Possibly sick quaker?

Hello! I'm new here. My wife and I got a quaker parrot about a week ago. It's our first bird and are really excited about being bird owners. Our bird is named Kiwi and she is about 8 years old and was used as a breeder bird for the past 7 years. She is very nice, we can handle her with out fear of being bitten even after only a week.

I'm trying to get some opinions on if she may be sick. We won't have the money to see an avian vet for about 2 weeks and I'm just worried after doing research on quaker behaviors and body language.

She sits with her feathers fluffed up for about 60-70% of the time when she is awake. She plays with her toys and overall doesn't act sick though I know that is normal even if she is sick. But as she is new to us and us to her, we don't know if this is normal for her or not. I attached pictures of her fluffed up.

Do you think she is sick? Should we be worried and scrape up some money to get her checked out sooner than 2 weeks from now?

If you are as loving and caring as you sound... I think I'd scrape up the money. Regrets are such a sad thing. If she IS sick... and gets worse... well...

Good luck!

Is it warm enough in her cage? Parrots do this to conserve body heat when cold, but it's also a common warning sign of illness. I don't know your connection to the previous owners...is she a rescue, did you get her from friends or purchase her from a store or breeder...but if she's done this since you've had her she may have been sick when she arrived and the formers should have told you. Many vets will let you set up an account or use credit cards, and if she is ill it will be much cheaper to treat her early. Plus once a parrot begins to look sick, they are often quite sick, because they hide their illnesses and injuries as much as they can.

Hello, welcome to the forum. She is an adorable little Quaker parrot, and it's very unusual that a breeder bird of 7 years is tame at all, usually you can't get anywhere near them, so you are very lucky to have found her. That being said, she does look like she may be unwell, and as you have already said, it means nothing that birds try to act like they aren't sick because they try to hide illness at all costs. And by the time they are outwardly showing any symptoms of illness they are often VERY SICK and need treatment immediately. I am tempted to think that part of the reason she is so tame and letting you handle her right away is because she is sick, that's not uncommon at all. As Abigail stated, I would hate for you to lose her so early and have regrets. A good practice to follow is that if you have any inkling that your bird is sick, you need to take them to a certified avian vet ASAP, do not hesitate. Much better safe than sorry.

I have a blue male Quaker parrot that is almost a year old and I love him dearly. He had an upper respiratory infection when he was around 6 months old, and his very first outward sign that he was sick was being fluffed up all the time. I immediately took him to my avian vet, he did a throat/mouth/crop culture and then another from his nostrils, and sure enough he had a bad upper respiratory infection and needed an oral antibiotic, an antibiotic injection while we were there, and nebulizer treatments twice a week at the vet's office. He got much sicker as the week went on before he started to get better. Had I not taken him immediately he would not be here now.

Please get her to a certified or at least qualified avian vet ASAP, 2 weeks is way too long to wait, you need to get it as early as possible.

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Hello, and welcome to the Parrot Forums family!

I agree with the above posts wholeheartedly. Excellent advice! As Kentuckienne mentioned, birds do fluff up like that to conserve heat when it's cold. So it's possible she isn't sick. But it's also quite possible that she's masking something serious. If your instincts are telling you something may be wrong, the best course would be to take her in to see the vet. Birds really do hide any signs of illness. I've seen it first hand. So yes, I would take her in to be sure.

Besides, if you are 2 weeks away from being able to take her to the vet anyway, then a credit card might be your best bet. Or you could call ahead to the vet and see about setting up a payment plan. Some places are really good about that.

Just make sure that the vet you go to is a certified avian vet.

My bird kind of acted that way for a couple weeks when I first got her but was just adjusting to her new environment, she was also super sweet in those couple of weeks but I soon found out she was just shy. It is always a good idea to take a new bird to the vet for a checkup regardless if there is signs or not, even more so for an older, ex breeder. As to when to take her I can't answer that but better to be safe than sorry if possible!

Thank you for all the replies! We ended up taking her to the vet today, because you are all correct, better safe than sorry. The Vet was awesome and very knowledgeable and experienced. He played with her for about an hour and asked us a bunch of questions. He was very skeptical of her age and the fact that she was a breeder bird ever in her life. We were told from the lady we got her from she was 8 years old and a breeder, however the vet read her foot band and it said she was born in 2002, but she acts like a very young bird, maybe 1 or 2 years old, and her feet don't have any of the signs an older bird would have.

