I'm hoping someone may be able to help me here....one of my budgies, Goldie, has weird looking feathers sort of almost curly if you can picture this. He (we think) is nearly five months old and when we got him his feathers were normal but within a week they changed, he was 10 weeks when we got him. I've wormed him, given him a vitamin supplement and sprayed for mites and lice but it's made no difference. I think he's going through a moult at the moment as he's losing some feathers and you can see new ones growing around the head. Will the feather problem resolve itself when he's finished moulting? He's healthy, poos are normal and he is given a varied diet of seed and fruit and vegies as well as the occasional treat of millet or a seed bell, he's happy and doesn't sit all fluffed. He's in a cage by himself as we quarantiend him and another budgie (Mary) when we bought them and with this feather problem I've left him in the cage by himself just in case. I clean out the cages of our birds ie. Mary and Goldie the budgies and Coffee the ringneck, daily and same goes for their water and seed dishes so I can't think what to do next. Oh he doesn't have any bald spots and tail and wing feathers are totally intact and none missing what so ever, they're just fluffy, curly! Any advice on what this may be? Could it be a genetic thing? Any advice would be great thanks. :greenb:

Edited January 31, 200817 yr by newtobudgies

Can you please post a picture? This would help us help you.

Its a bit difficult without photos. Can you post some pictures ?

perhaps one of those "feather duster" birds KAZ? what ya reckon? as a random guess before picture

perhaps one of those "feather duster" birds KAZ? what ya reckon? as a random guess before picture

 

That was my guess too Libby, but really hard to be sure without pics!

perhaps one of those "feather duster" birds KAZ? what ya reckon? as a random guess before picture

 

Is this for real? I've never heard of them before and am wondering if you're serious or joking because that's exactly what he looks like, a little yellow and green feather duster! :(Laughing out loud): I won't be able to post any pictures until tomorrow unfortunately.

Unfortunately, yes. It's a very serious condition. Don't panic though, without a picture no one can say for sure. Here's a wesite with some info: http://home.clara.net/np21/duster.htm xxx

Edited January 31, 200817 yr by maesie

I've just had a look on the net and they say that feather dusters only live for an average of a year! I was not expecting that! Some of the photo's on the net look like Goldie, some look much much worse! I'll keep looking and thanks for pointing this out I'm hoping this isn't the case with Goldie as I'd like him to be with us for a long time! On my little investigation I have come to relise that Mary is a crested budgerigar, I never knew this existed either!

Edited January 31, 200817 yr by newtobudgies

Cant wait for some pics

okay from what I've read and pictures I've looked at tonight I don't think Goldie is a feather duster..hopefully, his feathers aren't continuously growing and they aren't really longer than the normal budgie, however they do stick up and are mostly on the wings...so I guess I'm not sure what is wrong with him. I'll try to get those photo's up as soon as I can. Thanks to everyone who's helped so far.

Feathers dusters show up in the nest pretty quick. Daz had one and there is a topic. So please lets not assume or panic . As Kaz requested a picture that would be best. It could be a nutritional disorder or a feather disorder but with out seeing pictures we can only assume.

Feather dusters in the nest show signs at 3 weeks on so yours cannot be from 5 months on with changes. How about we wait for photos and then we take an educated guess

It could be a new mutation too. Like those frizzy chooks

Possibly Circovirus ,. this can cause twisted or deformed feather growth , but a picture would be best otherwise were all just guessing !

I'm hoping someone may be able to help me here....one of my budgies, Goldie, has weird looking feathers sort of almost curly if you can picture this. He (we think) is nearly five months old and when we got him his feathers were normal but within a week they changed, he was 10 weeks when we got him. I've wormed him, given him a vitamin supplement and sprayed for mites and lice but it's made no difference. I think he's going through a moult at the moment as he's losing some feathers and you can see new ones growing around the head. Will the feather problem resolve itself when he's finished moulting? He's healthy, poos are normal and he is given a varied diet of seed and fruit and vegies as well as the occasional treat of millet or a seed bell, he's happy and doesn't sit all fluffed. He's in a cage by himself as we quarantiend him and another budgie (Mary) when we bought them and with this feather problem I've left him in the cage by himself just in case. I clean out the cages of our birds ie. Mary and Goldie the budgies and Coffee the ringneck, daily and same goes for their water and seed dishes so I can't think what to do next. Oh he doesn't have any bald spots and tail and wing feathers are totally intact and none missing what so ever, they're just fluffy, curly! Any advice on what this may be? Could it be a genetic thing? Any advice would be great thanks. :greenb:

 

Hi newtobudgies,

Does you budgie look like this

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This is ''duster " the first feather duster I breed in the 90's. She was a amazing little bird that loved to play soccer with her bell ball. She had more personality of any bird I breed. Loved my wife but hated me. She would chase me across the room and then return to my wife.

