Parrotlet respiratory issue

[Scott]

I know what lethargy looks like because my other bird had that, she’s taking naps then exercising a lot, now I’m noticing that when I hold my bird on the palm of my hand that her butt is firm, I think I perhaps was just touching the vent area which is supposed to be swollen, I’m so sorry guys that I exaggerate and assume everything before examining and giving you guys all the details

No worries, please keep posting your observations and we'll sort it out! We're all in this together!!

 

[Fai]

I know what lethargy looks like because my other bird had that, she’s taking naps then exercising a lot, now I’m noticing that when I hold my bird on the palm of my hand that her butt is firm, I think I perhaps was just touching the vent area which is supposed to be swollen, I’m so sorry guys that I exaggerate and assume everything before examining and giving you guys all the details

No worries, please keep posting your observations and we'll sort it out! We're all in this together!!

Of course! I did some research since all egg laying is different with different species and it looks like parrotlets bottoms do swell up quite a lot as does the vent too! It looks like she would stand in one place to get energy (as some birds do when they have eggs) then she has lot of energy and it scares me how active she is with her egg haha we try to keep her in her cage to avoid dangers. She’s eating a lot of calcium and drinking plenty of water, she eats some crushed pellet but resorts to seeds and the spinach and carrots and I don’t want to take the seeds away while she’s about to lay, and doing further research, parrotlets that are about to lay will only poop 2-3 REALLY big poop a few days before she’s about to lay, and right now she’s pooping maybe 8-10 times a day, which makes me realize that when I felt across her bottom near her vent, that the eggs aren’t there and they are somewhat between the stomach and bottom which is where they should be as the eggs don’t get close to the vent where I checked until they are going to lay. Her poop doesn’t have any yolk in it, and she doesn’t appear to be limping or stifling to perch although she is heavier and it’s quite funny to see her try to climb thing that are vertical because we have to help her up since she’s used to being lighter. It looks like our bird also hates the nest boxes we provided and is opting to go into small tunnel boxes of any kind, we got her a play ground and she went inside the small box of the play ground instead so we aren’t quite sure where she’s going to lay them but she should be laying them this week or next week and then we are going to the vet around this weekend just in case.

Also as a note, the breathing that I mentioned at the beginning of this thread is actually gone, her breathing is almost not visible when she’s resting anymore. On another note, as she approaches laying eggs their tail starts to bob very little and inconsistent but it isn’t with her breathing, I’m guessing it’s her getting ready to lay.

 

[Fai]

Hi guys! My bird finally laid her first egg! Unfortunately she did this at night and she was on the highest perch of the cage and she just laid it and it fell and broke on the floor so we are looking to have to get that one and replace it with a dummy egg, it looks like she might not have an incubation period (the egg I looked, was fine, there was no egg shell missing or anything)

 

[Scott]

At last you finally have evidence! A shame the egg broke, nice to keep for posterity.

 

[Laurasea]

Glad it went well!! Thanks for sharing , I'm learning with you

 

[Fai]

It has been quite a learning experience! She laid her second egg today on my sister, she completely ignored after she laid it so I don’t think she will go through her nesting period of after laying eggs. It has been quite worrying, because when parrotlets get eggs, they exhibit all the symptoms of being egg bound or having the egg broken inside but it’s just how parrotlets act which I’m so mad at haha, but basically what I was scared about earlier was unnecessary, when a parrotlet is getting ready to lay, it starts up higher in the body and near the vent, parrotlets vents get very swollen when they will lay so I though that the egg had broken and made it swell but I was wrong, and as you said, the egg shell isn’t created until they are going to lay. She is only 11 months old and that’s what worries me, I think any bird would be exhausted after using a lot of resources from their body, and to lay eggs from such a small body, but I hope she doesn’t keep laying eggs. As I said, we got another bird and we introduced her to our bird and I think she sees her as her mate even though they are both females, but I’m going to reduce the light they are exposed to to prevent it. Also, if anyone knows, why does she abandon the eggs like they are nothing? We left it there for her to see and she just ignored it, and it looks like she’s willing to lay them anywhere.

 

[LaManuka]

Oops, I hadn't realised your little one had started laying eggs!! As the mother of a mad keen chronic egg layer I know how worrisome this can be! My Lilly is not much bigger than your parrotlet, being one of the very smallest species of lorikeet. She started laying, almost exactly as per the text book, pretty much the minute she turned 1 year old, and was so determined to be a mum that in 2019 she laid 3 clutches within 6 months!!! Thankfully she has laid no more since but it is only through hyper-vigilance and ensuring that she has zero access to anything that might even vaguely resemble a nesting site that we have kept her egg-free. Even just giving her an innocent head scratch can sometimes start her regurgitating and making "come hither" noises at me so I have to gently pop her in her cage and walk away for a bit until she cools down!

