Night Wing Twitching?? Why do avian vets have to sleep?!

[Trillium]

I've never had an issue with my blue crowned conure before last night. Last night (Thursday) he went "to bed" which means wheeling his large cage into my bedroom, covering it half way and letting him sing to the closet for an hour before falling to sleep. Well he had a tough time of it. I was concerned when I also went to bed later that night to hear a loud "swish swish" at an interval of about 30 seconds or so. I thought he was blowing kisses like he does on occasion, but when I stealthily peeked in, I realized his wings were twitching - like little spasms. I stayed up all night, I tried holding him for about an hour and it stopped as he slept on my chest. Then when he was back in his cage, it started again.

He is 7 years old. He has had no environmental changes. He is in a molt, but I notice no feathers amiss on his wings or below. He does not do this during the day. Nothing else twitches. He eats Zupreme (the fruity, colorful ones) and has since able to eat solid foods. He also has a small dish of treat parrot seed mix in the morning. This contains sunflowers, safflowers, peanuts, corn, pellets and some grains I don't recognize.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I absolutely hate the local emergency vets, as they have never been any help for my parakeets and lovebirds, but if advised, I'll bring him. I'm a birdy-mom wreck!

You know how it goes, your feathered baby is fine until night and then you're on your own until daytime... and almost always on a saturday night, of course so you'll have to wait until Monday. And because of the hurricane, my vets office is already closed until Tuesday (talk about jumping the gun!). I left a message with the answering service, but have had troubles with them before. :smile005:

 

[Trillium]

Anyone? I really can't sleep because when I hear the wing swish sound every 10 seconds it renews my anxiety.

He is in a pretty good molt right now. Are there certain vitamins that are drained during this period he might be lacking in by just his diet alone? He doesn't eat too many veggies - he usually just ignores them or rips them apart without eating them, so it's mostly just the pellets and the small cup of seed treat.

I'm worried he might become ill from the lack of sleep this is causing him.

 

[JensFlock]

I have no advice, but I'm praying your little guy will be ok.

 

[henpecked]

If this is something that happens only at nite, try this.Instead of total darkness use a small "nite light" and don't completely cover the cage,My tiels suffer from night frights and this really helps.

 

[Trillium]

Thanks for the advice and the support. I don't think this is an anxiety/night fright thing, honestly. There is a little night light in the room and his cage is covered only on the top 4 inches, which is how its been since he was adopted 4 years ago.

I'm wondering if maybe he needs more calcium because he is in a really deep molt - lots of tail and wing feathers have gone this time, which he doesn't lose in every molt. I haven't been able to find a resource to show what vitamins are depleted the most during a molt, but I know that when humans have low calcium, they get nightly leg twitches. Does this make sense?

 

[Mayden]

Is it warm where you live? My birds, especially one of my hens seems to do a really odd wing twitch when she's trying to cool down.

I'd suggest making sure he's got a cuttlefish, just incase he does have lowish calcium.

 

[mele]

I wish I had advise but.....

If it just started maybe its anxiety because of the hurricane. He must sence it.

My thoughts are with you both. Keep us posted

 

[Auggie's Dad]

If it just started maybe its anxiety because of the hurricane.

I was thinking the same thing - it sounds kind of crazy, but many of us noticed our birds acting a bit off just before the recent earthquakes as well.

If it continues - perhaps a trip to the vet would be in store. But I'd wait for the storm to pass and see if that's what it was.

Birds are very sensitive to pressure changes .... and there are a lot of pressure changes around a hurricane.

 

[Trillium]

If it just started maybe its anxiety because of the hurricane.

I was thinking the same thing - it sounds kind of crazy, but many of us noticed our birds acting a bit off just before the recent earthquakes as well.

If it continues - perhaps a trip to the vet would be in store. But I'd wait for the storm to pass and see if that's what it was.

Birds are very sensitive to pressure changes .... and there are a lot of pressure changes around a hurricane.

Oh I hope so! It was downgraded to a tropical storm for us today and has pretty much passed by with exception of some amazing winds. On the up side, my lovebirds were hilarious because they were glued to the balcony doors, watching the leaves fly by.

Oscar is still twitching tonight. I'm going to really bug that answering service tomorrow! Our avian vet is good, but he's the only one in the area and rather hard to get a hold of outside of his normal business hours.