Despite my best efforts and our vet she did go to the big aviary in the sky. I did breed a few more in later years but didn't make pets of them. Didn't want to go through that again. To upsetting! So they stayed in the stock cages, making them as comfortable as possible. This includes cutting the feathers around the head to help them see and eat, and also around the vent. These birds can live for a while but do succumb to the condition, through what I believe is organ failure.

I do hope the budgie you have is NOT a feather duster, but best to be informed then left in the dark.

Goodluck!

Thank you so much everyone for your advice, and I'm sorry I've not yet been able to post a photo of Goldie but my computer had crashed last week and my hubby is yet to get all the programmes up and running! Good news though, well sort of, I took Goldie to our local avian vet who has informed me that it looks as though Goldie has a mutation from her parents possibly being over bred. He reassuringly told me it's nothing I have done as he's certain after testing her, yes Goldie is a girl, poop and feathers and blood that there is no virus or bacteria or infection so I am a good and responsible bird owner! I was so relieved to hear this as I was worried I was doing something wrong! The only bad news is that being a mutation Goldie may have a shorter life span but he's not sure how much or even if it will be shorter so there is hope at least that she'll be with us for many years to come! He said that while she has somewhat longer feathers and she is a larger bird it is not because she is a feather duster or mop as he called the condiditon, he said because Goldie is 5 months old now that she would be a complete little ball of feathers and that she is not, she just looks like a very unkempt messy budgie even though she's really not. So once agian thank you all you've been extremely helpful and I will get some pictures posted this week as it may help someone else out there!

Edited February 4, 200817 yr by newtobudgies

That's fantastic news! I'm so happy for you both

That's fantastic news! I'm so happy for you both

Thank you so much, yes it is fantastic news isn't it! I feel so much happier having seen a vet about it. I was a bit worried that he would look at me as if I were a fool but he was very thorough and informative so my advice to anyone would be if in doubt go see your vet!!!

That's fantastic news! I'm so happy for you both

Thank you so much, yes it is fantastic news isn't it! I feel so much happier having seen a vet about it. I was a bit worried that he would look at me as if I were a fool but he was very thorough and informative so my advice to anyone would be if in doubt go see your vet!!!

 

Yep... agree. If you're even slightly worried, take them. It's amazing what a little piece of mind can do! Sounds ike you have got your self a great vet there too!

Thank you so much everyone for your advice, and I'm sorry I've not yet been able to post a photo of Goldie but my computer had crashed last week and my hubby is yet to get all the programmes up and running! Good news though, well sort of, I took Goldie to our local avian vet who has informed me that it looks as though Goldie has a mutation from her parents possibly being over bred. He reassuringly told me it's nothing I have done as he's certain after testing her, yes Goldie is a girl, poop and feathers and blood that there is no virus or bacteria or infection so I am a good and responsible bird owner! I was so relieved to hear this as I was worried I was doing something wrong! The only bad news is that being a mutation Goldie may have a shorter life span but he's not sure how much or even if it will be shorter so there is hope at least that she'll be with us for many years to come! He said that while she has somewhat longer feathers and she is a larger bird it is not because she is a feather duster or mop as he called the condiditon, he said because Goldie is 5 months old now that she would be a complete little ball of feathers and that she is not, she just looks like a very unkempt messy budgie even though she's really not. So once agian thank you all you've been extremely helpful and I will get some pictures posted this week as it may help someone else out there! :sad:

 

 

I have doubts that your vet is correct. I agree that the birds is not a Duster. Dusters rarely live longer that 3 months. I also don't believe that the condition will shorten the birds life. I believe that the bird has a touch of Polyomavirus. French Moult. This condition causes in the worst case causes all feathering to fall out and in very light cases the feathering to curl. It is usually seen in about 4 to 6 eeks of age but can occur in older birds that haven't been exposed to it before. The curl some time goes when the bird goes through a moult. It is not a conditon that in light cases causes the bird to have a reduced life span and it certainly not caused by over breeding.

 

We believe that it is cause by either the virus Polyomavirus or a mite/bacteria that infests the feather folical.

 

To check for this condition a DNA test is sent to South Africa, we don't do it here. It cast $100 au.

 

If you show us a photo I or Kaz can confirm this.

 

The other posibility is Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD) but both are common with younger birds and not a young adult. PBFD is fatal most times but is detected at time that the chick is developing it's first feathers.

