hi everyone,

 

i have a bit of a concern at the moment. we got our second budgie peanut in january. a few days after we got him he lost his tail feathers. i put this down to him panicking and flapping around the cage and them falling out that way.

 

he has recently started to lose his baby feathers and also i have noticed that he had two new tail fathers growing in to replace the ones that fell out in january. however, this evening i was very concerned to discover both new tail feathers on the cage floor, half of each feather still had the white sheath over it where they had come out prematurely. i picked them up off of the cage floor and found blood on my hand from the stubs of the feathers. i have had a look at peanut and he doesnt appear to be bleeding from his skin, but i cant get a good look underneath him.

 

i am worried for two reasons

 

1. because his moult seems to be going on for so long (well over 2 months), compared to casper who has almost completed his moult already.

2. i am worried that the new feathers are falling out so easily. could this be caused by any kind of disorder? either that or they are being pulled out by casper, but i am unsure about this because they have been geting on so well lately.

 

i think i will take him to the vets shortly anyway, as i am getting more and more concerned as time goes on. any thoughts as to what this could be?

i hope he is alright pix!

Is he plucking the feathers out maybe???

Sorry i can't help.

i hope so too!

 

i would be very suprised to learn that he was plucking them himself, he is so docile and tolerant compared to casper (little menace). literally one minute they were enjoying a lettuce leaf together the next thing i noticed his feathers on the floor

 

i have been waiting and waiting for his feathers to grow back so that i can let him out to fly with casper but its no joy. he has always been a bit scruffy but i am starting to worry that he may have something wrong with him.

 

i guess i will have to make an appointment asap! :doctor:

the fact that he is the less dominant of the pair may make him more likely to feather pluck???? is he being bullied??? Just thinking. Poor peanut.

that is a possibility budgeover, and one i hadnt thought of! hmmm, when i get a verdict from the vet that i am satisfied with i will have to consider changing their housing arrangements... it may be that casper was in this cage on his own for a while before peanut came along, so im pretty sure casper thinks everything in the cage is 'his'

 

he reminds me of the seagulls in finding nemo! 'mine' 'mine' 'peck' 'peck'

hehehe. i love finding Nemo. Great film.

 

My sister got a friend for her budgie and her budgie killed it by preventing fromm eating etc. it also plucked its featherout because it was unhappy. That is why i suggested that to you. I think budgies do a lot of things very secretly. Perhaps your casper is being a little ghost in the night!!! Casper the friendly (not so friendly) Ghost!!!

they have two of everything always, so they both eat and drink fine.

 

i just really hope that his feathers do grow back soon, he has very little balance with his stumpy tail and his clip is taking so long to grow out and casper has full flight back... i dont like letting peanut out when his feathers are like this because he sometimes tries to copy casper and crash lands and i dont want him to knock his new feathers out again! arrrgh, its just not going anywhere. i cant leave him in there forever without letting him come out to play very often! poor little guy

Edited April 20, 200520 yr by pixie25

I agree, it could be bullying. On the darker end of the scale, but i feel it must be mentioned, is there any history of beak and feather pbfd? A fresh feather pulp test can rule a lot out, and answer a lot, so DONT let a vet tell you a budgies is too small for intensive blood testing (they are, its true) but DONT accept as final answer. Feather pulp can be tested where bloods fail.

If he IS plucking, a wonderful aid is a thing called arnica liquid, from your health store. I have enourmous faith in this. one drop in water, one drop mixed in food, its soothing, healing properties are immense.

Its NOT a be all and end all medical wonder, its a holistic boost that i have found to be exceptional. I KNOW it saved Alberts life in the end, he was dying, i couldnt stop it, until a friend told me about it. he turned the corner then.

i would highly reccomend Arnica!

I bathed in it for weeks after having my first baby. It was a wonderful thing.

i dont think my ordinary vet will be able to help me much with this problem... she has been really good with my birds but i really am concerned about this so i will see if i can get an appointment at an avian centre tomorrow.

 

i dont know the birds history because he was bought from a pet shop because he was all on his own and he looked so scruffy and lonely and we couldnt just leave him there, we thought we could give him a good, loving home. his behaviour has been fine apart from the feathers...

 

thanks for your advice chirpy i will mention this when i get him checked over. i will keep both feathers for testing

Good luck pixie, and the fresher the feather the better (the bigger the better too) It could be something so simple like a nasty mite infection, but you are right to get him thoroughly tested. Ask yur new vet also, about misting with aloe vera, 1 tablespoon aloe to one punt water. its not really medicinial, but can be extremely soothing. To much concentration can leave feathers sticky though, and CAUSE over preening and plucking, but very dilute, i find it really good.

Am glad you checking all suggestions with vet, its a good thing to do.

Anne

eek, i have just looked up on pbfd and its nick name is 'bird aids' oh my god, i hope peanut is okay, if he has got it casper will have it too... no cure.

