Good evening, this my first time posting on this forum. I was wondering how can I get my cockatiel to stop plucking his feathers. He is missing feathers on his chest and under/on his wings. Also one of his wings feathers is shorter then the other but it never use to be like that. I know it can be due to boredom but he does have toys. He is about 20+ years old. This is my grandparents bird.
I work at an animal aquatic rescue that takes in birds. I don't own this bird but I want to help.
He seems to not be able to open his back talons/foot. His nails are really long but he did let me trim some but not all, but that's not the point of this post.
He was surrendered with three other budgies that seemed rather okay besides not having their tail feathers. They were bullying him by not letting get food or water and stayed on the bottom of the cage so I moved him back into our quarantine area. It's still not the best but I took out the grate and laid some newspaper down for him. (I'm trying to reduce the friction on his legs) He has small plates in his cage so he can eat and drink.
The problem is that his feet seem to be stuck closed and he's rubbing the nubs on the perches (dowels sadly) causing sores on his ankle area. I'm wondering what I can do to help him. He's very active and is eating, drinking, playing, and grooming himself.
He is a really sweet bird; he lets me pick him up; and he lets me hold him so I really want to help him. I unfortunately can't adopt him due to my living situation but I still want to help him. Any tips for him?
(Video of him walking in comments)
it’s now been exactly a year since maus‘ passing. life still feels strange without her, and without this community. maus was the specialest little girl with the biggest heart (and the biggest liver).
since her passing, a new budgie joined my flock. her name is motte and she developed the same forehead dots as maus. i think it was a sign. the foster budgies zimt & zucker also briefly joined us. i’d like to say i love all my children equally, but (and don’t tell this to guppy or motte) maus will always have a special place in my heart that no other budgie or anyone else can fill.
next month i will get a tattoo from a specific artist to commemorate her, and she will be right next to my other budgie memorial tattoo. i still carry two of her dot feathers with me in my wallet and her urn rests next to my bed.
and lastly, i want to thank all of you. ive never felt so loved and cared for in any online community, and you all made a difference in my life and maus‘ too!! after she passed, multiple people were so kind to create something special for me to remember her by. i want to share these gifts here too, because they are part of my life. i look at them every day and even if i tried, no words could properly express the gratitude i feel!! i’ve added pictures of all the gifts i received!!
i read every comment (i still do, when i want to return to memory lane), i celebrated every donation that helped keep maus alive with a level of care i couldn’t have done alone.
with love
maus‘ mother and her flock
im taking care of a disabled tiel someone found in a parking lot. unsure if she's permanently disabled or just spinal injury, owner of bird rescue i volunteer at isnt sure either. anyone have advice on how to clean her cloaca? thank you
Hello, my grey cockatiel is sick now from one week.
Past history:
He already had a swelling in his left side of leg from the past three years. But it did not affect his daily life.
I had adopted him while he already had the swelling from a friend who couldn't take him where he was moving.
He informed me that the bird was once in the past injured by a ceiling fan on wings but he treated him with betadine and sometimes later developed swelling in leg side but no problem with the bird flying. He also has less feathers on his crop area.
Now from 2 years while staying with me, He comes out of the cage for 1 hour everyday and flies twice or thrice.
Now,
His tongue has developed white patch and upper beak has thick plaque deposited.
The corners of the mouth opening has the white residue like wet thing.
The poop is bright lime green stringy and sticky.
I guess there is crop stasis thing also. But he also eats a little.
He is also slightly tail bobbing.
Eating less. Drinking even lesser.
Earlier weighed 140 gms on dec-25.
Now weighs 125 gms.
There is only a general vet available here who helped me contact a guy who knows about birds. I went there but the person did not do physical examination of the bird. Now he is also not available for long and not taking calls.
He prescribed merquine (enrofloxacin) and flucazonale and liv 52 for 5 days. Micogel micozonale cream on beak corners if he rubs his beak. And multivitamin and set gut powder after 5 days.
But there is no plaque improvement after completing 5 days.
This medication is given in water bowl which he drinks only once after given.
he refuses to take medicine directly.
He is an untamed bird who only sits on hand when he wants.
I want advice on:
Is this the right treatment?
I think it is trichomoniasis galliae. But I'm also confused that it might be aspergillosis.
(No lab tests for birds are available here. I hardly managed to get a prescription.)
Kindly help me to diagnose from the symptoms.
Also help medication for crop stasis situation.
He won't let him touch him. He gets so much stressed.
