Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We got 2 parakeets about a year and a half ago, Yayo and Lita. Yayo is doing great but Lita had a flying accident some odd months ago and has never been the same since. She has had off and on problems flying and has just not been her self. The vet prescribed an anti-inflammatory around a month ago that seemed to help temporarily after her latest crash but she still had problems. Early this morning I got home from a trip and my girlfriend said Lita had fallen on the floor and that she picked her up back on her pirch and seemed ok after checking her out, but then had woken up a few min. before I stepped in and found her on the floor of the cage struggling to move. Because our local avian specialist is closed on sun. and the only available animal clinic didnt have a specialist in the building for the next few hours there wasnt much that could be done. I layed her on the cusion next to me and just tried to comfort her until she fell asleep and didnt wake up a little while later. She was a sweet little bird that will be missed but I am glad she is out of her misery. Her passing seemed very quiet and peaceful.

Now my question is how long is the appropriate time to wait before getting a new friend for Yayo? Our original purpose of getting 2 birds was so they could keep each other company since my girlfriend and I both work during the day. I dont want to do it too soon but I dont want Yayo to get lonley either.

Also Yayo is a fiesty, fiesty little bird. Once we do decide on introducing a new friend how should we go about having them meet each other ect.

I know this is all a little long winded but it just happen a few hours ago and it feels a little better to write about it so thanks for taking the time to read and/or respond.

I had this same thing happen to me a couple years ago.

First off, how is he doing? Is he chirping at all? eating? Is he being active?

If the answers are yes, I would say he could have a new friend within days.

I waited 4 days until I got another budgie, and I put them in the same cage after 5 days. I supervised them for 4 days before I put them together permanitly. I would suggest another budgie of the same sex though, to avoid breeding.

Also don't let this flying into a wall thing discourage you and make you want to start clipping their wings, because what you whitnessed was kind of rare in my opinion. I used to be a solid believer in wing clippings until I saw it from another point of view. It's like us, growing to be 5 and then a doctor cutting off our feet and telling us we can only do the army crawl. It's not natural, you wouldn't want to army crawl the rest of your life would you?? NO!! No one would!! Same with birds, they get to where they need to go by flight, not by walking because flight is natural. Birds will learn to not fly into a window by experience, and they will only do it once, most of the time.

Now what I will agree on is wing TRIMMING, to train your birds to fly better. Just trim the wings once (that is only the clipping of a couple flight feathers so they will not gain as much speed as they near a wall) so they learn to not bump into walls.

I know you didn't ask about cllipping wings but I thought I would tell you anyways .

Do you have a bird play stand? If you don't you can buy one at petsmart (the cockatiel ones are bigger and they would have more fun on them) They are only like $25.00 My parakeets love them.

Just make sure the birds are supervised when you put them together, and make sure the new bird is healthy before you introduce them. I would suggest taking the new one to the vet or just Isolating it in another room for a month to watch over it.

I'm sorry about your loss, and I will tell you what, your parakeet would enjoy a friend!