Jen144

Okay just picked up the birds. I took 2 of them, the one with the worst scaly face and the one with the worst feather mites. Tony (the guy who feeds them etc) will take care of the other 3..two males who both appear healthy, as well as the female..all of which have the beginnings of feather mites and scaly face but not very badly at all. I took some pictures, and went to the vet and bought some ivermectin, and feather mite spray for them both. Here they are, a young (6-12 month old) yf2 male: And a sky blue male with feather mites:(at least, I'm assuming it's feather mites..I'm not certain. Am I right?)

Alright that is what I thought. Will do.

I will keep them very far from my own birds, I don't want my birds to get all the mites as well, and any other nasty little diseases they may be carrying. Yep checking up on the birds is exactly what I will do when I go there once a week or so, as a volunteer to give them some attention. I can teach this guy how to take care of them properly, and help him to do that. They can have more than just an all seed diet as well, if I bring them some veges, so that is a plus. And the nestboxes are going to be taken out of the aviary. (unless, like I suspect, the female has/is about to lay some eggs.) If she is going to lay or has eggs, would it be best just to freeze the eggs or something, so the already unhealthy bird does not have to have the stress of raising more chicks?

I just got phoned by the vet a few minutes ago. Cinder didn't make it. :happy-dancing:

Okay. The place is an old people's home, where me and my friend's church went to sing etc. And we noticed the really bad conditions with the birds, plus the birds are outside where wild birds often come and where the residents don't go. So they have no company other than eachother. And I found out why they are so neglected at the moment. The guy who looks after them was gone on holiday (we phoned him yesterday afternoon and found out the whole story) and apparently he'd just finished treating them for mites..but not feather mites, he didn't know what that was..and that is why they are so bad, and the wild birds keep coming to say hello and giving them mites again, he said. They have an aviary on wheels that has been donated but they are going through the paperwork now. The man breeds cockatiels, and is planning on, when they get the new aviary, putting 2 of his babies (when they are old enough) along with the budgies inside, so they will get cared for a lot more and have company. He agreed to letting me take the one with the worst mites and maybe even the two with he really bad feather mites, for about a month or so as he doesn't know how to get rid of the mites. He will give the ones with just the beginnings of mites both a feather mite spray and scaly face mite treatment. I'll give back the other three when they are okay, and by then they will have the nice new aviary inside and all should be well... The reason I'm not taking them, but helping to get them better, is that the problem is from him not knowing about feather mites, and not being able to move them into a new aviary inside, and being on holiday. They aren't deliberatly neglecting them and he even loves birds and has cockatiels of his own. He actually offered that I come over, say, once a week and I can give the birds the company and care they need. I'm picking them up this afternoon, at about 4. If anyone disagrees with my only temporarily taking them please do tell me your reasons now that we know the whole story, I personally cannot see anything wrong with it.

Thanks very much for the article Pearce. Very useful and helpful.

Alright so it's likely she's a Lacewing, but we won't know for sure til I get those photos. Assuming she is a Lacewing, what kind of babies would she have if paired to a YF2 Cobalt Rec. Pied? (don't know if he's split for anything) I know you'd get: 100% split for Rec. Pied, unless the girl is split too, if she is then 25% split, 25% Rec Pied and 25% Normals, right. 100% Yellowface 2's But I think Lacewing is a colour made from combining Cinnamon and something else right? I don't know what Lacewing is really...Either it's two colours together or a sex-linked gene..

Okay I am going to get an email with some photos of her soon. I'l post them here so you can tell me if she is indeed just an Albino or something else. By the way, is there also any chance of her being a Fallow? Those are the only mutations I know that can get confused with Albinos..are there other things she may be?

She has some suffusion, when there is a bright light shining on her, and some of the yellow is bleeding through her body colour, but that's not what I'm asking. I'm wondering if the faint markings around her face is a 'fault', if she were a show budgie, or if she is hiding some mutation under the Albino.

A friend of mine just got a beautiful female Yellowface Albino. I'm just wondering if it is normal for her to have quite easy to see markings on her face. She has grey-ish markings just around her face, where on a normal bird, there are the stripes on the head and neck. Is that normal? I've heard that sometimes albinos have faint markings on them, so it is just that?

Alright, definetly a female. Four girls for Storm to take care of..maybe it's just chance or Storm and Cinder have a high percentage of females..granted, they've only had two clutches..but out of those two clutches there were 4 babies in total (that were not fostered) and..out of the four, four were females! Do you know why Neriah has brown in her body colour, and why one Cinnamon's colour is so much lighter than the other? I just find it rather strange lol.

