Goodbye Chiara 💔

We had to say goodbye to Chiara this morning. She passed away quite suddenly and I must say that I saw no warning signs this time. Only last night after the lights had gone off, she seemed somehow restless on the perch when I went to close the cage. She was bickering at Greta and scratching herself, at times her cloaca area, so I took her to another cage and checked her to be sure she wasn't egg bound. I saw nothing of the kind, took also Boss to keep her company, they kissed and snuggled and I put on an infra red lamp to keep her warm.

In the morning all was the same, she wasn't so restless anymore, but not well either. I saw she hadn't pooped almost none and checked her again for signs of constipation. Nevertheless she got very stressed as I handled her, I put her back, as she was exhausted and shortly after she died, with a seizure - I don't know if the seizure means anything, I've seen many birds pass away with a seizure, I think less often without any. But she will be sent to a patholog and I hope they can find out the reason for her death.

She was by far the most tame bird we've ever had. She was super sweet and we have been so lucky to have her and Sadie. I doubt I will ever get a bird like her again. Chiara was born 20th August 2021, so she was only 3,5 years old. She's had several babies, though only been breeding twice, once with Frodo and once with Boss. She's been laying eggs when ever she's felt like it, and two of such eggs have been succesfully hatched with other couples incubating them. Her last baby Madison stayed with us, as well as Hedda and Helmut from her second clutch.

Also one chick from my breeding passed away only a couple of weeks ago, a male from Lilja and Frodos clutch 2023, Iivari. He was 1 year 2 months when he passed away. He had a companion who died in October 2024 and got a new friend shortly after that, so somekind of virus or otherkind of infection is possible. My condolences 💔

It has been a long while a bird living with us has passed away. Jupiter almost 2 years ago, but she had only stayed with us 1 month and must have had the tumor a long time before that. She was 6 years old. Before that it was Monti, a show budgie girl we had bought from a pet shop. Her ring colour was saying she was born 2017-18 and she died some months after her partner had died in the beginning of 2021.

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I know some of my flock members are already getting old. Aurora and Sir Robin I think are the eldest, then comes Boss, soon 5, Lucy and Sadie are Chiaras age, turning 4 in the summer. The rest of them still considered young. I still do wish everyone of them would somehow beat that 6 years average for a show bird and that I could keep them for many years to come.

I'm still planning on mixing pet and show type, in order to get more active, more agile birds, yet trying to keep the easy temperament.