Death of two young lovebirds <14 days ????

[Warry]

Hello everyone,

A couple of lovebirds we have have their 4th nest and before all other 3 nests were perfectly healthy birds but since yesterday something strange is going on.

Yesterday we found a young bird dead who was born on 19th of september. The crop was full with food and body colours normal. I have no idea what caused the death, looked perfectly fine and he was always alive..

We also noticed that one older young bird born on 15th of september was struggling and the crop was almost empty. His belly was much larger than normal and he couldn't find his balance anymore. It's like he couldn't poop anymore or something. This was the first born and the second born (16th) september was larger in size but perfectly healthy, so the first one had a growing problem as well.

Today my wife heard the parents shout very loud and so she went to check and found that first bird dead and his belly blackened.

We have totally no clue what is going on. We always clean the nest with a steam device and put in new materials every week. Last weekend everything was perfectly fine with all of them and it happened I guess over the last few days.

They always had very healthy and beautiful birds before..

Does anyone know what is going on here?

Thank you!

 

[JosienBB]

Can you have a vet do a necropsy on the dead birds? I think that's the only way to find out what's wrong, and the circumstances are very suspicious indeed. You need to figure out the cause to prevent it from happening again.

 

[Warry]

Can you have a vet do a necropsy on the dead birds? I think that's the only way to find out what's wrong, and the circumstances are very suspicious indeed. You need to figure out the cause to prevent it from happening again.

I've contacted one, but they said that with young birds the list of causes can be endless and therefor it's not easy to do and very time consuming. My wife also buried them already in the garden.

I was thinking of Polyoma virus, because of the blackened stomach after death, but the nests we had before were perfectly healthy. I think when the parents have this virus, the young ones should have this problem with every nest?

Another guy said to me coli bacteria but I doubt it reading the symptoms.

Could it be just a crop infection perhaps?

 

[Lady Jane]

I am so sorry this happened.

 

[Warry]

I am so sorry this happened.

Thanks!

Really feeling helpless when you see something is not right and those little ones struggling.

I've send an email to one of the best bird vets here in my country, explaining in detail, so I hope she can tell me what could be the cause.

I really hope the parents are not infected with some virus, but really that's so strange, all other nests were all good and turned out to be beautiful healthy lovebirds.

We take out the nest stuff every week and put clean back in. We use a steam cleaner to disinfect the next block and give them only biological seeds and pallets.

 

[JosienBB]

Why not just test the parents, if you're worried?

 

[Warry]

Why not just test the parents, if you're worried?

There are different diseases/virus to test for, so if I can pinpoint what it can be more or less I know what to test the parents on.

 

[JosienBB]

Well, there's the polyoma one you mentioned. I think the four diseases breeders usually test for are polyoma, beak and feather, chlamydia (psittacosis), and pacheo. Start with those ones first.

 

[gibsongrrrl]

I would definitely get the parents tested. Especially if you are selling these babies. Would be very sad if they have something and it's getting circulated around the avian community. Avian biotech has package deals for testing for mulitples. Your avian vet should be able to do this for you. If you don't have an avian vet and need help finding one, just let us know and we can help you.

 

[Shastasmom]

With lovebirds, they can carry Polyoma (and PBFD) and not show clinical signs. When they stress as in breeding, moving, etc., they will shed the disease. However, they do not shed it constantly when stressed. In other words, some nests may be fine and then something in their environment triggers them to shed and all of a sudden you have dead babies. I would personally have them tested as others have mentioned for PBFD and Polyoma for absolute sure and then perhaps the Chlamydia. Tests should be by blood.

 

[Warry]

Hello Everyone,

An update on the issue. The vet said that they have the mega bacteria and we have bought a medicine for that. This bacterial make the food stuck inside the stomach and explains why their stomach was really big before they past away.

Lucky for us the birds have no virus, so everything should be fine after the treatment.

 

[Lady Jane]

Nice to have a good idea of what happened. How are your birds now?

 

[Warry]

Nice to have a good idea of what happened. How are your birds now?

I'm still on medicine with them (21 days, about 10 days left) but they behave like normal. The smell is less in the nest (had a smell of bacterial) and the birds are very much alive. The first one had his first flight yesterday and he's about 6 weeks now. The second one is a week younger and shy..