As for why your hen might have shown no interest in those eggs - I can only imagine that with some birds it might take a while for their instincts to kick in. Lilly knew exactly what to do with her eggs right from the start, but some who are raised in a domestic environment may not, for the first few clutches anyway. It's great that you are looking into getting some dummy eggs just in case this does happen again, but as egg-binding is somewhat more common among smaller species like my tiny lory and your parrotlet it's best to do whatever you can to avoid it. Here's a link where you can find some dummy eggs in case you don't have some already......

http://www.dummyeggs.com/

Best of luck with your little hen, Fai, and I hope she does not have any more surprises for you on the way!

 

[Fai]

Oops, I hadn't realised your little one had started laying eggs!! As the mother of a mad keen chronic egg layer I know how worrisome this can be! My Lilly is not much bigger than your parrotlet, being one of the very smallest species of lorikeet. She started laying, almost exactly as per the text book, pretty much the minute she turned 1 year old, and was so determined to be a mum that in 2019 she laid 3 clutches within 6 months!!! Thankfully she has laid no more since but it is only through hyper-vigilance and ensuring that she has zero access to anything that might even vaguely resemble a nesting site that we have kept her egg-free. Even just giving her an innocent head scratch can sometimes start her regurgitating and making "come hither" noises at me so I have to gently pop her in her cage and walk away for a bit until she cools down!

As for why your hen might have shown no interest in those eggs - I can only imagine that with some birds it might take a while for their instincts to kick in. Lilly knew exactly what to do with her eggs right from the start, but some who are raised in a domestic environment may not, for the first few clutches anyway. It's great that you are looking into getting some dummy eggs just in case this does happen again, but as egg-binding is somewhat more common among smaller species like my tiny lory and your parrotlet it's best to do whatever you can to avoid it. Here's a link where you can find some dummy eggs in case you don't have some already......

DummyEggs.com, Dummy Eggs Help Stop Egg Laying in Pet Birds! Fake Eggs, Solid Plastic Eggs in all sizes.

Best of luck with your little hen, Fai, and I hope she does not have any more surprises for you on the way!

It is quite strange because she gets very defensive when she’s in the nest we set for her to lay her eggs! Of course she ended up just laying it on my sister. I am still quite worried because right before and after laying the egg, she looks exhausted, but then gains her energy after a day. I think our cousins has some dummy eggs so we will borrow it from the if it ever happens again. She is definitely full of surprises and takes most of our time and attention but I guess that’s what brings joy to us bird owners!

Note: something I observed that scared me is her tail bobbing, so her tail starts bobbing when she tries to push the egg according to my sister as her but was facing her and once she lays it, it stops, but we have seen her tail bob a few times and I finally realized that it’s because she’s trying to push out the large poop she has! I was scared because I felt no egg yet and it was after she just laid one but it’s just her pushing out poop so if anyone ever gets a parrotlet about to lay I wouldn’t worry and wait until she lays an egg or poops, if they don’t then I would take action and bring them to a vet.

 

[Fai]

I guess final update, it looks like she laid her last egg so I don’t feel anything and the swelling kinda went down, I can’t tell if she is going to try to sit on the eggs because we put them all in a nest and she sometimes goes in there.

I have a question though, I noticed this but is it normal for there to be no feathers where the crop is is? I looked on my other birds and they don’t have feathers right there but since my bird who is laying egg is fat and it looks like she is saving food in her crop (she does empty it out) it looks more predominant and weird if she grooms herself because she moves her feathers and you can see the empty spot of feathers, is that normal to have no feathers there?

 

[Scott]

Unsure about featherless crop regions, may be species dependent issue? Can you upload a pic?

 

[Fai]

This is how it looks like when she’s there and then when you blow/move the feathers. Looking at my other birds, it has small spot that has no feathers (crop) but I think since she is a little more chubby and is storing food in her crop the skin expanded making the area bigger. Also there looks to be a pin feather there so she might also be molting.

 

[Scott]

Beautiful pics! I'm not familiar with Parrotlets, but my guess is this may be normal. Feathers in second image appear perfect when not moved or disturbed.

 

[Fai]

Thank you, I was getting worried but I checked again this morning and it looks like some pin feathers are growing so I’m guessing she was molting or maybe her and her companion got into fight or perhaps she was stressed a little from the eggs and pulled some out

 

[Scott]

That would be my guess, hopefully others will chime in from other perspectives!