Lettuce Spray

The budgies really enjoy their showers.  The get sprayed with a regular spray bottle filled with water (with the the words written on it in marker "Water Only" to prevent anything such as, heaven forbid, a cleaning solution being put into this bottle).  For their showers, they are placed on top of the cage, and lately we have been giving them lettuce on top of the cage at that time.  The budgies like hopping in and out of the spray, and when the lettuce is there, they like to do belly flops onto the wet lettuce, getting their tummies wet.  They also like nibbling the wet lettuce.  When they are totally damp, they'll walk out of the spray and we know shower time is over.  Extensive grooming takes place thereafter, lasting as long as an hour as they seem to take each long feather (from wings and tail) into their beaks and pull and stroke it through their beak many times, leading to smooth, shiny, clean feathers.  They also fluff the smaller feathers on the body up many times.  It's very cute.

(thanks to M. for the title "Lettuce Spray").

A Bird's Gotta Chew what a Bird's Gotta Chew

While out of focus, this photo should nonetheless display the result of gnawing by budgies.  We put clothespins in the cage to hold treats and greens.  The budgies like standing on them, and chewing them.  They also like chewing cherry and maple sticks which we use as natural perches.  While many budgies love chewing cuttle bones, ours never have done that with much enthusiasm.  Perhaps that is because they eat "Egg-cite" (we are not making this up), as seed and pellet mix which has calcium in it.

It is clear that the female budgies do a lot more chewing and gnawing then the males, or a least with an F, N=2 and M, N=1. I wonder if this is related to their nesting instincts?  They have whittled any number of perches down to, literally, nothing.  It is clear that budgies would quickly destroy a wooden cage.