Hi All

 

After having a $250 vet bill this week for poor Ollie who didn't make it I can't afford to take my other budgie Frankie back to the vet - she went to the vet earlier this week with Ollie to have a check up and all they said that was wrong with her was her calcium levels due to laying a number of eggs lately. She had some brown discolouration above her nose at the time but since her breathing was fine and her nose and eyes were clear the vet said he wasn't too concerned about it. He said that she was looking good for a bird her age Here is a picture:

 

http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/jj296/g...18New0001-1.jpg

 

Can any help with what has caused this??

Question: Do you have any rust on the cage at all! and is there any on tail/wing feathers?

Because a freinds budgie has the same discolouring from rubbing herself against the rusty cage.

The cage is still quite new - so there's no rust. There is nothing in the cage that is brown at all. To start with she was tucking into some mineral blocks but they were pink/red. So while she was eating the block her feathers were a reddy colour on the top of her head - but she hasn't had one of those blocks for over 3 weeks, and the brown is more noticeable to me now. Or maybe I'm just paranoid that she's going to get sick and die too??

hmm .... well i dought she will die! my freinds bird isover 2 years and has that stuff above her cere and has for a long time...maybe your bird is just getting older.

I hope so

 

She seems happy - apart from when I was trying to take the picture!

Budgies seem to get that from time to time. I don't think anyone knows what causes it, but it doesn't mean anything and often goes away or comes back. I think it might be grease

I have a couple of birds who get it with seasonal moults, so far no troubles with any of these birds, i think it's just something specific to each birds body... Some get it, some don't but i haven't seen any signs of illness in the ones who have it, so i guess that's a good sign. It should go away with time

I don't have any experience with this but I would watch for any signs of behavior change and keep an eye on the dropping to make sure they are not runny.

She's seems healthy enough - I've got her liquid calcium (which I've seen her drink) and I've been crushing up egg shells (I haven't seen her eat these but I'll keep giving them to her) and since she'd too old to get a new friend I bought her a mirror so that she doesn't get depressed and lonely since Ollie died. She's in there chirping away to herself now

 

Hopefully the brown feathers go away because it doesn't look pretty - as long as I know it's not some sign of a terrible illness!!!

 

Once again the forum has helped - thank you all!

Hi AllAfter having a $250 vet bill this week for poor Ollie who didn't make it I can't afford to take my other budgie Frankie back to the vet - she went to the vet earlier this week with Ollie to have a check up and all they said that was wrong with her was her calcium levels due to laying a number of eggs lately. She had some brown discolouration above her nose at the time but since her breathing was fine and her nose and eyes were clear the vet said he wasn't too concerned about it. He said that she was looking good for a bird her age Here is a picture:http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/jj296/g...18New0001-1.jpgCan any help with what has caused this??

Sounds like your birds may have psittacosis,this is a respiratory disease that also affects humans.You need to get some psittavet from your local vet and treat all of them for 45 days,you could also try triple c avail from your nearest bird dealer,the main ingredient is doxycycline.. the stronger the betterhttp://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/diseases/psittacosis.html

I just took two birds last week to the vets with suspect psittacosis - They had dark staining above the cere too. - Frankie looks more brown rust, almost dried blood colour to me. By birds had dark blacky/brown staining Thankfully my birds were free from psittacosis, and only had upper respiratory infections. After talking to the vet about my birds i do not feel Frankie has that illness. For one the eyes are clear and clean. The poos are not a bright green (are they??) and the bird is looking well other than the stains, which to me, look like stains from something that has transferred into the feathers from rubbing etc.

 

Upper resportory infection

Edited April 19, 200817 yr by **Liv**

Frankie was at the Avian vet this week with Ollie - he wasn't concerned about the marks above her head but he also didn't tell me what they were - he was more concerned about Ollie and Ollie didn't have the dreaded P word - he had a brain tumor I just wanted advice from you guys without having to take her back to the vet Her poos are normal and she's behaving normally. She loves the new mirror but it hasn't stopped her harrasing me when I go near her cage - as soon as she sees me she'll run or fly to where I am standing and chirp at me and talk to me - and as soon as she comes out the cage she flys right to my should where she insists on playing with my hair and t-shirt collar!!Her breathing is definitely clear and yes her eyes are bright - so I'll try not to worry - I now she's an OLD bird as the vet said but hopefully she'll be around for a little while yet!I just had a thought - you said the stain almost looked like dried blood - the vet nurse told me that Frankie was really mean to Ollie in the hours before they put him to sleep - I'd hate to think that she could have seriously hurt him, but maybe it could be Ollie's blood???? They assured me that Ollie was on so much pain medication that he wouldn't have suffered but that Frankie constantly harrased him - I don't know why they didn't put her in a cage next to his incubator rather than leave her in with him!!! Budgies can be very nasty when one of them are sick - Ollie did the same thing to Frankie when she was egg bound - then as soon as she was better he was all over her like a rash.