my budgies

Question
hi my name is Rayanne and i have 2 budgies(male& female). both of my budgies have bald patches on their bellies (as i have just noticed) and i was wandering what it could be from. my birds beaks are weird its like when people break a nail or something and the top layer starts to come of, their beaks are doing that and im told that they need to eat fruit but they wont go near anything but seed and those millet seeds(i think they are millet seeds)
how would someone know if their birds have fatty-liver??  

Answer
Hi there,

Sorry to hear you are having such trouble.

Firstly, your birds beak is more than likely looking bad as a reflection of ill health. This will grow out once you have sorted the problem out with the birds.

With regards to diet, seed had no nutritional value what so ever. My suggestion is to get them off it completely and onto a pellet food such as Harrisons. I feed this to all my birds and it really makes them healthy. That with no more than 20% fruit and veg. Remember that to a bird, seeds are like chocolate to a child and veg is manky. Once you manage to change them over, they will be more likely to try other stuff and be more curious.

How to tell if a bird has fatty liver is not always easy. Often they will seem lethargic and eat lots and look all round unwell, but more than likely they die. Then post Morton will show the liver to be 2 or 3 times bigger than normal. It is very common in cage birds kept on a seed diet.

Take your birds to a vet to get the feathers looked at. It could be something in the cage irritating the skin, or just all round unhealthiness. The vets will treat accordingly and I will help you with diet and such. I will advice on getting Harrison's, and how to get them onto it healthily.

Charlotte