Sick Budgie

[Scott]

Thanks for the update, nice to see a vet outsourcing that which is not comfortable!

 

[EllenD]

I'm glad that this Vet chose to not do a blood-draw if they weren't comfortable doing it...It's no different taking blood from a Budgie than it is any other parrot, except that you can't draw nearly as much from a Budgie as you can say a Macaw or Cockatoo of course...But if they don't feel comfortable doing it then just say no, lol...

***Something I didn't ask you earlier that may be a very important piece of the puzzle here...What is your housing set-up with your Budgies, and how many do you have total? And do they all live together, or do some live together, what is their set-up and flock-dynamic like?

The reason I'm asking is that it's not at all uncommon for people who own multiple Budgies to keep them all together in an "Aviary" of sorts, either a very large flight cage or an actual indoor-aviary. Either way, when you have multiple Budgies living together in the same 'territory" there are all kinds of weird flock-dynamics that develop, like dominant vs. submissive, male vs. male, male vs. female, female vs. female, etc., and then of course hormones come into play as well, especially if some or all of them start or have been mating with each other, as Budgies are not at all monagomous when they are living in a "Community" flock setting. So if you have more than one Budgie living with the ones that you're finding over-preeing/plucking/bald-patches, etc., then it's very likely that it either isn't them plucking themselves all the time, but rather they are plucking each other, over-preening each other, fighting with each other (even if you're not seeing it), etc. This is very common with people who purposely practice "Community Breeding" with Budgies, and even if you're not purposely wanting them to breed, when multiple Budgies are put together to live inside of the same space, with different sexes living together etc., then this can happen...

So while they may have come to you with some malnutrition issues that are causing some feather follicle and overall feather health issues, if you adopt a new Budgie and put it in the same space with other Budgies, and even if you have had the same Budgies living together in the same space for a long time, this usually does happen to at least some extent in probably 90%+ of the time...So something to think about as far as possibly separating the ones who are showing any feather issues or bald patches into their own, individual cages to see if it makes a difference and stops the issues, giving it at least a month to see what the end-result will be. You can keep their individual cages next to each other so they can still see each other and talk to each other, but they won't be able to exert dominance or aggression on each other...You'll have your answer if in month none of your Budgies have any of these issues at all...

 

[Doeyed]

I'm glad that this Vet chose to not do a blood-draw if they weren't comfortable doing it...It's no different taking blood from a Budgie than it is any other parrot, except that you can't draw nearly as much from a Budgie as you can say a Macaw or Cockatoo of course...But if they don't feel comfortable doing it then just say no, lol...

***Something I didn't ask you earlier that may be a very important piece of the puzzle here...What is your housing set-up with your Budgies, and how many do you have total? And do they all live together, or do some live together, what is their set-up and flock-dynamic like?

The reason I'm asking is that it's not at all uncommon for people who own multiple Budgies to keep them all together in an "Aviary" of sorts, either a very large flight cage or an actual indoor-aviary. Either way, when you have multiple Budgies living together in the same 'territory" there are all kinds of weird flock-dynamics that develop, like dominant vs. submissive, male vs. male, male vs. female, female vs. female, etc., and then of course hormones come into play as well, especially if some or all of them start or have been mating with each other, as Budgies are not at all monagomous when they are living in a "Community" flock setting. So if you have more than one Budgie living with the ones that you're finding over-preeing/plucking/bald-patches, etc., then it's very likely that it either isn't them plucking themselves all the time, but rather they are plucking each other, over-preening each other, fighting with each other (even if you're not seeing it), etc. This is very common with people who purposely practice "Community Breeding" with Budgies, and even if you're not purposely wanting them to breed, when multiple Budgies are put together to live inside of the same space, with different sexes living together etc., then this can happen...

So while they may have come to you with some malnutrition issues that are causing some feather follicle and overall feather health issues, if you adopt a new Budgie and put it in the same space with other Budgies, and even if you have had the same Budgies living together in the same space for a long time, this usually does happen to at least some extent in probably 90%+ of the time...So something to think about as far as possibly separating the ones who are showing any feather issues or bald patches into their own, individual cages to see if it makes a difference and stops the issues, giving it at least a month to see what the end-result will be. You can keep their individual cages next to each other so they can still see each other and talk to each other, but they won't be able to exert dominance or aggression on each other...You'll have your answer if in month none of your Budgies have any of these issues at all...

thank you so much you’ve been giving me such helpful advice. My budgies are currently housed in a very large flight cage. I have 15 total but two are separated and quarantined in separate smaller cages for the time. I am going to be moving them to two double wide flight cages so they have more width than height. In total I have 5 females out of all of them (two of those are the ones separated). I have read of budgies not being mates for life. Three of my budgies have mates but I don’t plan to breed them or provide them with a nest box. The cage is full of different size perches, stainless steel bowls, planet pleasure toys and a big vegetable bowl. I love my babies so much and I just want what’s best for them.

 

[EllenD]

Okay, so that's important information...I have an indoor aviary with 8 Budgies living in it, 7 males and one female that are all siblings; they were the last clutch of parrots I ever bred and hand-raised, so I decided to keep them...And I can tell you that it's an ongoing process to keep them all happy, healthy, non-aggressive, etc. during different times of the year...And yes, they have over-preened each other and plucked each other at times, and you don't know until you see them doing it. All 8 of them come out every night for a goo 3-4 hours of time with me and flying around the house, and that's usually when I see them doing things that they shouldn't be doing. So sometimes it requires separation of two of them temporarily, removing the female from the Aviary at least 2 months out of the year because I don't want them to in-breed or breed at all, making sure I have them on a sleep schedule where they're getting at least 12 hours of sleep each night, to keep their hormones at bay, etc.

So it's quite possible that instead of an actual health/medical issue causing your Budgie's feather issues, it's nothing more than another Budgie or multiple Budgies in the flock over-preening/plucking him. If that's the case then it's a good thing because you don't want any illnesses spreading throughout the flock, but it's a matter of watching them and trying to figure out the interflock dynamics going on between all of them.

***One note, if you only have 4 females out of the 15, you may want to consider separating them during "breeding seasons", that's what I do, because they WILL BREED even without a nest-box. And once Budgies start breeding they don't easily stop, nor do the females easily stop laying eggs once they start. They can go for years without laying any eggs, fertile or infertile, and then suddenly they are laying clutch after clutch after clutch no matter what you do. So you definitely want to watch them carefully in the spring and the late summer/early fall to make sure that none of them are breeding, and if they are then it's all about taking the measures to try to discourage them...