Hi everyone,

 

i have a problem that has taken me by surprise, this has never happened to me before in all the years i've had birds. I opened my nestbox's to do the last check for the day and discovered onr of my chicks had 2 small maggot size grubs attached to it's abdomen like a leach, i pulled them off and squashed them, then proceeded to inspect the chick and the nestbox & breeding cage. I emptied the nest box of the wood shavings and found 2 tiny black beetles about 5mm in size that looked like little christmas beetles (they are now dead). The chick had black dirt in it's ears and nostrils which on closer inspection looked like bug droppings. I have cleaned the chick up the best i could and cleaned out the nestbox and put fresh shavings in the nestbox. Both parents look healthy and have no mites or any other bug problems so i'm puzzled as to what this could be. I was even thinking that maybe it could be something that has come in the wood shavings. I don't usually use wood shavings but thought i would try it out. There were 5 chicks in this clutch now i have 2.

Very concerned.

Can anyone help?

Edited January 17, 201015 yr by KAZ

It sounds like what you have found are a type of Dermestid beetle. There are many species one which is used by museum curators to remove flesh from dead bodies. I have had these beetles in my nest boxes many times and don't worry about them at all. I have never found larvae to attach themselves to a live subject. Maybe do an internet search and find out exactly what type of grub/beetle you are dealing with.

Edited January 17, 201015 yr by RIPbudgies

It sounds like what you have found are a type of Dermestid beetle. There are many species one which is used by museum curators to remove flesh from dead bodies. I have had these beetles in my nest boxes many times and don't worry about them at all. I have never found larvae to attach themselves to a live subject. Maybe do an internet search and find out exactly what type of grub/beetle you are dealing with.

 

 

Thanks,

 

I will have a look tomorrow, just had a quick search and lots of entemology reports came up with lots of big words.

 

Very frustrating, you seem to sail along with no problems and BAM!!! you get a left hook from out of the blue that puts your plans back a season.

I'm very sorry for you about this.

Hi everyone,

 

i have a problem that has taken me by surprise, this has never happened to me before in all the years i've had birds. I opened my nestbox's to do the last check for the day and discovered onr of my chicks had 2 small maggot size grubs attached to it's abdomen like a leach, i pulled them off and squashed them, then proceeded to inspect the chick and the nestbox & breeding cage. I emptied the nest box of the wood shavings and found 2 tiny black beetles about 5mm in size that looked like little christmas beetles (they are now dead). The chick had black dirt in it's ears and nostrils which on closer inspection looked like bug droppings. I have cleaned the chick up the best i could and cleaned out the nestbox and put fresh shavings in the nestbox. Both parents look healthy and have no mites or any other bug problems so i'm puzzled as to what this could be. I was even thinking that maybe it could be something that has come in the wood shavings. I don't usually use wood shavings but thought i would try it out. There were 5 chicks in this clutch now i have 2.

Very concerned.

Can anyone help?

 

Yuk!! did you take a picture. of bugs before you squashed them? It may have helped to identify them. Post again if you find out, could be something to look out for we can all learn from. Hope the rest of your chicks do o.k.

Hi everyone,

 

i have a problem that has taken me by surprise, this has never happened to me before in all the years i've had birds. I opened my nestbox's to do the last check for the day and discovered onr of my chicks had 2 small maggot size grubs attached to it's abdomen like a leach, i pulled them off and squashed them, then proceeded to inspect the chick and the nestbox & breeding cage. I emptied the nest box of the wood shavings and found 2 tiny black beetles about 5mm in size that looked like little christmas beetles (they are now dead). The chick had black dirt in it's ears and nostrils which on closer inspection looked like bug droppings. I have cleaned the chick up the best i could and cleaned out the nestbox and put fresh shavings in the nestbox. Both parents look healthy and have no mites or any other bug problems so i'm puzzled as to what this could be. I was even thinking that maybe it could be something that has come in the wood shavings. I don't usually use wood shavings but thought i would try it out. There were 5 chicks in this clutch now i have 2.

