Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:41 am Post subject: suspecting mites..or moult
Hi guys
typical repeated question: How soon if suspected a bird has mites will you be sure?
My birds are beginning to look alittle scruffy..light fluffy down appearing-i thought moult. what puzzles me is a month or two ago they looked stunningly bright and shiny..
dont want to use invermectin if not neccessary..will 50/50 soln help?
(secretly suspect this sad lil bird -invermectin treated-to be a cause??)
Will not be molt, thats occures around autumn and/or after breeding has stopped.
One notices feathers on the floor and a few new feathers coming thru.
Scuffy can mean mites, or even ill health due to worms or bad diet or being knocked around with another agressive bird...which is quite common between early spring and early autumn.
Early intevention means far quicker recovery.
There are older sticky threads that describe how to check for worms with a cheap microscope.
One can inspect feathers with a magnifying glass for mites.
Invermectin (couple drops on the back of the neck) will do most worms and mites, repeated 10 to 12 days later... clean down flights/cages with a regular mist spray of walls, floors perches etc and the birds with 50/50 soln vinegar/water. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Hi Steps, did notice afew lost feathers, and on two birds new quills..
nothing much since- just fluffy grey feathers appearing through wing blades.
almost the summer months approaching here..so just observing..have checked as many old treads as can find including overloading braincells wiv microscopic checking my birds look much like pics that ARE moulting in threads but that scruffy lil oddity i placed in there has bald patches on rump( not visable) nothing drastic has changed in appearance over three wks?..thought mites would show fast dramatic changes?
aviary gets washed regularly with water n vinegar 3x wk
havent sprayed birds tho..
easest way to spray the birds is mist spray starting at one end then as they fly, make it so they have to fly thru the mist.
Bald spots doent sound good.
When a bird moults, it looses a pair of feathers from each side, each wing withing a couple hrs of each other... This is nature keeping the bird with balanced flight.
When our birds go into moult, they only real way to tell is a few new feathers on the head and a few on the ground..not many, and other than that they dont get scruffy.,,, yet many other birds we see in other avairies they get quite scruffy.
The only thing I can put this down to is our birds also get on a regular basis, aromatic plants that they crush (appear to eat) and spend ages pruning.
rosemary, mint leaves , tea tree, basil (manuka)
Peter ages ago also refers to this and the aromatic oils also help prevent mites. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
thanks Steps
interesting about the aromatic oils in herbs...will introduce more herb variety..any i should avoid while i think of it?
will defo spray and scrub aviary today...actually i saw only yellow feathers from that lilttle oddity..she seems to have lost two large feathers and afew tiny white and sowny grey feathers... none yet i think from the geens o cinnamons...
will give good disinfect today and spray birds..(i tink i'll remove nesting boxes also...lost of contributing factors eh...only me )
might give the oddity another dose f invermectin..
steps!
wold be so lost witout you guys here
Don't forget we are on the northern hemisphere. In my case the major moult starts around solstice (21 June). My birds already started to look scruffy as well. So I think it is normal as we are on the same latitude as England. There might be a difference between birds kept indoors or outdoors.
My birds are looking at their best between Novembre and February. During that time I find no feathers on the aviary floor.
Another thing I noticed is that during Spring they (usually females) tend to take a bite of feathers of another bird's back. Don't know whether this has something to with my aviary(overcrowded) or that it is something natural but on another forum an owner mentioned the same phenomenom with hear indoor Kakariki's.
Thanks Peter, it is exactly that date..so possible as mine are outside also.
just one thing, on close inspection there are very small black strips on the tail shafts..i pressume this DOES indicate the onset of mites?..
i have dowsed them all in vinegar/water soln and dosed that sad little tike with invermectin -who is now feeling very sorry for herself
the females are feeling fruity, males are courting so some aggression maybe a factor as Steps says but nothing noticable to cause alarm
as the females have been mated and have visited nests..they haven't actually retreated to one they still roost in the inn quarters at night.
would removing the nest till next yr cause problems of egg binding if they cant lay??
All our birds are in outside flights.
moult doesnt start tilll begining of autumn, and if they keep on laying into winter dont moult till laying of the last batch stops.
We also dont have nibbling of tail feathers, thu some of the birds have a habit of hanging on the wire which can make the ends rather scruffy
Scruffy on the back of females is caused from the male mounting....or as mentioned above, in the communty flight an little more agressive bird sorting pecking orders...Have never seen as Peter describes....even with crowding....15 or 20 kakariki in a 2.4m x 1.5m x2m heigh.
We have never had worms or mites except for purchased or rescued birds....which as a matter of routine are isolated for several weeks and dosed in special isolation cages, then checked before introduced to flights.
In reality I have very little hands on experiance of sick birds..other than those rescued... posts by Peter and others...discussions with vets and other breeders and a Vet manual Peter posted up a link to long time ago.
Even stopping bleeding (old thread) with silver nitrate has been 'obsolete ' for serveral yrs, with higher Vit K in the diets.
Quote:
would removing the nest till next yr cause problems of egg binding if they cant lay??
No..egg binding is a diet definency, they will lay anywere.
Quote:
as the females have been mated and have visited nests..they haven't actually retreated to one they still roost in the inn quarters at night
Our birds pair up, then if a nesting box is avalible, and the female approves, she then starts to roust at nights in it, they then mate and lay.
She doesnt sit till laying the last couple of eggs,[/quote] _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
ok thanks guys am alot clearer as to whats going on in flight now..
some do have frayed tail feathers as always on wire cos they wait for the back door to open for me...
convinced the grey feathers are from mounting..much of this has gone on AND maybe the black in tails feathers are from pecking in food tray they often grab each others tails and swipe away..
confirmation of squabbling..one of my females has been nipped (blood) upper part of leg..so she'll be sore for a day or two...
Never had mite either and it doesn't seem so as the others aren't scratching or looking bald..
my mistake for rescuing this little kike..i did only give her just isolate her for approx three weeks or so giving her invermectin etc.. i hadn't REALLY goven her a full check before putting her in the aviary twas then i spotted her bald rump..no reddness, not visable either till the wind blows hard..
they say kakariki dont self pluck but she clearly has issues!!
..nests: had forgotton the process momentarily so maybe i will observe alittle more as cant see what else i can do..cld add afew more boxes..however if aggression does rise above norm - i think i'll remove ..
thanks again for all the info..needed the reminder in one blog!
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 11:16 am Post subject: feather conditioning
Hi there,
Just aquickie to add to the previous post about introducing more herbs.. I am definately convinced this is seriously lacking in our self build avairies.. although i haven't managed to get any decent fresh herbs yet, i did place in a selection of hebe's as i often do when they look bored..
having watched them i was astounded that ALL of them set to work stripping them and spent a good three quarters of an hour chewing and preening themselves thoroughly!
It was so odd to see them all lined up on the floor at the same time fluffed up and scritchin'
...i doubt theres any oils in these hebe's but it seemed they would make use of what they could get..
am convinced theres alot more to it..
Dont put the plants in in the avairies...there will be nothing left to use in the kitchen...
Plant along the outside...in pots if need be...the birds trim thru the mesh...then turn the pots every so often so the plants grow even. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
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my birds look much like pics that ARE moulting in threads but that scruffy lil oddity i placed in there has bald patches on rump( not visable) nothing drastic has changed in appearance over three wks?..thought mites would show fast dramatic changes?
)
steps!
twas then i spotted her bald rump..no reddness, not visable either till the wind blows hard..
so maybe i will observe alittle more as cant see what else i can do..cld add afew more boxes..however if aggression does rise above norm - i think i'll remove ..
