Mould in cage

[Biggles]

In our smaller cage we have one very old (he's around 14yo) and a younger one which can be a prolific layer-although not since I put her in this cage. The prolific layer also can't fly properly, because she never grew her flight feathers, I'm not sure why.

In the last 6 months one of them has gone through phases of laying larger white (mostly) droppings, which I think can be a sign of deficiency. They're about twice the size of normal ones, so not egg-type ones. I suspect it's the prolific layer but am not totally sure. They both appear healthy other than that.

In the last fortnight, I've noticed that black mould is regularly growing over the droppings. It's growing pretty quickly, within 24 hours, so I've been trying to clean twice a day and even with that, you can see some mould.  I have newspaper on the floor, but the base is plastic. We've never had mould before. They can't get at the mould because there's a bit for the droppings to


I've thoroughly cleaned the cage (twice) but any suggestions to stop this.

Thank you!

[Marianne Marlow]

Black mould is growing over their droppings?

How?!

[Biggles]

Aug 11, 2023 16:30:52 GMT Marianne Marlow said:

Black mould is growing over their droppings?

How?!

It's kind of furry! The first time I thought it was a dark fluffy feather caught on it.

What it is is they both like a particular place to sit and groom each other, so there's a small pile by the end of the day as neither does a lot of moving, and that's where the mould grows. It's always in the same place. I've just cleaned the cage again (I cleaned it 8 hours ago) and I could already see a little bit of mould around the droppings.

I've tried that bird cage cleaning spray, fairy liquid, plain water but don't want to try anything stronger in case I poison them.

The older one is very much an old man who spends his days sleeping or eating and the prolific layer sits next to him and grooms him. Neither of them fly much at all, and haven't since I got them (the older one I got already old!).

When I bring them out of the cage, they like to sit on the windowsill and look out, or just sit on my lap, but they're not desperately keen to get out. If I left their door open there's a very high chance they wouldn't leave it. I think, because they don't fly, it feels safer to them.

I could change their cage, as I have a spare, but it might stress the older one out a lot. He's been it in for 14 years I believe! He came (with another one who has since died) from a nursing home when his (second) owner died, and I was told he was at least 10 years old then and could have been 12 or older, so he's doing very well, as I've had him around 4 years now. He hates any change to the cage and sulks for days if I move anything even a small bit. I once put in a new swing and he avoided that corner of the cage for well over a month until I took it out again!

There hasn't been any mould in the others' cage which is next to it, although they move a lot more, and spend more time out of the cage, so you don't get a pile in the same way.

[skysmum]

Interestingly I’ve read about this somewhere before, can’t remember where but it was a lady with larger parrots, she adopted one and it was in its own cage and this happened, her other birds she had no problem with.
It was suggested that because the droppings were much wetter than normal the mould was taking a hold quite quickly. One suggestion was to put a piece of kitchen towel down underneath the main pooping area, this will absorb the excess fluid and of course you can just change it multiple times a day.
The other suggestion was to have his poop checked, wether she did or not I don’t know.
Using F10 for cleaning will help and you can dilute it into a spray water bottle, it won’t hurt the birds.

[Biggles]

Thank you! I'll try that.

[Hezz]

I’d also put apple cider vinegar in their drinking water every day. Just a few (3) drops in 100mls of water is enough to control any yeast over-growth in the birds’ crops, and the budgies don’t seem to mind the taste at all. In this case I would probably increase the concentration to get a head start. It may not be yeast growing from what the birds are pooping but the increased acidity should help retard any growth in the tray.

Regarding the larger poops, it is most likely your chronic layer - a few years of excess egg production is going to loosen all her internals since all pass through the same passage. That isn’t only my opinion either; a vet said the same to me when we discussed my own chronic layer.

[Biggles]

Just to say for anyone reading in the future, that the kitchen paper is working well. You can see how much water is coming out of it, but it's absorbing it so the mould isn't growing.

[Marianne Marlow]

That is great. I am glad something is working for you.

Aug 19, 2023 12:25:27 GMT Biggles said:

Just to say for anyone reading in the future, that the kitchen paper is working well. You can see how much water is coming out of it, but it's absorbing it so the mould isn't growing.