Sailorwolf

Ino is a sex linked gene, which means that it is a recessive gene on the X chromosome. Therefore 2 birds that are visually ino can not produce any other colouring in their chicks, because there is nowhere for a non-ino gene to be carried. Either the hen mated with another bird, or both of your birds were not lutinos. However judging by the rest of the clutch they probably were.

Hugs. Sorry to hear this.

Tetracyclines are used for some (only some and not all) protozoal infections (and I'm not even sure Doxy kills protozoa), however, you do not want to be mixing drugs without supervision from your vet at this time, as some antibiotics can actually counteract each other and cause both of them to not work at all. Also, the less drugs they are on the better for their system in the long run. You don't want to overload their systems. Especially when the doxy is unnecessary at this time and will only work to make them feel ill. What you have them on now is good, both are anticoccidials. You guys have got to remember that Doxy is not a wonder drug, what the birds are on now is much better for them as it is way more specific. Your description of her poo fits in with what she has. Coccidia breed in the cells of the intestinal lining, where they replicate and burst out of the cells causing bleeding. They then enter more cells and replicate again. The number of times this happens depends on the species of coccidia. The last time they burst out the males fertilise the females and oocysts(eggs) grow in the intestinal cells. These then burst out and are passed out into the faeces. This would explain why you have normal poo then bloody poo then normal poo again. I still have no idea how you guys are getting hold of doxycycline. Ideally you should only have it from prescription and there should be none left over afterwards.

I can't remember what RIP budgies said, but I think it was that there are very few YF2s in australia and most of the "yellowface 2s" are actually goldenfaces.

I'm sorry to hear about all of this AV. Megbacteria, canker (trichomoniasis) and coccidioses; none of these are a virus. Annoyingly you have a fungal infection and 2 protozoal infections respectively. Fungal is easier to treat, but protozoal is much more difficult, because of their structure (they have very similar cells to us) they are difficult to kill. The bloody faeces tells you that the coccidia are reproducing in the intestinal wall still. Oocysts (eggs) are passed in the faeces and you must take the utmost care to ensure that no faeces from infected birds come into contact with other birds and even the same bird again as they can reinfect themselves if they ingest any faeces. So at the moment cleanliness is very important. Ideally each bird should be separate from the others as they are able to reinfect each other, but I know this is not practical. Feed them lots of high energy food as their intestines are ravaged at the moment and they won't beable to absorb very much. Also make sure they are getting lots of fluid, because they will be losing it if they have diarrhoea. It might pay to crop tube them a little water as well. Keep an eye on their weight. Good luck

Doxy is generally for psittacosis

To be honest, I was really disappointed when I clicked on this thread. Have none of you read the information that I posted on Doxycycline in this post: Medications no. 32 Pearce I told you what doxycycline does in that post! At this stage in my career I do not recomend the use of prophylactic antibiotics. Prophylactic antibiotics are NO substitute for good management and husbandry. The use of antibiotics in this way is irresponsible and negligable. You know the thread about the Yahoo posters and how exasperated everyone felt there. That is how I feel right now! Sorry I am really disappointed right now.

Vitamin D3 deficiency actually

I always like to say that obtaining a child is free (ie you don't buy it) yet you still spend heaps of money on one. Thus a "free" child should effectively not be worth paying for anything, if you think along those lines. See how they like that style of thinking. Also tell them that vets recommend quarantine. I can stand by that.

Animals commonly vomit when they are under anaesthesia (including humans) and that is why animals are fasted before hand, so that they do not aspirate under anaesthesia from the vomit. Even if you do decide to breed from her, you are unlikely to get anywhere as she will find it very hard to mate. As she will have to support both her weight and the male's weight and keep balance. If it is a painful condition then she won't mate at all because it will hurt her everytime the male mounts her.

