Help? So many things, all the time :(

[Oedipussrex]

Every day i wonder if I'm doing the right thing by pickle.
Pickle is my 2year old male red sided Eclectus and he was diagnosed with Chronic beak and feather earlier this year. I know i normalise everything about him, playing with him every day how could i not?.. I just don't want to be the worst thing that ever happened to him... :'(

I have uploaded two pictures and I'm sorry for all my writing (that i just cant help it seems).

My main questions are:
Does the lump in the second picture that i have circled look like it could be a feather cyst/ what else could it be?

And does anyone know what his oil/preening gland is supposed to look like normally?
(I'm probably just being paranoid, because its not covered in feathers, and usually you can't see it, but its not like he uses it properly (with the few feathers he has), so there is a possibility of it becoming blocked/swollen?

What happens if feathers don't moult like they should..? Because of his condition the vet wasn't too fazed, but i found a plucked feather which looked like the new feather had tried to grow inside the hollowed shaft of a feather that was still in his wing... And because he knows they arent coming back, and hes not preening properly i am sure most of the feathers he has left have been there too long...

Has anyone else been in my position, with any pet and serious diseases? How much is too much? and how do you know if you're doing the right thing? Especially with birds, who try their best not to let you know... :/



The first picture is what he used to look like. That one was taken on his approximate first birthday, in august last year. If i didnt have piles of pictures of him like this i wouldn't even remember when he used to look like that, i cant picture him like that in my mind.

The second picture is the most recent one i have on my computer of him, its from September this year. It looks better than he does because pretty much all he has left is coverts on his wings, and head. so with his wings folded in he does his best to hide his nakedness.

I put a red circle about a lump i noticed on him around that time (Sep.) that I've been keeping an eye on. It hasn't gotten any bigger (-well, his feathers are stunted and aren't getting any bigger either...), or changed in any way, except that now its blue, kind of the same colour as the inside of the feathers he tries to grow in (even though they never make it out of the sheath now).

It doesn't seem to bother him, he leaves it alone, and doesn't react when i poke it so i don't think it hurts (or i also worry that its just because he is in pain for other reasons that it doesn't seem like much to him...) :'( i just never know with him.



I was going to ring the vet when i get a chance, but she only sees him at the end of the day after hours, because she cant use the consult room and is not allowed to see any other birds after being exposed to him for quarantine reasons. So most of our exchanges have ended up being on the phone (she is also over an hour away).

I always feel bad, ringing her and using all her time which she probably needs, just to answer my questions, when i don't even go in that often and actually pay her for a consult.

But if it is something i should go to the vet to get removed i will. He just hates the vet so much, i always try and do everything all in one hit. especially if this would require some sort of procedure.

 

[kc_y0]

Poor thing, thats so sad!! I can't be of any help, as I haven't dealt with this before, but I hope its nothing serious! May I ask how he got beak and feather disease? Was he with other birds? Its always something I'm super paranoid about.

 

[Oedipussrex]

We never have him with other birds, and he is always supervised in a smaller cage when we took him outside.
Especially since he started presenting in his first big moult (which was delayed yes) we are pretty sure that he got it at the breeders, which we later found out had had other incidences of it in lorikeets.

 

[Thingamagigs]

This is a REALLY good example of needing caution when buying a bird from a lorikeet breeder here in Australia.

Only buy from a lorikeet breeder if they test for PBFD in ALL their babies BEFORE you buy your baby. No mater what the species is. Lorikeets are notorious for being carriers and not showing any symptoms (or showing them up too late).

In fact here in Australia, it is probably best to ONLY buy babies that have been PBFD tested.

My corella bub will have the testing done before I pick him up.

 

[Oedipussrex]

This is a REALLY good example of needing caution when buying a bird from a lorikeet breeder here in Australia.

Only buy from a lorikeet breeder if they test for PBFD in ALL their babies BEFORE you buy your baby. No mater what the species is. Lorikeets are notorious for being carriers and not showing any symptoms (or showing them up too late).

In fact here in Australia, it is probably best to ONLY buy babies that have been PBFD tested.

My corella bub will have the testing done before I pick him up.

This is absolutely true.
I'm in SA though, and it isn't considered as much of a big deal here as in Queensland because there is a much bigger occurrence of it up there. It took me months to find a vet that would test him even after he showed symptoms, simply because he is neither a lorikeet or a cocky and they simply didn't think that the likelihood of him having it was large enough. (compared to other obvious causes for feather destruction)

 

[coral3]

Poor Pickle

How long have you had him? Was he carrying the feather disease when you got him do you think, or caught it later?

I'm worried now, I am waiting on a bird at the moment, from a breeder who also breeds lorikeets & I had no idea about any risks of PBFD.


ETA: sorry, just spotted where you said you think he had it from the breeder.

 

[Thingamagigs]

Poor Pickle

How long have you had him? Was he carrying the feather disease when you got him do you think, or caught it later?

I'm worried now, I am waiting on a bird at the moment, from a breeder who also breeds lorikeets & I had no idea about any risks of PBFD.


ETA: sorry, just spotted where you said you think he had it from the breeder.

Get them to test the bub for PBFD... its pretty standard in QLD... and considering the bird trade is becoming more popular in Australia, it should become standard in all states.

Its very easily passed on from wild lorikeets when aviaries have sections open to the elements, such as mesh roof tops. If they have lorikeets, wild lorikeets will visit the aviary birds. It could technically happen to any aviary... but is much much more likely with those who keep lorikeets and almost as likely with those who keep cockatoos.

 

[kc_y0]

That's so sad, poor Pickle! I had no idea about the lorikeets having PBFD either! Thats very scary!