Well, it is now day 10 of quarantine and so far I haven't seen any signs of sickness in my birds. All I have done so far is worm them though, I am planning to do that again later on, and also to treat them for mites and lice (hehe I accidentally wrote mice and lites first)

 

I have been closely observing their poos for any that are runny, unusual in any way, or seem to have worms in them. No worms in the cages and poos are fine.

 

Have been observing them for coughing, sneezing, gagging - none of that.

 

There's no mucous around their ceres, no fluffing up or sitting low or lying down, scratching or picking... no blood... no flaking of the ceres, beaks or feet..

 

Both of them are active and inquisitive, noisy, eating well (actually they started eating a lot more when we had the cold snap last week but so did I )

 

So should I just continue doing what I've been doing for another month or two? Or is there more I can be doing during this time?

I'm reading through all the other quarantine threads too at the moment but just wondering if anyone has any more tips for my situation with reference to what I've already been doing. I only have one other budgie, not a whole flock.. but he is very special!

 

Thanks

Edited June 16, 200916 yr by krosp

Worst thing about hidden illnesses is more often than not a carrier bird looks perfectly healthy and its only when under stress that it comes out. I discovered that once when a perfectly healthy looking hen passed quarantine period with flying colours for me to find out she was carrying psittacosis and gave it to her cock bird in the space of time for incubation, and also killed all those in breeder cages in the close vicinity. One slight "comfort" is that is psittacosis goes through it kills all the young ones first, so if your new bird is young it should be fine re the nastier diseases which would have killed it if it contracted them. My thoughts.

Its a hard call to make. You do all you can with the knowledge you have and vets back up if you thinks its needed.

Edited June 16, 200916 yr by KAZ

Yeah it is a tough call...and it's a shame there's no definitive answer. Thanks for that though, it's good to know that it's less of an issue in young birds. Do you know whether if young birds do catch something, is it also less likely to lay dormant as long?

 

I think Piccolo is under a fair degree of stress really, having been taken away from his sisters and put in a strange place with strange scary people looking at him all the time. Hopefully if he is carrying anything I will see signs of it early and during quarantine.

Yeah it is a tough call...and it's a shame there's no definitive answer. Thanks for that though, it's good to know that it's less of an issue in young birds. Do you know whether if young birds do catch something, is it also less likely to lay dormant as long?

What I am actually saying is.....with the more serious illnesses.........they will kill a young bird whose immunity systems is not yet strong. Where an adult bird can take the illness on, and if it has a strong immunity system, can carry it rather than succumb to it......sometimes. These are my thoughts and experiences anyway.

Yeah... I am thinking of calling the avian vet and seeing what he recommends... but I'm thinking maybe I'll just treat for things that can kill them extremely quickly. Whereas if it's something that takes its time to get bad and can be treated fairly well, I'd probably notice that before it got too bad and treat it then. Not sure :question:

Well... the avian vet won't sell any products without doing a comprehensive check on both birds... which is over $700 if I do everything they recommended on both the birds :rofl: although I don't think everything they recommended is necessary in my case (e.g. full blood test? if you've already done the routine check, faeces test, psittacosis test, etc)

 

Not something we can really do at this stage though.. I'd take them straight to the vet the second either showed any sign of illness though. Which there still isn't.... maybe I'll just make sure the quarantine period is towards the longer side and be super vigilant with my observations. Reassuring to know that some people on here don't treat for everything during quarantine, but those who do have my utmost respect.