-OR IS IT RAISING BIRDS WITH BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS.
I brought George and Gracie, as I named them, and brought them home. I settled them into the spare bedroom of our home, and spent the next few weeks getting acquainted with them. I felt sorry for them being cooped up in their 16" square cage, and soon let them out for a flyabout the room. There were ecstatic - chirping, chattering, landing here and there, and finally Gracie lighted on my shoulder. Oh how cute! Within moments Gracie grabbed hold of my neck with her wicked mighty beak, clamped down and proceeded to do a twist and turn number that left me screeching in pain, while I tried in vain to dislodge her. Off she flew, lighting on the curtain rod and peered at me with innocent beady black eyes. With great courage, I offered her my finger to step up onto and she did. Then she hopped to my arm, grabbed hold again, twisted and squeezed with that mighty beak, leaving my arm dripping with blood. George just followed her around, landed where she landed, but made no effort to bite. I finally got her back into the cage and George followed her on his own. I attended to my wounds and ordered some books on taming lovebirds. One was titled "Raising Lovebirds For Fun and Profit". Sometime later I purchased a nest box and set the pair up to nest. Gracie promptly created a nest and began egg laying within a few weeks. Out of 5 eggs, one was fertile. In 21 days after laying it, Gracie hatched out her first baby in my home. During this time period it was easy to get Gracie back into the cage after her and George's flyabout. She had to get back to that nest and then her single baby. I peeked into the box daily and found myself in a tiz, because that little bumblebee sized lovebird baby was lying on its back. I thought mom and dad weren't taking care of it, so at 6 or 7 days of age I pulled the baby and started my first adventure in handfeeding. A local breeder of cockatiels taught me how. With shaking hands, I mixed my first batch of formula, and fed it to Scooter - my first baby lovebird. She somehow survived my clumsiness and overabundant nurturing, and I was hooked on raising lovebirds! George and Gracie went on to lay a second clutch, and by then I was educated enough to know lovebirds feed babies on their backs when they are little. Those 4 babies prospered under their care, and I pulled them for feeding at 10-12 days of age. They too, grew up beautiful and strong.
I sold all but one of those babies, then purchased babies just pulled from the nest box from a breeder in a nearby town, so I could create future pairs. The group grew up, and I let everyone pick their own matey. I was having a ball!
Some time later, I attended a bird fair and met a fellow lovebird breeder. We exchanged babies, and my flock grew. By then I had set up a room in our home as a bird room.
During the baby exchange period, I also had a pet cockatiel, a pair of budgies, and a couple of pair of Scarlet Chested parakeets, as well as a few pairs of Bourke parakeets in quarantine in another bedroom.
While I had a group of young Scarlet's in the birdroom I noticed some strange things with them. One was vomiting seed. In the morning it was dead. Several others had neurological signs - imbalance, head jerking, and balance problems. One of the offspring from a scarlet clutch had a short body, patchy feathering, and just looked peculiar. It ate, was active, and cute in an abnormal sort of way. The necropsy on the scarlet chested parakeet that died was negative for communicable disease.
Then a pair of Bourke's had a clutch and those babies died before a week of age. All these birds were now in the same room.
I described all this to my vet after being totally stressed out by these strange acting Australian grass keets. She talked to the head of the necrospy lab at a university that does necropsy work on exotic birds and got back to me.
I decided to take a group of 7 birds into the lab - a mixture of Bourke's and Scarlet Chested parakeets. I just had to find out what was going on, and if it meant sacrificing birds to find out, then I would do it.
The diagnosis came in. Bourke parakeets had candida and some of the Scarlet's showed up with polyoma. I was stunned! No one told me birds could get devastating viruses.
I followed my bird vet's instructions to the letter. All birds out of breeding for 6 months. I cleaned everything in the room twice with bleach solution, including walls, light fixtures, and every surface dust could land on. I thought I was home free then and resumed breeding.
About 1 1/2 year later, polyoma struck again! Dead babies in nest boxes, bodies mottled with bruises. They would look just fine in the morning, then several hours later boom! A dead baby. At my vet's advice, I pulled down every nest box with eggs in it. I burned those boxes. Nest boxes with live babies in them were left up and the parents continued to take care of those babies. All in all, I only lost 7 chicks. Nevertheless, I was devastated and cried over each lost chick. I dreaded checking on the remaining chicks, but to my surprise they lived.
I read copious amounts of any literature I could find on polyoma. I vaccinated all my birds per my vet's protocol (cost $900.00 worth of vaccine with me doing the actual vaccinating ). I talked to "experts" in the field of avian medicine. Seems there was much controversy and disagreement amongst them. My precious bird's lives were at stake, and I wanted to do the right thing! Again, all birds out of breeding and the same cleaning regimen.
I donned gloves, masks, lab coats, and left a pair of shoes in the room to be worn only there. I washed hands between cage service, purchased HEPA air cleaners, an induct ultraviolet light, special covering for all air vents, etc. etc. At my vet's advice, I found a home for the budgies. She told me they were common carriers of the virus, and if I was serious about breeding, it would be best to give them to a non-breeder. I did.
What remained of the Scarlet Chested parakeets, were doing well. They had normal babies and all looked fine. I decided to sell them, since they seemed like such fragile birds. By then I had decided to focus on 2 species of birds - lovebirds and parrotlets.
Six months later a young Absynnian lovebird male died. Upon necropsy, he was diagnosed with psittacine beak and feather disease and polyoma. I was again devastated! He looked perfectly normal and had good body weight. He died in my hands, while I was trying to warm him by holding him next to my body. This time I was a basket case. This was not in my plan for raising lovebirds for fun and perhaps a little profit. Vet bills and necropsy bills, were mounting, and I trembled each time I opened the door to one of the now 2 bird rooms.
Let me be clear that I know that I made every mistake in the book a beginning breeder can make. I traded birds. I went to bird marts. I brought birds in without proper quarantine and vet exams. I purchased stock from numerous different sources. I showed birds. I bird sat birds for a friend while he was gone for a month at a time in veterinary school. I did it all, and I regret it. I paid. My birds paid. And I lost a friend over it. Shouldn't he have know better? He became a vet, qualified by a license, to treat these creatures, and he didn't even know what a dangerous game we were playing.
This leads me then to what has now become a quest for information, answers, and a clear way to manage my flock of birds. Unfortunately, I haven't found any answers - just more questions, as I struggle to regain my hope of raising happy, healthy lovebirds and parrotlets. By the way, so far none of the parrotlets seem to have been affected by any of this..
I will share with you what I have been advised by the experts, what I have done, and what things look like at my aviary now. Perhaps in time breeders of many of the afflicted species, may come up with better answers than are currently available in veterinary science. Or perhaps the experts will admit they don't have any answers for us, and will work with us to improve the lives of our beloved birds. If I sound angry and frustrated, let me clearly state that I am! I relied on the experts and they have failed me miserably - and as I'm discovering, others have been let down too.
First, I separated species. All lovebirds went down to the basement, after hubby and I hastily roughed in a room for them. We purchased a 16x30' used building and had it moved to our property.
We purchased paneling, ceiling material, and other supplies and stored those in the barn for the upcoming winter months.
We purchased few new windows for the cabin and a sliding glass door that I would be able to roll the flights out of onto the planned deck for washing and hosing down. That would all sit as it was until spring weather permitted working in the building.
I diligently and fearfully watched the birds.
I considered euthanising all the lovebirds after consulting with one vet. I decided to wait after another suggested waiting 3 months then starting blood testing. I took lessons from my vet to prepare for the blood draws. I am a registered nurse and knew I was capable of learning to do some of these procedures myself to defray some of the costs.
I read some more. I tried to find people to talk to about this - you know - other breeders. I found 2. It was a comfort, but confusing. Nothing I was learning was in agreement. Methods of checking varied. These 2 people were also following veterinary advice.
One lovebird developed patchy feathering. I separated her and swab tested her. It came back positive and I euthanised her.
One elderly parrotlet male had patchy deformed feathers, and I euthanised him. I sent him to another lab, well known for diagnosing PBFD. His results were negative. I bawled my head off.
I sent room swabs off to two different labs. They came back positive for both PBFD and APV in both bird rooms (one now empty) and the basement where the lovebirds now lived. I called a company that had an advanced method of duct cleaning for our forced air system. I decided against it at the time because it was pointless with shedding birds in our home and no where to remove them to. I investigated ozone, UV light placement in the furnace duct system, etc. I prayed for the PBFD vaccine to hit the market.
With fear and trepidation, I chose to allow a few lovebirds to nest. I swab tested emerging feathers and feces. Results negative. I sold most of those offspring to individual parties. I held back chicks from each clutch, wanting to see what those birds would look like after their first molt.
I
had a parrotlet clutch and swab tested them. Results positive. I kept
them.
They looked fine.
Next test negative.
I had another parrotlet clutch out of a different set of parents. Out of 5 chicks, 3 died and the 2 survivors had dull feathering with tiny pinholes in wing and tail feathers. Testing negative. I kept them through first molt. They molted out and new feathering was normal. I sold one to a vet. Good placement I figured.
Same parents, next clutch, 5 eggs, 5 hatchlings. First 3 chicks doing ok at 1 week, then found chick #4 on the bottom of the catch tray. It had fallen through the grate. I wasn't sure if mom threw it out or what, so I pulled all the chicks. The chilled one died in a few hours. Next day another one dead.
My brooder temp dropped the 80o overnight and the next day all but the oldest chick had full crops. Two more died within a few days. Necropsy neg for viruses, but both chicks had candida and klebsiella pneumonia. The oldest chick survivied and had the pinholes in the wing and tail feathers, as well as the dull feathering. I kept her and took her to the vet, along with her mother and 5 of the worst looking birds in my aviary.
One was a lovebird I was sure had PBFD. I wanted the vet to blood test that bird in her office so it would remove any variables that might come up with home testing. His test came back neg. I had all 6 birds checked for chlamydia with a more current test than I had been using. That came back negative.
