Daily Things To Watch For:
- Weight loss or not eating as much
- Not taking care of feathers- Since a birds feathers are it's life line, they always take good care of their feathers, if that stops then there is something wrong.
- Discharge or messy nose- You should keep an eye on the nose area, If a bird is sneezy there could be two reasons. There could be a feather stuck in their nose or some kind of pollen. If this is the case, they will sneeze and possibly scratch the nose area but there should not be discharge. The other reason is that the bird is sick; there will still be some sneezing but discharge will be left over.
- Broken and damaged feathers- You should always keep an eye out for damaged feathers. If the feather has been chewed on, it is usually another bird that is bored or angry is doing the chewing and this needs to be stopped and fixed. If a feather is bent, you need to keep an eye of it because it is easier to break or get caught of something. If the feather is broken, first make sure if it is bleeding. If it is bleeding then you or a vet may have to pull it if it doesn't stop. If it doesn't stop, the feather has to come out otherwise that feather is like a faucet that has no turn off, It will just continue to bleed until the bird dies.
Things To Watch For/ Signs Of A Sick Bird:
- Fluffed up feathers- If your bird has fluffed up feathers it could mean different things. Your bird could be stressed out; they often do this when you first bring them home. They are trying to look bigger as a defense. Your bird may also be cold. They often do this when they are cold. Your bird may also be showing signs of being sick. Again, this is a defense, they are trying to not show signs of weakness.
- Change in droppings- Even though many people may want as little to do with poop as possible, it could be the earliest sign of something that could be wrong. You should check the frequency that your bird normally goes, if they are pooping more or less than normal, there could be something wrong. You should also look at what the poop looks like. If it is more watery than normal, there could something wrong. If you notice one of these things change, your bird could be sick, stressed, or just molting.
- Odd behavior- When looking for odd behavior, you are looking for the bird to be more quiet than usual, for it to more different(limp, moving wings, leaning) and sitting at the bottom of the cage. These signs usually show injury or illness.
It is important to know your birds normal behavior, the better you know the normal behavior, the better you know be able to know if there is a change. Birds will hide being sick or injured as well as possible because in nature the weak are often left behind or killed. Because of this, if the bird is sick, it may seem to happen quickly and suddenly.