Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 10/4/2006

Question
Chrys,

The female is sitting on a pirch lifting one foot than the other, seeming, of course, a little uncomfortable, the male is clinging to the top corner of the cage, that's how they were when I went to bed last night and they're the same this morning.

If it would help, I took a couple photos of them yesterday, if there is a place I can send the photos that might help you help me.

Thanks.

Tracy
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Followup To

Question -
Chrys,

Thank you for your prompt reply......

To answer your questions, if she is overweight, it just happened very suddenly but she and the male seem to have very similar routines as far as eating, etc.

Not sure what pair bonded means.....there is a male and a female left, the other two that died were both males.  I noticed the first one appeared to be ill, I took her to my vet, unfortunately, I am way out in the country and don't have a lot of medical options for keets.  My vet thought he was dehydrated so they kept him overnight and hand fed him with a dropper, he passed during the night.  

The second one died a few months ago, I really didn't notice he was getting ill, just one morning, found him dead on the bottom of the cage.

Brings us to today, I started doing some internet research to find out if there is something I should put in the cage (something for a nest) in case the female is not ill and is going to lay eggs.

Unfortunately, I don't know a heck of a lot about them, they were actually purchased by someone else and left for me to care for....I do my best (fyi, the little trip to my vet with the first one was close to $200), but I am a novice.

Thanks again, Chrys, for any info.

Tracy
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Followup To

Question -
I had 4 parakeets, one died a couple years ago, one died about 3 months ago, leaving me with two, one male and one female.  The female looks like the space between her legs has widened, not that she is really swollen.  Any thoughts?

Answer -
Hi, Tracy.  Thanks for posting!

Is your keet overweight?  Could your keet be about to lay eggs (are the pair pair-bonded)?  Is there a nesting box present for them to lay eggs in?  Do you know why the other birds died (did you have them necropsied by an avian vet)?

I need more information in order to try to help you.  The more details you can provide the better.  Thanks.

Chrys



Answer -
Hi again, Tracy.

If this bird is overweight, it will look like she has clevage in her chest area.  Also, you might see a bit of a bulge in her lower abdomen in the front and/or between her legs (this would be fat pockets).  If you can spread feathers apart and look at her skin, if her skin looks yellow underneath, she is likely overweight.  Keets become overweight when they are on all-seed diets (all-seed diets are really bad for birds).  This poor diet can be detrimental to their health and they can even die earlier than normal due to fat being around their hearts, etc., just like in humans.  

Pair-bonding is when a male feeds his female mate in preparation for breeding.  They will also preen each other and generally act lovy dovy toward one another.  If they are exhibiting this behavior, they may be getting ready to lay eggs.  However, a nesting box should be put up if this is the case.  Have you seen your keets mating?  Some birds become egg-bound with a first egg, and a person might see swelling between the legs with an egg stuck.  However, your bird would be showing signs of being ill, such as sitting on the cage bottom acting really sick, breathing heavily, egg might be partially out of the vent.

I'm also wondering if the 2 remaining birds might contract any illness from the last bird that passed away.  

Do either of these keets exhibit any signs of illness, such as sitting fluffed up when not sleeping, abnormal droppings, throwing up, messy vent, listlessness, negative behavior changes, etc.?  Have you felt this area to see if there's a lump or anything (you should hold your keet and palpate this area to see what you can feel if anything).

There's lots of information on the internet about keets if you want to learn.  They are also known as budgies.  My website has general information on birds:

http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

If you want to answer more of my questions, I'll see if I can help more.  You know these birds better than anyone else...if you feel there's a problem, your best bet is to take her to an avian vet for a medical evaluation.  I'll help as much as possible to avoid this, but I really don't have much to go on.  The fact that she looks wider in this area isn't much to go on.

Chrys  

Answer
Hi again, Tracy.

You can send the web address to this site and I can copy and paste into my browser so I can look at them.

Based on all the information you've provided so far, and this mornings update, I think you need to get your keet to an avian vet for a medical evaluation.  Obviously, something isn't right inside this keet and a bird vet needs to be consulted in order to determine what's going on.

Chrys