Milli's abnormal feather loss

[mona]

She started to moult a while back and we thought it's just a tough moult. But in the past one week, she lost quite a lot of feathers.

Observed today that her skin on her tummy/chest has turned purple/ blackish. I'm worried terribly right now..since we don't have good vets over here. I will not let her out of cage as well. She is with reva, but reva is normal so far.

I'm trying to see if I can get her poop tested or feathers.. blood test is not possible over here..

[mona]

I don't know what to get her treated for..

My hubby has ringworm diagnosed. He had been changing their water. We have a practice to wash our hands before going into the bird room. He did. But I'm very scared right now if it could be ringworm.. It would put all birdies at risk..plus it's impossible to get it treated here then.

Also read about intestinal parasites, stress, moult etc. But her skin color being different and sudden feather loss doesn't seem right..

Edit: It can't be ringworm.. since the feather loss has been gradual as i recall. 2 months back there was a bald patch on her neck.. and it can't be contagious since reva looks fine. Her poops are fine. She eats well.

[Marianne Marlow]

I'm not sure her skin has changed colour, is one photo with flash and one with natural light?

Some budgies have darker skin than others.

Do you think she could have french moult? what does she look like from the back?

[tweetiepiesmom]

Firstly, good to hear from you, mona. I've been hoping you were enjoying the new job. Most diseases that people get aren't transmitted to budgies although its always a good practice to wash your hands before and after handling the birds, mostly to keep from transmitting disease from one bird to another. I'm not sure what's going on with Milli's feathers. How old is she? My best idea is to support her feather growth with a bit more protein and Omega 3 - cooked egg and chopped/ground walnuts might help.

[mona]

The one on the tree is with the flash.. the other one inside the cage is natural light Marianne Marlow She has some bald patch on her back starting to show up, but not as bad. I saw one of her flight feather missing from one side while she was stretching her wings.. She can still fly.. Her skin at some places on her shoulder and neck is pink, while on her tummy, it's darker.. Is french moult contagious and fatal?

tweetiepiesmom She is having egg daily since quite a while, along with pulses, veg chop, herbs.. she eats everything and is good at it.. She must be around 7-8 months old now..

I found another vet.. Hoping the diagnosis will be good (not getting my hopes high though!)..

[mona]

The humidity is low over here.. it's 35% these days. Wondered if it could be dry skin. Also wondered if it could be intestinal worms, but her poop is very healthy.. She doesn't seem stressed.. but she has a love hate relationship with her cage mate Reva.. They argue over food or toys sometimes - inside or outside the cage.. I thought about pigeons - visible from the glass door - if that could cause stress.. but they are far away on next building..no insects, ants mosquitoes, lizard, mice or alike..

She does look sleepy at times more than before since past 2 weeks.. but she stays active at least 5-6 hours- flying, playing and eating.. She isn't itching or scratching at night..

tweetiepiesmom My new job is pretty hectic again. I ended up working 14 hours to 18 hours a day. I'm trying to reduce my work hours to achieve work life balance since this week.. I feel selfish about just coming back to the forum with an issue, instead of checking in on everyone. I wanted to share so much about the flock, but just have been so short of time.

[Loz]

mona
I gather that the skin over the chest normally appears darker than elsewhere as the pectoral muscles are dark-red in colour and this shows through the slightly translucent skin.

I'm not certain in your case but it is possible that the dark colour on the chest is perfectly normal.

[Hezz]

I can’t remember what mutation Milli is, but it does look as though she may be a pied, and the pied gene does make for different colours in the feathers, but also the skin and even the cere so pink skin in one place and darker skin in another is not so unusual, just that we normally wouldn’t see it.

Many members have had budgies with FM together with other healthy birds with no issue. there is not much point in moving Reva now anyway. As if he/she has already been in contact with the disease, if this is what is Milli’s problem, and I do think it is looking that way.

[mona]

She is recessive pied Hezz

We couldn't get in touch with the vet I found,so I consulted the vet over the mobile app I have. They have prescribed ivermectin syrup for deworming and calcium/zinc/magnesium supplement for her. I got to know about a collection centre in my city from the same south indian lab. They can test for PBFD, but asked to wait for 2-3 days with this medicine first. I doubt she will have feathers left on her chest till then..








