Ask Lafeber

Parrots dieing

All our rainbow lorikeets have died over a space of a week and now the ring neck lorikeets are dieing why is that

Hi Shelley,

I’m very sorry to hear about this. When you lose a lot of parrots in a flock in a short period of time, you are most likely dealing with a toxin – either airborne or ingested, or a disease – most likely a virus. Think of anything new you gave them or changed when the deaths began. This could be new food, water, fresh foods, or for airborne toxins, some types of heaters and heat lamps, pesticides if these birds are housed outdoors, or anything that emits a scent or fume – the plug in air fresheners, for example, have been linked to pet bird deaths. As for diseases, typically only a virus will kill birds this quickly. If housed outdoors, they could have been exposed to a virus from native wild birds, or from domestic poultry. But parrots can carry some viruses for their entire lives without ever getting sick, yet they can shed the virus and kill other parrots. If you have any survivors, where birds in the same cage or nearby all died, then you should suspect the survivor of being a carrier and take it to a Vet for testing. Or if you have recently added a bird or birds, and they are still alive, they could have brought in a virus. The only way to know for sure what is going on, and how to stop it, is to take some of the deceased birds to a Vet for testing.

Take care,

Brenda