# Death in the family :(



## MellissaG (Apr 18, 2007)

Last night I went out to my balcony to see Ivory (who along with her sister, Ebony, are almost 4 weeks old now) .. outside the nest walking around. I thought this was very odd seeing as she has always been one step behind her sister, who is still kind of scared to leave the nest. I also noticed Ivory was very ITCHY. Shaking her legs, pecking at herself. Also seemed kind of tired. I held her for a bit, and we cuddled on the balcony for a good 20 minutes before I put her down just in time for mom and dad to come back for the evening feeding -- which generally consists of the two babies desperately chasing mom and dad around in circles on my balcony. While ebony was as frantic as ever, Ivory tried for a bit but then seemed to slack off and ''give up'', just watching her sibling and parents. 

One thing I noticed while holding Ivory, though, was she seemed to be infested with fleas.. like the kind youd find on dogs and cats. I got two off, but im sure there were dozens more. 

It was late last night, so I was going to go today to get some powder for them -- but when I went out this morning, and the parents came for the morning feed, it was only Ebony who ran out of the nest to run around. I peeked in the box, and sure enough..Ivory has passed  The runt of the two, was born almost 48 hours after Ebony..was always smaller and seemed to be about a week behind by visual standards. Still had some yellow fuzz around the neck even. I was worried about them being born so far apart for a while but I kept a close eye, and Ivory seemed to catch up fine -- they both seemed to be doing well. It wasnt until last night that whatever this was just hit her. 

Well, anyway, I briefly inspected Ivory. I checked the throat.. no canker that I could see. But when I checked over her body, the infestation of mites and whatnot was even more obvious. Could this be the cause? Although, id expect that if she had that many bugs -- her sister probably does too -- so why isnt she falling ill? Another thing to note -- was last night I noticed her droppings were runny and green. Does anyone have a resource of different kinds of bird mites, etc, I could look in to to maybe add up the symptoms to find cause of death? 

On a similar note, upon finding Ivory dead... parents were on the neighboring balcony. I went inside to get a little box, and some cloths to wrap her in. When I came back out to get her, mom and dad were watching me -- I put Ivory in the open box (actually, a styrofoam box from the restaurant last night) .. and set her down by the nest -- I felt bad, and mom and dad were pretty curious. I sat and watched what I thought to be pretty odd -- mom and dad mourning? They checked Ivory out a bit, not getting too close to her -- but then just sat there, sort of sleeping beside her. Then dad went inside the nest, not to feed Ebony, but to cuddle with her..which they havnt done in ages. Not even at night - Theyve slept outside the nest since the babies were not even 2 weeks old. After about 15 mins, mom went inside the box.. the three of them in there, then dad came out and flew up to the railing watching over everything -- and I could see mom and Ebony just cuddling in the nest. Seemed very sad.  I gave them some time, then moved ivory to the front of the cage so mom could see what I was doing as I put the cloth over Ivory, closed the box, and put her in a bag. 

Poor birdies  Ivory was too cute.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

I am so sorry that Ivory died, you handled it very compassionately.

I think that if the parasites were blood suckers they could have caused or contributed to her death.

Cynthia


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

I am so sorry.
RIP little Ivory.

Reti


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## SkyofAngels (Jun 28, 2007)

First I am very sorry for your loss. I am concerned about mom, dad and ebony. If Ivory had mites or fleas than it seems that the others would as well. I haven't had any experience with this so i'm sorry I can't offer any advice except that I would treat the whole bird family to avoid another tragedy.


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