Sunday, December 5, 2010

Discolouration of a Jambul's feathers

I was alarmed initially when I came back from a 9 days holiday to find one of my Red-whiskered Bulbul all puffed up. There are still water in the cups but there are no food in its cup. First response was to fill up the cup with food which I did. (Was told later that its a wrong move, as the bird could overeat and when it drinks water, the pellets would all swell up and could cause sudden death)



Luckily, nothing untoward happened. A friend was supposed to drop by every 2 or 3 days to see to the birds but he was absent for 7 days because my dog was patrolling the house with much enthusiasm. Sigh! another logistic thing I have to look into....

Previously the chest feathers are greyish black in colour and they do not meet in the middle like the brown feathers. So, this colouration must have been a sign of poor health. Gave it a daily dose of fruits - papaya, orange and bananas.... in that order. All fortified with vitamin B complex which I crushed into powder and sprinkled on the fruits.

Chronology of recovery.... next day, no fluffy feathers (in the pic), 3rd day - heard his signature "kekek", 5th day (today) - all seems well. Voracious appetite - can finish his dry pellets in 2 days (usually 4 days) and 1 small size banana in a single day. Whew! close call.... hopefully no permanent damage. Brown feathers kind of cool :-D



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi dance for rain,
hope you dont mind to help me out with a question about jambul. i am new to jambul as pets. i saw a post at the malaysia bird forum but i am not a member.
what does the "kar long" is very nice means when they are selecting jambul birds at the shop. it is kar long not kelong, lol. really sorry about the question in this manner.

dance4rain said...

Hello anonymous visitor,
Joining MBF is easy and enables you to post and message members who are very knowledgeable in their field. I am not the expert although just because I can't keep quiet, some people are misled to believe so.

Kar long should be spelled "kalong", a Malay word that means a garland. Look at the picture of my Jambul above and the kalong should refer to the black ashy feathers strung from the shoulders towards the chest. On most birds, they do not meet. If they do meet, it is a rare occurence and it is a good feature.... so I was told. Even when the gap is narrow, it is considered a good feature.

Now, go register yourself on MBF and ask the real deal experts there. Regards.

Anonymous said...

hi rain, many thanks for the infor.