Advice appreciated, juvenile budgie with PBFD

[karenke]

Hi there, we got a new baby budgie 3 weeks ago, and within a few days all his long flights and long tail feathers had fallen out. We brought him to the vet for a health check (he was bought as a companion bird for our older budgie who lost his mate to cancer early Nov and we wanted to be sure he wasn't carrying anything before introducing them. He was and still is in strict quarantine in a seperate part of the house, with no sharing of utensils, toys etc between the birds)
Anyway results yesterday confirmed Beak and Feather disease
He is now 9.5 weeks old, and has settled into our home and is happy, active, eating well, loves playing with his toys. He doesn't fly well but can flutter. He is also hand tame.  Some of the feathers he lost are growing back.
We are obviously very upset about his diagnosis as he can't be introduced to our other budgie. We also need to understand how best to care for him as the vet said his immune system will be compromised from the virus, and that most PBFD birds succumb to secondary infections in 6 to 12 months.
Does anyone else have a PBFD positive budgie? Or any experience with this disease? 

[skysmum]

Im so sorry about your new baby, that's such a shame . birdguhl has a bud with PBFD and im sure she will help out.
I have a French Moult bud he is now 13 and an amazing little guy, thankfully he can live alongside my other buds as it is not contagious like PBFD.

[lemonade]

Hi there, one of our forum members birdguhl has a little one with beak and feather disease. Im Sure she will be able to give some advice
Welcome to the forum

[birdguhl]

Hi Karenke and welcome to the forum!

I am sorry to hear about your budgie's diagnosis.

One of my 4 boys (Berry in my avatar) has a diagnosis of PBFD which was made almost 2 years ago. It is now 27 months since he started showing clinical signs - dropping all his flight feathers etc. He is now a tiny scruffy scrap with large areas of only very thin downy feathers.

On the plus side, otherwise he seems very well and happy - full of character and attitude, and with a special talent too - see youtube link:

I have kept him integrated with my other buds (he was living with two before his diagnosis anyway), and none of the rest have been affected. I can't advise you on this as there is a risk to other birds but I am so glad I did not isolate him.

I believe his very close relationship with my other non-flyer, Luee, is protective for his health and I think the diet I give all of them is an important part of his continued wellbeing. I feed them all (approx) 25% germinated seed, 25% dry seed and 50% Harrisons high potency superfine pellets (see www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/education/harrisons-videos/) + a range of fruits, vegs and herbs including carrot, celery, red pepper, beetroot, kiwi, apple, orange, dill, parsley, basil and snow pea shoots.

I so hope your bud with this disease can live as happily my little Berry boy has so far.

[Hezz]

Good luck with your little fella, karenke.

birdguhl, do you make any special considerations for Berry's compromised immune system?

[karenke]

Thank you all very much for getting back to me .  Birdguhl, Berry is gorgeous, my Rio really enjoyed the chatter and pinging!
Thanks for the advice on feeding, I'll look into the pellets, we're in the process of introducing veg as Rio was seed raised. I've been looking into immune support and found a company in Belgium called re scha who do immune supplements for birds so will give these a try.
My next biggest concern is that both Rio, and our older bud, Bluie are on their own, so need to decide what to do for them in the next few weeks. The older one in particular is bereft without bird company, and has become quite wild since he lost his mate.
Seeing Berry has given me some hope that Rio can have some quality of life if we get the care right 

[budgiefriend]

Rio is in the right place now, Karenke. With all of your love and good care, he will do well. Keep us posted as you work on improving his immune system.

[Shirls]

Berry is certainly a very lively little musical pinger birdguhl. Lovely video.