tiny budgie cannot fly looks deformed

[charmian]

I have had this tiny budgie for one week. My friend's mum has an aviary and this bird (who could never fly) kept being attacked by the others and could not feed. She separated it but it got really depressed. it was with another from the aviary for a while because it was sick but it died. So because she looked miserable and lonely, my friend asked me if I would like it and that it would be good company for my young Lutino. My lutino is long and slender and this bird has short wing feathers, short tail and looks deformed because one wing sits upwards. She eats and drinks but she fluffs up alot. In one week her attempts to fly have increased and she can clumsily flutter along the floor if she has to. My lutino has a free rein to my large kitchen. To exercise this disabled budgie, I was picking her up and carrying her to our large wooden playground meant for budgies. She seems to be a little more agile although the latino picks on her sometimes. Anyway, because she is thin and fluffs up I am worried that she has trichomonias or worms. Breeders on a website has really worried me. Could you take a look on youtube website and the video is titled 'budgie who cannot fly' where I have videod her to judge her size condition and wing please? Link: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1sM-oq4s4l4

[ireneo]

Her right wing is held abnormally. The left wing folds nicely against the body. What I can't tell from the video is whether the feather growth is abnormal or if it's bone growth. Only an exam would tell the difference. We have a Spotted Owl at the center that came in with massive injuries. Something happened to her feather follicles and although she grows feathers, they come in twisted and strange. That means she can't fly well enough to hunt and live on her own. If you can keep your little budgie going through a molt, perhaps you'll find out then whether the damage is temporary or permanent. And again, not sure about the wing bones without feeling them.

As for parasites, that's easy to check - a stool sample to the vet or a throat swab. While you're there, the vet can palpate the wing to see what's going on.