Possible broken flight feathers

[vetrano]

This is a great forum! Unfortunately I joined due to an issue with one of our budgies, Walkie. 2 weeks ago she woke me up in the middle of the night flapping her wings like crazy. When I went to check Walkie and her brother Talkie were hanging on to the side of the cage and just going crazy every couple minutes. I was able to calm them down and put them on their perches.

The next morning I noticed feathers everywhere including some long feathers. Looking over the birds I found that Walkie lost all of her flight feathers on her right side. She hasn't been able to fly since and is more timid and acts differently.

I didnt see blood and the feathers on the floor appeared to be whole feathers.

Fast forward to yesterday and I noticed red under her right wing when she was stretching. I'm not sure if this is a new blood feather or if it is the shaft from a broken feather. I searched for images of budgie flight feathers as they are growing in but haven't found anything that I can use to compare.

Please take a look at the photos in the link below. Does this look normal or do I need to get these removed? 

Photo 1

Photo 2

[vetrano]

I added a link to a couple photos to my original post.

[Marianne Marlow]

I'm not sure whether they are new feathers or broken ones either. Possibly broken, but if so you'd have seen snapped feathers on the floor.

I wouldn't get them removed, but an avian vet may be able to do this.

[vetrano]

Sept 15, 2019 14:28:34 GMT Marianne Marlow said:

I'm not sure whether they are new feathers or broken ones either. Possibly broken, but if so you'd have seen snapped feathers on the floor.

I wouldn't get them removed, but an avian vet may be able to do this.

We didn't notice any broken feathers at the time, but unfortunately we weren't looking for them so it is possible.

How long would you wait before taking further action? Would better photos help?

[Hezz]

I'm not sure about those feathers either ... it is just hard to make out exactly what is what. To me they look a little too neat to be broken. Since they are under her wing, if they were broken I would expect that she would be bothered by them as they would irritate her under there. The photos are fine, and blow up clearly. You could try taking some more and we can see if they are more definite.

[vetrano]

I'll see if I can take better photos. They dont seem to bother her as she doesn't pay much attention to it.

However she does not want to leave the cage anymore which I assume is because she cannot fly. This also affects her partner who will stay on top of the cage when he gets out instead of his usual favourite spot which I'm guessing is because she doesn't leave the cage.

[Hezz]

Sept 16, 2019 13:08:59 GMT vetrano said:

I'll see if I can take better photos. They dont seem to bother her as she doesn't pay much attention to it.

However she does not want to leave the cage anymore which I assume is because she cannot fly. This also affects her partner who will stay on top of the cage when he gets out instead of his usual favourite spot which I'm guessing is because she doesn't leave the cage.

I'd say you're right. Do they have a gym or somewhere you can put her to have a play and integrate outside of the cage? It may be a couple of weeks before she is back in the air and you don't want her getting too cozy in her cage. Also ladders and ropes can help her get from place to place.

[vetrano]

I wanted to provide an update in case anyone searches this thread in the future. I haven't had a chance to inspect her wing properly, but her large flight feathers are growing in. I suspect what I saw was the blood feathers before they fully grew. She still can't fly

Sept 16, 2019 19:23:04 GMT Hezz said:

I'd say you're right. Do they have a gym or somewhere you can put her to have a play and integrate outside of the cage? It may be a couple of weeks before she is back in the air and you don't want her getting too cozy in her cage. Also ladders and ropes can help her get from place to place.

I don't have a gym so I'll try to get her out here and there to play on the ground or even stay on my hand.

[Hezz]

You could try getting a branch of a bird-safe tree, and setting that up as somewhere for her to land, either hang it, suspend it or a large enough one could be potted into a bucket etc and supported by stones. Just some ideas, anyway.