My Miserable Girl- Is She Carrying An Egg?

[MoustacheMum]

My Moustache parakeet is five years old this year but lately she has been unusually miserable and off her food. She's been moody for a couple of weeks and eating cuttlefish like it is going out of fashion.

In the last 24 hours, she has been having trouble flying (think of a heavily laden seaplane- she is normally a strong flyer) and refusing all treat food and close cuddles. She has started wolfing down even the fruits she doesn't like.

I have had her on a vitamin supplement with her seed and she seems no better. She seems to be constipated and I am thinking of giving her a little paraffin.

Information on Moustache parrot fertility, egg laying and the like are very limited. She is of age to start laying however. There is evidence of nesting behaviour.

How can I be sure she is carrying an egg and not ill? Her body language: sitting on her perch, not playing with toys, slightly fluffed, head down. No discharge from eyes, nose or cloaca. Rubbing her beak on every surface available (territorial behaviour). Feather condition very good. When free to roam, she sits in a 'playhouse' space and begs to be fed by my other birds (who are not sick in any way). She has started making 'crying' noises (sounds like a dog whining) that I have never heard before from her. There is visible weight gain.

She looks so unhappy. If she is 'carrying', how can I make her comfortable? I have considered warm baths and putting her in a hospital cage. Last night, she didn't want me to leave the room and seemed frightened. This morning, she was straining on her perch, head down crying and panting- and nothing happened.

I have had a lot of birds in my time, but all first time mothers have been 'easy'. You get up one morning and there is an egg in the seed bowl. This girl is really having a tough time if this is the cause of her malaise.

NB: Where i am living, it is Spring and there has been a sudden change to hot weather. All my birds have moulted successfully. It is breeding season. I should tell you that my nearest avian vet is about five hours drive away over rough terrain.

Any advice you can provide would be helpful.

[Grey_Moon]

She really sounds like she needs to go see the vet.

Eggbinding kills and kills surprisingly quickly.
Plus, any bird who is impaired to the point of not being able to fly in my books, plus a lot of straining...

She really needs to be seen, and seen quickly.

[marie83]

What grey moon said- vet ASAP. Hope she is ok.

[terri]

Fluffed bird is a sick bird

[MoustacheMum]

Thank you for your advice.

She seems in a lighter and brighter mood since I got another bag of cuttlefish and ate half of one in about ten minutes. Her 'bump' has progressed towards the vent. I dosed her with pariffin. Checked her bowel motions and they seem fine. She is eating her seed and seems happy fussing around her nestbox. I wonder if the My Beau vitamin liquid I gave her wasn't agreeing with her (the other birds had no problems with it though).

She is under close observation at the moment by her people *and* her parrot friends.