Hi!

I have four budgies. All healthy and happy young birds with good appetite always chirping and playing. All friendly with each other but for some occasional disputes...

 

But I have noticed that Citruss, the lutino hasn't really stopped spring molting. His feathers have always looked sort of feeble. I got him with his wings clipped and waited till they grow to see if he could use his wings well. Now he can fly but it seems to me that there is a problem with his wing feathers. None of our other budgies are losing feathers and none have broken wing or tail feathers.

 

Citruss looks healthy and content otherwise but compared to the lot one can noticethat something is wrong.

 

If it were some parasite, the others would get it, wouldn't they?

 

Has anyone noticed anything like that?

My daughter's first budgie has had problems with wing feathers breaking ever since her first moult. The feathers grow in, but she loses them quickly and never seems to have a full set. She gets plenty of vitamin and calcium suppliments and has been treated for mites and lice yet the problem persists. She is now one of my 'special needs' budgies along with another runner budgie.

 

 

Feathers.

Have you ever had her seen by an avian vet to rule out disease etc..

That may be one of your first steps.

 

What does her diet consist of on a daily basis?

 

Every bird is different so you could feed one an okay diet and have good feathers and another one may be lacking and need more.

Take it to the vet to be checked out !!!!

It could be nothing or it could be something

Are you able to post a picture of the wing opened? and the tips of the feathers that have fallen out?

Take your little one to the vets ASAP so they can rule out different things including PBFD.. Id be considering for the time being separating the affected one from the others JUST IN CASE..

Take your little one to the vets ASAP so they can rule out different things including PBFD.. Id be considering for the time being separating the affected one from the others JUST IN CASE..

 

PBFD - Is spreadable by wing dust contact and etc the others may have it and not show any signs if they have all been in the same cage it is highly likely... Still take to the vet....

Thank you all,

I am so scared now. I have checked the feathers and they look like clipped on tips. but not all of them.

Is it fatal? The birds have been kept together for a long time now. The others look okay. I noticed one had some empty tip feather in the tail. But they all are cheerful.

I do not know how to mail a picture< I've tried but nothing came out. I will try again.

do you have pics of this particular bird? We really can't answer any of those questions because only a avian vet can diagnosis if there is really something truley wrong.

 

For pics, you open a free account with www.photobucket.com

then you can upload and resize your pics to 450/x450

then you can add them here as an image, photobucket will give you the coding.

Surely, I fully understand that nothing can be confirmed being based on just verbal description. And I do not expect any diagnosis either. I am really grateful for the information already given to me here indeed, because I would not even know what to think about and look for or ask about at the vet's.

 

I have actually found some info about it on some other sites and some of them say that although there is no cure a bird can recover if properly cared for and receives good nutrition. I will hope for the better. I am almost sure that Citruss has it only in some milder form.

 

I have already tried to mail pics through photobucket but I had no success. As soon as I make some pics of Citruss (I'll try tomorrow, it is too late now and I do not want to stress that bird out any more), I will attempt this photobucket one more time.

 

I love all my birds, they are individuals. I wanted to have babies, but apparently it shouldn't be done and that's the saddest part of it. My male bird Pirate Silver used to be Citruss's best friend. But when we bought a new hen Laima he probably (eventually) realised that Citruss might be a boy (he is a lutino). Now he just LOVES Laima. We also have a vey young hen Bubble - she was supposed to be Citruss's pair...But Citruss is not interested, Bubbles also prefers to be on her own.

 

Have you ever had her seen by an avian vet to rule out disease etc..

That may be one of your first steps.

 

What does her diet consist of on a daily basis?

 

Every bird is different so you could feed one an okay diet and have good feathers and another one may be lacking and need more.

We do not have an avian vet here, I am afraid. I might try the Zoo specialists.