One Bourke parakeet was diagnosed with polyfolliculitis - he had 2 feather shafts coming out of one feather follicule. I looked the word up when I got home and found that this symptom could show up from bacterial or viral infections. When he scratched and irritated the feather shafts I pulled them out. The feathers grew back normal.
One parrotlet had an enlarged nostril that was filled with crud. The vet removed the crud and suggested nebulizer treatments. The vet said she probably had liver disease - flakey overgrown beak and patchy feathering. I put her on a low protein diet and both her beak and feathering has improved dramatically.
The Fischer's lovebird I brought in for his second check following his near miss from death following a severe feather picking episode. He had excoriated his wing and chest. The wing had bled profusely and he wouldn't leave it alone. I followed the treatment plan and he's looking good now. He's picked his chest feathers intermittently since he was about 6 months old. He's no longer in my breeding program and has a peachface mutation hen as a companion. I don't hybridize birds, so she's just a companion to relieve his anxiety about being alone. I tried to keep him alone and he was extremely anxious after all the handling and uncomfortable treatments I had to do to get him well again. He's a content bird again.
We are not wealthy people, but I have spent a large amount of money, for our budget. If I were to do the blood draws myself, I could send samples in at a cost of $14.00 for each individual test. Multiply that by 100 birds and it comes to $1,400.00 for just the PFBD test. Add APV testing and the sum increases to $2,800.00 for the first round of testing. Then repeat the tests once or twice and double that sum. Becomes obvious why lovebird breeders don't test birds individually. Wholesale prices for lovebirds run $12.00 to $50.00, so why would any breeder invest $24.00 to $36.00 minimum per bird to rule out PBFD? Add polyoma checks to that equasion and the cost skyrockets.
Yet these 2 diseases I'm told are the plague of lovebirds. Parrotlets are an unknown yet as far as I personally know. I've heard of cases of polyoma, but none of PBFD except in a lab induced situation.
Numerous questions come to mind for me. I would like to hear from other breeders and the veterinary community. I would hope we could come to some agreement and solutions to improve the lives of our birds and the breeders who love them.
I don't raise birds to make a living. I raise them because they delight and fascinate me, and I believe a bird can enrich the quality of life for those who choose to share their lives with them.
Here are some of my questions:
1. Is this disease as contagious as we are led to believe?
If humans go out to a place where others have influenza, some will get it and some won't. So the term immune competence must play a role in protecting some humans from the flu. Wouldn't that also apply to birds?
2. Why does one bird get it and not it's mate? I've had this happen twice now, so I'm wondering.
3. What role does the immune system play in preventing infection?
How do we as breeders help to improve the health of our birds immune system?
What things do we do inadvertently that compromise our birds immune systems?
4. If this virus is hidden somewhere in the body - where is that place? If a human is exposed to TB and doesn't come down with the full blown disease, it frequently will show up as a positive mantoux and a nodule in the lungs. It lies dormant, but can become the full blown disease if the person's immune system becomes compromised at a later date. I don't know the statistics of this happening, but it causes me to question where this PBFD virus lies in wait in the birds body and what triggers the shedding of the dormant virus? I know viruses have unique ways of getting into cells to begin the replication process, but if they're not busy replicating, what are they doing while they're waiting?
5. What triggers the virus to begin replicating?
6. If bleach, heat, and cold don't destroy the virus, what will?
7. Since most organisms deteriorate in time, how long does it take for the PBFD virus to deteriorate and become ineffective in the environment.?
8. What is the role of stress in triggering the virus to activate, and what are those stressors?
9. If APV carriers amongst budgies can bear uninfected chicks (I think this has been documented) then why can't silent carriers of APV and PBFD in other bird species do the same?
In closing I will say this process has stressed me to the max financially and emotionally.
I'm not currently willing to euthanise all my birds, nor willing to sell them off to some unsuspecting breeder. I'm in a calmer phase at the moment, but it's always somewhere in the back of my mind.
I have in my aviary up to 3 generations of lovebirds that have been present through all of this. All look fine, with the exception of 2 males out of 1 genetic line. The lovebird that was vet tested for PBFD is from that line. His father has some feathering problems - seems to be quite itchy and has bare patches under one wing. The grandmother of the bloodtested bird has some foot problems - my guess gouty arthritis. She has improved with the application of vitamin E and codliver oil to the feet, as well as moving she and her mate to a single cage where she can sit flatfooted or perch. I'm aware these problems can be related to PBFD.
I'm not willing to burn my house down and start over. We could move, but I'd be taking these birds along or starting again with new stock.
I've scrubbed, bleached, used Fam 30, used Dentigene, repainted, resurfaced floors in some rooms, but really can't afford to gut the place. I suspect the best I can hope for is a reduction in the amount of free floating virus particles over time, until someone starts to shed again. I've heard of breeders just giving up. The stress and expense becomes overwhelming. That could happen to me.
I've heard of breeders panicking and killing all their birds.
I've heard of breeders refusing to consider that they could have a problem at all.
All I want to know is where do I go from here and how do I get there?
Anonymous for the time being.
Part II to follow soon.