r/BirdHealth

Hey guys I really need help, for anyone that doesn't know, I adopted a 14 year old, male (i believe) yellow crested cockatoo named dandy lu about 4 months ago (he is my first ever bird so im not very knowledgeable on birds and their behaviour), he was from a rough situation, fed the wrong food (kit kats EVERYDAY) plucked all his feathers, was used to being handled but was violent with everyone that wasnt his owner ( especially women), the whole shebang.

Didn't help that I got him during mateing season, as I learnt the hard way lol 😅

He was mean at first (nearly took out my eye) but after 2 months of just us he calmed right down, he started to play with me, talk to me, came up to me when I came home and let me pet him and gave me kisses, he became a complete sweetheart of a bird (aside from committing complet irreparably property damage 😆)

But then the last couple of months I noticed he was getting sick (sneezing, inability to fly, slight tail bod and obviously still plucking his feathers) so i took him to the vets that I was planning on waiting for a little bit to introduce him to, as we were still not completely bonded yet and I wanted to be sure before taking him, but needs must and all that jazz.

After 2 trips to the vets where we had initial consultation and the bloods and x-rays, we have found out that he has a small liver (that we are testing antibiotics on to see if it is a treatable infection through them before more invasive stuff) completely healthy lungs and weak wing muscles due to inability to fly (caused by being kept in a budgie cage for the first 10 years of his life) and arthritis in his left knee and right hip which he is on painkiller for from now on(due to how he purches to sleep the goober), he is getting better, he doesn't pluck his feathers now and he has so many new keratin feathers sheaths for new growths and its nice to know that its unlikely that anything else is not a major issue (as told by vet).

But he stopped being him.

He doesn't like being off his purch, he doesn't talk unless he is covered up and only if he thinks hes alone, he still let's me hold and stroke him, unless I go near his head then he turns away, but he shakes whenever i move or go close to him, he doesn't give me kisses but he'll sit on my shoulder if I pull him down off his purch, its like he is scared of my hands but not me? He doesn't play with anything anymore and he just sleeps all the time or screeches when I go out the room, the only time I have seen him leave his cage has been when my mum is here and its to attack her (after giving her a false sense of security by being cute and giving little kisses and going for cuddles the little menace 🤣)

I've brought this to my vets attention but they have said it will just take time and he will be fine in a couple of days, but its been a month and a half since his last visit, and hes still scared of me, I dont know if im over-reacting or not but im seriously worried that the constant need for meds and the vet visits (that, unfortunately, now need to happen every 3 months) have made him irreparably scared of me.

Im so sorry for the long post but I thought it best to get everything straight here before opinions where given.

I just want my baby back 😥😭

(The photos are before everything went to sh*t)

Hi everyone! My lovie Leo (m 8yrs old) has been doing this weird yawn maybe gag thing for the past 20 minutes and it’s really worrying me. Does anyone know why he may be doing this? He’s never done this before!

So a few months ago I almost lost my baby to metal poisoning.

One of the signs were leg banging. He banged his leg on the perch.

I changed his food bowls, I buy special toys for him without any metals. I check up on him all of the time.

I wasn't home much for the past week but I made sure to check up on him all of the time and to watch him a sleep sometimes.

I noticed that because he is molting he is very itchy and very aggressive. He bites the cage a lot too... but I did not see him eating parts of the cage.

Today I came home from uni, and I played with him. He ate, he sang to me, we played and he was a bit aggressive.

I put him to bed, and after an hour or so wanted to go to bed too... now I see him banging his leg on the perch....

But I also see him scratching himself a lot... I am scared that he has metal poisoning again... I am so scared. I can not sleep.

she just pooped so no egg bound, i cant see cuts or stuff on her leg so no bumblefoot, what can i do?? will she be ok????

She looks significantly worse than my other bird who shares a cage with her. Is there something wrong?

I have a rescued house sparrow that I found last year and I get so worried when clipping his nail. After accidentally clipping the quick last time I knew I had to figure something out. All the manufactured LED clippers have large circular cutters reducing accuracy with his small toes. I MacGyverd my own version and it was all available at my local grocery department store. It’s simply a LED book light, baby nail clippers, and electrical tape. Make sure to keep something that can safely clot a nail bleed in case of accidents. Cornstarch works if you can’t get ahold of the fancy stuff.

