Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2012 14:13:14 GMT
So here's the story:
When I first got Munchy (from a pet shop because it was a spur of the moment decision by my nan to let me have a budgie and I knew of no local breeders at the time) about a month ago, he had no flight feathers. By the end of the week they were starting to show through and now if I hold him and spread his wing you can see that they're there, they're just not long enough to show from under the rest of his feathers when the wing's folded. That doesn't seem to be an issue though and the two flight feathers on the outer edge of the wing are long enough to see, perhaps about an inch longer than the rest of his wing.
The problem itself is that pretty much everyday he sheds at least one flight feather, usually whilst flying. Also, his tail feathers seem to be growing a bit twisted and stick out a bit from the general lie of his tail. I decided to take some photos of his wings to see if anyone had any ideas, because yesterday he lost another feather and today he can't fly properly, he just goes for the ground as soon as you get him to fly (normally he just sits where you put him until you move him when he's out of his cage, unless he wants his food). When I was taking the photos, he flew off at one point and a feather came loose. It didn't fall out but it was crooked. I took some photos of that and then noticed that there was some blood on his wing.
Since then, I popped him back into his cage and he preened the feather back into place, and I noticed that there was quite a bit of blood under his wing. We haven't got any styptic powder and I remember seeing that cornflour could be used instead, so I tried to put some of that on the wound. Not sure how well I managed, but there doesn't seem to be any more bleeding. He started preening the wing and at first I thought he was trying to pull the feather out but it looks like he's been cleaning it. One feather has a prominant blood spot on the end and he looks a bit comical trying to clean it because he's tugging on it and looks like he's going to fall off his perch. He's been nibbling his rope perch as well since preening his wing, as if he's trying to clean his beak.
On a final note, his feathers are yellow but his flight feathers have been white when they've grown, with perhaps a little bit of yellow in them. Not sure if the lack of pigment is significant. And he seems to be having a bit of trouble getting his balance as he hops around his perches. And now he looks like he's trying to get the feather out again.
Basically, I was just wondering if there was a chance that this was french moult (seeing as he was the youngest budgie by far in the shop and it seemed a bit strange when all the others are older) and if it is french moult is there anything I can do for him to try to help? I know that I can't do anything about french moult but I was wondering if I should do anything about his flight feathers? It seems stressful for him to keep growing them and having to pull them out if they keep slipping like this one has.
Here's the pictures:
Munchy's wings and tail from above, before his feather went wonkey.
His tail from the side, showing one of the feathers that's permanently sticking out.
The dislodged feather just after it happened.
Munchy's right wing.
The same wing again.
The left wing.
And here's the spot of blood caused by the displacement of that feather. I couldn't get a shot of the main site of the bleeding because there wasn't anyone else to help me take the photo and I didn't have enough hands to do it myself, plus I didn't want to disturb him again by picking him up. he doesn't like it.
Sorry that the pictures aren't very good. There's not enough natural light here today so the flash keeps activating unless I was right up by the window and it's very cloudy anyway. Probably won't ever be enough light for a decent photo until summer.
Yikes, long post.
Also, final note, the feathers he sheds don't seem to be particularly brittle or weak, although I have nothing to compare them to.
Edit: Munchy's balance is definitely bad. He fell off a perch earlier (although I caught him because I could see it was about to happen) so I've lowered his perches down so that he is less at risk of hurting himself. He's climbed up the bars a few times searching for his higher perches. Then he came out by himself for the first time without me leaving food out to tempt him, probably because he wanted to be higher up. He started preening that feather again, then climbed down to go back inside his cage but he fell off the side. He seems uninjured as he didn't fall very far because his cage is currently on the floor of the living room as there are no other places to put it when we bring him in here.
Anyway, to the main point of this edit. His loose feather finally came out. The shaft is broken but I don't know if that was the problem in the first place or whether he bit through it.
Sorry it's not clearer. It's late now so I have to turn the lights on. The blood on the end can be seen though. The shaft is definitely broken because the end is flat, although diagonal, so the point is gone.
I'll keep an eye on him and see what happens.
Another Edit: There was quite a bit of blood on his wing and he seems to be removing the feathers that have blood on them, so we took him into the bathroom to try to clean him up a bit. In the process of which he flew off of my arm and lost a flight feather from his other wing. It had a broken shaft and that started bleeding, so we cleaned that a bit too. The bleeding appears to have stopped so Munchy is now back in his cage and we've decided to let him go back to cleaning himself up.
Also, when he first started flying he did bang into things quite a bit, sometimes with a rather upsetting thud, including a door and a wall even though they're not clear like a window or reflective like a mirror. They are pale though, which could explain it. I would have though that he would have had problems before now though, if that was what had caused it. Normally he just sits where you put him unless you make him fly either from trying to escape you or dropping the part of you that he's sitting on, which I don't really like doing, so right now I'm kinda prefering the idea of him not flying about like a mad thing, not that he can with only one flight feather...
*Sigh* I'm not exactly worried as such, because if it is french moult then I accept that there's nothing that I can do about it and I'm not going to love him any less for it, I just don't like seeing him like this. He definitely hasn't been his usual chirpy self today. I'm hoping that once he moults properly he'll get over this if it isn't french moult, or perhaps if it is he'll recover because it doesn't seem too severe. Maybe he hasn't had enough protein in his diet. I've only just managed to get him to eat broccoli. I'll try egg again tomorrow, but if food isn't seeds then he likes it hanging up, so maybe I'll have to get some of those egg biscuit things and hope he eats some if I offer it to him or sprinkle it on his seeds.
