A large recovery cage for two birds

Size of a recovery cage
In worse cases it may be necessary to keep a budgie single in a recovery cage for many weeks. Due to this, the cage shouldn't be too small since the bird must have the opportunity to spread its wings inside of it without damaging the feathers. But on the other hand, it is not practical if the recovery cage is too huge when you have to see your vet with the sick bird. A big parrot cage is not easy to handle if one wants to place it into a car for example. Vets also are in trouble if they try to catch a budgie in a large cage. Just choose something in the middle of the two extremes if you buy a recovery cage for your birds.

Dishes for the recovery cage
In a sick bird's cage, dishes for food and goodies shouldn't miss. Another dish filled with sand and grit may be useful in case of an illness that forbids covering the base tray with sand. Budgies need sand and grit for digesting their food!

Of course there should also be a dish for water. But pay attention! Birds who are concussed for example can drown in big dishes! Narrow ones that can be fixed between the bars of the cage are much safer! Natural twigs and perches are also very important, and in most of the cases, budgies love to rest on a swing while living in their recovery cage. Please don't forget an iodine bar which always is highly important to keep a budgie fit and healthy.

Litter for the base tray
Depending on what illness the budgie suffers from, the base tray should not be covered with sand (and never with sand sheets!). If for example a foot of a budgie is injured, sand would stick to the wound and can cause troubles. In such cases, it is better to leave the base tray blank. Place a layer of tissue into the tray as soon as your bird isn't bleeding any more. Tissues absorb the humidity of the budgie's droppings. It is forbidden to cover the base tray with tissues when a budgie is still bleeding! Injured birds often sit on the ground and the tissue would soak the blood even faster out of the wound or stick onto them. When you want to remove such a sticking tissue, the injury will most probably start bleeding again.

If you think your bird might suffer from inner parasites, there should be no litter in the base tray. Vets need fresh and clean droppings without sand for examining them. Otherwise, most inner parasites would be harder to recognize.

Birds who suffer from a fracture must be put into a cage with a padded base tray. Rumpled paper of newspapers or - what's even better - creased tissues do a good job then. Do never use wool or fibrous cloths. Tiny threads could wrap around the legs or toes of the bird and make them die off!

Link tip: Do you want to discuss with experts and other bird owners about your bird's health? Then please feel free to visit the English forum of . Of course you will meet me there, too. My nickname is "Feenseeschwalbe".

This chapter in Turkish on muhabbetkusu.org