Also advice from how to recover liver and kidney after antibiotics and antifungal treatments. Nutrition & diet & medication.
Please help save my birdie who gives me hope to live another day!
No budgie has ever lived a full life as much as Chance ^((click the link for his story)). He's easily covered several thousand miles in vehicles and traversed through Texas like a cowboy, while singing along to country music. We've shamelessly smuggled him into hotel rooms at Dallas during our bar hopping nights away from home. He's gone to work with us at the office every day, and traveled with auntie Robyn during her product delivery days while we were out of town. He's defied all odds through his disability and won many hearts over with his sass and tolerance for manhandling.
Chance was just a month shy of being a year old when he'd finally moved on to the next chapter of whatever lies beyond Earth. We did not see it coming. There's an eerie and uncomfortable silence in my room now. His presence will be missed in body, mind and soul.
Goodbye, little buddy. You were very much loved by your dads, your aunties Robyn and u/caili_west, who have worked together to keep you around as long as we could. Thank you for all the good times, and for being the "perfect bird" who didn't shit all over us (because you couldn't, you silly boy). Daily commute to work won't be the same without you.
- Chance (22 July, 2025 to 28 June, 2026)
Olá! Gostaria de pedir ajuda.
Moro no Brasil (especificamente na Bahia, na região Nordeste no Brasil)
Estava passeando pelo interior com meu namorado(onde meus pais recentemente compraram uma casa)e me deparei com um pet shop.
Eu e meu namorado estávamos sem rumo no nosso passeio, então decidimos entrar para ver mais do Pet Shop e acabamos nos deparando com este pequeno periquito com a pata torta.
Eu evito ao máximo comprar animais em pet shop pois não gosto de financia-lós, principalmente quando vejo que os animais não são bem tratados, porém fiquei com muito dó desse pequenino e desde lá (1 semana), não tiro ele da cabeça e só penso em trazê-lo pra casa comigo.
Pensando nisso, comecei a estudar sobre os periquitos e até já vi modelos de gaiola e poleiros, mas como dá para ver na foto, ele tem essa pata torta, que ele praticamente não apoia no chão. Pretendo leva-lo no veterinário quando pegar ele.
Mas o que eu venho perguntar mesmo é; como vocês acham que eu deveria/poderia adaptar uma gaiola para este pequeno garoto?
Também pretendo pegar outro periquito para fazer companhia para ele.
I’m just questioning if I actually want to do that or not? I need some outside opinions :(
I have this budgie, he was born with a couple deformities: most obvious being his legs, he has something fused in there so they’re stuck at the angle in the photo & he walks around on his ankle (? Or whatever that part of their legs is) but other than that he can grip things and stand on thin perches / ropes.
He also had an injury which resulted in a dented keel bone before I got him :(
I’ve had two vets tell me to consider ending his life because his quality of life isn’t good but I just really don’t know
It’s probably selfish but I don’t want to ?
He’s literally never let his own problems bother him: despite everything he’s super chatty, sings, flirts with my other budgies and runs around and begs for millet and any other thing a normal happy budgie would do! There’s no way his quality of life is bad enough to end it even though he acts happy right?
I understand that eventually that will be for the best but I just feel like it’s way to early since he hasn’t been showing signs of his problems bothering him, he does most likely have some chronic pain and is on some painkillers but even before those he acted so normal and happy.
I get that birds hide illness/ pain well but I really don’t see how an unhappy bird could act and behave like him 😕 I wouldn’t be debating this if he showed any signs of being unhappy or his problems finally being too much for him
Idk I might just be selfish thinking all this, i also have another older budgie who is on palliative care because of a tumour so that might be affecting how I feel about this since it means I’ll have to be losing 2 of my budgies soon.
I think if I do decide to let him go early I’ll still wait until my other budgies on palliative care’s health declines so they can go together instead of being alone.
Might be in denial but I just need to hear other peoples opinions so I can do what’s best for him.
Chiki appreciation post because I love her! We've been adoring all the love from y'all on here too, thank you all so much!
Here she is seen hanging out on her cage even when she gets upset the bars hurt her feet (she is a poop machine who didn't want to sit in her cage while I was cleaning her cloth) as well as preening her feathers and practicing becoming a right angle! I think she's getting very good at all of these things. Her determination and stubborn nature can inspire even the most easygoing souls
*window disclaimer!: Chiki sadly can't fly and can't jump far either; anytime she seems agitated (which is often) or if there's a large/upsetting bird outside, we move to a different spot. There's also an outdoor cushion beneath the window on the freak chance she happens to jump out! We're very careful, I promise
Three month old quaker parrot. a little gem named Mr. Snug (because he’s so snuggly).
