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I HAVE A COLONY OF LOVEBIRDS THAT ONE BY ONE STARTED GETTING SICK ABOUT 4 WEEKS AGO. THE FIRST SIMPTOM IS THEY ARE SLEEPY AND DON'T MOVE AROUND MUCH, THIS IS FOLLOWED BY SITTING ON THE FLOOR AND WITHIN 3-4 DAYS THEY ARE DEAD. AT DEATH THEY ARE VERY THIN IN THE BREAST AREA AS IF THEY LOST ALL THERE BODY WEIGHT. I HAVE BEEN USING "FURAZITE" AN THIS IS THE SECOND TREATMENT AND LOST ANOTHER ONE TODAY. ANYONE WITH GOOD ADVISE PLEASE HELP.

What does your vet say?

How many lovebirds do you have? I would take some to an avian vet asap. If this continues, you could very well lose your entire colony.

I would also consider necropsy of the bird(s) that have died if the vet is having difficulty diagnosing the illness.

I'm not a vet, but when I read what you wrote, I thought of PDD (Proventricular Dilation Disease) immediately.
Many of the symptoms you are describing, are associated with this illness.

Here is a link for you to read and then you can make an assessment yourself.

Above all, I would get at least one of the sick birds to an avian vet.

There is no cure for PDD and it still has many unknown variables.

Good luck with your flock and I hope you have access to an avian vet.

http://www.mit.edu/~rei/birds-pdd.html

I would suspect fungus/mildew infected food as well in as the general environment, if the entire colony is infected. In this case, the damage has been done, and recovery will be slow. Proventricular disease would affect some birds, but not "almost all." In case you are feeding them with a "wild bird seed mixture" that has been fortified, be aware that the oils used to bind the vitamins & minerals to the seeds can also cause more harm than good, as mineral oil is a laxative.

sorry. one more thing. if your birds are in contact with wild birds, you might also consider the west nile virus.

Avian gastric yeast and mycobacterium also cause wasting such as you've had. Both can be cured, so diagnosis is key.

Paca

Thanks to all, no I have not had a vet look at the sick birds or the dead ones. I have spoken to many breaders and none have seen any thing like this, one breader said he thought it could be from rodent dropings or urine. I am going to have a vet look at the situation as soon as I can get one to look at them. Any further info or advise is greatly appreciated. Also they are eating higgins cockatiel mix with fresh fruit and vegies. No wild birds can interact with them.

There's also the possibility of disease from raccoons...

None of us can really help you without you taking the birds to an avian vet for a thorough exam to find out WHAT exactly is killing your flock.

birdthing wrote:Thanks to all, no I have not had a vet look at the sick birds or the dead ones. I have spoken to many breaders and none have seen any thing like this, one breader said he thought it could be from rodent dropings or urine. I am going to have a vet look at the situation as soon as I can get one to look at them. Any further info or advise is greatly appreciated. Also they are eating higgins cockatiel mix with fresh fruit and vegies. No wild birds can interact with them.

I am not surprised breeders you spoke to have never seen anything like that, because most breeders will isolate the first sick birds before it infects the whole colony. As far as the one breeder e guessing at rodents droppings, there are virtually dozens of reasons why your birds are so sick, anything from a virus to bacterial infection to fungal infection could be the cause.....I see you are in Miami, I have lived there and know that Miami has many fantastic Avian vets that can help you diagnose the problem and hopefully save the remaining birds.
You can even explain that you are on a budget and I am sure they will work with you to find the cause with as few tests as possible. Also, I have been told that the University of Florida vet school does postmortems at a very, very reasonable price. (like $ 20)
Good Luck.

birdthing wrote:I HAVE A COLONY OF LOVEBIRDS THAT ONE BY ONE STARTED GETTING SICK ABOUT 4 WEEKS AGO. THE FIRST SIMPTOM IS THEY ARE SLEEPY AND DON'T MOVE AROUND MUCH, THIS IS FOLLOWED BY SITTING ON THE FLOOR AND WITHIN 3-4 DAYS THEY ARE DEAD. AT DEATH THEY ARE VERY THIN IN THE BREAST AREA AS IF THEY LOST ALL THERE BODY WEIGHT. I HAVE BEEN USING "FURAZITE" AN THIS IS THE SECOND TREATMENT AND LOST ANOTHER ONE TODAY. ANYONE WITH GOOD ADVISE PLEASE HELP.

BTW, using the wrong meds can worsen your problems, for example giving antibiotics to a bird with a fungal infection will only make him sicker or kill him. That's why those OTC stuff is not good to use, unless you know 100% what the issue is.

...and then there's the possibility of chewing on treated lumber, if the birds have a access to it.
...or the over-use of pesticides, like aerosal insect sprays.
...or access to poisons, such as mouse & rat poisons. or chewing on mice that have died and dried in the aviary.

If anything, this post has made all of us aware of all the possible situations,
but we have no clue as to this specific situation, because we do not know all the variables.