PBFD question: how long a bird should remain in quarantine after a negative test result?
Hi, Lafeber. My birds love your avi-cakes.
I have a question about how long a bird who was once PBFD positive but turned negative should wait before he could mingle with other birds in his household.
Let me explain the situation:
One of my friends has an African Grey, who is now 2 years and 4 months old. When he was adopted, his owner took him to an avian veterinarian and got several tests. His PBFD test came back positive, so his quarantine continued and he was unable to see any bird in his household. He was separated from his owner’s flock, which consists of several budgies, macaws, greys, caiques and others.
Weeks later after the first test, the African grey’s second test came back negative. One year and 10 months have passed since this 2nd test, and the bird took 6 tests already, all of which came back negative.
However, the owner of this African grey says that she cannot bring herself to end the long quarantine and let him mingle with other birds in her house, because she has two birds who are less than 3 years old (an African grey who is 2 years old and a caique who is 1 year old), and because the African grey still has the feathers from the time when he was young and PBFD positive. She is afraid that there may be causative virus of PBFD still latent in his feathers and the virus might infect the two young birds who are at the ages supposed to be tender and sensitive to PBFD (that’s less than 3 years).
Her veterinarian recommends that the bird can fly with other birds in his household after a molt and his feathers get replaced with new feathers. Yet, she’s still unsure how long she should wait.
So, I would like to ask lafeber and its avian experts an advice about this situation.
Thank you in advance.