 

The diet is usual budgie mix, I try to buy the best available. It contains millet, canary seed, some other stuff that I do not remember the name of. But I supplement this with fruits (apples, some bannanas, some citruses), carrots, grass like dandelions, and other which is not toxic for them I just do not know the names. They get enough minerals with blocks and sepia. I also buy them vitamins and millet branches.

 

Oh yes, all my birds are different! I am still hoping that this is just Citruss's individual trait and the rest will not be contaminated.

{{HUGS}} Try not to stress yourself out too much, although i know its hard not to do.. I only mentioned PBFD as a just in case situation and really you wont know anything until its been looked at by a specialist.. Before all my deaths in the aviary to Coccidiosis one of my hens had a clutch of 6 babies, 3 died at very early stages and the other three hung on in there although not developing properly etc etc.. Once they started to feather up they were coming out all brittle and just awful looking.. the quills were almost shredded looking and really dry, the feathers were all dry and not your typical fluffy feather.. they would grow out only to snap off.. Sadly all three babies passed away and i sent one out to be examined and tests came back with PBFD .. Sadly at this stage Coccidiosis swept through the aviary as well and i lost the father to the little ones, the mother has a clean bill of health though (**TOUCH WOOD**).. I was told chances were high that it got into my aviary (both the coccidiosis and the PBFD) from the flock of cockatoos that come into my Mahogany trees every day, apparently cockatoos in the wild are MAJOR carriers.. I must admit id seen LOTS of dirty featherless birds about the place but just didn't put two and two together.. Shows though just how easy these nasty things are spread, and as someone pointed out, its passed on through feather dust also so obviously very hard to contain id imagine..

If its just the tips of your little ones feathers that are broken maybe it was from just a little too rough play or a slip of the beak when preening.. is there anything in the cage that he could be even catching his feathers on causing the damage?

Seek advice from the Zoo specialists and try not to stress..

Good luck

Cheers :beer:

Una

Good luck with the Zoo specialist, If it is PBFD stress can flare it up,

My 2 can't mate ( PBFD ) they are kept seperate, cage is kept spotless every day

and before i go to my other birds I scrb up and put a hair net on ( So nothing goes in the aviary ) Kinda like dress up Dr's (Laughing out loud).... You will be fine,

Did you try the Avian Vet look-up to see you may have one that you don't know about , http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/faqs/i...=138&artlang=en

Thank you Una and Neat!

 

I am trying to learn how to post pics. And at the end of the week I'll find time to run to the Zoo. Icannot use the Avian Vet look-up Elly, since it is only for USA and Canada as I understood. It is good that there is such a thing there! But I am sure those people at the Zoo are knowledgeable enough.

 

Your stories and advice is also valuable, even if the birds do not have a virus! I loved the part about the scrudbbing and cleaning! You must have a large bird house, Neat!

 

I wonder can feathers really break from rough play and/or other mechanical reasons? If it be so why the others do not have it? Maybe Citruss is special indeed.

feathers can break off but it only happens rarely. Does cittrus play with something that the others dont play with ??? If yes, check if there is anything sharp there. If the zoo cant help you out you might want to try to look for a regular vet or ask the people in the zoo..

Just a thought... has your little one been overly stressed or ill at any stage? I'm not sure if its relevant to Budgies but i know it most defiantly is to larger parrots but the feathers can get Stress lines/fractures in the area of growth at the time of the stress.. this causes lines across the feathers to appear and creates a week point at which the feather is highly likely to break.. My lorikeet got stress lines on his feathers due to the rough treatment he got as a bub, his feathers broke in the tail, the wings are still lined but through moulting his feathering up again perfect

Just another thought.. (Laughing out loud) sorry I'm just clutching at straws here trying to help and really hoping that its an easy to solve issue your facing :hap:

Cheers :beer:

Una

Oh well, I couldn't make it to the Zoo this weekend! I was just too busy.