Very concerned.

Can anyone help?

 

Yuk!! did you take a picture. of bugs before you squashed them? It may have helped to identify them. Post again if you find out, could be something to look out for we can all learn from. Hope the rest of your chicks do o.k.

 

 

Hi,

Thanks for your concern.

No i didn't take any picture's of the little creepy's, I was shocked to see them and just pulled them off and squashed them without even giving it a second thought. They looked like little maggots but instead of being all white were half black from the head to halfway down it's body. I lost another chick today so now have only one remaining from that clutch, the last chick is weak so i'm not expecting it to survive. I am actually thinking that whatever these little bugs are, are opportunistic and may even be internally destroying the chicks, it is really gross. I will have to quarantine the parents and scrub the breeding cages and leave them empty and hopefully break any cycles that these bugs may have. I am trying to contact our local Uni to talk to the Avian Vet but they are still on holidays so until then i am guessing.

Lib

Hi everyone,

 

i have a problem that has taken me by surprise, this has never happened to me before in all the years i've had birds. I opened my nestbox's to do the last check for the day and discovered onr of my chicks had 2 small maggot size grubs attached to it's abdomen like a leach, i pulled them off and squashed them, then proceeded to inspect the chick and the nestbox & breeding cage. I emptied the nest box of the wood shavings and found 2 tiny black beetles about 5mm in size that looked like little christmas beetles (they are now dead). The chick had black dirt in it's ears and nostrils which on closer inspection looked like bug droppings. I have cleaned the chick up the best i could and cleaned out the nestbox and put fresh shavings in the nestbox. Both parents look healthy and have no mites or any other bug problems so i'm puzzled as to what this could be. I was even thinking that maybe it could be something that has come in the wood shavings. I don't usually use wood shavings but thought i would try it out. There were 5 chicks in this clutch now i have 2.

Very concerned.

Can anyone help?

 

Yuk!! did you take a picture. of bugs before you squashed them? It may have helped to identify them. Post again if you find out, could be something to look out for we can all learn from. Hope the rest of your chicks do o.k.

 

 

Hi,

Thanks for your concern.

No i didn't take any picture's of the little creepy's, I was shocked to see them and just pulled them off and squashed them without even giving it a second thought. They looked like little maggots but instead of being all white were half black from the head to halfway down it's body. I lost another chick today so now have only one remaining from that clutch, the last chick is weak so i'm not expecting it to survive. I am actually thinking that whatever these little bugs are, are opportunistic and may even be internally destroying the chicks, it is really gross. I will have to quarantine the parents and scrub the breeding cages and leave them empty and hopefully break any cycles that these bugs may have. I am trying to contact our local Uni to talk to the Avian Vet but they are still on holidays so until then i am guessing.

Lib

 

Hi again Lib, Do you know what caused the loss of you other chicks? How old is last chick? Do you have any other breeding pairs at the moment. If so maybe check for signs of same thing.

Hi everyone,

 

i have a problem that has taken me by surprise, this has never happened to me before in all the years i've had birds. I opened my nestbox's to do the last check for the day and discovered onr of my chicks had 2 small maggot size grubs attached to it's abdomen like a leach, i pulled them off and squashed them, then proceeded to inspect the chick and the nestbox & breeding cage. I emptied the nest box of the wood shavings and found 2 tiny black beetles about 5mm in size that looked like little christmas beetles (they are now dead). The chick had black dirt in it's ears and nostrils which on closer inspection looked like bug droppings. I have cleaned the chick up the best i could and cleaned out the nestbox and put fresh shavings in the nestbox. Both parents look healthy and have no mites or any other bug problems so i'm puzzled as to what this could be. I was even thinking that maybe it could be something that has come in the wood shavings. I don't usually use wood shavings but thought i would try it out. There were 5 chicks in this clutch now i have 2.

