Hi I bought a new Lutino Budgie "Calypso" - she is extremely tiny. I thought she was ill as she was puffed up and head under wing- ate little, so I started treatment with Baytril in water and Probiotic over seeds.

• She eats more now, is active and only head under wing when having a nap.
  
• BUT i noticed in her poop the seeds are whole as if not digested!
  
• What is causing this? Worms? Megabacteria? Fungal infection? She does not Vomit seeds up like with Crop-canker. It just seems to go straight through???
  

I've never encountered this in any of my birds ........they've had Crop-canker, which I use Ronidazole for, but i do have a product from a Vet which reduces stress and assists in electrolyte and digestion enzymes and with vitamins.

• Must I give her this?
  

I also put her out in day for 10 -20 minutes of direct sun for D3.

She is better than when I got her but I need her to pick up weight. I am very concerned as she is so extremely active and tiny- but Lutinos are normally madly active- here anyway.

• Please advise if any of you know what this could be. Also anything i use in water is so slow to work as Budgies rarely drink their water.
  
• My bird shop is very reliable but the seller might not have dewormed the little one? I have special dewormer but it has to be given in Soft food!
  
• I can't get any of my birds to eat Soft food-I've tried everything. parents won't even touch the egg-food and they have babies to feed!
  
• They only want to eat what you call silver beet and we call Swiss Chard-a type of Spinach and Lettuce greens. They sometimes eat fresh corn and apple-but only if they feel like it. I have also introduced Jap Millet which is apparently high in Protein.?
  

Sorry to hear you have another sick bird

I remember a post on the forum for the same thing, i'll see if I can find it.

How long have you had her for and how old is she?

I saw her at the bird supplies store in a cage with other budgies+she just wanted to get outta there! Scratching frantically@the food bowl.I spotted the Lutino red eye! So I've had her in a cage seperate from other birds from start. I've got her/him just over a week.she is very young,its obviously a new batch of chicks at the store. I guess around 2months old?thanks Nadine

Since you mention that she is very young, I wonder if you might be dealing with an unweaned chick problem, rather than an illness. The whole seeds in the poop seem to suggest that the bird is not cracking the seed.

 

Now, if an adult bird had a digestion problem, you wouldn't see uncracked seed, because the bird would have husked it before swallowing it. And from what I've read about Megabac, that causes the bird to be unable to swallow, so the seed is picked up and spit back out.

 

One of the first things I would try is to give the chick some foods that are easy to eat, or even give it a crop feed of hand rearing formula, if you can do that. Spray millet is easier to husk, and if you can find oat groats in a health food store, those are de-hulled whole oat grains. Very very easy for a young chick to learn to eat.

 

Being so young is an advantage for you to be able to get her to try foods that your other birds won't eat. So put a dish in her cage with everything healthy under the sun you can manage. Shredded carrot, finely chopped Swiss Chard, cooked peas, bird pellets, which she could eat without having to husk them first. If you can get a hold of some commercial soft food or make your own from one of the many recipes on line, my guess is that a hungry baby bird will try to eat anything, and this might help you with your problem.

 

If you look at her closely, can you see any evidence of new feathers that haven't fully grown in? That would indicate six weeks old or younger, but they could potentially still be poorly weaned at an older age.

 

At least with the whole seeds in her poop you know that she has been swallowing food. That is a good sign, because it means she isn't too sick to eat. Good luck, let us know what happens. Can you post a photo of her?

Hi Finnie, thanks4 your reply. She actually dehusks the seeds and eats continuously through day now but her poop contains the dehusked seeds. I tried feeding her with a bent spoon, Parakeet breeders mix no luck! She screeches+flaps+gets stressed. I left eggfood mix in a bowl-no luck. Since I've sprinkled pro-biotic on her seeds her appetite has improved.I used a dropper as well to get some Baytril+water in her beak- she performs+sneezes. Very Lutino! Attitude! She is very active up+down,swings,loops -her tail feathers are tatty. I'm not sure what you mean with other feathers. Its such a mission to get a photo onto this site.

