is he ill

tkdninja · New Member Joined: Jun 23, 2011 Posts: 2

i've had my kakariki from round xmas time and he has been great i noticed a while back that he had bald patches so i removed my budgies from the equation (as they are bullies) and left kaks with my cockatiel chico. they get on brilliant and from ive seperated the budgies his feathers have grown back.
i've noticed that he's been keeping his feathers puffed out and sitting sleeping at bottom of the cage most of the time (noticed it last night) i.ve also noticed that hes not as lively and feels to be very fragile (all feathers if that makes sense) i have contacted my vet but they have no cle about birds and i do not know of any avarian vets around here at all.

im very worried about kaks and would like some advise as to what is wrong and what i can do to help him. is it possible that it wasnt my budgies plucking his feathers but someting completely different.

ps he is kept warm and still eating ! Sad

pabloc · Foundation Member Joined: Sep 26, 2007 Posts: 988

hi!

I'd advice to take a quick search (you have a quicksearch block on the left) on words like feather, plucking, etc...

A bird sitting on the bottom of the cage, ruffled up, is a bad sign.

Feather condition and feather plucking can be caused by different reasons, be it diet, worms, lack of bath, etc...

Hope this helps! and w3c

to the community!

Cheers / Pablo

Gee · Snr Member Joined: Feb 05, 2011 Posts: 222

tkdninja,

How is your bird doing?

tkdninja · New Member Joined: Jun 23, 2011 Posts: 2

thanks for the replies advice very much apprecited.
heres the update. the feather plucking started again so i spoke to an avarian vet and have had the bird diagnosed as being depressed. i have changed his food, put more activity's in for him to play with. hes not out all day everyday and hes still depressed. i have bathed him fed him from my mouth gave him tlc. had him on his own and had him mix with my other birds and the results are hes still depressed. (he does eat) but he looks so sad and just sits in the 1 place all the time and still plucking.

i dont know what else to do i am completely out of ideas the only other thing i can think of is getting him a female??
Sad

Gee · Snr Member Joined: Feb 05, 2011 Posts: 222

Poor bird, poor you!
Seems like the both of you are caught in a circkle.

A depressed kakariki, wow, that’s a new one to me.
Ok, I'll give it my best shot. Let's hope together we can think of something to help you and your bird.

First some questions..

Did the avarian check for viruses that might make his skin itchy? Things like PBFD?
Allergies, disfunctional moulting? Infection of the follikels?
Does he get enough hours sleep? Enough daylight hours? Enough sunlight?

Still eating but not gaining weight you said.. worms?

Depression can also be caused by lack or exces/ disbalance of certain vitamins, minerals
Did you see what most people on here feed their kak’s. Is it comparable with what you feed him?

Are his wings clipped?
Not being able to fly is bad news for such an energetic bird as a kak. And the growing back of the feathers could irritate him.

Lets say he does get the right food, enough day and night hours, the vet checked for all the above and you did not cut his wings….the only conclusion I can think of then is boredom/ stress.

In that case it’s not so much an illness but more a matter of disturbed behavior.
A bird in nature, when on a safe and quiet place, will take advantage of that by taking care of his feathers.
This taking care of his suit is soon associated with that happy and safe feeling.
Now, if a bird is unhappy, and he can't do anything about his unhappiness, or he can’t ab react, he might start grooming just to try go back tot that happy feeling.

The more and the longer the stress, the more he longs for that happy feeling, the more fanatic he plucks and rearranges his feathers.
Feathers that grow back are covered by a kind of " sleeve" ( sorry, don't know the English word for it) . That sleeve might prickle him, specially when there are many of them.. .and he soon ends up in a circle of pulling old feathers out and destroying the new ones as soon as they start growing back as well.

If it is boredom, a new friend could help.. however, it just as well might make things worse.
It might be love at first sight, they might fight to the death and anything in between.
Do you know of a kakariki breeder you could let him stay with for a while to see if the breeder owns a bird he get's along with?

There are also other, more simple things you could try.. He still eats you say?
You can make toys out of food… give him a slightly crushed walnut. So he has to work to get to the nut.
You can make a swing by hanging half an orange or apple on top of his cage.
Slightly out of reach . Make a string of corn.. use arabic gum to hide/ cover his fav food. Things like that. Offer him a challenge. Mine can play for hours with a brightly coloured plastic bottle cap.

Did you try keeping the radio on when you are not around?
Try find a program with a lot of talking.
Make sure the radio is not in the same room as he is. Kakariki’s are smart. You want him to believe there are people in the house he can hear but not see Wink

In the Netherlands we have stuff to prevent kids from biting nails.. it tastes bitter.
You might want to try something similar available in your country. DON’T use on open skin!

Pay no attention to his plucking.. not ever… no matter how sad you feel for him or how angry it makes you.
Instead.. give him extra attention when he is not plucking.

Have you thought about letting him stay with a good friend of yours for a while?
Just to see if the change of environment helps.
It might give you a better clue to what could be the cause.

Ok.. that's all I can think of for now. I hope there is something in this long epistel that might ring a bell with you.
I keep my fingers crossed for the both of you.

Don't hesitate to ask ask ask on here! We learn from your questions as well!
keep us posted,

Kind regards,

Geertje

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550