Cuttlebone when sick

[Jean20057]

Ok, I have maybe a silly question. We have lost 5 budgies and currently have 1 sick. Every single time we have a sick bird, no matter what there for, no matter what supplements they get, they scrape like crazy at their cuttlebone. Right now, Perry is going to town scraping and chunking out his cuttlebone. I was wondering if anyone knows why this is, or if anyone has had this offer with their own birds? It's just a curiosity, maybe to spark conversation.

 

[aqualover9]

Sorry for you loss Maybe @Lady Jane could help?

 

[Shezbug]

Just out of curiosity, have any of your birds been to the vet to check for contagious disease/illness?

Maybe they are passing the illness to each other if they haven’t been vet checked for illness?

I’m sorry to hear you’ve lost so many birds and now have another one unwell.

I hope someone will be able to help with your query on the cuttlebone and maybe give you some advice to help your current sick bird.

Best wishes

 

[Kodigirl210]

@Lady Jane - Any ideals?

 

[Lady Jane]

I recently removed cuttle bone from my budgies cage. I read they can be contaminated with bacteria found in ocean waters. Also are you using the metal clamp that comes with them? A friend of mine had a young budgie die from metal toxicity. Upon checking all metal in the cage this clamp was found to have zinc which is toxic to birds.

I suggest removing the bone and upping calcium in diet. Your birds must need it from the activity on the cuttle bone.

You could substitute a mineral block if your vet says ok.

 

[Kodigirl210]

That is quite concerning @Lady Jane. I don’t know if you’ve seen that there have 26 Grey Whale deaths off the coast of California this year and they don’t know why. Another one washed ashore near San Diego. I would be very concerned about using anything from the ocean right now!

 

[Jean20057]

Just out of curiosity, have any of your birds been to the vet to check for contagious disease/illness?

Maybe they are passing the illness to each other if they haven’t been vet checked for illness?

I’m sorry to hear you’ve lost so many birds and now have another one unwell.

I hope someone will be able to help with your query on the cuttlebone and maybe give you some advice to help your current sick bird.

Best wishes

Not that I'm aware of. Every time we take our birds in, nobody can figure out why they are sick. Our last baby that died passed during a blood draw/films, so we're a bit weary on stuff like that. Definitely something to consider though. I'll talk to their daddy about that.

I recently removed cuttle bone from my budgies cage. I read they can be contaminated with bacteria found in ocean waters. Also are you using the metal clamp that comes with them? A friend of mine had a young budgie die from metal toxicity. Upon checking all metal in the cage this clamp was found to have zinc which is toxic to birds.

I suggest removing the bone and upping calcium in diet. Your birds must need it from the activity on the cuttle bone.

You could substitute a mineral block if your vet says ok.

Maybe we'll swap it with a mineral block then. And I stopped using the metal holder things from the cuttlebone packages a looooong time ago. I have them attached with a zip tie. Well also have to look into the bacteria from the ocean too. Although I bought these cuttlebones a while back, I'm not sure how long the bacteria problem has been there with them.

 

[Lady Jane]

Did you get a necropsy on any of the birds you lost? I am not saying the cuttle bone is the cause. It has that potential but so do other things. I am so sorry about the birds you lost. Did you clean with a product like F10 before new birds arrived? Do you give them tap water? Air pollution could also be a reason. You could say could be this or that forever and never really know the cause.

 

[Mizzely]

What is their diet normally? Usually birds will eat it more if they are on a calcium deficient diet, or they sometimes just like to destroy them. I don't offer calcium or mineral blocks but I also feed pellets.

Cuttlebone is from the very intelligent cuttlefish and I feel bad hanging part of their skeleton in my cage, especially since it is a poor source of calcium (not easily absorbed). Better sources would be pellets and dark leafy greens (lightly cooked to break down the oxalic acid)

 

[Ripshod]

I've had a budgie before, and a tiel (Tau) more recently, that went so daft on cuttlefish bone they ate nothing else. I'm sure if I hadn't removed it they'd have starved to death or impacted their crop or blocked up.
I recommend removing the bone AND any mineral blocks.