I noticed this morning that my budgie Olive’s head feathers are looking really bedraggled. He (I know that Olive is a girl’s name but I named him when I was little) is acting sleepier than usual. I’m thinking that he’s going through a severe moult, since his budgie friend is moulting too. He’s lost some feathers around one of his eyes and had some feathers sticking up irregularly on his head and neck. Is there something I can do to help him? I sprayed him with water this morning and I’m making a batch of sprouted seeds for him and his friend. The problem is that he doesn’t share a cage with anyone to preen his head feathers.
I first noticed it this morning when I turned on the lights in the bird room. He looks a bit less messy now. Maybe because I sprayed him several times. He has gone through an extreme moult before, but I don’t think he looked how he did this morning.
His budgie friend has lost some feathers too, but not on her head.
You can offer him some hard boiled egg or some commercially prepared egg food for birds, it takes a lot of protein to grow new feathers. I hard boil and egg and grate the white of the egg and give it to my birds and they love it.
Thanks for the advice! I offered him some sprouted seeds this afternoon, though unfortunately he didn't eat many. I don't think he likes that they're wet and hard to shake the seed husks off his beak. I will be offering him and his friend some egg soon. He does have AGY, so he's on meds and I fear this molt is going to be a bit hard for him. I'm worried though because last time he had a molt he got a bacterial infection which I think weakened him and allowed the AGY to multiply. His friend (not really his mate because she never really liked him) probably also has AGY but she doesn't have enough to have symptoms.
I'm thinking of maybe adding supplements to their food to help them during their molt, since the first time I brought Olive to the vet with the bacterial infection, they gave him a vitamin shot to boost his strength. What kind of supplements do you recommend? Also, are supplements safe for him while he's on medication? I'm giving him Amphotericin B twice a day for ten days, and a couple weeks ago he had another round of 30 days of meds. I don't have any experience with AGY so I don't know what's safe to give him and what's not (other than sweet foods).