philsak

Thanks for the advice. Yes his bone is sharp and he is very very light. After reading your posts i realise he is worse than i thought. I will place him under a light and hand feed him tonight. FYI. I only put the lightest smear of vaseline on him. Just enough to put a shine on the surface. Not enough to spread. I didnt want him to ingest any. Thanks Phil

Thanks for your help Kaz and Generic Blue And yes the bird was from one of Sydneys bigger bird club get togethers held at the Fairfield showgrounds once a year. A friend who breeds other parotts told me to get there if i was looking for budgies. I cleaned the vent and he looks just fine. No cuts, sores, scaley skin or anything i could see. In fact at first glance the vent looked much better than the pics i took yesterday. About half the build up. I have been watching the bird all day and he is lethargic in my opinion. Sits on the perch and preens himself but nothing strenuous. Very quiet in fact and almost sleeping. Never saw him get excited at all. I examined the legs and they look great. I placed some vaseline (with a cotton bud) around his vent to stop any faeces sticking and rubbed his upper beak with a very light coat as well in case he has a mite issue. I am certain the beak has an infection or mite damage. Maybe someone can figure it out from the pics. I do have a very good microscope in the attic which i will go and find and take some scrapings to see if it is mites but it may take a couple of days for me to find where its stored. A friend of mine used to take an amoxicillin (human Tablets) and empty a measured amount into the birds water daily whilst they were sick. He bred expensive parotts and often treated sick birds this way. Has anyone here ever done or heard of others doing this? I am feeding him a canary mix which has more variety than the budgie mix. He is eating it but i am not seeing any husks which is unusual. I wonder if he cannot de husk his seed with his beak which looks like it has a crack half way across it. Here are some stool samples taken after his vent area was cleaned up. Appreciate your feedback and what you suggest based on these. Thanks so much for your suggestions. Phil

Dont get me wrong. I have 5 young kids and a wife and mortgage. We struggle to pay the doctors gap bills. When it comes to priority, the budgie comes after the kids and mortgage. I bought a bird expecting breeders to have more pride. A petshop selling **** i can understand. I didnt check. Yes my fault. So used to dealing with breeders over the years who always take a lot of pride in their birds. Who would never sell such a bird. I dont like handling birds in the open in case they escape and hence didnt think to check it until i got home. FYI i sent hi res pics off (last night) to my vet flatmate friend who works interstate now. She is not an avian vet but was forced to learn more about birds after having my aviary in the backyard to practice on some years ago. She is great with dogs and cats but struggles with birds. She says they really are specialised and need a specialist to deal with them. Regardless i am sure she will either give some suggestions and or send me some medication. A few weeks ago i gave our goldfish an injection of anti biotic in a last ditch attempt to save its life. I wont let any animal die without giving a 100% effort to help it but I do draw a line and have limits to stick to. I will do everything in my power to help this bird but i will draw a line at throwing huge amounts of money at it which could be better spent. Thats why i am here hoping some knowledgeable folks can suggest a diagnosis and treatment. If i went to a vet i wouldnt need your members help. I will go and wash the vent. Should i give sulphur D?. Coccidiosis can be a problem in birds. Might explain the vent excretions. I appreciate all the help you can give me. Thanks Phil

I went to the Fairfield show on the weekend and luckily only bought one budgie for my wife for mothers day. Her request. I used to breed budgies/parrotts as a teen and young adult but stopped after having kids family etc. I let my wife pick the bird she wanted and paid good money compared to what others were selling for because its was what she wanted. This bird was priced at the higher end because he was split to good breeding and would throw good mutations if i were to breed him. When i examined him at home before i put him in the cage, i noticed the beak was not normal and appears to have a hole in it and distorted in shape and colour. Like a fungal infection we get in our toe nails. I examined his vent and found it all caked up as well. I have attached photos, hope they load as i am new to this forum. He hasnt done one visible dropping on the cage floor in 36 hours. He is eating drinking normal. I believe any droppings are just accumulating around his vent. I cant justify the cost for a trip to the vet for one sick bird but am pretty savvy having lived with a vet for a few years and being involved in birds most of my life. I have in the cupboard Sulphur D, cod liver oil, vaseline and bird lice dusting powder. Could also buy some parraffin oil if required. Can some more experienced folk look and suggest what might be an effective treatment to start him on from what i have at home in the cupboard. I know ivec?? whatever is available from the vet but i really cant afford to spend big bucks on one sick bird. If there were a few i wouldnt hesitate but for a budgie i bought a few days ago, home treatment with whats available is all i can justify. I am really upset with so called breeders who take sick birds to the show and sell them for top dollar and would know the birds are sick. I am tempted to catch this guy at the castle hill show in July and return him the bird (alive or dead) if its not healed by then. The green stuff on his beak is from him picking around his vent and getting waste matter on his beak. Should i wash his vent in warm water to remove build up??? http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad136/p...a/budh_4131.jpg