Strange happenings before budgie died

We have always kept budgies and even before I was born we had budgies at home so have grown up with them.

One of my elderly budgies has been ill the last few days, sitting on bottom of cage and generally not doing much. On the base of the cage there is a crack in the plastic, yesterday when I cleaned the cage out again I accidently cracked it some more and there was now a hole a couple of inches in diameter but was covered up with sheet and blanket.

I got home from work this morning to find the elderly ill budgie had escaped through the hole and was sitting on the floor. I put her back in the cage only to find she had escaped again a couple of hours later but this time she had passed away.

When she was fit and healthy she would never attempt to escape the cage, and if you ever took her out she would fly back to the cage. So the strange thing is why the need to leave the cage when dying, is this natural instinct?

Comments

  • Money_maker
    Money_maker Posts: 5,471
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    She may have fallen through the hole then had to fight to escape the sheet and blanket. Perhaps the shock killed her.
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  • She may have fallen through the hole then had to fight to escape the sheet and blanket. Perhaps the shock killed her.

    No she was already dying e.g not been herself the last couple of days.

    And I'm surprised she had the energy to even bother trying to escape, she hardly could support herself on a perch.
  • teddysmum
    teddysmum Posts: 9,471
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    Why didn't you take her to see the vet, if you thought she was so ill ? I also think she fell out and the trauma was the last straw.


    They sometimes die very suddenly . A man who bred show birds told me he had a couple, seemingly quite happy, fly across the aviary and fall down dead.


    Like him, my father bred budgies (many of whom lived to a really old age), when I was a child, but if they were obviously ill (not just a bit 'off' ) they were humanely put out of their misery.
  • Person_one
    Person_one Posts: 28,884
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    No she was already dying e.g not been herself the last couple of days.

    And I'm surprised she had the energy to even bother trying to escape, she hardly could support herself on a perch.

    Why did you not take her to the vet? At least to be euthanised and save her suffering if not for investigation/treatment.
  • There was no way she could have just fallen out of the hole, and even after climbing out, the cage was on a table so wouldn't have hit the floor. She was halfway across the room on the step of the patio doors so she had either flown or walked & climbed over to get there.

    She was about 9 years old and although there was a noticeable difference last couple of days, she was still eating and moving around the cage. She got worse today and I would have took to the vets this evening if she had made it this long.

    I'll put it down to what Quizzical Squirrel says about trying to escape danger of dying.
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