Feathers are important to birds, and if these feathers suddenly disappear this can negatively affect the health of the bird, but feathers disappearing does happen in birds and it may have happened in your budgie.
This article is a look at why your budgie may have a bald vent.
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Bald budgie vent:
Birds have feathers almost all over their body, and all the feathers of your bird come together to serve the bird, even the feathers at the bird’s vent.
So, feather loss at the vent will be concerning, here is why this happens:
Brooding:
If a budgie is plucking its own feathers out then this can indicate an underlying health problem in your bird but if the bird is brooding then this is quite normal behavior.
Broodiness is the state of a bird wanting to start to brood (incubate eggs). The female knows when she is about to lay eggs, she also knows that these eggs need warmth from her.
The feathers on her body insulate her body keeping heat close to her skin and preventing heat from escaping past the bird’s feathers but when the mother wants to sit and warm her eggs up she needs her skin to be exposed to the eggs in order to share her body heat with the eggs.
To achieve this skin-to-egg contact she will pluck out the feathers at and around her vent area, and then sit on her eggs.
The now exposed skin will be in constant contact with the eggs that she is sitting on and warm them up.
What to do:
A mother budgie doing this is quite normal and is nothing to worry about, infact, you should be glad that the bird is doing this as this means that she is using her maternal instincts to properly incubate her eggs and ensure that they are warm.
You do need to make sure that the bird is about to lay eggs if she starts plucking the feathers near her vent, if she isn’t about to lay eggs then she may have health issues causing her to pluck her feathers out.
Signs that the bird is about to lay eggs include being more affectionate, protectiveness, pooping in large amounts, pooping frequently, a swollen abdomen, and slight weight gain.
Diarrhea:
Another reason why your bird may have a lack of feathers in its vent area may be because the bird is sick or has gone through a traumatic experience and now has diarrhea.
Budgies usually create poop that is solid, knowing this, you can assume that a budgie that is creating diarrhea poop is sick or has been traumatized.
Traumatic experiences for the bird include a move that alters the environment that the bird lives in, as well as being attacked.
Birds who develop diarrhea will have a dirty vent and the bird will try to clean this off by picking it off.
The diarrhea poop will dry at the bird’s vent and stick to the feathers. When the bird tries to pick this poop off the bird will also rip out the feathers around the vent causing a bald patch to develop in the area.
What to do:
You can immediately help the bird by using a warm damp cloth to wipe the bird’s vent area to get rid of the dried poop and to keep the bird from plucking more feathers out, you would then need to take the bird to the vet after this.
You would then need to take the bird to the vet as soon as possible. The vet will be able to diagnose the bird and give it medications for the sicknesses that it is suffering from.
Once the bird has been given the medications that it needs to get healthy, it will stop having diarrhea and the feather plucking around its vent will stop.
Cleaning the bird’s environment is also important, this will ensure that any bacteria that may have been transferred to the bird’s cage and items are killed and can’t get the bird sick again.
Sterilize the bird’s food, water bowls, and cage overall. Pick a disinfectant that is bird safe, if you can’t find a bird-safe disinfectant you can use Milton fluid, the one for babies.
If the bird is stressed because it is in a new environment then allowing it to spend time getting used to its new environment will help the bird relax and produce solid poop again.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other budgie-related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Budgie Twitching Wings, Budgie Twitching Head, Why Does My Budgie Bite When I Pet Him?, What To Do With Unwanted Budgie Eggs, How To Stop Budgie From Laying Eggs