Experience of Aspergillosis

It all started when my Red and Green macaws laid their third clutch of eggs. Four eggs were laid and three hatched. The chicks were progressing well, as I observed by means of a nestbox camera, until the – day, when I saw that one chick was dead. All three chicks were removed immediately and the dead one was sent for post mortem. The result arrived in due course and it confirmed that the chick had died from Aspergillosis. The remaining chicks and their parents were taken to my avian vet for examination and the result of that was that all four birds had the disease and so began 15 months of observation and treatment.

Aspergillous is a fungal infection which is usually fatal. It is difficult to monitor, (the birds required x-rays and blood tests on a monthly basis at first) and the drugs used are expensive too!

The intervening months have been something of a rollercoaster ride as the test results were sometimes encouraging and at other times downright depressing with white cell counts reducing and then, on a couple of occasions, soaring skywards again. Administering the medicine was fairly easy at first, but as the chicks grew they began to object and much subterfuge had to be used. The parent birds were easier as the medicine was put in their food, a diet of soaked mixed pulses, carrots, apple and hulled seed. However, with dedicated care and attention from my vet the time came to reduce the visits to bi-monthly events. By this time we had found a nice little pub for lunch as it was too far to go home and pick the birds up later. We have also become familiar with the town as we explored the shops while we waited!

After about nine months the parents were well enough for the treatment to be stopped and visits for examination of the chicks was reduced to four monthly and medication stopped. All the birds were looking much better although they had never actually looked really ill and there was no wheezing or other symptoms at all. The parents went through a spell of looking rather depressed and they stopped talking. Their feathers looked rather dull as well but gradually things improved and all the birds look quite fit again now.

I was advised that the parents would be unlikely to breed again this year and that if they did the eggs would be likely to be infertile, so I was not too worried when I saw them mating this Spring. I was surprised, however, when the hen laid the first egg of 2003 and astonished when the eggs, (she had laid her usual clutch of four), began to hatch! Now, some 14 weeks later, I have four young macaws learning to fly around the house!
We have passed through the phase where they could be contained by the use of baby gates etc. and I have just moved them to an outside flight where they are having great fun climbing and flying and playing together. It is a constant joy to watch them looking so fit and healthy.

The outbreak was almost certainly started when I gave some freshly cut chunks from the bole of a conifer tree to the hen to work on in the nest. I was advised by the vet to only use untreated off-cuts from the Do-it-yourself shop, as the Aspergillosis spores can survive quite a while in freshly cut wood. The disease is not infectious; each bird has to inhale the spores – it does not pass from one bird to another. It is encountered when the birds have chewed the wood which they then use as nesting material. When this dries out and the birds are moving around in the box, the dust from the material is inhaled and the trouble begins! I was also advised to clean out the nest box as soon as any chicks fledge and leave the nest because the cock bird often goes into the nest and stirs up the nesting material which, by this time, can contain spores and faecal material.

Until last year I had enjoyed a pretty uneventful 12 years of breeding parrots. I had read a lot and kept up to date with the latest advice in bird husbandry, but looking back I realise just how unprepared I was when this tragedy struck. This has been an experience I do not wish to repeat. I have been very fortunate in having an excellent avian vet who has been prepared to spend time explaining what has been happening and who has cared for my birds with dedication and kindness. I would certainly endorse the good advice found in many articles to make sure you have a good avian vet and to use him sooner rather than later in case of illness; waiting to see if your birds will get over their illnesses without intervention is false economy because sick birds don’t give a lot of warning and early intervention can be the difference between a cure and a death.