How Do You Convince A Budgerigar To Groom Itself?
A budgerigar, or budgie, is what most Americans call a parakeet. Parakeets are charming birds and relatively easy to live with, because given proper care, they will pitch in by taking good care of themselves. A happy, healthy parakeet will preen its feathers, bathe itself, clean its beak and tend to its nails. Observe your bird’s self-care behaviors. You should see it preening its feathers using oil from a gland back near its tail. Other behaviors you hope to see are scratching about on the bottom of the cage and wiping its beak back and forth on the perches. Place a shallow bowl of lukewarm water in the bottom of the cage or in the bird’s living area a couple of times a week so that it can take a bath. If your parakeet is hesitant about bathing, try putting some leaves of lettuce in the bowl. Provide materials for the parakeet to scratch on. Bird grit paper on the floor of the cage and grit paper coverings for perches are excellent choices. Give the parakeet something to file its beak
