Parakeet died with a plucked vent and dried green poop. What happened?

[FlyingBell]

**I should note this is my Mom's bird and NOT mine. I recognize things could have been done better. We've been busy the last few months and unfortunately Princess the Parakeet slipped through the cracks.**

My mom had a 7+ year old parakeet, Princess. She's always been on a seed diet with an okay-ishly clean cage. Food and water available 24/7 and changed nightly. My sister went in to feed her and found her on the floor flapping about. Moments later she was gone. A quick look revealed she'd plucked her entire vent area raw and there was some long green sticky poop stuck to it.

My mom feels horrible. She's terrified she personally killed the bird. I'm trying to figure out what happened so I can help sooth her, or at least help her cope. There have been a few minor changes lately of note: we just bought her new food about a week ago. Still seed, just bought from Amazon instead of Walmart. She had a new water dish installed two days ago. Instead of an open dish it was a covered birdbath/water dish. (I know, I know) the only other changes could be weather related, or stress caused by a new cockatiel who's obsessed with her cage and likes to sit on it. The new bird has been here for over a month. Sometimes the window she sits by is cracked about 1/4th of an inch because it gets hot in that room. Princess was always covered at night.

Are any of the changes likely to cause her death? What would be some possible/likely causes? I still have the body if pictures would help.


If this the wrong forum *please* let me know! It's hard to tell where to put things on my bitty cellphone.

 

[Mizzely]

My immediate thought would be to egg bound

 

[FlyingBell]

My immediate thought would be to egg bound

That was my thought as well. She hasn't laid in the time we've had her, though. Maybe the warmer weather was triggering her?

 

[Mizzely]

It's hard to know. My mother in law had q cockatiel for 5 years before she laid an egg, my friend had a 9 year old sun Conure before she revealed she wasn't a boy!

 

[FlyingBell]

It's hard to know. My mother in law had q cockatiel for 5 years before she laid an egg, my friend had a 9 year old sun Conure before she revealed she wasn't a boy!

Birds are sneaky! Mine laid a single egg two years after I got her. It was so strange that to this day I'm still not convinced someone else didn't sneak in and place it.

I'm crossing my fingers it was a bound egg and not something my mother did to the poor thing. She was a cute little parakeet. We think she stopped drinking two days ago. Hindsight is always 20/20, eh?

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I’m so sorry for the loss of your mom’s little friend.

 

[Birdbabe]

I'm so sorry Sweetheart..

 

[tka]

I'm sorry for your loss.

If you want some answers, my advice is to ask an avian vet to do a necropsy. This means examining the bird after death, looking at internal organs, taking samples and so on. It does have to be done soon after death through.

 

[Hawk12237]

I'm inclined to also agree possibly egg bound.
or lower digestive track issue.

One other issue that "may" have caused distress is that the tiel was in close proximity to the parakeet. Tiels are dusty birds, for us humans, the dust can seem harmless, but to a parakeet, it can cause respiratory distress. If it suddenly can't breath.

 

[FlyingBell]

I'm sorry for your loss.

If you want some answers, my advice is to ask an avian vet to do a necropsy. This means examining the bird after death, looking at internal organs, taking samples and so on. It does have to be done soon after death through.

We can't afford that, sadly. Otherwise I probably wouls for peace of mind.

I'm inclined to also agree possibly egg bound.
or lower digestive track issue.

One other issue that "may" have caused distress is that the tiel was in close proximity to the parakeet. Tiels are dusty birds, for us humans, the dust can seem harmless, but to a parakeet, it can cause respiratory distress. If it suddenly can't breath.

That's also possible. The tiel is very, very untrained at the moment. He's in the frame of mind that "no" means "that is the ONLY thing I want to do and you won't stop me." It's a work in progress. I'm not sure how that would affect the vent, but it's something I'll look into.

We're going to bury Princess up on a hillside overlooking the valley tonight. Give her a peaceful resting spot. I'm glad to know that it probably wasn't our fault. My mom was convinced she'd killed the poor dear.

 

[sunnysmom]

My thought is egg bound too. So sorry for your loss.

 

[Monica]

It's a bit late, but in the USA, if you live near a state agriculture department, they may be able to do necropsies for cheap... as in $8-$30, but prices could vary.

Sorry for the loss. So many things could have gone wrong. Maybe she had a tumor?