He said he didn't see anything that would cause a concern right now, poop is normal, lungs and heart sound fine, no plucking, she was preening in front of him which was a surprise for him. He just said she seems like she is adjusting to her new environment, she acts like a very young bird and that she has alot to learn. He said to keep an eye out and if anything changes for the worse to come back immediately, and that he would follow up with us in a week to see how she is doing.

You are my favorite Quaker parront in the whole wide world..hope all stays well.

Do unscrupulous people remove bands from dead birds and put them on illegal babies? Is there something odd going on? Oh, I hope you are all off to a great start!

I'm so glad all seems to be well! And that you seem to have found a really good vet. Looking forward to many more updates about your sweet quaker.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqem5zeDc28"]5 Signs Your Bird is Sick - YouTube[/ame]
link to 5 signs your bird is sick BY Animal wonders

Kentuckienne said:

Do unscrupulous people remove bands from dead birds and put them on illegal babies? Is there something odd going on? Oh, I hope you are all off to a great start!

Click to expand...

Oh that's awful. I can't believe this but I've never even thought about this happening...

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Hi Ellen, just looking at this post and wondering about my Kiwi. Someone asked me on a Facebook post that sees pic's of my Kiwi asked why she is always puffy. She puffs up when she is not doing anything. She eats ok and is chirpy, talks, sings and plays some but not alot. Someone asked me if she was sick? I don't hear any breathing issues and some have told me that puffy means she is content. I see your post and you said your Quaker was being puffed up alot and was sick?
I just took mine to the vet a month ago and she had a CBC and was ok. THen as you read on my other posts she had a bad experience with the last vet trimming her beak and nails and caused bleeding....this traumatized her. Just wondering if this experience could have made her sick?

when you have the money, get blood work too just because even healthy birds should.


As first-time owners, have you researched teflon/pfoa/ptfe? Is hidden all over and deadly..
Scents--natural or not---are bad for birds (candles, any household cleaner that usn;t avian approved, carpet cleaners, air fresheners, nail polish, perfume etc) They have very complicated respiratory systems.
Vinegar + water is a safe option, as is GSE+ water or F10 SC (yellow kind---safe avian cleaning produce)

Just wanted to throw that out there in case you didn't already know.

Sheri I just commented on your other post, then I saw this one, lol...Yes, my Quaker last year was diagnosed with an Upper Respiratory Infection and had to get Antibiotics through a Nebulizer for a week. She's fine now...

A parrot being "fluffed-up" constantly is a sign that they are ill, but the reason for this is because, just as you said your Quaker does, they are typically fluffed-up when they are tired or sleeping, or trying to sleep...So when they are fluffed-up all the time, that typically means that they are sleeping or sleepy/tired all the time, which is definitely a sign that they aren't feeling well...usually described as "lethargy"...

I have seen a lot of puffy Quakers, so this may just be more common with them.



Have there been any respiratory symptoms?
If so, I am not saying your parrot has this -NOR AM I CONTRADICTING THE VET, but as new "parronts" (IN GENERAL/FYI) I wanted to let you know that diseases like Aspergillossis (?sp?) won't always show up in blood if they are chronic---the wbc count sometimes returns to normal when the body stops trying to fight conditions over time---so neither clean blood, nor poop is a sure indicator that a bird is totally healthy (even though it is a good starting point)...Testing for Aspergillosis (I know am spelling it wrong ) usually involves a lot of guess-work and extensive testing (blood, x-rays, scoping,swabs etc) if the birds symptoms aren't super obvious. SO...my point is, keep an eye on your bird (even though the vet thinks you are good)..Just because, even with basic testing, birds can still hide illness.

Kentuckienne said:

Do unscrupulous people remove bands from dead birds and put them on illegal babies? Is there something odd going on? Oh, I hope you are all off to a great start!

Click to expand...

Sometimes breeders have left-over bands lying around and if they are unscrupoulous neither orifices might put them on babybirds.
Not likely (unless you are trying to circumvent a law that that has been passed recently???) since everybody demands young ones, so artificially "aging" a young bird hardly makes sense.

In some situations (unexpected arrival of CITES babybirds) "an out-of-date-band" is better than "no band at all" - since you only have a small window in which to safely and damagefree put them on.


==


Franky I do not really mind what age you new quaker is, as long as she is healthy and sociable... ?
(I do love a good mystery dont get me wrong - so if you can get to the bottom of this riddle, plze do share!)


