I was wondering whether anyone could give me any advice about what to do about a sick budgie- I have got two budgies who live outside in an aviary, who have lived outside for around 18 months so are used to the cold etc. (covered with plastic as it's winter) One of my budgies recently seems to have taken a turn for the worse, he's usually really active but now is just sleeping all the time with his head under his wing.Over, the weekend they had been running short on seed, but I fed them grated carrot which they love, and I could tell he had been eating it because he had carrot juice around his beak. On Sunday I filled up the hoppers with seed and they ate a lot of it, but in the evening he went lethargic and is now (monday morning) how I described earlier (sleeping, feathers puffed up -still on the perch though). He's around five years old and I understand that they live shorter lives outside, but I can't think of any reason why he is sick, other than on saturday it was a very windy day, and if he had a low level illness the wind could have exacerbated the problem - although as the aviary is covered in plastic now it's winter very little wind comes in and they are used to adverse weather conditions, as they lived outside last winter where it got below -10 frequently.
Apart from taking him to the vets which I will do, what should I do? Should I move him inside where its warm?
I don't really want to split him up from his partner as they are very attached and my problem with putting them inside now is that I won't be able to move them back outside until the spring or later as they will presumably be acclimatised to the inside and it would be too cold, and they would have to live in a cage which I'm not keen on. Alternatively, would the stress of moving them around be too much and should I just keep him (and her) in the aviary and monitor him and hope for the best?
Additionally, if the worst were to happen what would be the best cause of action for the remaining bird who is around five- if they had been moved inside should I buy a new friend for her and put them back in the aviary when it warms up or if they weren't moved inside if that was the best cause of action (her and the ill one) should I let her live in the aviary by herself until it warms up and I can get her a friend, or move her back inside and get her a new friend straight away?

Its best to take them to the vets but usually when they show signs of illness it means they are really poorly. They hide it well as they are prey species.
I would try and keep it warm and see if there is anything you can see. Is its bum clean? If not u will have to wash it with warm water so the poo does not build up.
you should really isolate it from the other one and keep it warm.
Try ukbudgies.co.uk there are lots of experts on there.

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Grandma to Jinja Dog, Mum to Tilly the Cavalier, Tattycat, Moomy, Choo, Sonic, Niven Mc Twisp and Lawna the rabbits and 1 guinea,17 budgies, 4 Cockatiels, 8 Goldfish.

Birds don't stay sick for long, they die quickly. Bring him inside and take him to a specialist avian vet.Uk Avian Vets
If he had lost weight (I'm talking gramms not ounces) from the cold weather and being fed low fat carrot he may not have the energy to put over a full crop.

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They live outside, so I will bring them in - i'm not keen to separate them because they have such a close bond. In terms of the feeding arrangement they were only without any seed for around a day or a day and a half, supplemented by carrot instead. They usually have lots of seed, millet etc, and it has been a slightly warmer spell recently so I doubt they would have lost weight due to the cold.

btw, when you say 'he might not have the energy to put over a full crop' what does that mean?

When your bird eats food first goes into it's crop which is just a storage area then it slowly goes into the proventriculus where it is mixed with enzymes and starts to break down. Then it moves into the gizzard which is basically a muscle that grinds the food up. If a bird has lost weight which it could do eating veg rather than a high oill content seed it may not have enough energy left for the gizzard to function properly. If that happens the whole system can get backed up and the food that is staying in the crop instead of passing through can start to ferment and cause sour crop.

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Big mistake leaving them without seed for 36 hours in this weather.Birds need all the nutrition they can get to withstand the cold.
Personally I would bring both in and set up a heat lamp next to the cage.And keep them both in until spring arrives.Add some glucose (chemists)to their water for an energy boost.

Some birds can withstand cold temperatures,but they must have a proper diet and draught free roosting perches.Mine all have some background heat at night, and seem happier and more lively because of it.

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they are inside now - there was still a limited amount of seed left in the hoppers alongside the carrot. I do feel incredibly guilty though as I always do the upmost to care for my animals, however I know he was eating the carrot and he ate a large amount when I gave it to them so I'm not positive its related to that.

To give you some idea of how much difference cold weather makes to nutritional requirements my hawks and falcons in winter will eat 5 times what they will eat in summer and be at a lower weight

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same with the budgies