This happened about 30 minutes ago. I was in the other room when I heard a strange squawking sound in the parakeet room. I came running to see Yoshi standing on top of Damien in the corner of the cage. It was Damien who was letting out the strange noises. I immediately disentangled the two birds--Damien had been laying on his back and Yoshi and his legs were clutching each other. I put Yoshi into a separate cage and let everyone settle down a little bit. Damien had a little spot of blood at the junction of his wing to his body on his left side.

I prepared a warm water bath, q-tips, and a very small amount of neosporin ointment. I calmly caught Damien, and kept a running dialogue in a soothing voice while I gently cleaned his wound with warm water on a q-tip. It was not bleeding freely or running blood. After two or three rinses of the area, I put a very small dab of neosporin on the wound. I checked Damien over for any other spots, but this seemed to be the only one. I put him in the cage with Angel and Littlefoot, covered them up and shut off the lights. I have a small space heater that they like to have near their cage. I watched Damien for a little bit; he started to preen himself, and was talking like normal with Littlefoot.

Yoshi will be kept in a separate cage for a while, although I may change it so that Damien will be in the smaller cage to heal. I caught Yoshi, and he doesn't have any wounds that I could find. I plan on checking Damien again before bedtime in a few hours, rinsing his wound, and again putting just a little of neosporin on it. I know he'll most likely end up preening all the ointment off, or eating some of it, but I really want just a little bit of the antibiotic properties for a day or so, until it starts healing closed. I'm writing just to ask if anyone has other suggestions for now. I am an RN, and have determined that Damien does not need to see a vet at the moment. I will look up and have the number of my local avian vet ready, so that if I feel he starts acting differently, we will take him in right away.

An up-date:
Damien seems to be doing fine; he slept in one of his normal places on the swing and looked annoyed when I took a peek inside the cage this morning. I'm off to work until 5 or 6 tonight, so my fiance will be checking on the birds (like he usually does) while I'm away. Yoshi slept just fine as well...I know he was just doing what birds do, but I'm still mad at him for doing that to Damien. I just don't understand--they were getting along fine! I've had Yoshi since September or so, and initially it was Damien who disliked Yoshi and was attacking him all the time. I have noticed that Angel's cere has turned much more brown and bumpy, and that Yoshi and Angel have seemed to have bonded. But Damien and Littlefoot have been bonded since I got Littlefoot, and Damien doesn't show any unusual interest in Angel...so, I don't know what their problem is, but I will definitely be keeping Yoshi and Damien separate from now on. Plus, the cage was wide open when they attacked each other yesterday, so it wasn't like they didn't have space or anything...I have two of everything in the cages....I just don't get it.

Well I can't really explain what happened, but it seems like you are taking care of them. As long as they bounce back to normal and heal well it seems that all should be fine. Best of luck!!

Yoshi still bullies Damien around sometimes, and sometimes he completely ignores him! I clipped both their wings yesterday (leaving Damien more so he can fly better to escape). There have only been two or three similar instances since, but this time no one got hurt. I still separate them every night and only let them be out at the same time when I am home. Thanks for viewing everyone!

erh. Are you sure these are boys?It sounds a lot like a female fighting another female off for her mate... Males wont fight like that but females will... they'll even fight to the death.

My keet has been at the bottom of the cage all day today. I noticed she tried to get up on the perch by just using her beak but she fell. It's like she can't use her feet. What can possibly be wrong with her?

Paulie - Make a different topic. I'd take him to an avian vet ASAP. It could be some serious problem with his legs!


And are you sure Damien didn't eat any Neosporin while preening? ? I hope that small of an amount wouldn't do anything, but it could! Just making sure he's fine.

Paulie -

A keet sitting at the bottom of the cage all day is a Very Bad Sign. Trying and failing to climb onto a perch is also a Very Bad Sign.

Get your bird to an avian vet ASAP. (I hope you did so before I've even posted this, since your question was 2 days ago.)

How is your keets doing? Any good news?

An update--Damien and Yoshi are fine as long as they are separated. I have caught Angel and Yoshi mating twice in the past few months, I have supplies in case baby budgies are on the way (I'm not trying to breed them, they just won't stop!). The newest news is about Littlefoot, but I'm going to start a new topic for her.