lovebird fleas or preening?

Question

My new lovebird is constantly scratching itself on its head and preening itself..does it have fleas or some kind of mite or is this normal?..I have never had one before.can you buy flea powder for birds?

Answer 1

Birds do preen alot, but if it seems like it's constant and it's more scratching than moving the feathers through it's beak it could have mites or lice. There are sprays you can buy to spray right on the bird, and it's advised to totally clean and disinfect the cage/toys/nesting materials and keep them very clean (well always, but especially when trying to get rid of mites as they can live off the host for about a week) until the mites/lice are gone. Most are very very very small so a completely positive diagnosis would be to take it to a vet to figure out exactly what type of mite it is or if it's lice.

Answer 2

My mother used to use this method to see if her canaries that she raised, had mites. Put a white cloth over the cage at night, and remove it carefully in the morning. If the bird has mites, there will be little specks that you can see on the white cloth. But birds preen constantly. It is probably just preening.

Answer 3

Well they're called mites, not fleas. The scratching and preening is fine, she is just cleaning herself. I would only begin to worry about mites if she starts plucking feathers. Feather plucking is often either caused by mites or depression.