I just brought home a baby parakeet. I know the typical recommendation for having a parakeet is either provide it with enough attention that it accepts you as it's flock or give it a buddy. My intention is to keep him as a lone parakeet, that attaches to me vs another bird in its cage. I know this process may take some time for him to warm up to me but until he trusts me I know he will be a little stressed (he's a baby so he will adapt But he was caged with 8 other parakeets and is now alone).
I have read that rescue remedy flower essences for pets is "safe" for birds because it's base is vegetable glycerin instead of alcohol but it comes in a dropper bottle and I can't find info on how much to give him. I could see giving one or two drops in a larger parrots water being of little concern but I wonder about the dosage and safeness for a tiny bird like my budgie.
What's the dosage? Does anyone know if vegetable glycerin could cause diarrhea? Or has anyone used this on birds before? If so, how much did you give? By mouth or in water dish? Does anyone have any other tips on what would be a good stress relieving supplement instead? I just want to make him as comfortable as possible, I'm much more used to larger birds, and know budgies have sensitive bodies and that stress can literally kill them.
Background, behavior and Environment Info: he's between 2-3 months old. His cage is placed in view of my cockatiel, but not within reach of each other. The room he's in has the most amount of activity so he's never in dead space. He's already stepping up onto my finger, and will hang onto my shirt, but doesn't hang out for more than 5minutes before getting wiggly, as of yet. He has plenty of toys and perches, and he has ample water and seed (the same kind he was on at the pet store until I've had him long enough to switch). A spray of millet is available. I cover him at night. He's strictly indoors. He didn't eat food for the first day except a little millet, but is eating now. It's day 3. He had what I'd assume was stress induced diarrhea for the first 24hrs, I assume stress because it went away after he started eating again. He was not hand fed or hand raised and has no ankle band. The store he came from does not allow customer interaction with them which is good for stress and contamination while there, but not so good for human socialization or hand recognition. He made little chirping sounds at the pet store but hasn't made a sound until tonight... After covering him it sounded like he was purring himself to sleep.
Active Ingredients: HPUS 5x dilution of Helianthemum, Hummularium, Clematis Vitalba, Impatiens glandulifera, Primus cerasifera, Ornithogalum umbellatum. Inactive Ingredients: 80%Glycerin 20%water. The active ingredients are the Latin names for the different flower essences.
