HiThis morning I woke up and found 2 baby budgies dead in the nest box (8 -10 days old). Their are tiny little bugs (very very small) on the other babies and one of the babies is very pale white. I have cleaned the nest box and cage out very well and I have got rid of most the bugs. Im worried about the health of the babies, what are these bugs and how do I stop them..I've fosted the youngest baby into another nest but their is not enough room for the others, all babies have been fed.Thankyou.The babies are very weak and barley move... their were no bugs last night.I got rid of the mites 10 minutes ago and now they are all back again. They are coming out of the babies ears. Urgent help is needed please.

Edited December 14, 200816 yr by pearce

They sound like red mites. It's ard to know what you could do for tiny babies though as I'm not sureit would be safe to spray them with a mite product. BUT if the situation is that dire maybe it is a risk worth taking, I would spray some mite spray onto a tissue and gently wipe it on the babies. Give all your nestboxes a good spray with a mite spray too. Iam abour to start experimenting with dried rosemary in all my nestboxes as a deterant to red mite.

 

 

I'm also buying other herbal remedies too, for example you can actually buy the pyrethrim daisy at most garden shops, scrunching the flower heads up and rubbing them in the corners of all nest boxes and allowing them to dry would be very affective.

Edited December 14, 200816 yr by melbournebudgies

I agree with the red mites. A product called A.I.L. works.................avainh liquid insecticide. I have recently had an infestation due to a bird that brought it in.

Yours sounds advanced and thats why you are losing chicks. hard to spot so not down to bad ownership or anything like that...they hide in crevices and come out at night. You will need to clean and spray more than you think and just keep doing it. Do as MB suggested and apply the product with a tissue. You have spot on also so apply t6o the parents and any of the fully feathered babies.

The red mites hide in all crevices including the grooves in perches and on bars of cages, behing drinkers and drinker clips...every crevice of wooden nestboxes.

Edited December 14, 200816 yr by KAZ

Hi thankyou KAZ and Melbournebudgies.

 

I have aristopet bird mite and lice spray:

0.5 g/l pyrethrins

5g/l piperony butoxide

 

Can I use this?

Wipe it on with a tissue avoiding the face of all the babies. At this stage you may still loose a few babies as the pa;eness is anaemia due to blood loss from thmites so itmay be too late for some of them but if you can killoff the mites then hopefully they will have a chance to recover. Do you have a new box that you could put them into after applying the spray? Personally for any nests that you know for sure have it I would move them into a completely different cage ane nest box while they recover and you continue treatment.

Hi

 

I thought that if I moved them to a new cage then the parents would not use the nest box and would forget about the babies.

Another baby has died and has little dots of blood on his back and crop...

I have sprayed the cage and the nest box but it stinks so I'm going to leave the babies out for an hour... is this okay?

Have you got a new nestbox? If you have a cage which is almost identical with the nest box in the same spot then you should be able to transfer them with no problems. I have found that once they have chicks they are more accepting of movement Anyway as the chicks make noise and kick up a stink if they don't get fed.

Hi Thankyou.

 

This is my only wooden cage, the others are steal, and this cage has the nest box attached to the side where as the other steel cages have nest boxes that attach to the front. And the babies are very weak so I'm not sure if they can call for food. Should I move them?

 

thankyou

 

would putting the babies in a plastic container at the bottom of the cage be a better idea?

 

Thankou

Edited December 14, 200816 yr by pearce

I would go with the plastic container for the moment and just keep an eye on the parents, atleast that way you couldswap it each day and wash it out throughly for the next day until you are sure they are free of mites.

okay Thankyou very much Melbournebudgies and KAZ

I have sprayed the cage and the nest box but it stinks so I'm going to leave the babies out for an hour... is this okay?

 

What did you use ?

I have aristopet bird mite and lice spray:

0.5 g/l pyrethrins

5g/l piperony butoxide

How are the babies now?

they are still very very pale and weak. They do not chirp or anything.

Do you have some glucogen or lectade? Otherwise you could melt somehoney in hot water and give them a drop to the beak for energy

Do you have some glucogen or lectade? Otherwise you could melt somehoney in hot water and give them a drop to the beak for energy

or calcivet.

Hi

 

The babies are getting their colour back and have 0 bugs on them. The mite spray must have worked. I think they will survive. The youngest baby that I put in neons nest is being fed and is not white anymore. I'm just wondering if the baby should be fostered back into summers nest or can she stay in neons?

 

Thankyou.

Hi

 

The babies are getting their colour back and have 0 bugs on them. The mite spray must have worked. I think they will survive. The youngest baby that I put in neons nest is being fed and is not white anymore. I'm just wondering if the baby should be fostered back into summers nest or can she stay in neons?

 

Thankyou.

Leave the chick where it is now...it has been through enough and you dont disturb birds at night.