What stiff feet change about her day
A young budgie grips, hops, and dangles without thinking. When her feet stiffen with age, every one of those movements becomes a decision, and a tired grip is a fall risk in a bird who weighs very little and heals slowly. Stiff feet also mean pressure lands unevenly on the soles, so long hours on a hard, uniform plastic or dowel perch can make her sore as well as unsteady. The comforts that help most all follow one principle: let her rest her feet properly, and bring the essentials of life to where she already chooses to sit.
Perches that forgive tired toes
Offer variety in diameter among soft, grippy surfaces, and retire smooth dowel. A natural branch perch wrapped in self-adhesive bandage wrap gives her toes purchase without hard edges; rewrap it whenever it frays or soils, because a budgie will chew the wrapping. The single biggest upgrade is a flat platform perch — a small wooden shelf in a corner of the cage — where she can stand with her toes spread flat and even nap without holding on at all. Many stiff-footed budgies move onto their platform for most of the day once they discover it. Keep one padded perch beside her food and one beside her sleeping spot, and watch which surfaces she votes for with her feet.
Food and water within a short shuffle
Climbing the bars to a high seed hopper is exactly the trip her feet now dread. Move her main seed or chop dish low in the cage, directly alongside the perch she uses most, so she can eat while standing on a padded surface rather than gripping a bare bar with one foot and leaning. Do the same with water — a shallow dish or a drinker mounted at her level, never only at the top of the cage. Clip a millet spray horizontally at perch height as an easy, motivating feed, and offer soft foods like finely chopped greens and cooked vegetables she can pick up without cracking hard seed for every mouthful. If she is dropping to the cage floor often, line it with plain paper over a soft layer so landings are gentle and you can see her droppings clearly.
Small extras that add up
A ladder or cork ramp between cage levels replaces the hops her feet dislike, and a swing with a wider, wrapped bar can stay in if she still enjoys it — remove anything she has started avoiding, since avoidance is information. Keep the cage somewhere she can watch household life without being in the middle of its noise, and hold her routine steady, because an old budgie dealing with sore feet has little patience left for surprises. Watch for feet that look swollen, scaly, or held up constantly, and for a bird who stops moving to food at all; those changes deserve a prompt call to an avian vet, and having each perch swap and food move dated in her KinsLe Pet Passport gives that vet a clear picture of how her mobility has changed.