Why Did My Budgie's Die?!?

[xX_pretty_bird_Xx]

I got a Parakeet two years ago for my birthday from petsmart. All the birds apeared healthy and so I picked out a pretty little blue one and took it home. We had gotten a cage for it that was about 12x12x20(wxlxh) at petco along with some other toys and such. We put the cage in the study room, which opens up into the kitchen(no door seperating the two). It was pretty free of drafts and gave him a clear view of the outside world, without being next to or too close to any windows. He seemed to be a pretty healthy bird untill about a week after he arrived home. I woke up, went to check on him, and he was flopping around an the bottom of his cage. My immediatly mom called the Banfield at the Petsmart we had gotten him from but it was too late.
We had a 2-week garrentee on him so we went and picked out another, from a different site, but in the same town. We thought maybe Skye(first bird) had caught a draft from the front door, because the study is on the left as soon as you walk in the front door. So, we put TeAmo, the new bird in the living room. The exact same thing happened. Saturday rolls around(I got all the bird on Sunday, I believe) and the poor thing dies. Ugh!
I was very sad but I decide to try one last time. We go back to the same store because we figured it was just a fluke(this was a different store than the first though). I chose a very beautiful pied budgie and take it home. This time, I put him in my room. Everything is going well until the Friday after I got him, I had him out on my bed and he just seemed very listless. A few hours later, and he is on the bottom of his cage, with his wings spread out. I assumed he was overheating maybe so I did what my budgie book said to do. It wasn't long till he had joined the others in the treetops of paradise. I was devestated and did not get any more.
What in the world happened!! I did everything my 2 books on Parakeets had said to do, as well as the very knowledgable Petsmart employee. I cleaned the cage out daily, I refilled food and water daily, I included fruits and veggies in their diet(though they never seemed to want them), I fed them a diet of both pellets and seeds, and they had a cuddlebone. I got new food(and cuddlebone) for each bird, I dissenfected the cage and supplles between each bird. I waited a couple of days before trying to socialize with them. I have no idea what went wrong! THe birds at the store had all seemed healthy, for the most part. There were no seemingly sick birds in the cages. They had all three appeared healthy until the end of the week. arg, it is so frustrating and dissapointing!!
The only things that I could think of were, the first one could have caught a drat, my mom cookes with pas that I think have teflon o them, the first two might have been exposed to that, my mom cleans on Fridays, but she didn't clean in my room for the last one and we opened up al the windown on that sid of the house just to be safe as well as shut my door. That iis all that I can think of that could have gone wrong once at my house. But none of that explanies the third bird. Has anyone else had any experiences with this type of problem? I really love birs and would love to get another but I just can't asl long as I don;t have any clue what went wrong with these three. Please help!

[entrancedbymyGCC]

If this happened the way you relate, I could only imagine there is something in the environment. Is it a closed circulation situation? Are there any chemical processes used regularly near the bird? Are there smokers in the house? Nonstck coated products used at high heat? I would guess some sort of inhalant that is omnipresent or produced daily would be responsible.

[Dave]

Wow! Sorry, that is awful for you.
We have had a seemingly well adjusted, happy bird (parakeet) simply fall off his perch and die.
I never could exacly determine why, but here are the conditions at my place.

I noticed he weighed a little less than the others in with him (there were 4 at the time)
He was the most friendly(to people), and timid(of the other birds) in the group
He perched with the others at night
he was one of the youngest(less than 2 yrs)
He was subject to frequent night frights. would panic at shadows etc.
His poops were normal

I have my own ideas about his death, but nothing will ever be certain.
I can tell you were use and have used non-stick cook pans for over 20 years, and have had birds in the home for twice that time. I cant remember ever over heating a pan.

I do know sometimes the little guys just have a weak heart, or like mine may be too easily frightened. They kinda seem to know they are "food" for everything. But for you to get 3 in a row?? It does sound like some sort of environmental toxin. But you say you changed rooms with the last one right? Maybe a cleaner you guys use? Insecticides? maybe your home had been treated for termites or similar recently?
Here is a link to a list of stuff to check:
http://exoticpets.about.com/gi/dynamic/ ... lants.html

[lotus15]

I'm so sorry

I see a lot of potential harm here. The first is before you even take him home. Petsmart sometimes sells really horribly sick birds. Sometimes they don't even look sick, but because of their sources and breeders, you really never know. They bred in pretty awful conditions and are from birth put onto a string of "preventative" medications and antibiotics that right off the bat lower their immune system. So, your parakeets could have very well been unhealthy to begin with, and the stress of a new home and no friends could have been enough to do them in.

