Urgent Health Advice please

[JennySmedley]

Hi Everyone,

Can I pick your collective brains please?

I have 15 year old female Eclectus parrot who seems off colour. She is still eating & drinking but has gone very quiet the last couple of days & not doing as much as usual & staying mostly in her bed. My son thinks her abdomen may be a bit swollen ( near her vent) but I'm not sure.

About four years ago she laid two ( infertile ) eggs , which after the vet's advice, we removed after 28 days. A week later she did exactly the same again - laid two eggs - so we again removed them after 28 days. There has been nothing since & she has been in good health.

Tonight she has been totally silent & hiding in her bed, but every time she sees me, she makes a pitiful crying noise that I have never heard before. It stops if I'm out of sight. ( I have videoed it but not sure if I have the knownhow to upload it)

Is she trying to lay an egg? Is she ill? Can anyone suggest what I can do to help? I'm going to take her to the vet tomorrow but they are not bird experts.

Any suggestions appreciated ,

Jenny Smedley

[Wolf]

It pays in the long run to have an avian vet although there are some vets that deal with exotic animals that are as good or sometimes better than some avian vets. A good vet may be able to tell if this is an egg or not by just palpitating the bird, but I don't know if they can tell by this method if the bird is egg bound or not. That is what worries me the most as egg binding can be fatal. An x ray would tell more.

I know that prevention is always better than cure and one of the best ways to prevent this type of problem is to make sure that your bird get enough calcium before and during breeding season, keeping your bird fully flighted as the muscles that they use to lay eggs are the same ones that are used to fly, so make sure that your bird flies daily. A proper bird light schedule would also help as that is what regulates the internal biological clock and through that the part of the endocrine system that produces the hormones controlling the birds reproductive system. Since I do not breed my birds that is about the limit of my knowledge on this topic. I highly recommend a visit to the vet for this bird.

[Pajarita]

If she is still the same today, you need to get her to the emergency - please do not wait one single second!