hey guys, i dont normally but this year i let the budgies squeeze in one last (very late) round of babies, so at this moment in time i've got thirteen lovely healthy 5/6 week old chicks bursting forth from the nestboxes, happy days

 

but...one appears to have french moult if it is then its my very first french moult chick

in 14 years of breeding budgies, her flight and tail feathers

have all dropped out upon fledging, she's one of four chicks and the

other three seem normal *touch wood* as do all the other chicks in the

shed. the chick is otherwise nice and healthy, a real fatso, always seems to have a full crop, mom and dad are still insisting on stuffin' her full even though im pretty sure shes eating by herself now, when she was still in the nest before her flights dropped out (both her primary and secondary wing feathers are gone...plus the whole tail) her wings looked odd to begin with, although they appeared to be sitting normaly the tips of her flights would come to rest really high up on her back...if you follow, when she fledged and started to drop them, i noticed how flimsy her flights were, they broke very easily and i'd often see the odd bit of dried blood here and there, the quill was very thin...hair thin, does this sound like your typical french moult to you guys ?

 

i did buy in a couple of new budgies this year, would i be right in assuming it came from them?

 

is it common for french moulters to recover and eventually fly? i believe many never do.

 

 

thanks in advance

Edited November 14, 201113 yr by honeybunny

It's a virus. According to most opinions I have read on it, it will be present in most groups of birds. You may have birds who are carriers who are completely healthy and have built up a resistance. It becomes a problem when a bird's immunity is weakened. The more rounds you take from a bird the weaker the chicks will be and the more chance of infection. The virus is also airborne and very little can be done to stop it spreading. You can try with virucidal sprays etc. If you start to get widespread problems all you can do is stop breeding.

 

If you notice those messy feathers again pull them out at the quill and they will often grow back okay.

 

Sometimes they recover, but most proabably don't recover thier feathers.

 

http://www.birdhealth.com.au/bird/budgie/polyomavirus.html

I had french moult last year and it went through my how birdroom.

 

I stopped breeding and disinfected everything. I pressure washed all nest boxes and then dunked them all in VirkonS and the left them out in the sun to dry. I washed wooden cages and virkonS them too and then painted them all. But all my hard work paid off.

GOod news news NO french moult this year, so far anyway and I am waiting on a couple of nest to finish.

hey guys, i dont normally but this year i let the budgies squeeze in one last (very late) round of babies, so at this moment in time i've got thirteen lovely healthy 5/6 week old chicks bursting forth from the nestboxes, happy days

 

but...one appears to have french moult if it is then its my very first french moult chick

in 14 years of breeding budgies, her flight and tail feathers

have all dropped out upon fledging, she's one of four chicks and the

other three seem normal *touch wood* as do all the other chicks in the

shed. the chick is otherwise nice and healthy, a real fatso, always seems to have a full crop, mom and dad are still insisting on stuffin' her full even though im pretty sure shes eating by herself now, when she was still in the nest before her flights dropped out (both her primary and secondary wing feathers are gone...plus the whole tail) her wings looked odd to begin with, although they appeared to be sitting normaly the tips of her flights would come to rest really high up on her back...if you follow, when she fledged and started to drop them, i noticed how flimsy her flights were, they broke very easily and i'd often see the odd bit of dried blood here and there, the quill was very thin...hair thin, does this sound like your typical french moult to you guys ?

 

i did buy in a couple of new budgies this year, would i be right in assuming it came from them?

 

is it common for french moulters to recover and eventually fly? i believe many never do.

 

 

thanks in advance

I had two french moulters last year,one cock bird has bred for me this year,hes brother is flying in the aviary and will be used later.The one that has bred for me this year has himself bred no french moulters.Just remember when you do have a nest with french moulters,make sure you attend that nest last & spray "glenn20 ' on your hands between nests.

If they fully recover they tend to have an amunity to the virus. That is what i have been told.

I culled a lot of mine last year. But the ones I kept I have bred perfectly healthy chicks with

no french moult.