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Help with Budgie no tail feathers

Budgie987

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Zack
Hi all,

We are new on this forum. Four months ago, we bought two budgies for our daughter. She is their mama and has taken care of both since then.

The male budgie (Rocky) molted nicely month and half ago and has his new wings and flies every where if allowed. The female (Sky) was probably younger, did not molt at the same time and essentially jump around. She is the dominant one and would peck Rocky here and there

Recently she started shedding and has been exhibiting aggressive behavior towards us (other than our daughter) including biting our fingers when we would take her out. I was under the impression she might be molting finally as has been explained in various forums. Two days ago all her tail feathers fell out (freaking us out) and now there is a small red patch in the back. We called an avian vet place close by and they said they charge $140 just to see us and then diagnostics may cost more (a lot of money for us).

I am attaching photographs of both birds and I would love to get some advice before taking that step of taking her to a vet.

She is eating and drinking regularly and likes to stay in cage. Prefers the swing and if you bring her down from.there and she will peck you.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Zack PXL_20210215_004450177.jpg PXL_20210215_004504830.PORTRAIT.jpg PXL_20210215_004522002.PORTRAIT.jpg
 

Shezbug

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It looks like it could be some kind of disease like PBFD (Psittacine beak and feather disease) or Polyomavirus (French Molt)

@bubblelady
 

Lady Jane

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Looks like either a disease or altercation with the older bird. Separate them and please see a vet. If it is a disease it could be serious.
 

Budgie987

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This is a possibility as her flight feathers appear to be clipped. She would have no escape. However I would still take her for a vet check to rule out disease and then separate cages for now.
Yes both birds feathers were clipped. We purchased them from a store where they were vaccinated and wings were clipped. I don't personally believe in that and were hoping they will grow out on their own. The male budgie is not aggressive and does not attack and follows her around.

She prefers to sit on our shoulder or behind my neck. Regarding PBFD, what I understood that happens to birds when they are much younger. These birds are now around 7-9 months old.

Thanks for all the advice. We plan to take her to a vet if she doesn't get better in a couple of days.

Zach
 

Lady Jane

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Birds usually do not receive any vaccine in US.
 

Ripshod

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Even with disease it's rare to see all the tail feathers drop in such a short time. I'm not ruling out disease just yet though.
Have you even seen your boy grab her with his foot or otherwise get amorous? He's at that age but she's too young to understand that.
Is she shop bought or from a breeder? I'd seriously doubt vaccination, it's not normal and it's not cheap. If she's from a shop you could still likely use the leg band to trace the breeder and enquire after the rest of her family.
Whatever the cause seperating them would be best.
She's a cute girl though, even with the duck-butt.
Yes, definitely worthy of a vet checkup.

:welave:
 
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Budgie987

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Even with disease it's rare to see all the tail feathers drop in such a short time. I'm not ruling out disease just yet though.
Have you even seen your boy grab her with his foot or otherwise get amorous? He's at that age but she's too young to understand that.
Is she shop bought or from a breeder? I'd seriously doubt vaccination, it's not normal and it's not cheap. If she's from a shop you could still likely use the leg band to trace the breeder and enquire after the rest of her family.
Whatever the cause seperating them would be best.
She's a cute girl though, even with the duck-butt.
Yes, definitely worthy of a vet checkup.

:welave:
Thanks for all the responses, heading out to the vet now. Hopefully they can diagnose and help her recover. When we purchased them from a shop we were told that they were more than 8 weeks old and vaccinated.

I just took the pic before I shared it with you all.
 

Budgie987

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Quick update: Sky (female) didn't have an infection. Vet also said that most likely Rocky (male) has been hurting her. We have separated them now though they are both not happy.

We took them out during the day and they both went next to each other. And when we tried to place them back in their respective cages, they both got upset and we're pecking us.

Hopefully she can recover and start to regrow her feathers. Can you let us know how long does it take, generally to grow their feathers back.