Very concerned.

Can anyone help?

 

Yuk!! did you take a picture. of bugs before you squashed them? It may have helped to identify them. Post again if you find out, could be something to look out for we can all learn from. Hope the rest of your chicks do o.k.

 

 

Hi,

Thanks for your concern.

No i didn't take any picture's of the little creepy's, I was shocked to see them and just pulled them off and squashed them without even giving it a second thought. They looked like little maggots but instead of being all white were half black from the head to halfway down it's body. I lost another chick today so now have only one remaining from that clutch, the last chick is weak so i'm not expecting it to survive. I am actually thinking that whatever these little bugs are, are opportunistic and may even be internally destroying the chicks, it is really gross. I will have to quarantine the parents and scrub the breeding cages and leave them empty and hopefully break any cycles that these bugs may have. I am trying to contact our local Uni to talk to the Avian Vet but they are still on holidays so until then i am guessing.

Lib

 

Hi again Lib, Do you know what caused the loss of you other chicks? How old is last chick? Do you have any other breeding pairs at the moment. If so maybe check for signs of same thing. :emoticon112:

 

I have no idea what caused the loss of the other chicks, i ended up loosing the last two chicks which is sad. i am still at a loss as to what happened so i am asking the avian vet at the uni when he gets back.

I do have other clutches and they seem fine, i have had a couple of chicks die but not anything unusal as they were large clutches and were sat upon by brothers and sisters, all other chicks seem healthy. very strange indeed.

Lib

Hi everyone,

 

i have a problem that has taken me by surprise, this has never happened to me before in all the years i've had birds. I opened my nestbox's to do the last check for the day and discovered onr of my chicks had 2 small maggot size grubs attached to it's abdomen like a leach, i pulled them off and squashed them, then proceeded to inspect the chick and the nestbox & breeding cage. I emptied the nest box of the wood shavings and found 2 tiny black beetles about 5mm in size that looked like little christmas beetles (they are now dead). The chick had black dirt in it's ears and nostrils which on closer inspection looked like bug droppings. I have cleaned the chick up the best i could and cleaned out the nestbox and put fresh shavings in the nestbox. Both parents look healthy and have no mites or any other bug problems so i'm puzzled as to what this could be. I was even thinking that maybe it could be something that has come in the wood shavings. I don't usually use wood shavings but thought i would try it out. There were 5 chicks in this clutch now i have 2.

Very concerned.

Can anyone help?

 

Yuk!! did you take a picture. of bugs before you squashed them? It may have helped to identify them. Post again if you find out, could be something to look out for we can all learn from. Hope the rest of your chicks do o.k.

 

 

Hi,

Thanks for your concern.

No i didn't take any picture's of the little creepy's, I was shocked to see them and just pulled them off and squashed them without even giving it a second thought. They looked like little maggots but instead of being all white were half black from the head to halfway down it's body. I lost another chick today so now have only one remaining from that clutch, the last chick is weak so i'm not expecting it to survive. I am actually thinking that whatever these little bugs are, are opportunistic and may even be internally destroying the chicks, it is really gross. I will have to quarantine the parents and scrub the breeding cages and leave them empty and hopefully break any cycles that these bugs may have. I am trying to contact our local Uni to talk to the Avian Vet but they are still on holidays so until then i am guessing.

Lib

 

Hi again Lib, Do you know what caused the loss of you other chicks? How old is last chick? Do you have any other breeding pairs at the moment. If so maybe check for signs of same thing.

 

I have no idea what caused the loss of the other chicks, i ended up loosing the last two chicks which is sad. i am still at a loss as to what happened so i am asking the avian vet at the uni when he gets back.

I do have other clutches and they seem fine, i have had a couple of chicks die but not anything unusal as they were large clutches and were sat upon by brothers and sisters, all other chicks seem healthy. very strange indeed.

Lib

 

Good luck with other bubs, let us know if you find out more about "bugs".