Open Sore On Lovebird's Wing

by Marci C
(Des Moines, IA)

Hi, I have 10 Lovely Lovebirds & one of them has an open sore on one of her wings at the top which is making the lower wings go a bit haywire. I haven't done much about it because at first it seemed to be healing and she seems fine otherwise & thought to let nature take it's course. We originally got her with two other Lovebirds from a woman who couldn't care for them anymore and they weren't hand trained (very skittish). They have since reproduced & I now have 10 nicely paired into 5 sets of Lovies. (I HAVE put a stop to the reproduction by the way) I semi hand raised the babies but once they were weaned they too became a bit wild.

I built them a huge cage which is 8 feet x 4 feet all in approved materials for the birds so they would have plenty of room to roam.

My concern is that if I try and get her out it is going to scare them all so bad it may cause more damage than good. The cage is so big, & it hangs on the wall because we have cats & dogs, it's not easy to corner any one bird in any one area. The other day she was sitting alone on one of the perches and I was talking to her and her mate came and protectively sat right next to her. Then another one of the birds came & sat on the other side.

They are truly amazing and I am so in love & enamored by them I don't want to cause them any harm or unnecessary stress but I also don't want to let this go untreated if it needs to be treated.

It's doesn't look infected at all, it looks clean, just raw because I think she keeps pecking at it.

Any advise would be very much appreciated.

Marci Calloway

P.S.
When we got the trio she was the odd man out. Always included in the daily activities of the other two but she didn't have a mate until the other pair had babies. They had three & eventually one of their babies became her mate. She ended up laying infertile which she cared for until she realized they weren't going to hatch. This is about the time this sore came about. I don't know if the two incidents have anything to do with one another but it seem coincidental to me.

P.S.S. This is as close as her Mate would let me get. One of the pictures shows how her wing has gone all funny.