Do you know someone with budgies who would take them on a trial basis just to see what happens? That would let you see whether they are really happier in a different situation and might make it easier to make a decision.

You would have to warn them about the megabacteria problem of course. That's actually a strong argument for keeping the budgies with you.

Yes, that is true. I don't really know anybody I trust that would take them. I do know one person they could potentially go to, but she has 5 little dogs and a cockatiel, so I have a feeling they wouldn't like all those dogs and no budgies.

Nobody I know or trust has budgies, and I would not be happy sending them to a place if I could not get them back.

The alternative is to work on ways to get them to come out of the cage more often. Like millet sprays and favorite toys just outside the door, and Jaid's lemonade stand nowhere in sight lol.

Jaid's illegal LemonJaid is prohibited here.

Problem is, nothing works on them anymore. Millet. Don't care. Same for toys. They haven't played with one in months.

Didn't they used to be more adventuresome? Can you think of anything that might have made them change?

I have no clue. They've turned into weenies it seems and they hardly come out now. I open their door every day, but the most frequent pattern is they come out once every 2 weeks.

The tiels come out every day.

I feel like if I could stop them from being cage bound, I would improve their quality of life and I would feel better about keeping them.

This is a long shot... is it possible that they're hormonal and want to stay in the cage because it's their nest area? If so, long nights might snap them out of it.

I can't say that they are, they're acting normal enough, but maybe they are, what do I know? Unless I find the perfect situation, there is absolutely no way I could ever part with them.

I found someone local who just built a big aviary, but when I asked, she said she said she didn't have any other budgies, so that fell through. Keep in mind, I'm not going to be diligently searching for another home, but if I stumble across the perfect one, I would consider it.

In the meantime, do what you can to make your home be the perfect home for them. I don't know why they want to sit around in the cage all the time, but see if you can figure out a way to entice them out of it. Maybe if you made them come out, then covered the cage so they couldn't see it and provided fun stuff to do in the room like nibbling on millet spray, they might rediscover the joys of being out and about. You'd probably have to do this several times before they really started to get with the program.

That's a good idea. I've done it before, but after I did it once, they didn't come out for 2 weeks after that. Getting them continuously out is the problem.

Edit: I just got a good idea to go with that. Perhaps if I put their playgym down and have them get comfortable with that, it could start converting them to come out more.