If you own a budgie you’re probably very attentive towards the bird, which is good, being attentive allows you to notice any changes in your bird and deal with them appropriately, changes like baldness at your bird’s bottom
If your bird’s bottom is bald you’d be right to be concerned, this article explores why this has happened to your bird.
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Bare Budgie Bottom:
A bird’s feathers are important for the bird’s survival, if these feathers suddenly disappear this certainly means that there is something going on with the bird. Here are reasons why this may be happening:
Brood patch:
Budgies are egg layers, they don’t get pregnant but become “gravid” which means they lay eggs.
Signs that indicate that a bird is gravid include: a swollen abdomen, slight weight gain, a change in the color of the cere, and the development of a brood patch.
Birds create a brood patch in order to make sure that their eggs get adequate warmth when incubating.
The birds will pluck some of their feathers out to expose their skin in order to have skin-to-egg contact with the egg
Different birds create brood patches in slightly different areas but budgies create them at or near the vent
What to do:
If your bird is gravid and is about to lay an egg and its vent is bald you don’t have to worry, this is normal.
The gravid bird will express other signs of being gravid like protectiveness, pooping in large amounts but less frequently, spending a lot of time around the nest, and being more affectionate.
Let the bird be and let it go through this time without interrupting it. The bird’s feathers will grow back once all the eggs in the clutch have been laid.
Runny droppings:
If your bird has gone through a traumatic experience, if the bird is sick or is brought into a new environment like a new home, then the bird’s droppings may start to change
A budgie’s droppings are usually solid but they can change to become loose and runny, diarrhea-like, and these can stick to the feathers at the bird’s vent.
The stuck droppings will be plucked by the bird and the feathers around the vent will be plucked along with the droppings causing the vent to lack feathers
What to do:
If the bird is ill, and that is the reason why the bird is producing diarrhea, then you’d need to figure out what is causing the bird’s illness and treat it.
You may want to take the bird to the vet to speed up the process, avoid self-diagnosis as this can do more harm than good.
Once the bird is cured the bird will stop creating the runny poop and will stop plucking its feathers out
If the bird is stressed because it is in a new environment then the bird will simply need some time to adjust to its new environment before it can stop making diarrhea poop and plucking its feathers out.
Ensure that the bird feels comfortable and safe and the bird will stop being stressed.
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 bleeding under wing, My Budgie’s Beak Turning Blue, Budgie Flakey Beak, Why Does My Budgie Hang Its Head, Budgie Bruised Beak,