Well I had a disaster this week; I had a new young pair with young, I only started back with budgies about two years ago & now just started breeding with my first lot of youngsters. They had five young, but lost one when it was almost feathered, no sign that it was sick, just one day dead with a full crop of food [which now from searching the net, I find is a symptom] the other four looked perfectly healthy, including two YF greys, with nice yellow masks. Then when almost you expect them to leave the nest, I found some had lost their flight & tail feathers, I expected a feather plucker, so I put them on the floor of the aviary. Which is what I do if I have trouble with parents feather plucking. I was colony breeding with three pairs, the hens, sisters to each other & the cocks also brothers from another pair. I also thought maybe another hen had entered the nest & plucked them. The oldest young one, was still perfect, but the others had lost wing or tail primary feathers, I thought it was strange after a few days that the oldest one had not moved up onto the perches, as is usual, when it suddenly lost all it’s flight feathers & tails also.

I searched & read lots on the net on PDFD & French Moult [runners etc] Polyoma virus. I also read some earlier information on this forum & agree there are lots of differing advice & ideas about this Polyoma virus, which is what I have decided I have, thankfully not PDFD. Rob Marshal recommends culling, which was my first thought. But after reading I have decided to not do this at this time. A few articles from scientist suggest that after running a period of months, while they shed this virus in most cases the birds become immune & it’s no longer detected.

It was a shock, I had bred both of the parents, from two of my best breeding pairs, last year, but now looking back, with the parents of the cock bird, they had had three batches, with no problems, but on the last batch, when they left the nest, the last chic lost all it’s tail & primary wing feathers & I was worried, but in two weeks she had grown them back & was flying with the rest, I thought it must have been some nutrient problem, her being the last chic & I had left the mother to rear only three chicks, as the cock didn’t look well & I fostered the rest of their batch. The cock bird suddenly died some months later.

I had fostered some other chicks with this nest, where I got the runners, but after so many of their eggs hatched, I moved the fostered chicks to another batch, there has been no problem with these birds or the batch they were put with. Some articles on the web suggest it’s egg borne & this seem like it. I have had some pervious batches with parents from the same parents paired together, but so far no problems with any of their young. Anyway this is a bit long winded, I can say some more later.

Edited May 13, 200718 yr by Norm

There is a current view that the virus is caused by a moth. The moth lays it's eggs in the seed and the Parents eat the seed for there young. The parents have an imunity to the virus but as the young don't they are effected.

 

Some runners will grow their feathers and will fly. Most will not breed but if they do will pass their imunity to there young.

 

Some say that the effected ones are carriers and will infect the rest of the flight..

 

I have had three this year. Culled one, Kept one and the third is still in the nest. He will be culled.