My budgie has dried discharge on her nose

[K.kelly524]

Hi. So over had my budgie, Libby, for over 2 years now. She's about two and a half years old. Always a healthy bird and never got sick. Vets were always impressed with her health. Today when I uncovered her cage, she had dried up brown discharge on her cere and her droppings were almost all poo. No white stuff. I've called the vet and no one can see her until tomorrow. I can't stop crying and worrying about her. She's eating and everything else normally. Her feathers aren't puffed. I'm so scared for her what do I do? I have three other budgies. One of my budgies fought her yesterday to the point where I had to separate them in different cages. Could that be a possibility? Is she in any immediate danger?

 

[Teddscau]

Hmm, without pictures, I couldn't really tell you what's going on. No offence, but humans suck at describing stuff. As long as she isn't tail bobbing, having diarrhea, vomiting, her lungs aren't crackling/clicking, she's still warm, etc., she should be fine until tomorrow.

It's good that you're getting her checked by the vet. I know this is upsetting, but take it from me: you can calm down and quit crying (says the girl who cries every other week over her birds). Man, that sounded harsh. But seriously, I think Libby will be fine until she sees the vet. I've dealt with more than my fair share of bird health issues over the years, and it doesn't sound like she's on death's door or anything like that (I'm not saying you should skip seeing the vet or anything like that).

From my experience with Lara (she's a chubby English budgie), it could just be mucus from getting in a fight (or it could be a respiratory infection). Lara tends to be a pretty mucus-y bird, and that's normal for her. If she plays rough with toys, snot often gets all over her face. If she's shredding things, the dust causes discharge, too. For 99% of birds, this isn't normal, but for Lara, it's perfectly fine. Still, since Libby doesn't have a history of snotty noses, seeing a vet is a good idea. And if she does have a respiratory infection or something, it sounds like it's in its early stages.

On an unrelated matter, is it currently summer where you are? Your kids might be fighting due to hormones, so I'd suggest making sure they get 12–14 hours of darkness to deal with their hormones.

 

[K.kelly524]

One thing I made sure to look out for is tail bobbing. No tail bobbing, thank god. She also is still very energetic and is eating and drinking normally. She was standing on one foot earlier and chirping her little heart out. I turned on a humidifier for her and it seems to have helped quite a bit. I will definitely go to the vet tomorrow since this isn't normal for her. But that was quite a scare for me

 

[Inger]

It's not the normal budgie crusty brown cere they get when they're ready to breed?


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[K.kelly524]

 

[Teddscau]

...I think Libby's a boy. Or, they have ovarian cancer. You know, with the blue cere and whatnot. That's definitely discharge, though.

 

[BoomBoom]

Sorry this is happening. I have read about the nasal discharge symptoms somewhere, but I can't recall what illness it's attributed to. I saw your other thread. Glad to hear you're taking your bird to a vet tomorrow. Let us know how it goes! Looks like you caught this very early on so I have high hopes for a quick resolution. Rooting for Libby.