If your budgie is not eating or drinking, it is likely that your bird is ill.  With a variety of possible illnesses, there is no way to diagnose and medicate your bird on your own.  Your best option is to consult veterinarian care as soon as possible.  In the mean time, there are temporary support measures you can take to keep your bird alive while you seek professional care.

Create a makeshift ‘brooder’

–  This should be like a nest for your bird.  Use an appropriately sized box lined with soft cloths like t-shirts.  Tuck in more materials to make an oversized box smaller on the inside if necessary.

–  Place a heating pad under the nest to keep the brooder warm.  If you do not have a heating pad you can use a thick, clean sock filled ¾ with plain, white rice.  Knot the end and microwave it for about 1.5 minutes.  Shake it afterwards to distribute the heat, making sure the sock is not too hot.  The tuck the sock just under the cloths.

Try to provide your bird with nutrients

–  Use a dropper every 20-30 minutes to gently feed Children’s Pedialyte to your budgie.  Put the dropper gently inside the beak and let the drops fall into the bottom beak under the tongue.  Do not force the droplets into the back of the throat, which can cause the bird to inhale the fluid and develop pneumonia.

–  You can also substitute Pedialyte with sugar water.  Just mix 1-2 tablespoons of natural white sugar in ½ cup of water.

–  Organic baby food (squash, yams, sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables) is another feeding option.  Offer ½ spoon of all natural baby food to your bird to see if he accepts.

Remember, these are just temporary measures.  If your bird continues to avoid food or water, it is vital that you seek emergency attention.  Need to find a reliable veterinarian professional in your area?  TalkLocal will connect you to one in minutes!

Birds expend a lot of their energy ensuring homeostasis and thermo-regulating their body temperature so they don’t overheat.  Even though parrots are exotic birds used to tropical climates with high humidity and temperature, they are actually most active during the morning and evening, (the cooler portions of the day).  If your Parrot is panting, don’t worry, it is usually indicating that your parrot is hot and trying to expend excessive heat, much like how humans sweat.

In most cases, you’ll simply want to move your parrot to a cooler area of your house or just out of direct sunlight and make sure they have access to fresh, cool drinking water.  If they still don’t stop panting, then you may want to use a fan to keep your parrot cool, or even use misting to the same effect. (Caution: excessive misting of the feathers will have the opposite effect as the feathers will become heavy and inhibit airflow.)  Once again, the best thing to do is to remove your parrot from direct sunlight so that they have access to both shade and cool fresh water.

However, if the parrot doesn’t seem to be overheating from being in direct sunlight or being by a heating source (like a radiator), panting could indicate much more severe physiological problems.  It could range from having a seed stuck in the trachea (breathing problems), heart issues, or even cancer.  You will want to contact an avian vet immediately so that they can diagnose your parrot, as it is very difficult to diagnose the problem without expertise.  TalkLocal can make that extremely easy for you and connect you to the highest rated vets in your area in just minutes.  Simply enter your location, availability and a brief description of your needs, and you’ll have a vet helping your parrot in no time.