 

 

i have been using a spray called molt ease which contains purifed water and aloe vera alongside his normals water bath. i thought it was helping because the new feathers were growing through...

 

vets are getting a ring FIRST THING

Edited April 20, 200520 yr by pixie25

don't worry pixie. thats the worse case. He most probably is just losing his faethers by plucking then himself or casper is.

dont go panicking now lass! its rather rare, especially in budgies, and budgies react a lot different to the larger parrots to this condition (there is at this very moment a lot of research going on into budgie pbfd) its a very unlikely cause, but one worth covering, so please dont panic. Its just something worth inquiring about, im a big believer in 'leave no stone unturned'. Dont get upset, its NOT common in budgies, just ask vet and get yurself reassured. (my Teapot looked like pbfd was the cause of his probs once, i was nearly demented, and all for nothing! its hormonal with him, yet i was panicking like a demented washerwoman at the time, (Laughing out loud)!)

Let us know how things go, i find feather loss extremely interesting, so many factors can cause, and bullying could be the one.

Dont over-worry, make a list of things to ask, and dont rule anything out, and dont rule anything in.

Keep that chin up!

Anne xx

you are right i am probably just getting myself in a state about nothing.

 

fingers crossed though and we can hope for the best. luckily the feathers are quite big and they still have blood in them so they should eb okay in the morning. hopefully we can get a good reading from it.

 

i will try not to worry until then! not easy, but i will try!

I've heard that certain nutritional deficiencies can cause something like this but if his diet is good that is probably not the case.

 

I second what chirpy said about PBFD. Hopefully this isn't the case, but often feathers shed as a result of the disease will be found with blood on the ends. Getting him tested will hopefully put your mind at ease.

 

I highly doubt that he's plucking as budgies rarely pluck their feathers. When they do, it's often for a medical reason rather than something behavioral.

 

Are they usually whole feathers that come off or is it possible that he's playing roughly and causing some of them to break off?

Hi sorry I'm late but I hope peanut will get better soon. :bluebudgie:

With all the advice you have been given I'm sure you will find the source of this problem and then prevent it from happening again. Try not to get worked up about it and good luck. :angel1:

 

I think it's already been mentioned but have you separated peanut and casper? because then you'll be able to see if it was caspers fault and to prevent spreading of mites. :doctor:

its definitely not mites, they were both treated in the quarantine period

 

i couldnt get an appointment with the avian centre so i went along to my local vet instead today. poor peanut has a chest infection :bluebudgie: it is quite a bad one and at the moment i am really cross with myself that i didnt notice this sooner - poor little guy gets puffed out very quickly. i think its because i cut down his play time outside the cage as he was moulting heavily and i didnt want him to crash and hurt himself, so i havent spent as much time obseving him as i would normally do.

 

the vet said that the fact that he is mid way through a moult at the moment combined with a heavy chest infection has put him under a lot of stress and caused him to shed his new feathers prematurely (devvle, yes they are the whole feathers, i can tell because the white sheath still covered the developing part of the feather near the base).

 

i now have two syringes and some medicine for both budgies to treat the condition to make sure that it hasnt passed on to casper. peanut is due for another checkup in a week when he finishes his antibiotics and if things havent improved we will have to take it from there. as far as i can tell casper is still his normal self, but peanut has obviously managed to hide his symptoms from me for quite some time (i am so annoyed with myself that i didnt notice him suffering! poor little thing)

 

thanks to everyone for their advice it is greatly appreciated, will be sure to keep you posted

 

pixie x

aww don't blame yourself pixie25, budgies are experts when it comes to hiding illness. Now that you have found out I'm sure you will do the best you can and he will make a full recovery in no time. :bluebudgie:

Good luck and best wishes :angel1:

Sending good healing vibes to Peanut.

Julie

get well soon peanut! Pixie cheer up. At least you know whats up now. Big chirps to both of you from me and Rocky!

thankyou budgeover and rocky, and thankyou julie i really appreciate your thoughts and im sure peanut does too! im going to go shopping today and buy some nice things to make them some home made toys as a special treat as they have been so good and had their medicine.

 

they are playing on top of their cage at the moment and i will post an update next week when i take him back to the vet. :doctor:

Best wishes to you and peanut! Get well soon little peanut!!! :doctor:

hi everyone, this is an update on little peanuts progress as he finished his medicine yesterday and he went for his checkup today. im afraid its not good news

 

the antibiotics have had no effect on shifting the infection so peanut has had to stay overnight at the vets today for tests. it is very sad and little casper has been cheeping and wondering around like a little lost sheep.

 

the vet has warned me that there may be a servere, maybe even fatal condition that peanut has that may have aggravated the chest infection he has and weakened his immune system so much he may not be able to fight it off at the moment i am trying to keep my chin up but i fear the worst - especially if it turns out that it is something that casper could possibly have.

 

i have to phone tomorrow to get the verdict.

I'm so sorry about the news. I hope that everything turns out okay and I'll keep you and Peanut in my thoughts.