Unkown feather problem

[crenor]

Hello All

For the last few months, my budgie has this feather problem. Sometimes it is getting little bit better but not healing completely. Besides feather loss, she also has weird feathers on her back and wing(you can see on the left side of her).

She already went to vet, but to be honest, vets in where i live doesn't know too much thing about birds. Treatments didn't help.

Maybe some of you know what is this problem called. I don't even know how to google it and help her.

She was very very strong and brave budgie. I can say she had perfect flight skills. Now she can only fly 1-2m before she fells. Also very weak compared to before.

I hope there is someone here who can at least guide me to understand what is wrong.

[suesbird]

Someone will be on to help you very soon. Please hold on.

[samwiseg]

Hi and welcome crenor

Looks and sounds like what is known as a French Moult to me

How old is your bird do you know? About 6-8 weeks the condition usually shows itself

Have not experienced this with my birds but there are other members on here that have and as suesbird has kindly advised someone will be able to clarify soon

[skysmum]

Poor little soul
I'm not convinced it's French Moult but it could be, i had a bird that was 2 when he first showed signs of FM and it affected his flight feathers only.

I'm thinking more on the lines of Beak and Feather disease, a similar virus. There is no cure for either, if it is that. Give her the best nutrition and love her, my boy lived for 15 years

[Marianne Marlow]

Can we see a view from the back and side, to see the wing and tail feathers?

The spiky feathers on her head are pin feathers from moulting.

[Hezz]

I'm not convinced it is either french moult (usually affects the primary feathers first) or PBFD; the photos that Marianne Marlow have requested will be of some help so that we can see what the whole of the bird looks like. I wonder if the fluffed feathers are due to how they are growing or whether she is mutilating them. This is a good article on budgie feather loss, especially the section on plucking. It gives you a lot of options as to what might be the cause, things you can do at home to perhaps get get over this if it is a plucking issue.

[Marianne Marlow]

Hezz, I think you have omitted the link to the article.

[Hezz]

Jul 19, 2019 9:00:14 GMT Marianne Marlow said:

Hezz, I think you have omitted the link to the article.

Oh, yeah; I sure did!!! Try this time ...

www.omlet.co.uk/guide/budgie_guide/health_problems/feather_problems

[username]

so sad I think something similar is happening to my budgie but he has not lost feathers... yet 
I noticed one pin feather growing out in the opposite direction nearly 2 weeks ago now all his feathers looked like this.
do you think it could be related to the diet or stress?
has anyone found a resolution to this? 
thanks for any help. 

[Hezz]

Since the feathers around his head and neck, the areas he can’t preen himself, are normal, my guess is that he is doing this himself. Why is the big question and there are no straight answers. Boredom, over-stimulation, lack of cage space or out of cage time, possible medical conditions, mites or lice, something changed in his environment - anything from loss of a mate to an extra chair in the room. Stress can be a huge factor as well. Plenty of foraging toys and the best diet possible are two of the places to start and then think about what might have been the trigger for this barbering a few weeks ago. Is he a nervous bird in general? Quite often there are psychological issues that kick of this sort of behaviour and then they become habit-forming and very hard to turn around, but medical conditions cannot be ruled out either.

[Hezz]

This. Site may have some information that is useful to you.

birdtricksstore.com/blogs/birdtricks-blog/tips-for-birds-with-feather-destructive-behaviors