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also see tumors in budgies
The flocks of similar species in different countries have very different problems.
With UK budgies, we are more likely to see under supplementing not over supplementing. By far the most common "bug" in budgie necropsies is Megabacteria. Though the jury is out as to whether this is the real cause of death or just a symptom of other debilitating diseases. Megabacteria is probably in every flock of exhibition budgies in the UK. Fortunately the birds are now building up quite good immunity and no major outbreaks have occurred in the last three years. We are trying to encourage breeders to use herbal immunostimulants but budgie breeders ..........!!
I'm not sure where Trich fits in the list but I think it would be number two or three. I think Australian budgies would be similar. The problem with trich at necropsy is that the parasite dies very quickly after the bird dies so it is only reliably detected on live birds. Here in the UK if someone says "vomitting budgie" trich will be the cause in 90% of cases. Malcolm Green
Hi Malcolm, Thanks for bringing up the possibility of parasites. I hadn't thought of them but it is definintely a possibility. I've never heard of trichomonas being endemic with budgies here in the US, but maybe it's something not mentioned among the breeders? The budgie problems I've heard of most commonly in the US have involved mites and psittacosis. Perhaps GB and US see different flock problems as they see different nutritional problems? Is that possible? gloria
For what it is worth, the main budgie problems in Australia are (besides tumours and intestinal gram negative bacterial infections) megabacteria, Trichomoniasis, and coccidiosis - a herbal treatment for those three would sure be useful since so far I have only found mainstream veterinary medications work - when any of these diseases is identified you have very little time, so it has to be a rapid (a couple of days to take effect) cure.
Never see too many psittacosis problems - that is a Neophema and cockatiel disease here. cheers, Mike Owen Queensland
Mike, Interesting that you get coccidiosis in budgies down there. It is quite rare in psittacines. Certainly our herbal ingredients work exceptionally well against coccidia. We have evidence in poultry, rabbits and canaries. We now incorporate these herbs into our eggfoods as well as selling them seperately to those people who still insist on using other peoples eggfoods!
How well they work with trich and megabacteria is going to be harder to tell. I certainly sell less of our medicinal trich treatment these days so perhaps the herbs are doing the work there. As for megabacteria the same is true. Since the Megabac-S came off the market the only people who ring me up about trying to get it are non-customers. I think many of our happy customers stopped using drugs a while ago since we started to incorporate herbals into so many of our main line products. They don't see the need for the drugs when their birds look so healthy anyway. Malcolm Green
Brown's Hypertrophy
Hi everyone! I don't post here regularly, but have a scary question about my male budgie Kramer (age 4). His cere, up until about 3-4 months ago, was a beatiful, bright sky blue. But I've been noticing that his cere color isn't as deep and bright anymore. It's almost a dull blue with a brownish hue to it. I haven't been able to find anything on a male's cere changing color, but this afternoon at the local Barnes & Noble, I found a bird book that said a color change in a male budgie's cere could mean a tumor on the testicle. Does anyone know about this? Thanks. Chris
As I've mentioned before, my conventional vet will only do 1 blood test at a time on my budgie, because you can't get enough blood at one time to do a full panel. I'm not saying it might not be helpful, I'm just saying it makes complete bloodwork a little less feasible than with bigger birds.
My budgie had Brown's Hypertrophy (just what you describe with the nares). At 8 years old she got very hormonal, tried twice to lay an egg & became egg bound both times, almost dying one of those times because the egg was too large and malformed. Because of this, I consulted with Dr. McCluggage by phone (a holistic avian vet) and he sent me a supplement he calls TK Gin Combo. This put an end to her hormonal surges & egg laying. It also took away the Brown's Hypertrophy. Her nares are extremely light tan/off white at times and other times are regular tan color. She no longer gets that build up on the nares. Brown's Hypertrophy is somehow related to hormones (possibly an excess?) and that's why the supplement took care of it.
Another budgie I had also suffered from Brown's Hypertrophy and she died of an ovarian cyst, so it's not too far reaching to think her ovary may have been malfunctioning.
The only treatment I've seen recommended by conventional vets for Brown's Hypertrophy is to moisten & gently remove the skin (Avian Medicine, Principles and Applications), especially if it flakes and blocks the nares. This is only treating the symptom, of course, and not actually addressing the underlying cause.
I don't know that any of this is of great help, but thought I'd share my experience. Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable can offer some info. Leanne
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