Is this safe to use?

[JustAlex09]

So my bird has what may either be scaly leg mites or just really dry skin. I picked this up at the local pet store and the employee said this was about the only product they had that was guaranteed to work.

In the directions, it says to hold the can 60cm away and spray the cage (with the birds still in the cage) for 2 seconds, but then in the precaution/warning it says not to get it on the bird's mouth, beak, face or eyes cause it's harmful if swallowed or inhaled. _{I also have to wear rubber gloves when handling the product, which ?????.}

So how do I mass-spray a bunch of birds while avoiding their heads, eyes and mouth? Do all bird mite/lice products have warnings like this or was something lost in translation?

The can contains Pyrethrins (0.09%), Technical Piperonyl Butoxide (0.18%) and N-Octyl Bicycloheptene Dicarboximide (0.30%).

[monotwine]

I'd be hesitant to use any sort or aerosol around living birds. Yip I can picture using it to "fog" a bird room and hardware, but not directly on birds. Even deodorant types kill them as it affects their airsacs.

There are many well used safer alternatives. You may have to order them online. Scatt (applied per bird), S76, Ivomectin based medication, Moxidectin, Equimax oral liquid....

This product may be a vapourizer and not a aerosol so it may just be water with a contact poison for mites.
In which case you would have to drench your poor babies in it and really traumatise them. There are nicer options.

[Sally]

I agree with monotwine, I'd be hesitant to use something that says you can spray the cage and birds but must avoid the eyes, etc. I don't know how that would be possible.

If it is just dry skin, then daily bathing should help with that. I believe lovezebs also rubs some oil (can't remember just what kind) on her birds' legs when she clips their toenails.

If it is mites, then something like Scatt would be so much more effective.

[lovezebs]

JustAlex09

I would take that spray back to the Pet Shop, and quick (hope you saved the bill of sale). Anything that you have to wear rubber gloves to use, can't be safe to use directly on your birds.

Can you post a picture of your birds legs/feet?

If it's just dry skin, then offer a daily bath of tepid water.
I do rub some olive oil on their legs and feet when I catch them to trim their nails, but you can do it any time. You could probably also use some coconut oil. Both are harmless even if they lick their legs afterwards.

If it is mites, then I would recommend ordering SCATT, and treating all your birds.

Here's an interesting article that you may find useful:

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/scalymitetreatment.html

[JustAlex09]

lovezebs







The severity of the scaliness on her legs and feet changes, but her feet still look pretty awful regardless of how humid or not it is in my room. It got worse once I got rid of her sandpaper perches. She is the only bird in my flock with feet like this.

Her beak is quite also bit bigger than it's supposed to be. I usually have to trim it down because she's a booger that refuses to keep her beak maintained on her own. There's usually build-up around the corners of her mouth and over/around her nostrils but it comes off quite easily. It's probably food (she doesn't wipe the food off her beak like all the other birds), but I'm not sure.

On a side note, she's a six-year-old house sparrow that hates taking baths unless it's in a very specific bowl.

_{Sorry for the potato quality pics. Pig's not an easy bird to get pictures of.}

[lovezebs]

JustAlex09

She is obviously an older birdie, and there is defiinitely something going on with her feet, but I'm not sure what. It could be mites, but I am not certain, or simply scaling that comes with age.

The beak and nails need to be trimmed badly.

[wildbird]

Six years is not old for a sparrow. I had one for 13 years, and he didn't look anything like that. I had several other sparrows too, didn't look like that. It may be mites with the beak problem, but something is definitely wrong there. Give here a lava rock which can be fastened to the side of the cage or put some rough rocks on the floor for her to help trim that beak.

[wildbird]

Care must be taken when trimming a beak so that upper and lower beak meet evenly, otherwise the bird may have trouble eating seeds. Vitamin A can cause an overgrown beak. Try feeding foods that contain it like diced fresh papaya and finely chopped kale. Don't add liquid vitamin A to water or food, as too much can be toxic. How long has she had this problem?

[JustAlex09]

wildbird lovezebs

Her feet and beak were normal up until last year, which is about when I took out her sandpaper perches and gave her an entirely new cage with more bird-friendly stuff in it (including nests and fake leaves for her to hide in). I think she just got lazy, personally.

She used to love hammering away at the cuttlebones I would give her but now she ignores them. I've taken to trimming her beak with clippers and sanding away any uneven growths with a small dremel. It's hard to keep her beak perfectly even -the top of her beak is crooked and the bottom just seems to grow at different speeds. She still manages to eat just fine, however.

_{The pics don't show it well but her nails are really dark. It's very hard to see the vein, even under a bright light. I've nicked a vein the last three times I've clipped her nails.}

I put some coconut oil on her feet and beak last night. It looks like they might just be really, really dry, with a few callouses here and there. Her feet look much better this morning, as does her beak, which I trimmed and fixed up to a more normal length. I'll put more coconut oil on later today and see how it goes.

[lovezebs]

JustAlex09

Good luck.
I do think she's an older bird, how on earth did you come by her?

[JustAlex09]

lovezebs

My mum found her at work. She was kicked out of the nest and landed directly on top of a co-worker. Since her nest was in the rafters of a hardware store, she couldn't really put her back, so she was brought home. She was about a week old, I think. The only reason I've never released her is cause she can't fly -her right wing doesn't open all the way. She's six years old, tho, about mid-life I guess. Her birthday was in May I believe.

[monotwine]

I agree with the others. There is an underlying issue to cause beak and feet to look as they do. Personally I would treat with a good anti parasite (both internal and external) i.e. mites and worms. Be sure to do a follow up treatment within 10 days / as recommended by product.
Then make sure she gets some extra calcium and vit every now and then. Most times when I've seen beaks like that its been down to nutrition or parasites.
As someone else mentioned you can overdo it on vitamins, so only give it in moderation. A liquid calcium added to her water may help initially.
If vit's and calcium work, then keep it up, giving a maintenance dose or diluted concentration.

Also check to see if she is lazy and eating only one type of seed etc. A good varied diet should cover all her needs, but sometimes birds have a preference and eat only one thing to their detriment.