Dremel tool used by a Bad Vet, for right foot metal band removal, burnt one leg very bad this past Monday.
Sixth day of paralysis, and today foot discoloration.
I do have him on a number of medications, including anti-inflammatory and pro-circulation. Antibiotic. Pain.
Not sure about his recovery prospects.
We are not worthy of these creatures, stupid humans who are careless.
I want to know what signs you had before your pet passed especially of illness or just age.
I keep being told birds hide illness, and that theres classic symptoms of things to indicate illness (ie- tail bobbing means respiratory illness. But, if you see no tail bobbing, and no open mouth breathing, you could assume “no respiratory issues then!” And still have your bird pass from this).
Some people ive seen said their birds head slumped days before passing, some saying they had glassy eyes or their tail bending down.
Can you tell me any personal experience you had before the passing of your bird so it can help me read body language in birds better. I want to study avian veterinary medicine one day but for now i want to really see and feel these things first hand and gather information that can help others in passing topics.
Mi abuela me regaló dos periquitos y uno de ellos un gato le comió sus patitas. Son unos pajaritos que solo llevan horas conmigo y no me tienen nada de confianza pero quiero hacer lo mejor para poder cuidarlos. Al bebé me lo dieron en una jaula sucia y quiero limpiarlo pero como dije anteriormente sigue muy miedoso. Luego quise bañarlo porque como siempre está acostado me dio cosita que esté sucio e intente agarrarlo de la manera más gentil y suave posible pero realmente me tiene mucho miedo 😢 (muerde bastante fuerte para ser un bebé) Quisiera más que nada que me den ayuda a cómo cuidarlo, que puedo usar para ponerle en la jaula, algo suave que no lo lastime
He’s having the time of his life sitting outside.
Is anybody here from Indonesia
I have found a horrific, and i mean horrific breeder (i cant post what ive seen its the stuff of nightmares. We are talking mutilation to the point… of no recognition)
I have gathered some geographical data, and abundant proof of harm, and clear photos of the breeder himself and his home. I do not know how or where to report. I do not know how to report.
Capture and release of these birds, i will be sending the police notice - a financial reward.
Let me start out with that I can't afford a vet and my parents won't let me, since majority are 120+ and they won't let me (and for another reason I'll post about.)
Anyway, my budgie (male) Midnight is around 10 years old. Thursday morning (June 18th) my sister (who had him) texted me that he was tripping and falling and when she picked him up his right foot staggered to get on like he was hesitating.
A few hours later he got better but it seems he's hesitant with the foot but still puts weight on it. But he's still chirps and beak grinds and normally verbal and he's not fluffed up (all the time) pretty much normal behaviour. But obviously when he walks, he walks weird.
She noticed one his nails is lighter then the other, but its not that toes/nail that seems to be messed up. Another toe is more relaxed then the others.
She thinks its was Wednesday night, cause while trying to sleep he made noise with his toys and she found him on top of his swing or something. But she didn't notice anything that night.
Other then all that he's fine. With his foot, the injured one you can see he's slightly lifted it, as if a person does when they sprained a part of their foot, like he puts weight on it but if you look closer, you can see it.
Originally we just lowered the perches and left everything and my sister let him out of the cage and we put a cloth on top so he could stand on it instead. But I read to confine him to the cage so we did that yesterday night (i was at work, June 21st) he didn't like it, we only have a big cage too (having lost a previous budgie 2 months ago.) He wants to be out and keeps climbing the bars. I zip-tied some Cardboard to the upper sides but doesn't seem to change.
A lot of places said to get flat perches, But my budgie doesn't like new things and I feel he wouldn't walk on them even if we took the perches away (if I take them away he jumps up and climbs the cage walls) Others said unless the bird is disable that flat perches aren't a good idea? But because of the cages design (it has 2 opening we zip-ried shut) he gets on the closer perch, goes side to side, jump down to try and open them, turns and jumps back on the perch and turns again (which I don't want)
IDK what to do, we're thinking about getting a small hamster cage/carrier bird cage to put him in so he doesn't climb. But I fear he'll be more upset at that. Other then one foot being a bit more relaxed he seems fine, Idk if he'll get better later.
(The first pict was taken on thursday, everything else is today.)