PLEASE HELP ME :( I am worried

[Moheba996]

My female budgie has been losing feathers and has a lot of space in her body where it looks like she doesnt have enough feathers I do not know what to do. I dont know if its molting, and she has been very fussy lately as well. I attached a video and a picture where you can see the “space” near her wings. Please help me out so I can help her, please.

 

[Scott]

Welcome to you and your beautiful budgie! I am not familiar with the species and unsure of feather status. Can you share how old she is, how long in your home, a bit about diet and other habits? We have many members with budgie expertise who might offer help.

 

[Moheba996]

Hi so I got both of the budgies as babies. They are about 1 year and 2 months old now. She eats fine and drink her water as well. She loves flying with the other budgie too. Lately shes been picking her feathers and scratching herself. Some of her feathers got out near her nose. Her cere has turned brown too. And also she is very jealous and wants to take place of the whole cage. She’s very bossy from the start.

 

[Moheba996]

Hi so I got both of the budgies as babies. They are about 1 year and 2 months old now. She eats fine and drink her water as well. She loves flying with the other budgie too. Lately shes been picking her feathers and scratching herself. Some of her feathers got out near her nose. Her cere has turned brown too. And also she is very jealous and wants to take place of the whole cage. She’s very bossy from the start.

 

[Laurasea]

Hello, welcome to the forum .

As your female budgie is now an adult. When her cere gets brien and crusty she is in breeding season.

" Females with a tan cere may develop brown hypertrophy of the cere, a thickening of cere tissue. This occurs from hormonal activity and is not dangerous nor does it need to be removed. Normally, the flaking hypertrophied tissue sloughs off over time and only becomes of concern if the tissue occludes (closes off) the openings to the nares."

During breeding season they will sometimes pull out feathers to line their nest . Even without a nest available she may be practicing.

But mites are also a concern. The scaly keg mite makes legs and around the nose thick and crusty and they will lose feathers on tgeir face.

But I think you have breeding behavior. If yiu are not planning on breeding, font provide a nest. If she lays eggs anyway you can boil them and give them back for her to sit on. Because if they don't have eggs to fit on they can keep making new eggs and get in trouble or die.

Just stuff to think about ahead if time since you have a boy and a girl ..

 

[Moheba996]

Welcome to you and your beautiful budgie! I am not familiar with the species and unsure of feather status. Can you share how old she is, how long in your home, a bit about diet and other habits? We have many members with budgie expertise who might offer help.

Hello, welcome to the forum .

As your female budgie is now an adult. When her cere gets brien and crusty she is in breeding season.

" Females with a tan cere may develop brown hypertrophy of the cere, a thickening of cere tissue. This occurs from hormonal activity and is not dangerous nor does it need to be removed. Normally, the flaking hypertrophied tissue sloughs off over time and only becomes of concern if the tissue occludes (closes off) the openings to the nares."

During breeding season they will sometimes pull out feathers to line their nest . Even without a nest available she may be practicing.

But mites are also a concern. The scaly keg mite makes legs and around the nose thick and crusty and they will lose feathers on tgeir face.

But I think you have breeding behavior. If yiu are not planning on breeding, font provide a nest. If she lays eggs anyway you can boil them and give them back for her to sit on. Because if they don't have eggs to fit on they can keep making new eggs and get in trouble or die.

Just stuff to think about ahead if time since you have a boy and a girl ..

Hi Laurasea! This was so helpful to me, thank you very much. So I don't have a nest for them its just their cage.. can she get sick if she doesn't lay eggs? And is it required for her to have a nest around this time with what she's going through?

 

[bug_n_flock]

No it is acutally much safer and healthier for her not to lay eggs at all. do your birds have a cuttlebone or other calcium source just in case your girl decides to lay anyway despite not having a nest? As for the feathers, it sounds like a heavy molt to me. Our flock is molting right now. Makes everyone itchy and grumpy. If i were you, I would probably make sure they had dark green leafy veg and I might chop up a boiled egg for them(not a lot, and take out after an jour or so so the egg doesn't spoil. The greens can be given raw with a little spritz of water on them. How much light do your birds get each day? Too many hours of light in a day can be a real egg laying trigger for some birds.

 

[Moheba996]

Hi bug_n_flock, thank you for this, this was so helpful! I don't have the cuttlebone and any source of calcium for them. They are so picky with what they eat. She is VERY grumpy at the moment because of her molting. I will try to give them their greens and hard boiled eggs. For the hard boiled egg do I include the yolk as well? Thanks again.

 

[Laurasea]

Budgies take to leafy lettuces like romaine pretty easy. Hang it a whole leaf, or weave in bars or offer on a flat plate st tge bottom if the cage. It won't be long before they nibble on it, broccoli raw has calcium too, mibe like to nibble it.