Bird Has Mites

[Justino222]

Hello everyone. I dont usually post in this section due to having more finches than hook bills but i have a pair of parakeets who have 3 beautiful babies which are now 4 weeks old. After doing a nest check a few minutes ago, i seen a small mite like insect (veryyy small and light grey in color) crawl underneath the feathers of on of the baby birds! I also noticed them around the lid of the garbage can i use for my bird room.
I dont want them to get hurt or disease. .can someone please tell me the proper way to treat the babies. ..and adult birds.

Thanks so much!

[vinay]

I can relate cause one of my budgie clutches became completely infested with red mites . The little guys were all pale n sickly due to being fed on by the mites.
The first thing to do is to move the family to a different cage and thoroughly disinfect the cage and its surroundings. Change the nest box too.
Try taking your birds to an avian vet if you have one around ASAP !

Since I have no qualified avian vets around , I was forced to think of something to do at home . I had anti-mite spray at home for the birds but I didn't think it would be safe for the chicks.

I made a diluted solution of warm water and a little bit of the spray .

I took out each of the chicks and gently dabbed them with paper towels dipped in the diluted solution making sure I reached all parts of the body right down to the skin . I Tried getting off as many of the parasites I could see.

I then wiped them off with clean warm water, dabbed off all the moisture and placed each of the chicks in a makeshift incubator .

I let the chicks dry off and repeated this twice during the day.

With the adults , I sprayed them with the normal mite-spray and then washed them off under warm water. Yes , there was loads of complaining and biting but it had to be done.

I returned the chicks back to their parents who fortunately accepted even after all the stress they went through .
In the worst case scenario where the parents might not accept the chicks , you might have to purchase hand-feeding formula and learn how to handfeed.

Also look up how to make a temporary incubator .

Please note , I did what I had to due to sheer desperation. If I hadn't acted quickly , I might've lost all the chicks. There might have been loads of things that could've gone wrong but thankfully it all worked out .
Again, I greatly urge you to see an avian vet.

I sincerely Hope your little guys make it though this.
Good luck

[Justino222]

I have no avian vet that i know of. Ive researched the area and didnt find any. The birds almost have most of their feathers and they dont look sickly at all. These arnt red mites, they are light grey. Maybe just feather mites. I have alot of finches i guess ill have to treat as well! Oh lordy haha

Thanks sooo much for your response

[Justino222]

Well i juat read that they are grey during the day and red at night after consuming blood! Time to take charge lol i dont want em spreading to me

[Atbird]

I use Vaseline for preventing the mites from going onto the chicks, the canaries had them and I just picked up the felt liner and spread Vaseline on the nest and covered the vaseline with the felt so the birds wouldn't get dirty. Also made a solution of dish soap, water and borax to clean the cage with....I used AiL, but I caught a mite in a container and sprayed some AIL on the mite and it was still alive over an hour later, while my soap solution killed mites in minutes ( but don't use it on the birds themselves).

[MiaCarter]

Indeed, these sound like red mites. As you just discovered, they turn red at night when they feed.

Feather mites are much smaller --- so tiny you don't generally see them moving.

Vaseline scares me, as it would require dish soap or similar to cut through the vaseline. And if you don't remove it thoroughly, it will cause the feathers to clump together, chilling the babies.

You mentioned they were 4 weeks old. Are they fully fledged? I know they typically fledge anywhere from 4-6 weeks. If necessary, I might wait a few days until they're fledged.

This is a very tricky situation because you must clean the environment AND the birds very thoroughly. But removing a nest box and cleaning it so thoroughly may cause the parents to reject the babies. But if they're fully fledged, the chances of a problem are decreased as you can technically eliminate the nest box after fledging.
I would definitely have some handfeeding formula on-hand too, just in case the parents abandon (though if they're very tame parakeets, they tend to be more tolerant of interference than a more aloof bird like a finch or an un-tame 'keet.)

Those mites can cause fatal anemia in very short order in little ones. They've likely had them for their entire life, which means they're already weakened so I would treat asap.

If the babies are adult sized, they should tolerate an adult dosage.
By 4 weeks, most species have finished growing for the most part. At this point, it's more behavioral maturation and smaller changes, like molting into the adult plumage.
So since you don't have the rapid cell division as in the case of a growing baby, there's less risk that a drug would have an adverse impact.

I would use a standard product, such as AIL.
http://www.finchniche.com/product_ail.php

It can also be used on the bird and objects, like the cage, perches, etc.
You must treat the area around the cage too.
I would vacuum, then spray down any carpets and wipe down all surfaces in the immediate area.

If you happen to have a blacklight, peek at the area to see if these critters glow. If memory serves, I believe that red mites glow under blacklight.

[Justino222]

So sorry im just seeing this post. the 4 chicks are doing great...i had to remove them, treat them and hand feed them. i just sold them to a very great family!

i just posted a new post in the health section. I thought i got rid of them but they are BACK

thanks so much for your help MiA