Yeah the bird is actually in the water (I think it is quite cool)

Just thought I'd mention that Doxycycline is a bacteriostatic. This means that it doesn't actually outright kill the bacteria (it can at high doses, caution! as high doses cause renal failure), instead it stops them from reproducing, in an attempt to help the animal's immune system to better cope with the infection. However this means that upon withdrawel of doxycycline the bacteria that are still there continue on as normal. Doxycycline pauses them if you will. Thus the very use of bacteriostatic drugs requires the animal to have a competent immune system. If the animal does not then the bacteria continue on as normal. I have a section in my notes here about resistance to tetracyclines (doxycycline is in the tetracycline family of antibiotics). "Resistance to one tetracycline almost always crosses over to all others of this class. Acquired resistance is common." "Doxycycline is used in people for [certain diseases] resistant to other drugs; there may well be pressure put on vets not to use it" I also have with me a list of all the side effects that can occur with normal dosing and with accidental overdosing (which could quite easily happen in an aviary setting). I will mention a few of these side effects: Tetracyclines should not be used during the breeding season while there are growing chicks as they interfere with growth and are contraindicated in young and pregnant (eggnant) animals. Tetracyclines past their use by date (referring to the comment I made before about keeping it in the fridge) can cause serious kidney disease. So do you really want to risk making your birds sicker than they already are and produce a resistant bacteria, to treat for a disease that they may not even have? Prophylactic treatment is when people continually give animals antibiotics to prevent them from getting a disease or treating subclinical diseases. All I can say is that Prophylactic treatment is no substitute for good management. If you are having to use prophylactic antibiotics then you need to seriously consider your management of your animals.

It needs to be separated from your budgie right away as any diseases that it will be carrying it can give to your budgie. Also different species should never be housed together in such a small cage due to behavioural and dominance issues, you may find one of them bullying the other.

The beak is a slightly unusual shape, but nothing to really worry about. Beaks are like fingernails and hooves, sometimes you will get odd dents and stress lines come through and it doesn't mean anything. Sometimes bends and grooves can occur through stress or if the budgie damages the germinal cell layer in any way. Those grooves look like they are from wear. So it is probably a behavioural thing or he is wearing his beak down strangely. The flakes are completely normal.

Breeding condition is a bit like heats in dogs and menstrual cycles in people. They a primed for breeding and have a hormonal cycle.

That's good news!

She is a hen. Breeding condition means that their reproductive organs are primed for breeding and their hormones are ready. It does not mean that they should be bred with if they are under a year old however.

Haha.

Cool to hear from you Chryso. I'm currently trying to decide what track to take at the moment and I think I will go for mixed. We have started our surgery course now which is awesome. I practiced some suturing on a cadaver yesterday and got my arm done in a cast, it was good fun. I did a Robert-Jones on my friend too, I've decided those are my favourite kind of bandages. Time certainly does go by fast. I remember when I first joined this forum I was in my last year of school, now I'm almost a vet!

Who is Hallosweets. They seem to be answering (good answers) a lot too.

I agree with everything Elly said. Your budgie is completely normal. One thing I would like to say is that you should get him used to your hand and tame enough to sit on it before you let him out of the cage. And you should only take him out of the cage on your hand rather than opening the door and letting him go out himself. That way they know that they have to use your hand/you to get out of the cage and play. Otherwise they are getting to have fun with out having to face your scary hand. When I get a new budgie I don't let them out of the cage until they are completely used to my hand. This also makes it less scary for them when you have to put them back. So for me that can be up to 2 to 5 weeks before I let them out. I think I had Arkady out of the cage after I had had him for 2 weeks. My general rule is to leave them completely alone, only changing food and water for the first 3 days and then in the 4th day I will put my hand in the cage and try to feed them millet, then repeat on the 5th day. On the 6th day I try to get them to step up. I do this for 2 days. Then when I feel they are ready I will get them to step up onto my hand and move my hand around with them on it. Once I feel they can do this successfully I take them out of the cage perched on my finger. I haven't had to do this for a while as I have handled all my other birds from hatching. Emmett I didn't really bother so much with as it doesn't bother me that he is a little flighty (because all my other birds are pretty much tame) but he still has to come out of the cage on my hand. If he flies out of the door without me letting him, he gets caught almost immediately and placed back in the cage for a 1 minute timeout before I let him come out again. This is because it is potentially dangerous for budgies to fly out of the cage door when you are not expecting it. Like when you are changing food or water and have a door open or a window open or you are caught by surprise by a flatmate etc.

She probably just broke it. They are more prone to breaking their feathers when they only have one as the others are not there to support it.

Haha. No. I would love to. But I barely have enough time for these forums. You guys are doing excellently though.

That's not actually that bad of a question. It is a fair question that I would answer with : It is ideal to clean your birds out often, but every 2 weeks is okay, because they don't sit in it. I don't think it is a stupid question at all.

Welcome to the forums