He has baby birds and their mama waiting for him along with us

He’s breathing fast and isn’t afraid of me. Is there anything I can do? Location is Iowa

This is Skittle.

Context: I bought her (I assume “her” because she has a VERY pink crest) 2 days ago now. I wanted to get a buddy for one of my parakeets since they’ve all “paired” themselves with each other, except for one since I had an odd number of them. Since I started seeing signs of “third wheeling” I decided to get another budgie for him. Besides her, all of my budgies are male.. I think.. I did put her with the others immediately after bringing her home, even though I know that’s ill advised. I did this because we don’t have the space or the resources to keep her in a separate enclosure for two weeks, but budgies need the social interaction. So I made the decision to purchase her anyways for the happiness of my third wheeler. We did watch her behavior for about an hour before deciding to buy her, and she acted like a perfectly normal and healthy budgie. It did seem like she was bonded to another budgie when we were buying her, but we’ve maxed out our limit after her and we’d have to buy 3 more instead of just her if we bought the one she was bonded with as well (to make the number even).

Concern: When I released her, she immediately flew out of her carrier. All of my budgies (including the third wheeler) instantaneously accepted her into the flock, except for one. This one budgie has been pecking her when he doesn’t like something she’s doing. He lets her eat and play with toys, but he won’t let her partake in the same activity he’s doing. The pecking has severely decreased within 48 hours, but now she pecks whenever the others try to give her love. The third wheeler has been defending her like crazy (scaring the pecker away whenever he gets close to her) and has been trying to show affection towards her but she’s completely disinterested. The third wheeler is obviously trying to befriend her, but she seems totally shut down. She hasn’t sang or really made any noise except for the mad tweets when she pecks. She’s also been completely fluffed up non stop since she’s been home and sleeps a lot. She doesn’t move around a lot and she hides in the corners of the cage as well. I don’t think she’s sick as she isn’t showing any other signs (like tail popping, weird breathing, etc), but I’m thinking I’m gonna take her to the vet in a few days if she doesn’t deflate (stop being puffed up).

Thoughts?

So lately I noticed that my bird looks uncomfortable.

He is very aggressive and he keeps biting the bars of his cage a lot (which he never did before) and moving from side to side in his cage. He is very hyperactive, destructive of his toys and looks like he might be shaking a little bit as well...

He scratches himself a lot and has lots of new pin feathers.

He is also very curious and wants to explore.

He sings, dances, eats, drinks and vocal...

Should I be worried? Is it just because of spring, hormones and new feathers? Or he is uncomfortable because he is unwell or something?

I am also kinda worried about the fact that he bites the cage so aggressively because I'm scared he will have heavy metals poisoning.

My budgie has been making those noises for the past week and her tail bobs with it and I don’t have any physical vets available so I need help from experts or anyone really I’m really worried about her and I’ve tried different methods like cleaning her environment and more but I need other suggestions she is 1.5 yrs old so if anyone needs more info and need help on how to warm up her body temp and more so anything will help ty

To start this off one of my budgies is very loving towards the baby of the group and DOES mouth feed him a lot, usually with tons of spillage. This morning i cleaned the cage and found these at the bottom. Ive seen them all poop normally since then bc the bottom was clean and easier to see it, but i cant tell if the picture depicts dried poop with seeds in it (health concern) or just some dried throw up. Ive seen my birds sick and no one is acting that way in any shape or form. But obv they are sneaky babes.

edit: twas just regurgitation 😮‍💨

My budgie started developing these black patches on top of his head a few days after he crashed into the wall. Is this normal or could it be from the collision?

So I got a budgie and a few days after him crashing into the wall he started developing these black patches on top of his head. Is that normal? Or could it be from the collision?

i got a brand new birdy here and I was wondering if there was any good avian vets nearby me for wellness checkups, since Yeah… it’s a new pet, your supposed to give wellness checkups