Well a couple of questions yet again.

 

One of my hens appears to have doubled in size. After having a closer look it appears that her crop is stuffed to bursting. Is this an overzealous cock stuffing her to the gills(He is so keen on feeding he is even feeding the other cock :budgiedance:) or just a greedy hen?

 

Can a infestation of Red Mites cause a baby/young bird's feathers to develop poorly ? If so will the feathers improve after a moult or will they stay poorly effectively making it a "runner" ?

Hi Tal, I have never come across an over zealous feeder, so I have no advice about that. Hens being the bitchier of the two though I would assume normally they would let the cock know, in no uncertain terms, that it didn't want any more.

 

As for red mites affecting feather growth, they could do, but it probably wouldn't be the mites themselves doing the damage. Red mites attack at night, sucking the blood of the bird, during the day they breed in the corners, crevices and cracks in the cage. The birds get restless and depressed as they can't get any sleep and will scratch themselves on perches or anywhere they can. The scratching would be the cause of feather abnormalities.

 

Do you have birds with red mites? This is normally transfered if you have a cage that is open to the sky and the mites comes from wild birds.

 

 

Feathers.

Thankfully I have no red mites. I was talking to one of the local breeders (Checking out prospective places for new stock. I'm becomig addicted ) who was telling me that he had a bad case of red mites over the summer and that was why his young birds had poor feather quality. Such a shame as he had some beautiful birds. Thought I would ask so I would know more for the future. Hehe Better to be prepared in my book.

Edited June 8, 200718 yr by Tal

Lucky you haven’t got red mites, they can be a pest, but with Ivermectin, one drop on a birds skin protects them for about 21 days, so that clears up any blood sucking pest, worms, mites, but probably not feather mites, as they eat the feather not the blood, but it still might work I’m not sure. With that hen you think is being pumped up by the cock feeding…cocks are pretty keen sometimes, as long as you think the bird looks healthy & not sick in any way, as there’s a disease called sour crop, which birds can die of. Their crop gets greatly extended…just be sure it’s not something like that.

 

Red mites problems are mostly in the summer & hotter weather & if you breed when you touch the babies in the nest they will get all over you. At other times they can be very hard to detect as they hide in the day.

Edited June 8, 200718 yr by Norm

Thanks Norm I don't plan on getting into breeding (At this point anyway ) and the idea of small blood sucking mites just makes it that little bit less appealing

The hen is pretty healthy from what I can tell but after watching her a little closer she has both of the cocks feeding her Over night the crop has gone down so I think she is just playing the boys off against each other.

Thanks Norm I don't plan on getting into breeding (At this point anyway ) and the idea of small blood sucking mites just makes it that little bit less appealing

The hen is pretty healthy from what I can tell but after watching her a little closer she has both of the cocks feeding her Over night the crop has gone down so I think she is just playing the boys off against each other.

 

Yeah sounds like it..she will probably want to breed soon with all that input...things like mites aren't such a problem as long as you don't let them get out of control. Red mites are spread by equipment mostly, from other breeders, as the red mite isn't mostly on birds when you buy them. They were harder to control before Ivermectin, as you would have to spray the whole place, probably a few times, but Ivermectin lasts long enough to get all the adults & later eggs that hatch. Red mites can come from wild birds building their nests in your roof & things like that.