 

[Bright Star]

I'd for sure have him seen by a vet. In looking over my copy of The Bird Care Book, which covers body systems and signs/treatment of various medical conditions, it's hard to know how serious this is. If it's convulsions or seizures, which can include leg twitching, wings flapping and shaking, it is vital that you see a vet.

If it's not convulsions, it's hard to know what it could be without witnessing it myself. It might be simply nerves, but it's probably best to get your bird checked out. At the very least, it's important to ensure that he can't injure (or hasn't injured) a leg or a wing. Have you checked him over for injuries? Your vet may ask that first. They'll probably also ask if anything in the environment has changed recently, anything, or if it's possible he got into something he shouldn't have.

It's best to keep track of all the signs so that you can clearly remember them when you speak to the vet. The more information you can give him, the better.

I hope he's okay and that it's nothing serious.

 

[MikeyTN]

The only time I've seen the conures do that is when they're upset or nervous about something. Have you tried leaving him out of the room your putting him into, since you said you place him in a closet. Try not putting him in there and put him in your room instead.

 

[Trillium]

The only time I've seen the conures do that is when they're upset or nervous about something. Have you tried leaving him out of the room your putting him into, since you said you place him in a closet. Try not putting him in there and put him in your room instead.

Oh dear god! I don't place my Oscar in a closet at night. Are you referring to how I mentioned that he likes to chatter and sing to the closet at night? It's across the room. He's in love with it. Thinks its a large nest box I'm guessing. Anyway, for 4 years, he's slept in his cage right beside my bed without any issue.

Whew! Now that that is cleared up - I did finally get him in with his vet. You can bet I called in first thing when they opened and I got an appointment in hand for that very day. The vet seems to agree its a vitamin deficiency. Oscar got a good going-over from crown to tail and from what the vet saw inside his beak (not sure what actually... his beak and tongue look fine to me), he determined that the Zumpreem pellets and supplemental nutriberries, nuts and fruits Oscar's been eating since he was a baby have not been in his best interest. So he switched Oscar to Harrison's, (which no matter what I've tried, he will NOT even touch let alone eat). The vet seems to think that when he does eat this, he'll stop the twitching. Does anyone else have their feathered friends on this food?

 

[Rio Mom]

I just switched River onto a mix of Harrisons and Roudybush, along with fruits/veggies/pasta/nutriberries/etc. He took to the new pellets right away, so I got lucky there!

 

[Trillium]

I really hope its just a matter of the diet change because it's escalated to not only wings, but his right leg too now. Its like little spasms. As if he gets tired on his foot and needs to move it abruptly to reposition it. With his wings, he just barely lifts them - like a quick lift at the shoulders.

Poor little guy can't be getting sleep. When I get close enough to check, he looks at me and says a sleepy, dejected sounding "hi." It hurts not being able to make things better for him immediately.

 

[Riio]

Poor little guy can't be getting sleep. When I get close enough to check, he looks at me and says a sleepy, dejected sounding "hi." It hurts not being able to make things better for him immediately. [/QUOTE]


That is so Sad! I hope things get better SOON!!

 

[MikeyTN]

Maybe a second vet opinion with blood work? I hope he feels better soon!!!

 

[mtdoramike]

The only time I've seen the conures do that is when they're upset or nervous about something. Have you tried leaving him out of the room your putting him into, since you said you place him in a closet. Try not putting him in there and put him in your room instead.

Oh dear god! I don't place my Oscar in a closet at night. Are you referring to how I mentioned that he likes to chatter and sing to the closet at night? It's across the room. He's in love with it. Thinks its a large nest box I'm guessing. Anyway, for 4 years, he's slept in his cage right beside my bed without any issue.

Whew! Now that that is cleared up - I did finally get him in with his vet. You can bet I called in first thing when they opened and I got an appointment in hand for that very day. The vet seems to agree its a vitamin deficiency. Oscar got a good going-over from crown to tail and from what the vet saw inside his beak (not sure what actually... his beak and tongue look fine to me), he determined that the Zumpreem pellets and supplemental nutriberries, nuts and fruits Oscar's been eating since he was a baby have not been in his best interest. So he switched Oscar to Harrison's, (which no matter what I've tried, he will NOT even touch let alone eat). The vet seems to think that when he does eat this, he'll stop the twitching. Does anyone else have their feathered friends on this food?

Thanks you hahahahahaha, I was about to give you a verbal thrashing.:21: