Severe moult, long beak and a strange growth

As you know, from my earlier post (click here: Three near-flightless birds), we are having a pretty bad moult season.  Since that post, Lennie has lost more flight feathers resulting in one wing being, well…. not much use as a wing.

It has not stopped him from feeding Dalai:

One-Wing Lennie chatting with Dalai

Lennie feeding Dalai

 

To add to that, Dalai decided to grow his beak…

Dalai’s long beak

 

…that the vet trimmed down yesterday.  She also investigated a strange thing beside his beak that I had noticed a few weeks ago. At first I thought it was a stuck seed, then I wondered if it was a strange feather. The vet confirmed it was fleshy & attached to him, similar to a skin tag.  She whipped it off pretty smartly.  Hopefully, whatever it was, it will not grow back.

Dalai being held by the vet

Dalai’s trimmed beak & strange growth prior to removal

 

 

Three in one

Last Friday (12th) we had a visit from the vet, to check over all three, Dalai, Perry & Lennie.  I had/have concerns about all of them for various reasons, one of which may be my paranoia!

At the time the vet came, Lennie was locked in by himself so we decided he would be first up.  I had concerns that he was having trouble flying –  only that morning he had attempted a lap of the room & landed in the plant pot!  The vet checked over his wings & found some missing flight feathers on both wings.  She said his heart sounded fine, which suggested the flying problem was a result of moulted-out feathers, which should be resolved when they have all grown back in again.  The only problem with this is that I find that when a bird has a few crash landings, their confidence can be dented & they are put off flying again, which in turn makes the problem worse.  Hopefully Lennie gets over this & is flying well soon.

The big shock with Lennie is that the vet weighed him & said he was 64g!!!  She did not seem concerned as she said he was clearly not overweight but did have a full gizzard.  There is a slight chance there may be a mass behind the gizzard, so I am to keep my eye on him.

Lennie’s wing feathers

Lennie last month when moulting

Plant pot Lennie landed in

 

Perry was up next.  The last time the vet visited, she identified a lump, which has since been growing.  Sometimes, at certain angles & when he is fluffed up, the lump is not noticeable at all.  However, it is definitely there, defined & dense.  It currently appears to be isolated, i.e., not attached to anything major.  Certainly, it is not imposing on Perry’s health or behaviour yet, but at sometime in the future I may need to get a sample from it in order to work out possible treatment.  Perry weighed a very respectable 55g, lump & all.

Perry contemplating eating some vegetables

 

Dalai was last.  He has been very much under the weather & his poops had changed.  He did have a very dodgy poop that was ringed with red, but I only found one of those (believe me, I was checking ALL of them after that discovery!) & the vet said he may have strained when passing that particular one.  The day before the vet came out, Dalai dropped a mountain of feathers overnight, which then made it clear that a lot of my concerns were most probably because he was moulting (again!).  Additionally, he has developed a dark mark on his beak.  I was not aware of him having bumped/crashed into anything for it be a bruise.  The vet thought it was either a blood blister or just a pigmentation change.  Dalai’s weight was also respectable, coming in at 45g.

Dalai

Dalai’s poops

Dalai’s poops

 

So, for a change, the vet did not leave me with any medication.  It took Dalai, Perry & Lennie awhile to recover from all the prodding & poking & it took me awhile to recover from the news of Lennie’s weight… in fact, if truth be told, my jaw is still on the floor over it!

 

 

Beak update

A little while ago I posted that Cagney’s beak was getting a bit too long.  Putting the iodine block on the landing platform seemed to prompt him to file it down more frequently & it is now looking a more manageable length.

Good boy Cagney

I have treated the toyboys to millet as Phineas has been having it to help him settle in.  Here is a video of Cagney tucking in.  His beak is looking in fine form.

Short toenails, long beak?

Cagney appears to be keeping his toenails under control & they are a reasonable length at the moment.  However, the other day I got a shock when I saw the length of his beak!  I have never seen it so long!  It has always been quite long & pointy, particularly compared to Bezukhov’s, but now it has got far too long.

They always have an iodine block in the Manor.  There has always been an iodine block in the spare cage.  In fact, the toyboys have usually gone into the spare cage specifically to chew its iodine block (pre Little Grey Man taking the spare cage over, of course).

To encourage Cagney to sort his beak out I have started putting an iodine block on the landing platform in the hope he will have a nibble on his way in & out.

Beak curling round to his chinny chin chin!