Really appreciate all the responses.

Thanks Zack.
 

camelotshadow

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She's a lovely female & young so she could molt soon.
They might get along in the future when she is older but likely he has been getting over amorous with her.

If he is picking her feathers they have to be separated. Maybe when she gets her flights she can fly away from him but for now keep them separate.

Glad you had her checked & she is OK
 

Shezbug

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I’m not accusing, simply asking.... what are the chances your child may have accidentally grabbed the female either a little roughly or a little abruptly and frightened her or accidentally stood on or trapped her tail feathers? They will sometimes drop the feathers under those sorts of circumstances. Again- I’m not accusing your child of anything, just throwing another option out there as to why the dropped feathers.

You should start to see them tail feathers growing very soon if the pins aren’t already there.
 

Budgie987

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I’m not accusing, simply asking.... what are the chances your child may have accidentally grabbed the female either a little roughly or a little abruptly and frightened her or accidentally stood on or trapped her tail feathers? They will sometimes drop the feathers under those sorts of circumstances. Again- I’m not accusing your child of anything, just throwing another option out there as to why the dropped feathers.

You should start to see them tail feathers growing very soon if the pins aren’t already there.
it is possible, though hard to fathom for my spouse and I. She is a very gentle and loving person, who has taken really good care of Rocky and Sky for four months and has been training them. However, we will ask her that as accidents can happen. For now we are glad that she is not hurt nor has an infection. What kind of multivitamins or food should we feed her to help her along?

Will post pics, as she recovers. On a good note, Rocky flew all over the house and came down when we signaled to him.
 

Shezbug

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it is possible, though hard to fathom for my spouse and I. She is a very gentle and loving person, who has taken really good care of Rocky and Sky for four months and has been training them. However, we will ask her that as accidents can happen. For now we are glad that she is not hurt nor has an infection. What kind of multivitamins or food should we feed her to help her along?

Will post pics, as she recovers. On a good note, Rocky flew all over the house and came down when we signaled to him.
Please know that I wasn’t thinking or suggesting your child would deliberately harm her little birds. I know I never did as a very young child and my children were also the most gentle with other tiny living beings so I don’t automatically assume that all kids are just rough handed.
I just wondered if it could be a possibility given that the whole tail is gone without you seeing a feather here and there over a period of time. I’ve only seen the whole tail go missing so fast like that when someone accidentally trapped the tail feathers which startled the bird. Two particular cases I can remember here are one where someone leaned on the seat back and trapped the tail feathers of the bird perched on the chair which were all promptly dropped and the other time someone accidentally rolled over their birds tail feathers with a chair wheel and the bird let go of all tail feathers.
 

Budgie987

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Please know that I wasn’t thinking or suggesting your child would deliberately harm her little birds. I know I never did as a very young child and my children were also the most gentle with other tiny living beings so I don’t automatically assume that all kids are just rough handed.
I just wondered if it could be a possibility given that the whole tail is gone without you seeing a feather here and there over a period of time. I’ve only seen the whole tail go missing so fast like that when someone accidentally trapped the tail feathers which startled the bird. Two particular cases I can remember here are one where someone leaned on the seat back and trapped the tail feathers of the bird perched on the chair which were all promptly dropped and the other time someone accidentally rolled over their birds tail feathers with a chair wheel and the bird let go of all tail feathers.
@Shezbug no thank you for all your suggestions and support. We read your comments with that thought in mind. So please don't worry about any misunderstanding.

I am glad we found this place to seek advice and converse about our birds.

Thanks again

Zack
 

Farfah

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Glad she's going to be ok! I don't think you need to feed her anything special to regrow tail feathers. My tiel used to lose tail feathers all the time bc he was disabled and as a result, kinda clumsy. Just feed a good varied diet of veg, seeds and pellets. I've heard that hard boiled eggs once or twice a week can help during a molt so you could try that.
 
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