 

a 5 month old bird has gone through it's first moult. It will have two more befoire it aquires it's adult plumage.

 

I would ask you vet for a clinical findings. Ask what the disorder/desease is and let us know.

Daz, if it is caused by french moult is Goldie infectious? I will be calling the vet tomorrow to arrange some more tests, thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. Goldie has full flight and tail feathers and is able to fly, she is going through a moult now and the new feathers coming through are somewhat longer than the older feathers, it's really noticeable on her head. Also what can I do in the mean time if it is french moult? Is this a life time problem or something that she will get over?

Did you get both from the same place? If so you might find that Goldie is imuned to it.

 

I seem to get FM chicks at this time of year. They do grow out of it. They aslo make great pets because they can't fly for some time Until their flights and tails grow back so can be easily trained during that time.

 

I rung 100 chicks last year 50 cocks & 45 hens. 5 died after ringing so don't know what they were.

 

Out of which I had 4 Dusters and 11 french moult. Every french moult regrew there feathers, except for one. He had to be one of my best show birds.. oh well. The 10 that regrew there feathers, you can't tell they had FM. They are with other birds that are not affected. I believe in building up an immune to it.

 

I spray my breeding room every day with F10ss (Avian disinfectant). I clean the breeding cages every Saturday and spray with AIL (Avian Insecticide). It comes around this timeof year, I think it's the humid conditions..

 

FM is one of many diseases that the vets can't control. They like to call it a breeding disease because it usually only effects the chicks and young. Their way around it is to tell you to stop breeding for 12months so that the birds can build an immunity to it.

 

I can have a clutch of 4 chicks and only one will get it.. why???

 

Hopefully one day they will find a cure and wel can cross that one off our list. :sad:

Really without a picture everyone is just playing charades. Not really fair to the people trying to help you and not really helping the bird. The vets explanation sounds like a heap of gobbledygook to me. Hold that $100 for south Africa DNA testing as no where can I find weird feathers as a symptom for Polymavirus, and the cause of action is a very expensive vaccine that I don't think is available here anyway.

I know!! Is it gone with the wind? Charades!

 

 

Polyomavirus

Some affected birds die without developing any clinical signs of disease, while others die 12-to 48-hours after developing clinical signs that may include depression, loss of appetite, weight loss, delayed crop emptying, vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding under the skin. Many affected young birds die, while most infections in adult birds are unrecognized or birds manifest subtle clinical changes such as transient lethargy, a poor appetite and diarrhea with the surviving birds developing antibodies to the virus. Infections classified as "subclinical" (not obvious upon typical examination) are common in adult and young birds.In most aviaries and pet retail establishments, it is these subclinically infected birds that initiate a cycle of infection, and create an opportunity for the virus to be spread from bird to bird

 

 

Controlling polyomavirus infections in budgerigars presents a different set of problems. A budgerigar infected with polyomavirus has been considered (correctly or incorrectly) to be infected for "life" and can shed the virus for long periods (months). In some flocks, it has been shown that 100% of the budgerigars have been infected with polyomavirus.Fortunately, not all budgerigar flocks have such a high level of polyomavirus activity. However, the high prevalence of polyomavirus in some budgerigar flocks, and the cost of the vaccine makes it difficult to economically justify in commercial budgerigar flocks. None-the-less, it is important for the avicultural industry to control polyomavirus in budgerigars because this group of birds is probably serving as a reservoir for the virus. For the past 2 years, we have been evaluating an economically feasible vaccination program to control polyomavirus in budgerigars. We are currently testing this program in flocks of budgerigars and our data is encouraging. If our data continues to be positive, we could have a vaccination program that would allow budgerigar producers to establish and maintain polyomavirus vaccinated budgerigars within several years.

 

 

I defiantly don’t think your bird has French Moult [Polyoma virus] as all cases I have seen, first off drop their flight feathers & tails; some proceed to drop some or almost all their body feathers. But I haven’t seen any that retain their flight feathers & tails & then develop strange body feathers at a later stage. Mostly French Moult occurs in the nest as others have stated or just after the bird fledges. [Leaves the nest].

 

I think it is more likely to be just a problem cased by some genetic effect, as since I have come back to breeding Budgies after the introduction of the “British Budgie” with the buff feather factor, I have noticed many problems with feather Quality, so I think it more likely that it is something to do with that. I think that the vet could be right in that it is a mutation [variation in feathers] caused by some genetic factor. Definitely a picture would help us all.

I have to agree with Norm. After continuing this discussion with an open show breeder, he agrees that it could be a genetic disorder but nothing more, and certainly not life threatening.