She doesn't look that bad with dried feathers, but she looks featherless when wet! I'm nor concerned about the looks. Feathers might or might not grow back, but if there's any underlying issue that needs to be addressed.

[ffiscool]

good to hear from you and I am sorry you are working such long hours.. I don't know anything about the possible conditions, but hopefully the meds will help..

I hope you get a better work life balance too.. it is hard when so busy to get time you need for yourself too.

[mona]

ffiscool I agree. I'm getting frustrated gradually with such long hours. It will take a toll on my health, if I don't change it. I'm working on being less perfectionist at work and leaving things when on leave unless someone calls. You have to pay a price if you are sincere at your work. It's difficult to bring these changes in my attitude. But I won't be able to continue my work, if I don't change myself.

Since I don't trust vets, calculated the percentage of ivermectin in the oral syrup. It came out to be 0.02 percent. I hope it's just that and gets cured with this and doesn't come out to be something else that can't be cured.. if she doesn't drink it tomorrow morning, I might have to feed her with a dropper. We both won't like it, but it's the need of the hour.

I also ended up adopting daisu from disco.daisybudgies. unfortunately disco passed away and his mum decided to send daisu with us. They are all in separate cages but they have been playing together outside the cage. If this makes a difference with milli, I'll think about treating everyone with the same..

[willowsmum]

It's good to hear from you mona. I'm sorry your new job has resulted in such long days. It's so hard to keep a good work/life balance when you are a dedicated and conscientious worker. I hope you can get back some time for yourself, it will be difficult at first but hopefully will get easier with time.

I'm sorry to hear about poor Milli. Hopefully she takes her medicine well and it will help prevent any more feather loss. I hope your husband is feeling better soon too.

[mona]

Milli doesn't look good. She is tired and sleepy most of the time. At rare times, she does sing or chirp. She eats well, poops well and sometimes comes out of cage.

She has pbfd. She can't retain her newly grown feathers as well. It's just too much energy drain. I weigh her weekly.. she has been maintaining 30gm since first time I had weighed her. She loves eating greens and all protein diet. She has her own zone in the cage. She is still feisty and doesn't let anyone else get on her long perch.

She also seems afraid when others fly around her. I have thick soft towel on cage base beneath the paper - she lands down many times.. I have a soft mat outside the cage on the floor too - in case she comes out and lands down. It's always a thud when she falls down on her feet. She had put up her feet just after falling down once. It must have hurt. She used to glide down earlier, but not now. Post that, I had to add a soft thin bedding on the room floor, apart from the sheet I have on the floor. She climbs really quick though. I have ladders all over the place from the floor till the top curtain rod and swings. It's a spider web for her to get to anywhere she wants.

Still, My heart breaks looking at her struggling.

I get stressed out when rest of the flock starts moulting, but it's always normal moult so far.

I wasn't supposed to bring more birdies owing to Milli's pbfd, but I had to take in 3 more birdies. One is rescue and 2 are english budgies who were about to be released into the sky. They have been in separate cage since 2 months. The rescue is out of cage and with the flock. English budgies are still inside the cage, not yet ready to come out. It feels a bit irresponsible to bring in more birdies with Milli's pbfd, but i couldn't resist at the state they were in. Sadly, people want to adopt hand tame birdies and well mannered ones - how can that be expected from rescues! They are often scared of humans and hands!

[tweetiepiesmom]

So sorry to hear about Milli. Other people on the forum have or have had budgies with pbfd, Marianne Marlow has Luna with it. Her other budgies come visit and she's in a cage with Penny. It doesn't appear any of her other birds have caught it. I don't know if the age of the infected budgie effects how transmittable it is. Others will be able to help.

Good to hear from you. I hope you and your husband are doing well. Come here for a visit as often as you are able.

[Marianne Marlow]

tweetiepiesmom Lyra doesn't have pbfd, she has french moult, it's a different thing that just affects how her feathers grow. It's only contagious to younger birds at about 3 weeks or younger.