 

Dear Una! You are giving hope! It does have horizontal lines on some feathers, I have noticed similar ones on other birds' feathers too. We transported the birds to the country house a couple of times and they lived without my care for one week (people were taking care of them of course), so there certainly was stress. Is it just stress and nothing contageous? Then we'll cure them!

 

Anyway, I am very optimistic. I want them all to be healthy. And I'll do my best. Thank you for your replies!

 

Happy Mothers' day!

Silver.. hehe i wish i had a big one....

The scrubbing but is only a flight cage, as Chereeoke had PBFD it had to be spotless and me too otherwise my other get it even if fine particle of dust on my clothes/ hair.... Their cages are kept cleaner then my house LMAO.....

A stress line is only there PURELY because of stress (eg: being taken out of the nesting box) and nothing more so No its not contagious to the rest of the flock.. I just done a google of "feather stress lines" and it came up with a few good articles talking about it so maybe give that a go to gain some more information on this..

I really hope that this is the reason for the breakages and yeah they are horizontal lines were the feather looks rather well umm broken and weak but yeah its only in a line across the feather and the rest of the feather looks normal

 

Hope all is going good

Cheers :beer:

Una

Dear Neat! I do clean the cage every day. And it was cleaned when I was away too. The stress was probably transportation in the car itself. Besides the air and temperature as well as the water is quite different there... Cleanliness is necessary for all birds sick or healthy, isn't it? But can it be so that they miss their accustomed 'maid' the person who takes care of them on a regular basis?

 

I will check the net for those stress lines, Una, Thanks!

I have read the info I've found in the net on stress lines. I should say that I am a bit more confused because they say that the lines appear because of bad nutrition, which is hardly the case with my birds.

 

Since I cannot find the time to run to the Zoo for a check up (it's far from where we live), I've phoned them to make sure they would be able to help me. Of course, they need to see it, but they also say it may just be the result of moulting itself which is stressful for birds.

 

However only one of my birds seem to have this abnormality. Yet another one is developing something similar. They eat and fly the way they used to. Citruss kept falling a bit a couple of days ago. He is back to normal now again.

Dear Neat! I do clean the cage every day. And it was cleaned when I was away too. The stress was probably transportation in the car itself. Besides the air and temperature as well as the water is quite different there... Cleanliness is necessary for all birds sick or healthy, isn't it? But can it be so that they miss their accustomed 'maid' the person who takes care of them on a regular basis?

 

I will check the net for those stress lines, Una, Thanks!

 

I didn't say you didn't, I hope i miss read that I am taking it as though your having a go at me ...

They should be fine, the travel will stress anyone out...

 

I didn't say you didn't, I hope i miss read that I am taking it as though your having a go at me ...

They should be fine, the travel will stress anyone out...

Oh no-no, no 'goes' whatsoever! I am sorry I've made it sound like that. I was just trying to explain about the conditions they live in. I have been to that zoo and was told that it looked like plain moult to them. I will look for other opinions. Although Citruss does look better now, his wings are still broken. I was out of town again and my daughter was taking care of the birds. They all look healthy, happy and have good appetite. It is warm now and we give them a lot of grass and dadelions every day. Their noses are green! At least they receive vitamins. I put them out on the balcony every day. They seem to lose less feathers.

sounds like the molt is dying down and if you are putting them in the sun daily and not direct that is excellent because they need the sun for Vitamin D :hap:.

thats sounds good. I hope his flight feathers grow back. Good Luck!

Hi!

 

I will go the the Zoo tomorrow and talk about it again. One of my other birds - Bubble has lost her tail. However, she is slowly regaining her other feathers - on her face and back. She is still very young, but quite strong in all respects - she wants to be the leader of the flock!

 

Two other birds - our handsome Pirate Silver and his girlfriend Laima are doing just fine - they have all their feathers intact.

 

The birds receive a lot of daily care and attention so I think we shall overcome everything, whatever it is. It is a pity that we cannot get a more or less definite diagnosis though. Nobody seems to know or care much about it here.

 

Thank you all for your help!