Bummed – Lost A Feather Baby

I had the unpleasant experience of finding one of my feather babies had passed during the night. His name was Jules and he was one of a pair of lovebirds I had. I got Jules and his mate, Juliet, in May of 2007 from a guy who didn’t want them anymore. I don’t know how long he had them–I don’t think he could remember. I had taken them to the vet for lab work to ensure a clean bill of health and put them on a healthy diet [he had them on nothing but seed].

The one thing about birds is that they hide their illnesses well–I had no idea anything was wrong with Jules. Yesterday I saw one bird sitting in the food dish but didn’t see which one–thought it was nesting. I was in their room until around 11PM last night and all seemed well–Jules was on the swing with his mate–where they usually sleep. This morning he was gone and and I am so bummed out. I don’t know how old he was–lovebirds can live up to 12 years.

Here’s a picture–Jules is on the right. Click on pictures to see larger image.

Jules is in front with the yellow on his chest.

I just hate losing babies 🙁 😥

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts and words. It just came as such a shock to me–even though birds hide their illnesses they can exhibit some tell tale signs and Jules didn’t show any of them. Everything was fine before I went to bed and then I wake up to him being gone! There wasn’t a mark on his body, feathers were all normal and no signs of discharge from his nares or beak. You always seems to blame yourself when these things happen even though there was probably nothing you can do. I felt a deep sadness when I found him and removed his body from the cage. Later on that morning I just started crying big, big time–a delayed reaction of sorts.

His mate, Juliet, is doing fine. She was real quiet when I removed Jules’ body from the cage. Within 10 minutes she got very vocal–I’m guessing she was both calling for him and maybe even crying. She’s in my computer room and I’ll turn around and talk to her and she’ll come down from her swing to the perch nearest the front of the cage. If I go to the cage, she’ll go back to her swing. She calls out to me all the time I’m in here–something she didn’t do before. It’ll take time but I think now that she’s alone I can bond with her more. She’s eating and calling out and doing what birdies should do. I hold my breath when I come in the room and look immediately at the bottom of the cage.

So thanks again everyone!