# Is Birb sick?



## Birb (Sep 20, 2016)

Hi all!

I just came back from a 5-day vacation and was ecstatic to see Birb! He's been taken care of by my parents while I was gone so he wasn't just left alone at home by himself. 

However, when I got home yesterday, I noticed that Birb was preening himself a lot more than usual. Sometimes he would be preening himself and he would stop and stare at his stomach (I noticed he did this a lot) His eyes also look a bit less lively.. so I'm not sure if he's sick. He still flies around and chirps. He's also eating and drinking normally. Though I did notice that he wants to play in the water a bit more. Some of his feathers are falling out so I don't know if he's moulting..

I'm trying to find an avian vet within the area to get him checked up tomorrow.

Anyone ever experience this with their budgies upon returning from vacation?


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

When a bird moults it is not uncommon for them to be itchy and because of that they may preen and bathe more often. They may also be less active and sometimes a bit grumpy during the moult. You can provide extra protein during this time by giving commercially prepared egg food or you can hard boil an egg and offer some of it to Birb. I hard boil an egg and then grate the white and some of the yolk and mix together and give it to my birds, they all love it, but if you have never offered this to Bird it may take him a while to try a new food.
If Birb has not been to a vet before it would be good to establish a relationship with one and have him checked out to assure that he is just going through a moult and nothing else is going on.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Cody has given you excellent advice.

I would recommend you review these links:

http://talkbudgies.com/your-budgies-health/35938-molting-faqs.html

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-general-budgie-info/374850-budgie-molting.html

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-budgie-health/104927-miserable-molting.html*

Having your budgie examined by an Avian Vet allows you to develop a good relationship with the vet in case your bird needs care for an injury or illness in the future. Additionally, it is always helpful for the vet to have a baseline for your bird to refer to should it need future treatment.


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