HELP!!!!! Is it scaly beak or stress???

[Chellez]

I recently moved house as my fiancé got a new job posting but we had to fly back to our home town for 5 weeks. During this time I had a friend watch him while I was away. When we came back to collect him, we had to drive to our new house which took 10 hours and we had him in the back with a towel over him but he was ok the whole trip and seemed fine when we reached our new house.

Its been 4 days now and since being in our new house though, I’ve noticed that his beak has started looking a little flaky underneath the blue parts and on either side of his beak near the top, I can see a small scaly lump which is only noticeable when he is not fluffed up. Im worried it could be scaly beak but he was kept inside the whole time he was looked after. He doesn’t seem to be in any distress and still makes noise from time to time but nowhere near as much as when I last saw him.

He no longer chitters constantly though or dances and he will no longer touch his cuttlefish which he used to always use. Even his toys don’t seem as interesting anymore and I even bought him new ones. He just seems so much more quiet and I don’t know if its because he’s stressed because he’s been away from me for so long and then went on a long car trip and is now getting used to his new surroundings or whether he has somehow gotten scaly beak and is just sick. He still preens himself and is not losing feathers, and will hang upside down and play with his toys a bit but nowhere near as much. He still eats as well although I did recently switch his seed which could also be a factor.

Can budgies beaks change from stress? We also live out in the middle of nowhere so cant get any medicine if needed and he hates being touched so would bite me if I tried to help him anyway. I am so worried right now and don’t know what to do

[DesertDweller]

Best to get him checked out by a vet. Could possibly be mites and the lump might be a cyst caused by mites. Mites can invade the air sacs and cause very serious problems with breathing. Best to let a vet rule this out.

[Chellez]

Thanks for that! Yeah Ive organised a check up for him with a vet, unfortunately the earliest I could get was in 3 weeks. I have been given some more info regarding scaley face though and that is that I can use Invermectin which is normally used for treating mites and other parasites on sheep. Apparently an extremely small dose is enough to stop the problem and at the moment in my current situation, Im willing to try anything

[Kerry C]

Scaly mites will have a coral or pitted look on the skin or on the beak.

if you use Ivremectin use 1 drop on the skin, usually at the back of the neck.