy one is
Shusterman (Shusti). I was think of putting Shusti in with Vonci in the
smaller cage. But the cage is really to small for one keet. I did not
buy the cage, someone gave it to me. I would never put any kind of bird
in a cage this small. It's one of those super small triangular cages.
with the two doors for food cups on the sides, and the middle door that
is barely big enough to put your fist in. But I have two perches in it
and both are on the bottom level so Vonci would not have to climb
perches. Big deal, so what does he do? He hops to the bars and climbs
the cage all over the place when Shusti starts calling for him. Ok, I
have to believe that has to put stress on the broken bone in some way.
There is no winning here.

On the other hand, if I put Vonci in the larger cage, they would just
stay together on the high purch preening each other. Remember, most
preening takes place around the neck, head, upper back. This is so
because this is an area that they cannot reach on their own. I rarely
see any preening on or near the wings. The reason for that is that this
is an area where they preen themselves. What I am saying is these two
don't even move from each other. They don't play with themselves..or
the toys. They just stay close to each other ...face to face...beak to
beak.....or preening each other all day. If one goes down to eat, the
other does. If one goes to sleep, the other does. Most of the time they
don't even jump purches. They climb, down the bars, one after another
to get to the food. If one uses the stone. The other follows or does so
at the same time. Talking about love!!

I guess what I am saying, is that at least if I put them together in
the small cage or the large cage, the stress factor of them being apart
will be removed from Vonci. Sure he will still have the stress of the
splint/taped wing, but, that will seem minor in the overall scheme of
things....Thanks again Fran....

Posts on this thread, including this one

• Broken wing (humor bone), 3/09/06, by Marcos Gomez.
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone), 3/09/06, by MKay.
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone), 3/09/06, by Marcos Gomez.
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone), 3/10/06, by Fran.
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone), 3/10/06, by Marcos Gomez.
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone), 3/10/06, by Fran .
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone), 3/10/06, by Jim.
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone), 3/10/06, by Marcos Gomez.
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone), 3/10/06, by Marcos Gomez.
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone)--idea, 3/10/06, by MKay.
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone)--idea, 3/10/06, by Marcos Gomez.
• Re: Broken wing/Marcos, 3/14/06, by Jim.
• Re: Broken wing/Marcos Thanks for the support, 3/14/06, by Marcos.
• Re: Broken wing - update on how Vonci's doing?, 3/24/06, by Jim.
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone), 8/16/07, by raindrops.
• Re: Broken wing (humor bone), 8/16/07, by raindrops.