I have three budgies, one is in a cage by herself in my living room(she doesn't get along well with others), the other two are in my bedroom. I'm very worried about the two in my bedroom-all they do all day is preen themselves and each other. In fact, it is so bad that my white budgie only has ONE TAIL FEATHER left. The bird that's by herself is fine-she preens, but not so much that she loses feathers. So, how do i tell what's causing them to pick themselves-is it mites or stress? Boredom? I'm really starting to worry..
Budgies will naturally moult out tail feathers on occasion so I don't think I would be too concerned at this point. Sometimes they will moult several tail feathers at the same time. I knwo that with my budgie Gracie, she loses her two longest tail feathers within a day or so of each other so she looks rather stubby. It's really quite charming! If several months pass and the tail feather still has not started to grow back in, then perhaps that may be worth investigating.
You can easily recognize some types of mites, and other types are much more difficult. The mites that cause scaly face for example are very easy to identify. You will notice a crusty material that builds up, typically on the cere, beak, around the eyes, vent and/or the legs. The main identifying factor is that this crusty material takes on a honeycomb shape.
With other types of mites, like red mites for example, these only come out at night and consequently, it can be very difficult to figure out that this is the problem. The trick to knowing whether your budgies have red mites is to drape the cage with a white cloth at night and then at some point, checking on it to see if there is a presence of little red dots (the red mites) on the cloth. I have read about another technique to finding out if your budgies have red mites; take some tape and line the corners of the cage with it. When the red mites walk across the tape, they will get stuck and you will see them.....
If you are at all concerned about the health of your budgies, I would encourage you to bring your little sweethearts in to see an avian vet for a checkup. It is best to err on the side of caution in most cases....
Budgies will naturally moult out tail feathers on occasion so I don't think I would be too concerned at this point. Sometimes they will moult several tail feathers at the same time. I knwo that with my budgie Gracie, she loses her two longest tail feathers within a day or so of each other so she looks rather stubby. It's really quite charming! If several months pass and the tail feather still has not started to grow back in, then perhaps that may be worth investigating.
You can easily recognize some types of mites, and other types are much more difficult. The mites that cause scaly face for example are very easy to identify. You will notice a crusty material that builds up, typically on the cere, beak, around the eyes, vent and/or the legs. The main identifying factor is that this crusty material takes on a honeycomb shape.
With other types of mites, like red mites for example, these only come out at night and consequently, it can be very difficult to figure out that this is the problem. The trick to knowing whether your budgies have red mites is to drape the cage with a white cloth at night and then at some point, checking on it to see if there is a presence of little red dots (the red mites) on the cloth. I have read about another technique to finding out if your budgies have red mites; take some tape and line the corners of the cage with it. When the red mites walk across the tape, they will get stuck and you will see them.....
If you are at all concerned about the health of your budgies, I would encourage you to bring your little sweethearts in to see an avian vet for a checkup. It is best to err on the side of caution in most cases....
In my area, there are only two vets that treat avians, and at one, the DR. won't be in until tuesday, and at another one, just getting an exam for a single bird is $50! So that would mean spending $150 to get all three of my sweeties checked. Are there any home remedies that might work? Any way to kill mites if we find that that IS the root of the problem? Thanks.
You should be able to buy mite treatment from your local pet shop. However, you must identify that mites is the true reason for the loss of feathers and excessive preening, not boredom or stress.
There is nothing wrong with only bringing in one bird.
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Cutie Pie, Olive, Budgie, Baby Boy, Star, Pepper, Ariel, Oscar, Charlie, Little One, Chiclet.
Cutie Pie, Olive, Ariel, Little One and Chiclet are children of Budgie and Oscar.
Budgie and Star left us in 2009. Pepper and Oscar left us this year, 2010.
A good day is a day all your birds are happy and healthy.
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How do you tell if your bird has mites?
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