Psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD) is a highly contagious virus that is spread between parrots. It causes birds to loose their feathers and their beaks to become very overgrown, to the point they cannot eat or fly. There is no cure, or effective treatment for PBFD, and it is often fatal.

It is spread from parent birds to chicks as they are fed from their parents crop (a pouch in a birds neck used to hold food), from bird to bird by sharing food, and close contact with each other.

How can you help?

• If you feed wild birds, it is important that you stop. If a bird with the disease eats from the bird feeder, it can be spread to every other bird that feeds from it. If they are in the early stages of the disease the bird may not look sick.

• If you see a bird with an overgrown beak or loss of feathers, call us. Catching a bird with PBFD can be tricky, if the disease hasn’t progressed enough to prevent them from flying, we may need your help to catch them, and this can take days or weeks. If you are able to catch the bird, call ahead to your local vet, and take them there.

• If you still want to attract birds to your yard, plant native trees and bushes instead. Banksia, Bottle Brush, Grevillea, Flowering Gum, Lilly Pilly are great options!