Preventing spread of feather and beak disease to my birds

[éan]

Hello everyone,
yesterday I visited a friend and he showed me his two cockatiels. I then learned that those two cockatiels have feather and beak disease. They have already lost all their feathers. I did not touch the birds, but I did stand quite close to the cage. I am really worried about spreading the virus to my own two cockatiels. I spent the night somewhere else and washed my hair and the clothes I had been wearing and also sanitised the items I had with me when I was near the infected birds. However, I had to come home today and my cockatiels rely on me to be fed. I put them in a separate room, sanitised my hands and wore a mask when I fed them. My plan is to keep them in that room for 30 days and only enter the room to feed them, wearing a mask. Is there anything else I should do or should have done? Will 30 days of isolation be long enough? And is it likely that my cockatiels will still get infected? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much in advance!

 

[LaManuka]

Welcome to the forums, @éan, but I'm sorry you're facing such a worrying situation with your birds. PBFD is found mostly among wild bird flocks in Australia and was inadvertently spread overseas following the export of parrots from here across the world. I'm not sure exactly where in the world you are or how common it might be there, but here in Australia people sometimes keep infected birds and are able to provide them with a reasonably good quality of life, but they do need to take great care in order to prevent the virus spreading. The following article has some good information - just a warning though before you click because some of the pictures may be distressing ...

What is beak and feather disease? - BirdLife Australia

Here's everything you need to know about psittacine beak and feather disease – and how you can help prevent it.

birdlife.org.au

Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease: A Comprehensive Guide

Learn the impact of Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease's on parrots & birds. Identify symptoms and causes for effective disease management.

www.unusualpetvets.com.au

I think you are taking excellent precautions, as pretty much all you can do is change and wash your clothes, clean your shoes and shower to remove as much of the virus as is possible, and you seem to have done those things. And you will definitely need to limit contact with your friend's birds, and take all of those steps again every time you see your friend too, as the virus is unfortunately pretty contagious. Does your friend know for sure though if his birds have PBFD? Was it diagnosed by an avian vet?

 

[éan]

Welcome to the forums, @éan, but I'm sorry you're facing such a worrying situation with your birds. PBFD is found mostly among wild bird flocks in Australia and was inadvertently spread overseas following the export of parrots from here across the world. I'm not sure exactly where in the world you are or how common it might be there, but here in Australia people sometimes keep infected birds and are able to provide them with a reasonably good quality of life, but they do need to take great care in order to prevent the virus spreading. The following article has some good information - just a warning though before you click because some of the pictures may be distressing ...

What is beak and feather disease? - BirdLife Australia

Here's everything you need to know about psittacine beak and feather disease – and how you can help prevent it.

birdlife.org.au

Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease: A Comprehensive Guide

Learn the impact of Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease's on parrots & birds. Identify symptoms and causes for effective disease management.

www.unusualpetvets.com.au

I think you are taking excellent precautions, as pretty much all you can do is change and wash your clothes, clean your shoes and shower to remove as much of the virus as is possible, and you seem to have done those things. And you will definitely need to limit contact with your friend's birds, and take all of those steps again every time you see your friend too, as the virus is unfortunately pretty contagious. Does your friend know for sure though if his birds have PBFD? Was it diagnosed by an avian vet?

Hi LaManuka, thank you so much for your kind and helpful reply!! I am in Western Europe and I have never heard of this disease until yesterday. According to my friend the disease was diagnosed by a vet, though I do not know whether that vet specialised in birds. Unfortunately, there are not many vets in my country that specialise in birds.

 

[LaManuka]

Hi LaManuka, thank you so much for your kind and helpful reply!! I am in Western Europe and I have never heard of this disease until yesterday. According to my friend the disease was diagnosed by a vet, though I do not know whether that vet specialised in birds. Unfortunately, there are not many vets in my country that specialise in birds.

PBFD certainly can be suspected in cases that you've described, but it's most accurately diagnosed by a blood test, so I don't know if that's how it was identified with your friend's birds. It's also possible they may have "French moult" or polyomavirus instead, which is much more common in budgies but can also affect cockatiels - it also causes loss of feathers and is quite contagious too. Here's some info about polyomavirus that you may find helpful ...

FRENCH MOULT

French Moult (French molt) is a viral disease (polyomavirus) that primarily affects the feathers of budgerigars/budgies.

bcsa.com.au

Honestly I think you are already doing pretty much everything you can to prevent your birds becoming ill, so provided you keep up with these protocols you should be able to minimise the risk of your 'tiels being affected.