Hi everyone,

 

For a while I had been trying to figure out why Roxy's face/beak/cheek area didn't look like my other budgies. Part of the problem is that she is one of my untrained budgies so whenever you go near her she gets skittish & goes to another area of the cage. But for the last 3 days I've been getting closer looks at her (it just takes a bit longer...) and I'm starting to think she has scaly face (but hopefully only a mild case of it at this point). The sides of her lower beak are definitely more rough, and you can see some scaly type of bumps that are starting to develop more on her face/cheek area. I have currently made her an appointment to see an avian vet on the 27th (none are available earlier b/c of the holiday season). So I have two questions:

 

the first is whether there is anything I can do for her in the meantime?

 

The second is that I have her with my other budgies - should I separate her? From what I've read in other posts they will all need to be treated so I wasn't sure. I feel that removing her would be very stressful as she has *never* been alone, but if need be I certainly will do so for the health of the others.

 

Also, I was wondering if anyone knew of any other illnesses they may have seen/heard of b/c I read in one of the posts on this forum that scaly face will only show up in birds over 6 months, and at this point, Roxy is only around 4mos so I'm wondering if it's not possibly something else??

 

I will try to get pictures, but I thought I would first see if anyone could offer any advice just from the description I have provided.

 

Thank you!!

It does sound like scaly face. Scalyface can remain dormant in most budgies and develop under stress conditions at times.... like stress activates it. In an aviary of 150 budgies I may get 1-2 with scalyface signs and I treat them and the others are fine. I guess it depends on which other birds they are with. I had a hen with scaly face and she was feeding her chicks, when I worked out what she had (when i was new to learning about scalyface) ....one of her chicks developed scalyface only after raising her own chicks a year later. In the meantime if you wipe some unscented baby oil over the beak, being careful not to get it in the nostrils that should do till the vet visit. While you are doing it wipe some over the feet too, as feet can be affected.

Cheers Karen

Edited December 22, 200618 yr by Bubbles

Bubbles, thanks for the reply. I guess it could be linked to stress...maybe joining the other 5 overdid it for her?...but I also remember when we first got her thinking there was something a bit different about her cheeks (there just seemed to be fewer feathers there at that time though)...so maybe it was her trip here.

 

Here are a few pictures of her - they're not the greatest, especially as she really dislikes the camera but I did my best. Hopefully seeing these will help with a further opinion.

 

 

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In terms of the short-term baby oil remedy, while I know she'll hate me for it (& likely my fingers will get a good solid biting for it too! :hap: ) I will certainly do that straight away. Should I use it on the other birds as well?? Oh and also, what about quarantining her - is she alright with the others for now?

 

Thanks so much, I'd be at such a loss at times without this forum!!

I have a bottle of Medicated Olive oil which I add a few drops of detole (Anticeptic) to. When I handle the birds i'll give them a little wipe.

 

Quarrentine her, clean out the cages and give them a spray of insectide suitable for birds.

 

Vetafarm A.I.L. is what I use. It's very good.

 

Information of Scaley Face

Edited December 22, 200618 yr by daz

quarantining her now will just reduce the chance of the others picking this up. Just becuase you sit next to someone with a cold doesn't always mean you get it.

My avian vet said that some birds are more resistant to scaly face mites than others. I would probably quarantine her til she gets to the vet, as the longer she remains with the other birds, the more likely it will be that it will spread. My daughter's budgie had scaley face at about 4 - 5months old. So younger budgies can get it.

 

The vet gave us a bottle of the treatment (ivermectin) so that I could repeat the treatment in 6 weeks, and I treated all my other budgies (just once) too.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

I treated Roxy with the baby oil today - her feet do have it also :ausb: - I was wondering, how often should I put the baby oil on her. Should it be on a daily basis, more than once a day, or just once today until I take her to the vet? We had family over yesterday so she spent last night with the other birds but I will be quarantining her today, I have to reset up our other cages first though.

 

Thank you to all who have replied, it is appreciated!

:ausb: My Monty had it at 6 months on both his feet and beak, what an awful afflication! Can't wait for Roxy to make it to the vet, don't know how often to apply the oil, presumably once a day as it would wear off and can't hurt Roxy. Hopefully somebody will be along that knows more about the oil treatment. :greenb:

when my budgie's popcorn and butter had it ( this past November ) my avian vet recommended me to rub on the baby oil on once daily on the affected areas to help reduce the itchiness .

Edited December 24, 200618 yr by birdluv

Thanks birdluv & Phoebe. That's exactly what I've done so far - I also found that when putting the baby oil on her today she calmed down considerably quicker than she did yesterday. She really only got in 2 good solid bites today, yesterday she got in about 6 or 7! The scaly face from what I can see has only made it's way onto one of her feet, but it definitely is on & around her beak...poor girl. She's upstairs in my room right now & seems so incredibely lonely without her friends... But I've jsut tried to take advantage of that fact by spending as much time with her as I can, hopefully it will maybe even help get her somewaht more attached to me *crosses fingers*

yep, great time to increase your quality one on one time with her. There is always a silver lining somewhere if we look far enough. Just keep doing what you are doing, til you get to the vet.

 

Feathers.

 

 

treating budgies for scalymites isn't always such a bad thing because if it is an aviary bird then it generally becomes tame after a few treatments and once cured and back in the aviary then it stays friendly. i had one and i called it magoo and he became tame after only 2days and i took the time to flight train him aswell ha and he ended up landing on my dogs head sooo cute!!

how is she doing?

Hi lovey,

 

Roxy's vet appointment is tomorrow at 11:15am...so I will keep you all posted with what the vet says, I hope everything's okay & it's just a simple treatment that everyone else has described. Oh, after we get back from the vet's, does she still need to be quarantined?? I'm assuming the answer would be yes, but poor girl - she's so lonely! No matter how much company I give her there's no way I can compare to her other friends!

good to hear let us know what happen, yes humans are just not budgies but I know she enjoys your company

Well the vet confirmed what was suspected: Roxy does have scaly face. She received one treatment of ivermectin today, and will need to go back to the vet 2 more times after that, each visit 2 weeks apart. He said that within this first week I should start seeing quite a bit of improvement, but to still keep her separated. After her 3rd visit she can be returned with the others, but for now, poor girl is going to have stay alone upstairs.

 

I've had Roxy for 2 months now, and being that she was around 2 months when I got her, judging by the progression of her condition he also told me what I suspected: Roxy had the scaly face when we bought her. Although I realize there's nothing that can be done about that now, I'm going to be in the area of the store tomorrow so I think I'm going to pop in just to inform them of this - and of course to take a closer look at any birds they have there now to make sure they're all in good health. :sport:

 

I spent quite a time with her today, she's doing fairly well, maybe a bit frazzled as it's been quite a busy day for her, but I think I'm just going to cover her up a bit earlier as well so she can get a nice peaceful rest tonight to make up for all the commotion of the day. :angel1:

good to hear she is okay and she is being treated , keep us updated on her and let us know what happens at the store.

Fantastic that she is being treated. Sounds like you have at least another 4 weeks of alone time with her before she rejoins her feathered friends, enjoy it!

that is good that she is being treated , it wont be too long until she is back with her flock :budgiedance:

you are doing a great job with her , l hope that she will be tame for you , good luck with that .