French Moult

[LydiaMinx]

I've attached a photo of a budgie that I recently rescued who I have now discovered may have French Moult.

Is it possible for French Moult to be passed to other adult budgies, as I have two and I just noticed my female has lost a tail feather. I may be paranoid but I want to be sure.

I keep the newly rescued budgie and my pair separately but in the same room, in different corners.

Thank you!

[LydiaMinx]

Image didn't upload! Here he is, French moult? Is it passable to adult budgies?

Attachments:

[stace]

I've never dealt with French Moult, so I haven't ever looked into it in any depth. But it's my understanding that this is a problem that affects babies and fledglings. Once the bird is an adult, it doesn't spread to other birds - unless you breed from them.

To put your mind at rest, I'm pretty sure your other birds are okay, but just wait for someone who knows more about it though firsthand to confirm.

[Deleted]

it can be passed from him to your other budgies ...but it will never come to anything ...unless they have chicks...it only affects young birds ...older birds can carry it but not suffer from it unless they got it as a chick them selves ...

[ppvallhunds]

From what ive read it can be from Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease or budgie fledging disease, and its when they get it as chicks that they get simptoms but adults carry it.
(someone correct me if im wrong)
They can range for mildy effected to severly effected, you may need to adapt his cage with ladders if his flights drop and dont come back or come back funny.

Keep an eye on his beak and claws, with BFD the beaks will be normal and with PBFD the beak will grow very quickly and ofter weardly and claws grow fast too. Mine are PBFD.

[Donna Lee]

So let me get this 100% - If you have a bird you suspect of ever having had FM, don't breed it?

[Nani]

Oct 29, 2012 21:19:08 GMT Donna Lee said:

So let me get this 100% - If you have a bird you suspect of ever having had FM, don't breed it?

Right. Just to be safe.

[Deleted]

There is a thought that birds that recover from it become immune, there are breeders that breed with them in the thought that they will build a immunity to the virus in their stud.

Have i done this, no yet but i'm just about to try a FM hen that has recovered completely with a cock that never had it, my reason being is that the hen is to good quality to not give it a try.

[Donna Lee]

Very interesting! I'm so glad I'm a member of this forum. I would never find stuff like this out on my own.

I would love to read up more on the subject. The reason I say this is, one of my hens, Pig, has tiny little wings and her tail is super short. At first I thought that she had been bred to look like that or that she had been manhandled or something. Now I'm thinking she may have had french moult at some point, but I can't tell for sure. Hmm.

[skysmum]

Oct 29, 2012 21:19:08 GMT Donna Lee said:

So let me get this 100% - If you have a bird you suspect of ever having had FM, don't breed it?

Absolutely donnaleelee, i have a french moulter and it was one from a clutch of three that i bred myself, the parents showed no signs of having french moult. It is thought to be contracted in the egg, i would never breed from him. He isn't the worse case but drops his flight feathers at every moult, he only gets to fly for short periods in between his moult. It seems no sooner has he re-grown the feathers than he looses them again


LydiaMinx My others have always been fine, they are all kept together and the others have never shown any signs of it. There is some debate about it coming out in older birds if they carry a mild form of it i think, but this is uncertain.

[LydiaMinx]

I really hope my original pair don't get it in their older years! I am not 100% if he has french moult yet as I still need some tests at the vet to confirm, but obviously it looks very likely.

Does anyone have any tips to help him recover? I add multi vits to his water and he seems better already and I've only had him a week

And yes I'm adding some ladders and such when I get paid

Another thing, if he does have Beak and feather disease what are the chances of my pair catching and being affected by it like he is? I find this less likely then FM as he was in a very packed aviary and was the only one with these symptoms, thank god!

[ppvallhunds]

Oct 30, 2012 17:27:22 GMT LydiaMinx said:

Another thing, if he does have Beak and feather disease what are the chances of my pair catching and being affected by it like he is? I find this less likely then FM as he was in a very packed aviary and was the only one with these symptoms, thank god!

beak and feather diease is contagious, baby birds are more suseptable to it than adults and show simptoms and shed it, ive read that adults that get it will shed it but can have a resistance to it and not get simptoms. The virus is shed in feather/skin dust and in poop and feeding each other.
My current 2 one now looks like a normal budgie but as she was given to me as a FM and from the same flock as my beak and feathers and lived with both my PBFD birds im asuming she will have it too.

But im not saying it is that though just that ive read that FM is caused but that or budgie fledging disease.

[LydiaMinx]

I'm leaning more toward FM, his beak is fine and he just really long claws from the college not clipping them (their standard of care for the birds was appalling)

[LydiaMinx]

I was just changing his water when he toppled from a very low perch, and now his wing without the feathers (in the picture above) is bleeding Is this normal for a french moulter? The animal care techs at college mentioned when they found him that his wing was covered in blood

I'm at a bit of a loss of what to do, I do not realistically have the money for the vet, as the only avian vet in my area is stupidly expensive and is a bit clueless with birds. Should I clean his wing myself? I don't want to scare him

It seems as if his feathers are really brittle

[skysmum]

Try and clean him up yourself and see whats going on. If the bleeding is because of the feather loss and FM (which does happen) a little vaseline should stop it bleeding, our little Buds cant afford to loose too much blood.