Wel done on the vetvisit!
I know sometimes it can be really hard to find the means to get it done- so a double well done to you guys!

noodles123 said:

I have seen a lot of puffy Quakers, so this may just be more common with them.



Have there been any respiratory symptoms?
If so, I am not saying your parrot has this -NOR AM I CONTRADICTING THE VET, but as new "parronts" (IN GENERAL/FYI) I wanted to let you know that diseases like Aspergillossis (?sp?) won't always show up in blood if they are chronic---the wbc count sometimes returns to normal when the body stops trying to fight conditions over time---so neither clean blood, nor poop is a sure indicator that a bird is totally healthy (even though it is a good starting point)...Testing for Aspergillosis (I know am spelling it wrong ) usually involves a lot of guess-work and extensive testing (blood, x-rays, scoping,swabs etc) if the birds symptoms aren't super obvious. SO...my point is, keep an eye on your bird (even though the vet thinks you are good)..Just because, even with basic testing, birds can still hide illness.

Click to expand...

This is the first time that I've ever heard it suggested that it's "normal" for Quakers to be fluffed-up all the time...I have had my Quaker since she was 12 weeks old, she's now over 3 years-old, and she does not fluff herself up any more than any of my other parrots do, and that is when she is sleeping/napping, or when she is snuggled against my Green Cheek, or snuggled against me/my neck, etc.

***In Sheri's particular situation, her Quaker has not only had a horrible and dangerous experience this past week after an Exotic's Vet ground her beak with a Dremel and cut all 8 toenails down to nothing, causing excessive bleeding and an enormous amount of pain, but he's also not been feeling-well overall in the first place...So if I were Sheri, I certainly would not just right-off her Quaker being constantly fluffed-up right now, as her Quaker has been through a serious trauma that caused enough blood-loss to cause anemia possible secondary-infection, etc., plus he's exhibited other outward signs/symptoms of being sick.

All of us here know very well what can happen, and often does happen when we ignore or right-off an outward behavior like this as either being normal, or as being a "fluke"...

EllenD said:

noodles123 said:

I have seen a lot of puffy Quakers, so this may just be more common with them.



Have there been any respiratory symptoms?
If so, I am not saying your parrot has this -NOR AM I CONTRADICTING THE VET, but as new "parronts" (IN GENERAL/FYI) I wanted to let you know that diseases like Aspergillossis (?sp?) won't always show up in blood if they are chronic---the wbc count sometimes returns to normal when the body stops trying to fight conditions over time---so neither clean blood, nor poop is a sure indicator that a bird is totally healthy (even though it is a good starting point)...Testing for Aspergillosis (I know am spelling it wrong ) usually involves a lot of guess-work and extensive testing (blood, x-rays, scoping,swabs etc) if the birds symptoms aren't super obvious. SO...my point is, keep an eye on your bird (even though the vet thinks you are good)..Just because, even with basic testing, birds can still hide illness.

Click to expand...

This is the first time that I've ever heard it suggested that it's "normal" for Quakers to be fluffed-up all the time...I have had my Quaker since she was 12 weeks old, she's now over 3 years-old, and she does not fluff herself up any more than any of my other parrots do, and that is when she is sleeping/napping, or when she is snuggled against my Green Cheek, or snuggled against me/my neck, etc.

***In Sheri's particular situation, her Quaker has not only had a horrible and dangerous experience this past week after an Exotic's Vet ground her beak with a Dremel and cut all 8 toenails down to nothing, causing excessive bleeding and an enormous amount of pain, but he's also not been feeling-well overall in the first place...So if I were Sheri, I certainly would not just right-off her Quaker being constantly fluffed-up right now, as her Quaker has been through a serious trauma that caused enough blood-loss to cause anemia possible secondary-infection, etc., plus he's exhibited other outward signs/symptoms of being sick.

All of us here know very well what can happen, and often does happen when we ignore or right-off an outward behavior like this as either being normal, or as being a "fluke"...

Click to expand...

I don't have a Quaker-- constantly fluffed does sound bad...fluffy-ish is what I have seen among those I have encountered, but they were also younger. I am not saying nothing is wrong (again, that was why I said MAYBE lol...I really don't know). I didn't mean to suggest that everything was fine, but I tend to come off as overly-fatalistic at times, so I was trying to present 2 possibilities....in a very uncertain way (again---not a Quaker owner).