The draft could have been bad but probably not enough to kill them. Teflon is definitely a killer though. Do you have candles, fragrances, Febreze, air fresheners? Self-cleaning ovens? All of these are common bird killers. What are you cleaning with... any heavy chemicals? Bleach?? They have really sensitive respiratory systems.

The last thing I wanted to mention was that should you decide to give it another try, the cage you described is really really tiny and in my opinion, budgies do much better in a bigger cage. My budgie, for example, lives in this cage: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/c ... C06998.jpg which is about 28" wide by 18" deep and probably something like 35" of interior height? Just to give you an example

[patdbunny]

From my understanding PetCo and PetSmart medicate with antibiotics all their little budgies. The problem with that is that the bird's sick, the mild medication prevents the bird from outright dying on them, but then the bird's not actually cured, goes to its new home, then drops dead shortly after wards. Another possibility is the bird starts out healthy, chronic antibiotic treatment kills it's natural flora and fauna, the bird's immune system is now compromised or gets a fungal infection, goes to its new home and then drops dead shortly after.

Either case, the way PetCo and PetSmart manage their birds with antibiotics is not a good idea.
http://prettybirds.net/Kayteepetsmart.htm

Roz.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

It's not ideal, but 3 budgies from different stores dying in a row is IMO unlikely to be due to antibiotic use (they do a two-week course when birds first come into the store, not a continuous feeding, as I understand it. And they do claim to maintain quarantine). 3 in a row in the same environment within 48 hours of being introduced to the environment is not quite a statistically significant sample, but to me it argues strongly for an environmental cause. Disease would have a slower onset, more symptoms prior to demise. This sounds like a toxicity from the description.

[xX_pretty_bird_Xx]

Sorry everone, I've been pretty busy and havent had time to respond yet. Would the teflon smell be able to reach the thrid bird back in my bedroom that is on almost the other side of the house? I sometimes have an air freshener(the kind you plug in) in my room, I'm not sure if I did at the time but I know if I did then we would not have put it near the bird. I have a dog but she never seemed interested in the birds and I don't think they ever really seemed frightened by her. She is small and wouldn't have been able to reach them either. When my mom cleaned we put a towel under my door and opened all the windows in that wing of the house. Could that still hae hurt their systems? My cage also had some coating on it, it was a rubber type coating, not the powder, could they have eaten that? I also noticed with atleast one bird, that their vent wasn't very clean. Also, our house was reletively new, about a year and a half, that couldn't have had something to do with it could it? Ugh! There are so many possibilities! THank you everyone for your help already

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Teflon has to be overheated to release the fumes and it seems unlikely to me that that would happen every day, although it is easier to do than some people think. If your family was in the habit of using coated skillets on very high heat every day, I guess it is possible. The fumes can certainly permeate a house and they are VERY deadly. However if your home were constantly permeated with them, I'd expect some of the humans to have polymer fume fever symptoms which are described as flulike.

New carpet and new upholstery have been implicated in bird deaths, especially some stain resistant coatings on them which outgas when they are new. However, the outgassing would likely stop after a couple of weeks -- I don't know exactly how long you need to be safe but I don't think it's measured in years.

It's possible you have 3 unrelated deaths -- dirty vent sounds like disease -- but it seems sort of unlikely.

[patdbunny]

Ok, I admit I'm a little prejudiced against PetSmart due to their source of birds.

[meowingaround]

Eh I know of someone who got 2 tiels from a Petsmart the tiels are both alive and well.

If you have to get a bird from a place like that and some people can't afford breeder prices, then make sure to do your own health check.

Antibiotics might mask some symptoms but they won't cover em all.

That's the same with any pet.

Eyes Beak should have no discharge, nares should be open and clear of discharge, check the droppings on the bottom of the cage, check the feet, feathers, I myself would do a water test, spritz the bird lightly to make sure the water rolls off the way it should.

There's lots of little things you can check.

But it sounds like a home hazard.

Have you had your home checked for Mold? I mean in the walls... lots of people have black mold and don't even realize.. birds would be very sensitive to that.