 

Must it go via photobucket2upload a photo I find it a long process!

://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag66/Maz758/Calypsotryingtodoaloopthroughfoodbowlperch_zps5cb3d628.jpg[/img][/url]

http://s1299.photobu...r/Maz758/media/_zps5cb3d628.jpg.html]

 

Finnie I actually managed to get the photobucket app to load pictures of the little sick Lutino with the de-husked whole seeds in her droppings. Hi Nadine Check her out. What do you think is the problem, too young? Digestive Enzymes not working? When I picked her up she was a bony little fairy - breastbone was pronounced.

I managed to give her Groats and she de-hulled them her self! She also eats the Japanese Millet which is apparently rich in Protein but I am very concerned about those pips in the poop:< Appatetite has improved in past 2 days but she's been on Baytril and Probiotic, variety of seeds in her bowl- I give them yellow+redmillet, red+yellow Manna,Groats,Saffron,Jap Millet and Canola seeds. Always Vitamin supplements in water, and sometimes wheat germ oil on their seeds, also cod-liver oil. None of those for her now though b4 I don't know for defo what's wrong with her.

 

Oh, I gotcha now. Seeds in poop are dehusked, but not digested. I had gotten the idea that they were whole, husks and all.

 

Good to see you worked out the photobucket. Yes, this forum only takes photos that are hosted somewhere on the internet. You can use other hosting sites besides photobucket, but I'm not familiar with them.

 

So in your photos, she's not looking like an unweaned chick, like I had thought might be the case.

 

I would guess that if she's put on weight, then the baytril and or the probiotics is helping. I'm pretty sure that if she had megabac, then neither of those two things would make any difference. When her course of baytril is over, you should continue the probiotics a few days longer, and then you should watch her to see if she has a relapse. I've heard of antibiotics masking a problem, but not curing it.

 

Well, I knew you wouldn't be able to get an adult or older chick to eat formula from a spoon, which is why I suggested the crop feeding. People do that sometimes with a sick bird to get some nutrition into its crop quickly before the bird's digestion shuts down. But it sounds like your hen is eating and pooping, you just want to know why all the seed isn't being digested properly.

 

Birds who play on the wires a lot often tatter up their tail feathers. That might not be any problem. The only reason I mentioned the other feathers was to get an idea if she was so young that she still had her baby pin feathers. I have seen other people posting their new baby birds on here that they got from a store or breeder, and the chick hadn't even fully feathered up yet! But that is not the case with this bird.

 

How long are you supposed to keep giving her the baytril? Fingers crossed that that will solve your problem.

Hi Finnie, I need to give Baytril 4 ten days, then I continue with pro biotics and a multivit, digestive enzyme,electrolite solution! Thhanks for your help. She doesn't look sick but I know its not normal for millet to poop out whole. Does she maybe have worms?that can stunt growth+weight? Can I give dewormers now though? She will be on Baytril until Tuesday.so 2 more days. I've added Jap Millet&groats,red Manna,yellow Manna to her millet. Today was disinfect&cleaning day of all cages and aviary so will shred veggies for them all tomorrow. I gave her some beetroot but she just ignored it. She also had an hour of direct morning sun yesterday+today.

I think you can safely put a drop of Ivermectin on her back. That kills a variety of worms. I don't know how other dewormers work though, whether or not they should be combined with antibiotics or held off till after.

I've only got mite spray, and then a drop behind neck for scaly mite-is that what Invermectin is?

drop behind neck for scaly mite-is that what Invermectin is?

 

Yes, but there might be other kinds that drop behind the neck. What is your drop-on called?

Must check...its called Avian by Aqua for scaly mites on legs+beak??? Nothing else on label! Then I have mediworm powder contains Pyrantel Palmoate+Praziquantel. We r in South africa-avian vets non existant!

Avian by Aqua for scaly mites

 

I tried googling that to find product info, but it didn't come up.