When I first got Munchy (from a pet shop because it was a spur of the moment decision by my nan to let me have a budgie and I knew of no local breeders at the time) about a month ago, he had no flight feathers. By the end of the week they were starting to show through and now if I hold him and spread his wing you can see that they're there, they're just not long enough to show from under the rest of his feathers when the wing's folded. That doesn't seem to be an issue though and the two flight feathers on the outer edge of the wing are long enough to see, perhaps about an inch longer than the rest of his wing.
The problem itself is that pretty much everyday he sheds at least one flight feather, usually whilst flying. Also, his tail feathers seem to be growing a bit twisted and stick out a bit from the general lie of his tail. I decided to take some photos of his wings to see if anyone had any ideas, because yesterday he lost another feather and today he can't fly properly, he just goes for the ground as soon as you get him to fly (normally he just sits where you put him until you move him when he's out of his cage, unless he wants his food). When I was taking the photos, he flew off at one point and a feather came loose. It didn't fall out but it was crooked. I took some photos of that and then noticed that there was some blood on his wing.
Since then, I popped him back into his cage and he preened the feather back into place, and I noticed that there was quite a bit of blood under his wing. We haven't got any styptic powder and I remember seeing that cornflour could be used instead, so I tried to put some of that on the wound. Not sure how well I managed, but there doesn't seem to be any more bleeding. He started preening the wing and at first I thought he was trying to pull the feather out but it looks like he's been cleaning it. One feather has a prominant blood spot on the end and he looks a bit comical trying to clean it because he's tugging on it and looks like he's going to fall off his perch. He's been nibbling his rope perch as well since preening his wing, as if he's trying to clean his beak.
On a final note, his feathers are yellow but his flight feathers have been white when they've grown, with perhaps a little bit of yellow in them. Not sure if the lack of pigment is significant. And he seems to be having a bit of trouble getting his balance as he hops around his perches. And now he looks like he's trying to get the feather out again.
Basically, I was just wondering if there was a chance that this was french moult (seeing as he was the youngest budgie by far in the shop and it seemed a bit strange when all the others are older) and if it is french moult is there anything I can do for him to try to help? I know that I can't do anything about french moult but I was wondering if I should do anything about his flight feathers? It seems stressful for him to keep growing them and having to pull them out if they keep slipping like this one has.
Here's the pictures:
Munchy's wings and tail from above, before his feather went wonkey.
His tail from the side, showing one of the feathers that's permanently sticking out.
The dislodged feather just after it happened.
Munchy's right wing.
The same wing again.
The left wing.
And here's the spot of blood caused by the displacement of that feather. I couldn't get a shot of the main site of the bleeding because there wasn't anyone else to help me take the photo and I didn't have enough hands to do it myself, plus I didn't want to disturb him again by picking him up. he doesn't like it.
Sorry that the pictures aren't very good. There's not enough natural light here today so the flash keeps activating unless I was right up by the window and it's very cloudy anyway. Probably won't ever be enough light for a decent photo until summer.
Yikes, long post.
Also, final note, the feathers he sheds don't seem to be particularly brittle or weak, although I have nothing to compare them to.
Edit: Munchy's balance is definitely bad. He fell off a perch earlier (although I caught him because I could see it was about to happen) so I've lowered his perches down so that he is less at risk of hurting himself. He's climbed up the bars a few times searching for his higher perches. Then he came out by himself for the first time without me leaving food out to tempt him, probably because he wanted to be higher up. He started preening that feather again, then climbed down to go back inside his cage but he fell off the side. He seems uninjured as he didn't fall very far because his cage is currently on the floor of the living room as there are no other places to put it when we bring him in here.
Anyway, to the main point of this edit. His loose feather finally came out. The shaft is broken but I don't know if that was the problem in the first place or whether he bit through it.
Sorry it's not clearer. It's late now so I have to turn the lights on. The blood on the end can be seen though. The shaft is definitely broken because the end is flat, although diagonal, so the point is gone.
I'll keep an eye on him and see what happens.
Another Edit: There was quite a bit of blood on his wing and he seems to be removing the feathers that have blood on them, so we took him into the bathroom to try to clean him up a bit. In the process of which he flew off of my arm and lost a flight feather from his other wing. It had a broken shaft and that started bleeding, so we cleaned that a bit too. The bleeding appears to have stopped so Munchy is now back in his cage and we've decided to let him go back to cleaning himself up.
Also, when he first started flying he did bang into things quite a bit, sometimes with a rather upsetting thud, including a door and a wall even though they're not clear like a window or reflective like a mirror. They are pale though, which could explain it. I would have though that he would have had problems before now though, if that was what had caused it. Normally he just sits where you put him unless you make him fly either from trying to escape you or dropping the part of you that he's sitting on, which I don't really like doing, so right now I'm kinda prefering the idea of him not flying about like a mad thing, not that he can with only one flight feather...
*Sigh* I'm not exactly worried as such, because if it is french moult then I accept that there's nothing that I can do about it and I'm not going to love him any less for it, I just don't like seeing him like this. He definitely hasn't been his usual chirpy self today. I'm hoping that once he moults properly he'll get over this if it isn't french moult, or perhaps if it is he'll recover because it doesn't seem too severe. Maybe he hasn't had enough protein in his diet. I've only just managed to get him to eat broccoli. I'll try egg again tomorrow, but if food isn't seeds then he likes it hanging up, so maybe I'll have to get some of those egg biscuit things and hope he eats some if I offer it to him or sprinkle it on his seeds.