originally posted may 2nd 2013
A few weeks ago we got a call from the Merriwa vet asking if we could take a parrot picked up on the ground in town by a member of the public. The vet nurse ,Julie, told us she had very short flight feathers and specks of yellow in her feathers. Off we went to collect her .She looked like a young bird to us .The yellow fecks through her feathers were something we hadn’t seen before.
We emailed the expert in Sydney ,Alex Rosenwax at Bird and Exotics via my friend Sandi his very experienced vet nurse. We found out the flecks of yellow could indicate a disease which had no treatment and would kill her but also that it could be bad nutrition due to someone maybe taking her from a nest and not really knowing what to feed her and consequently just letting her go or she may have escaped. We hoped for the latter and it seems we have been rewarded as she is now looking really good, getting long flight feathers and putting on weight. The king parrots come round her aviary in the mornings and talk to her .The yellow flecks will go when she moults and gets her new feathers. If all goes well she will be released in about another 4weeks.