My flock has been going downhill for quite some time already and I'm sick of it!

What can I do to help them grow up to be healthy and happy? Is it the aviary? Is it the flea market? Is it me?

What are some healthy veggies that I can feed them? My mom is a health nut, so we have a nice stash of vegetables and fruits in the fridge. My mom likes everything organic as well.

I feed my birds a seed mix from All Living Things. It has pellets and my birds like it.

They have a cuddle bone in the aviary.

Last time I went to pet smart I saw a cockatiel for sale for the first time!! It was a pearl, and when I took a look, it backed away and hissed lol

Should I quarantine my birds? I don't want them dying anymore. It hurts me more than it hurts them.

I also want to be friendly with the members here. I am NOT trying to defend myself! I KNOW I am not a good owner, that's why I made this thread.

Also about the pearl cockatiel at pet smart. I am not looking for a new bird. Not at all!! I just want to know if it will help my flock from dying if I get them from there instead.

Your having a run of bad luck...
It happens to us all in life.
Just carry on doing what you do and feeding your birds as healthy as you can...
You can do more than that.

I don't think the flea market is the problem. Except for maybe Moon, your birds were lost to accidents not to illnesses. I don't know what happened with Moon, but you can keep an eye on the remaining birds to make sure they all look healthy. You can check the aviary for potential problems, for example: potentially toxic plant material falling into the aviary, wild bird droppings falling into the aviary, insect infestations, birds chewing on the wires for entertainment. Mosquitoes are obviously a huge problem in Florida and they can carry West Nile virus, but there are things you can do to reduce the problem. Here's a link: http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww69eii.htm

Green vegetables are definitely good for them and it's best to provide them. Birds can be picky about the presentation, and my guys don't like cut-up vegetables in a bowl unless it's corn kernels. But they love leafy greens clipped to the side of the cage and broccoli florets.

If you got any new birds you would need to quarantine them, but you don't need to quarantine your current birds from each other. If Moon had a contagious illness they've already been exposed to it. The exception is the babies who have been in the house with you. Wait at least a couple more weeks before you put them in the aviary to make sure the other birds are healthy.

Thank you.

Biting on the cage bars is a possibility but when you mentioned mosquitoes, that really for me worried because when I changed the food bowls today I saw this.



Yes, that's blood!

I think I remembered seeing little blood spots on the back of his tail feathers...

That could be a possibility, but I never knew mosquitoes bit avians. I thought they only bit mammals?

Either way, if he ate one, that could mean something different.

Mosquitoes do bite birds, and they'll even bite reptiles and amphibians which are cold-blooded. Birds are the animal that's most commonly infected with West Nile virus and a lot of them die from it.

Spiders will also bite birds, so get rid of any spider webs that you see around the aviary.

Why is there blood all over that mosquito? Does this have anything to do with moon?

The mosquito bit something shortly before it was squished, and the blood is from its last meal. The blood isn't necessarily from one of your birds; it's possible that the mosquito bit something else and was just passing through the cage and got attacked by a cockatiel. But it's also possible that it did bite one of your birds, and the bird squished it and then wiped its beak off on the food cup.

The blood looks pretty fresh in the picture so it probably wasn't from Moon. Most mosquito bites are just annoying not dangerous, and if the mosquito was carrying West Nile or anything else that was dangerous it would take several days for the infection to develop and cause problems.