I think I’ve learned my lesson. Never, ever, under any circumstances, clip my budgie Peanut’s wings anywhere but the enclosed bathroom. The last two times I clipped them, she’s gotten away from me after the last wing was clipped and hidden away where we couldn’t get to her.

The first time it was under the fridge. Fortunately, that ordeal only lasted about 40 minutes and we were able to get her out once we figured the fridge rolled out of its spot.

This time, however, she made a break for the stove and it resulted in a three hour ordeal. We tried coaxing her out. We tried setting out seed. We tried putting the cage with our other budgies nearby so their calling would coax her out. No dice. So, we finally tried pulling the stove out, an ordeal in itself. Little did we know that there were holes in the side of the cabinets next to the stove. We spent the next two hours tearing the kitchen apart, trying to figure out how to get this scared little bird out alive while doing the least damage to our kitchen.

Fortunately, I was able to push back some particle board in the cabinet far enough to get a stick in and coax her backward to the space behind the stove. Before we could grab her though, she made a beeline for the space between the stove and the cabinet on the opposite side. At that point, she completely disappeared. We didn’t know if she was in the stove or in the cabinet. We tried probing carefully with a stick in both areas to find where she was. Nothing. We had no clue where she was and we just about thought all hope was lost.

We searched the stove. Nothing. We pulled it out as far as we could and my husband got behind it to check the cabinets. I got him a longer stick to probe with. At this point, I was in just about full panic mode and about ready to pass out from hypoglycemia (hadn’t eaten anything yet and it was late afternoon).

A few minutes later, a little squawk let us know that our wayward budgie was indeed under the cabinets. A few minutes of work sweeping the stick through the hole in the cabinet resulted in the appearance of a teeny little budgie head poking out the hole. My husband gently coaxed her out a little further, then grabbed her. As he stood up, he bumped his head on the microwave overhead and our little escape artist flew off, making another break for it. I caught her mid-air, held her close to my chest, and quickly hustled her into the bathroom to wash all the dust and gunk off her. Then it was back into the cage for her, where she’s now sitting nice and dry and sufficiently preened. She’s sitting, staring at me, no doubt planning her next escape.

Our little adventure resulted in a little “remodeling” of the kitchen, but we consider it an improvement. We’ve done away with the carousel in the corner cabinet and will be putting shelves in. Hubby cleaned up and put everything back in its place. We both took showers, I ordered pizza, and we crashed on the couch for the rest of the night.

This week, we’re going to Home Depot for some “bird proofing” supplies. I think we should change that little parakeet’s name to Trouble.

As some of you (“you” referring to the one person out there reading this blog) may know, one of our female budgies recently laid some eggs. At first, we were excited about the prospect of baby budgies. The first egg cracked, probably from being used for budgie soccer. A second egg was laid, then a third. We figured we had a good chance at getting a cute little baby budgie out of this.

We have since given up on the whole thought. In fact, we’re considering contacting Budgie Protective Services to report a neglectful budgie mom. LOL. The second egg has cracked and the third is currently being completely ignored for most of the day. Oh, mama tries. She does. She spends a few minutes a day trying to sit on the egg and/or figure out what to do with it. She even runs off any of the other budgies who try to get near it. But, I’m getting the feeling that she’s just not cut out to be a budgie mom. At least, not yet.

Still, all in all, it’s been fun watching the birds and seeing how they react, whether or not we get a baby budgie out of it.

Our oldest female budgie laid her first egg this week. We were definitely NOT expecting that and we had done all we could to discourage our flock from getting any bigger. But, the deed was done, so we were excited about the prospect of a baby budgie. Unfortunately, it appears that she or one of the other budgies pecked a hole in the egg. I checked it by helding it to a flashlight and it appeared to not be fertile anyway. I assume that she probably knew that and therefore destroyed the egg herself.

She laid another egg this morning before we got up. We’re hoping that she’ll take care of it this time and hatch a baby budgie chick. We may have to separate the younger female into another cage because she’s awfully curious about that egg.

It’s very interesting watching the dynamics between all four of our budgies (two female, two male). The suspected father isn’t paying much attention to the hen, except to try to mate, of course. He spends a lot of time with our younger female, while our older male is spending time with our older female, feeding her and everything. It’s very unlikely that he’s the father, if in fact the egg results in a chick.

Anyway, in case any of you reading this find this page as a result of looking for information about budgie care and breeding, here are some good resources that may answer any questions you have:

Budgie FAQ

Parakeet Paradise

Tailfeathers Network