is my bird ill

[chell1970]

i woke yesterday morning and found that my budgie had blood on the right side of her neck she wont let me near her to look at it and ive also noticed she is unusualy quiet and is sleeping with her head back in her wings any ideas what could be wrong?

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

Did you take her to the vet?  Birds are very delicate.  A traumatic injury involving blood and a change in behavioral should be investigated by a veterinarian.

[ireneo]

I haven't heard that bit before. If a bird is not perching it could be fatigue, sore feet, illness. Not necessarily death around the corner. She's obviously feeling ill. I'd recommend getting her to the vet tomorrow. Don't wait through the weekend. A bird's metabolism is fast and any infection is going to grow and spread quickly. For now keep the stress to a minimum and keep her comfortably warm.

[chell1970]

she will normaly let me handle her but atm she wont she seems realy nervous i managed 2 get a look at her neck earlia but couldnt find any cut she keeps going to the bottom of her cage my sister in law says that can sometimes mean the bird is going to die?

[ireneo]

Are there any toys or sharp edges on her cage or feeding dishes that could have caused a scrape? And you could hold her and examine her neck. You're a lot bigger than she is. If you're uncomfortable or don't know how to hold a bird correctly with your bare hand, try using a small cloth to cradle her. Just drape it over your hand, reach in and plop it over her. Then you can take her out.

The one thing you don't want to do is put pressure on her chest area. Birds don't have diaphragms and they rely on their chest muscles to breathe. So don't squeeze the chest for any length of time.