Health of my Bourkes parakeet

Question
I should have mentioned he does have a band... but its hard to hold him... he doesnt like it and he bites.  What should I look for.. is there a date on it?
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Followup To

Question -
I have a bourkes parakeet that was given to me about 3 yrs ago.  I do no know how old he is.  He recently became blind in one eye and seemed ok.  He has been eating and drinking normally.  The past few days I have noticed that he has been hanging out on the floor of the cage... not being able to get back on the perch.  He circles the floor.  He also is twitching on his right side... his foot and wing.  And his chirping has changed.  He seems to chirp with his twitching.  I am really not sure what is wrong with him... he tries to eat but cant sit on the perch of the food cup.  So I have been putting the food on the bottom of the cage.  I was hoping to get some information about the health or diseases that these birds are prone to.  Is there a way to tell a birds age?  Any information that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Answer -
Hi, Jeanne.  Thanks for posting.

If you don't know your keet's age and he doesn't have a leg band, it would be very difficult to visually determine age.  An avian vet might be able to give you a better idea, but s/he also may not be able to tell simply from appearance.

I recommend you get your keet to an avian veterinarian ASAP.  He could have had a stroke, but definitely something is not right here, and an avian vet would be the best to determine the specific problem affecting your bird.  

There's much information on health, diseases, etc., on the internet.  You can search using search strings such as "avian health," "avian diseases," "Bourkes parakeets," "parrot illness," "parrot diseases," and similar.  If you want specifics on Bourkes, you might want to contact a Bourkes breeder, which you should also be able to find on the internet.

Chrys

Answer
Hi again, Jeanne.

The leg band might have a year on it, depending on whom issued the band and what the breeder had imprinted on it.  The year of birth is usually printed sideways from any other print on the band.  In other words, there may be some letters/numbers printed horizontally on the band, and usually the year of birth is printed vertically.  Other letters/numbers could be breeder's initials, organization issuing the band, individual breeder ID for the bird.  

Hopefully, you've either taken your bird to an avian vet or have an appt to get s/he in quickly.  I'm also wondering if the blindness could have something to do with what's going on now or vice versa.

If s/he's a biter, you would have to hold s/he in a towel in order to read the leg band.  There's also a way to hold a bird with your bare hands so it can't bite you.  See my website for info on this:

http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Chrys
Chrys