Okay thanks, so there is nothing I have to do about the babies? Would I have to get Storm treated for ecoli though?

Yes, and because I was gone for the weekend and that was when he went majorly downhill, I'm thinking the water didn't get changed enough... I'm praying he makes it..by the way, is either of those contagious? Could Storm have megbacteria or ecoli? What about the babies?

I'm actually not sure whether Rune is male or female yet. Sometimes I'm certain s/he is a female, then I look later and it looks like a male. But given what you said, plus the fact that it looks more and more like a female and less like a male most of the time, I'll say Rune's a female. Probably.

Great.. Cinder is a very sick little birdy..I just got a call from the vet, and they've done tests etc. And apparently he has two intestinal infections: E.coli and megabacteria.. and he has worms!! I have no idea how that happened..she said one of them is caused by the bird pooping in the water/food, and from stress. She also said it's touch and go as to whether he will survive the night. All the tests, the feeding him and treating him, plus some worming treatment for the other birds..will be about $50.

Here are some old-ish pictures of them. All that has changed is that their wings have all the feathers now, as do their heads, and their body colour is just starting to come through fully. All four: Rune: Kato: I'll post new pictures of them some time today.

Yes, thanks. I'll let you's know how it goes.

When I pick him up I will ask to be shown how to crop-feed, and I'll buy a crop needle while there. Thank you so much for this, I hope it is not too late to save his life.

My dad is taking him now. I expect they will have to keep him overnight, at least..so I'll know how he is tomorrow or so I hope...

Okay I can get him to the vet within half an hour. I hope he will survive!! Oh, and Liv, you said retire him from breeding. You mean forever? Has it stressed him too much or is it that he will do it again or..?

I know of one breeder nearby who breeds and handraises birds, so I assume he knows how to crop-feed. I'll try to take Cinder to the vet, and go to the breeder sometime so if this ever happens again I am prepared...The reason I'll try to take Cinder is I'm not sure whether I can get there or not but he will die won't he, without it..So I will try, very much to get there. Thanks.

Oh great I was afraid someone would say that... He does not have a poopy bottom at all. I have nothing to crop-feed him with, but I might be able to get something that might work in an hour or so. But I have no idea how to crop feed him..The only thing I know that may work is a hollow, small metal thing to put on the end of a syringe, but is that too hard for crop feeding, seeing as it obviously cannot bend? Woudl it hurt him? Should I risk crop-feeding him seeing as I have no idea how to and never have had to do it..it is better than leaving him but could I kill him myself by doing that? Would a normal vet be able to help him?

I just checked on my breeding pair, Storm and Cinder. Yesterday I noticed Cinder was quieter than usual but not abnormally so..Today he was in the nest, as always..I picked him up (which he has never allowed me to do before, he would bolt out of the nest if my hand came even a bit close to him) and put him on the perch. He tried to fly but just dropped to the ground. He has an incredibly sharp keelbone and even his feet are thin...I don't know how this happened, I was gone for the weekend but they had food and I had someone (who I can trust to look after them) feeding them. I've noticed he has been getting quieter and always in the nest, but I haven't been able to watch them constantly so I didn't manage to catch this earlier. What is wrong with him??? I took him out of breeding cage and into another cage by himself, with a warm lamp and food. He is extremely skinny, close to starvation I think! He is docile and doesn't seem to be able to perch properly or fly at all, and is constantly sleeping. Is he starving or is something else wrong with him? Other than taking him to a vet (which I can't do at the moment, also I know of no avian vets anywhere near where I live) what can I do?? Please please help ASAP, I do not want him to die!! I'm guessing he is starving himself to feed the chicks, as it seems he has taken over Storm's job of feeding them and stays in the nest all day. What can I do?! Edit: The chicks are 27, 25, and 23 days old. I am not going to let them have a second clutch.

Okay thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for when posting this. Advice. So what would I do..offer to buy all the birds from them? Do I tell them that the birds are sick and need treatment, which you need to get from a vet, before I offer to buy them?

Thanks. Yes I hope this too, that attitude just gets me so upset with those kinds of people. If it is though, I can always offer to take the birds and keep them, so they won't have to bother to buy the stuff to treat them..and if/when they get new birds I am planning (if this happens with me keeping the birds) on offering to come once or twice a week, and for free, taking care of the birds. That way I can make sure the new ones are okay..but here's hoping it does not come to that.