TessaG
Meeting neighbors
- Joined
- 10/24/21
- Messages
- 38
I am well aware of my responsibility in taking care of my birds, and I take full responsibility for what happened to my prized lovebird pair. This is a warning/question all in one. I had a lovely pallid blue peachfaced lovebird with a yellow forehead, and she had no interest in the males in the aviary. A friend asked me to take care of two of his birds because he suddenly found himself travelling - a LOT. One of these two birds was EXTREMELY shy, and would back away from the food dishes when the other birds (my existing flock in an aviary) approached. They were BEAUTIFUL birds. I noticed about two weeks ago that the male was mostly walking around on the floor when I let the birds out, and was letting me pick him up without argument or struggling. I contacted the guy who owned them, and mentioned that I was concerned. We decided to put him in with my pallid in a breeding cage, since she was constantly fighting off the males in the aviary, and had no interest in them. It went well - and those two were looking bonded by about 5 days ago.
I noticed that the pair were eating 3x as much as the other birds. All my birds eat Roudybush California blend mini, they were starting to get witte molen egg food as of a few weeks ago, and a calcium/vitamin D supplement in case they bred. They got corn, organic spinach, shredded organic carrots, finely chopped organic apples, and chopped broccoli in the mornings; pellets, egg food; and the calcium/vitamin D supplement every other day. While my other birds never finished their fresh food or pellets, these two finished EVERYTHING, and I'd have to give them a third dish of pellets by nighttime, which was also gone by morning. All my birds also get seeds on Saturdays.
Yesterday, I watched the two playing on their swing, their swing bridge, playing with their wicker balls, and cuddling when they slept. I came up at 11pm, and noticed the female bent in a weird position over the male. I jumped up and went over to the cage, and saw that he was dead. I took him out, and he was still warm. He was clearly too skinny. His keel bone was sticking out to some degree, and there was little muscle/fat on either side of it. Today, I let all the birds out to fly free, and his partner dug right into some corn on the cob I'd picked up the day before. She tucked right in and devoured one by herself. She also had a decent helping of seeds/pellets. BUT - she was getting tired in between eating, until I couldn't see her anymore. She was hiding behind the cage sleeping alone. I was able to pick her up without any difficulty (she's also not hand-tamed). She only protested mildly, but I recognized the signs. She didn't try to get away. I wrapped her in a blanket, and gave her some bird formula, but couldn't get her to take much. I had her wrapped in a fuzzy blanket, wrapped in a heating pad on low to keep her warm, as she was starting to shiver. She started to come around, and opened her eyes fully, and even stood up - then died, right in my hands. Before i wrapped her in a little shroud, noted her body composition was worse than her mate's, and she had bloody scratches all around her neck, yet I'd NEVER seen either bird scratching or pecking at each other.
I'm waiting to hear back from our avian vet to do a necropsy, but I suspect worms - yet it still seems very strange to me that they died within a day of each other. I think I know how they got the worms - from a bird I bought from a breeder that died the day after I got him, who was in a similar body condition. I thought I had done a good job of sterilizing the cage, yet at the time, I'd thought that that bird had just not been properly taken care of. Now I think it had worms, and passed it onto my other birds. Has anyone else every experienced this?
I noticed that the pair were eating 3x as much as the other birds. All my birds eat Roudybush California blend mini, they were starting to get witte molen egg food as of a few weeks ago, and a calcium/vitamin D supplement in case they bred. They got corn, organic spinach, shredded organic carrots, finely chopped organic apples, and chopped broccoli in the mornings; pellets, egg food; and the calcium/vitamin D supplement every other day. While my other birds never finished their fresh food or pellets, these two finished EVERYTHING, and I'd have to give them a third dish of pellets by nighttime, which was also gone by morning. All my birds also get seeds on Saturdays.
Yesterday, I watched the two playing on their swing, their swing bridge, playing with their wicker balls, and cuddling when they slept. I came up at 11pm, and noticed the female bent in a weird position over the male. I jumped up and went over to the cage, and saw that he was dead. I took him out, and he was still warm. He was clearly too skinny. His keel bone was sticking out to some degree, and there was little muscle/fat on either side of it. Today, I let all the birds out to fly free, and his partner dug right into some corn on the cob I'd picked up the day before. She tucked right in and devoured one by herself. She also had a decent helping of seeds/pellets. BUT - she was getting tired in between eating, until I couldn't see her anymore. She was hiding behind the cage sleeping alone. I was able to pick her up without any difficulty (she's also not hand-tamed). She only protested mildly, but I recognized the signs. She didn't try to get away. I wrapped her in a blanket, and gave her some bird formula, but couldn't get her to take much. I had her wrapped in a fuzzy blanket, wrapped in a heating pad on low to keep her warm, as she was starting to shiver. She started to come around, and opened her eyes fully, and even stood up - then died, right in my hands. Before i wrapped her in a little shroud, noted her body composition was worse than her mate's, and she had bloody scratches all around her neck, yet I'd NEVER seen either bird scratching or pecking at each other.
I'm waiting to hear back from our avian vet to do a necropsy, but I suspect worms - yet it still seems very strange to me that they died within a day of each other. I think I know how they got the worms - from a bird I bought from a breeder that died the day after I got him, who was in a similar body condition. I thought I had done a good job of sterilizing the cage, yet at the time, I'd thought that that bird had just not been properly taken care of. Now I think it had worms, and passed it onto my other birds. Has anyone else every experienced this?