Post by Biggles on Aug 12, 2019 15:59:38 GMT
Hi,
I've got two young budgies (under 4 months) from a friend. They were two out of a brood and she was worried about them because they didn't seem able to fly and were getting bullied by the other budgies.
They came to me about 1 month ago and one had almost no primary or secondary flight feathers or tail feathers, and the other had some tail feathers and a few flight feathers. These fell out very quickly after they first arrived.
About a week ago the feathers started growing again, and the first grew some flight feathers, which have now fallen out. The second seems to have grown pretty much all the feathers needed, and had started to fly. However last night all the primary feathers from one wing came out.
They're perfectly lively, noisy, eating and drinking fine. One is much more bold than the other (surprisingly it's the one with fewer feathers) and will happily climb on my hand, whereas the other is more nervous, and will feed from my hand, but not climb on me.
The only thing other than the lack/loss of feathers is that they've both got two or three fluffy feathers that look loose on their backs, but haven't actually come out, although I thought they would.
Having looked on the internet (knowing not a lot!), my guess was that they both have French Moult.
Does this seem likely? The rest of the brood is fine.
I got the impression that having got it, they were unlikely to gain flight feathers again, and definitely not to fly. I'm also a bit confused why they suddenly grew the feathers now, as they're not showing signs of moulting anywhere else. Are they likely to keep growing the feathers and losing them?
They've got plenty of iodine (and seem to like it) and cuttlefish and some high protein moulting seeds as well as normal things. They're thoroughly spoilt birds! My son even reads them a bedtime story (which they seem to love-at any rate they come and chirrup to him throughout!)
I've got two young budgies (under 4 months) from a friend. They were two out of a brood and she was worried about them because they didn't seem able to fly and were getting bullied by the other budgies.
They came to me about 1 month ago and one had almost no primary or secondary flight feathers or tail feathers, and the other had some tail feathers and a few flight feathers. These fell out very quickly after they first arrived.
About a week ago the feathers started growing again, and the first grew some flight feathers, which have now fallen out. The second seems to have grown pretty much all the feathers needed, and had started to fly. However last night all the primary feathers from one wing came out.
They're perfectly lively, noisy, eating and drinking fine. One is much more bold than the other (surprisingly it's the one with fewer feathers) and will happily climb on my hand, whereas the other is more nervous, and will feed from my hand, but not climb on me.
The only thing other than the lack/loss of feathers is that they've both got two or three fluffy feathers that look loose on their backs, but haven't actually come out, although I thought they would.
Having looked on the internet (knowing not a lot!), my guess was that they both have French Moult.
Does this seem likely? The rest of the brood is fine.
I got the impression that having got it, they were unlikely to gain flight feathers again, and definitely not to fly. I'm also a bit confused why they suddenly grew the feathers now, as they're not showing signs of moulting anywhere else. Are they likely to keep growing the feathers and losing them?
They've got plenty of iodine (and seem to like it) and cuttlefish and some high protein moulting seeds as well as normal things. They're thoroughly spoilt birds! My son even reads them a bedtime story (which they seem to love-at any rate they come and chirrup to him throughout!)
I totally agree with your assessment of French Moult. Fm affects the feather follicles so that the follicles cannot hold the feathers that do grow. Of course the feathers can be deformed as well, but the reason they drop is due to the follicles. Your birds will continue to try to replace the lost feathers - that's what the bird has evolved to do. When the virus is at it's strongest these feathers will drop, at other times they will seem to hold the feathers for longer and sometimes long enough and in enough numbers for them to gain flight for a short time, again.
