Please help! Budgie problems!?

Question

Thank you for reading this, I have woken up this morning and found that my female budgie, which is about 1 year old, has pulled ALOT of feathers out. She has a companian, a male budgie but I haven't bought a breeding box because I don't want anymore. She has lots of toys but she just likes sitting on a perch with the male budgie. She is eating regulary, and the only thing that has changed is that I have recently put a mirror in, oh, and we recently had a mouse. What is wrong with her? She looks awful. What do I do?

Yes, she is plucking the feathers out herself, I have seen her doing it this morning. She has started on the chest. The mouse has gone, we bought some mouse traps, and I've taken the mirror out. She looks like a crazy bird now. Thank you your help.

Answer 1

Plucking can be caused by a variety of problems.

First and foremost, the biggest reasons birds may pluck are due to health issues or lacking diet. You'll want to have both birds checked out by a certified avian vet for any illnesses that you may not be seeing, because birds are very good at masking their sickness. Get the female to a vet ASAP (the male, too, but not as urgently.. it's better if you take them together though, obviously) in case she is very sick before it's too late. A vet can also help you with finding a balanced diet. Budgies generally should eat 80% high quality pellets (Harrison's, Roudybush, and Zupreem are the top brands), 10% seed, and 10% fresh foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, and pastas.

Some birds will pluck from nervousness, fear, or stress. The change in the environment where your household may have been panicking due to the mouse may be stressing her out.

Some birds pluck out of boredom. If she doesn't have enough satisfying toys in the cage with her, she'll have nothing to do but play with her feathers. Some birds are also very destructive by nature, so toys that require shredding and chewing are best for pluckers who pluck from boredom.

Some birds pluck because they are feeling uncomfortable in the area they pluck. For example, she could pluck her wings if there was a hack-job done on clipping them and she feels off with them. If she has a tumour on her tummy, she could want to pluck her tummy because it doesn't feel right.

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:XUJC9x3v9rAJ:www.parrot-rescue.co.uk/documents/PLUCKF3.DOC+why+birds+pluck&hl=en&gl=ca&ct=clnk&cd=3
http://www.newyorktails.com/plucking.htm

Good luck. Knowing first hand, having a bird that plucks is quite scary.

Answer 2

The mirror is a point but in a budgies mind a mouse is as bad as a lion or other large predator animal to us. Get a mouse trap. If you do this tell your budgie that you ae going to chase the mouse away, they do understand. Is it the female pulling her own feathers? A fright can cause feathers just to fall out. Is there any evidence of blood on the budgie? If the feathers that came out look whole with no blood or blood on the budgie it is more likely a fright. Budgies are not often pluckers.
Does the budgie look naked or is it tail and flight feathers missing? Plucking usually starts on the chest area. If head feathers are missing it was the male.

Answer 3

It's the mirror. Female budgies together make each other aggressive and do stupid things.

Your bird doesn't know the difference between a real bird and her own reflection.

Try taking the mirror out and watch her for a few days.

Answer 4

Sometimes budgies get bad habits of pulling their feathers out because of dry skin conditions or dietary conditions. This habit is very hard to break though. Has it been very dry around your area? Has your bird taken a bath or shower? Keep an eye on what she's eating. I'm not so sure how to solve the problem. Just keep on having an eye on her.

Answer 5

Get rid of the mirror! Girl budgies don't like one another so they'll do anything to get rid of each other--even if it means themselves! I had the same problem with my girl budgie once, but I got rid of the mirror I had in the cage and a few weeks later she was back to normal.

Answer 6

do not agonize, in case you try my advice it will be better :) before everything, handfeeding your budgies are a good commence. position a manage they prefer on your hand and positioned your hand interior the cage. do not bypass even as they fly over to devour. do this popular and perchance it will artwork! If that would not grant you with the outcomes you want, do this: positioned your hand of their cage and only depart it there, and be very quiet. Or sometime in the course of the day, try speaking on your budgies in a comfortable, soothing voice. they are going to quickly get used to you sitting through their cage, and shortly allow you to contact them! I propose you to seperate the budgies in case you go with to tame them. it will be more desirable sturdy to tame in the experience that they are interior the same cage. positioned on in yet another cage, and tame both one in all them at diverse cases. even though it may help in case you many times tame them on a particular time. yet another component is-this per chance tiring, yet do this stuff popular for 20minutes. If one approach works better than the others, try that one the most! quickly you'll have a fantastic pair of budgies(i wish!). Oh, precise- yet another component is: try putting your hand on the cage, yet do not bypass. they are going to get used to the "hand". wish this worked for you, and good luck taming your budgies!

Answer 7

get rid of the mirror, its either him pucking at her to stay away from the other bird in the mirror or its her nervous pucking about the bird in the mirror. I've aways found if something isn't broke don't fix it, their in love and don't except the other bird that just stands their mocking them, its is scarring them

Answer 8

You should start by going to a pet shop or breeder and asking. Do you have a bird breeders club nearby? you can get good advice from them.