Three trackers
Egg laying, feathers, and weight and liver
Each gets a screen of its own, appears in the vet report and can sit on Home. The guides cover the health topic. These trackers keep the record.
Egg laying
A dated egg log, a prompt to talk to your avian vet about repeat laying, and the egg-binding emergency card, open at all times.
- Each egg: date, shell and clutch
- The signs and first steps stay on the screen
Feathers
A log of feather damage and molts to show your avian vet, medical causes first, and first aid for a broken blood feather.
- Where on the body and how bad
- A vet first, before anyone calls it behavior
Weight and liver
Your weight trend and a short yes or no home check, watching for obesity and fatty liver risk. A scale cannot diagnose fatty liver, and the screen says so.
- No food cuts and no feeding numbers
- A falling number is never called progress
Egg laying
An egg log your avian vet can use
Repeat laying is easy to lose track of. A dated log with shells and clutches shows the pattern.
The egg log
Log each egg by date, with a normal or a soft or misshapen shell, and whether it starts a new clutch or belongs to the last one. You mark clutches yourself, because no source says how many days apart makes a new one.
When it asks you to talk to your vet
Two clutches in a year, any egg in a bird with a past egg problem, or more than 4 eggs in one clutch brings up a prompt. A soft or misshapen shell gets a note too. These prompts are our own choice of when to raise it, and your avian vet decides what they mean.
What to raise with your avian vet
Day length, nest boxes and nesting material, the eggs themselves, diet and medicine. The guide inside the screen explains what can set laying off. It does not tell you to take or leave eggs: do not take eggs away without asking your avian vet.
Who it asks
A bird known male by DNA test is not asked about eggs, unless one turns up. A bird that lays an egg is female, and the app prompts you to update the profile. Most pet birds look the same either way, so a DNA test or a vet exam is how to tell.
Sources: Merck Veterinary Manual, Reproductive Diseases of Pet Birds · Merck Veterinary Manual, Reproductive Disorders of Pet Birds · Association of Avian Veterinarians
Egg binding is an emergency
Straining, a swollen belly, or a fluffed, sleepy bird that could be laying can mean egg binding. Go to an avian vet now. Never try to remove an egg at home.
The card also lists sitting on the cage floor, weakness, tail bobbing or trouble breathing, blood in the droppings and a sudden stop in laying. Tissue showing from the vent needs a vet now. Do not press on the belly, and do not give calcium unless your vet tells you to.
If your bird pants or holds their wings away from their body, they are too hot, so lower the heat. Read the full guide on egg binding in birds.
Feathers
Feather damage and molts, logged for the vet
The first question with damaged feathers is medical, not behavioral. Our feather plucking guide explains why.
The feather log
Date, where on the body, and how bad: chewed tips, chewed down to the skin, or pulled out with a bare patch. Tick any skin sores or bleeding, and add a note. A molt is logged separately, with a start and an end.
The vet comes first
Feather damage can come from illness, so the app says to see an avian vet at the first sign, before you assume it is behavior. Record the date your vet last checked the feathers, and only new damage after that prompts another visit.
What to watch for
Bare skin showing, even during a molt. A molt that seems to drag on, with no set number of weeks. Feather loss where a bird cannot reach, such as the top of the head. The app flags feather loss on the head on its own.
Sources: Association of Avian Veterinarians · Merck Veterinary Manual, Skin and Feather Disorders of Pet Birds · Merck Veterinary Manual, Injuries and Accidents of Pet Birds
A broken blood feather
Bleeding that does not stop is an emergency. Go to an avian vet now.
A blood feather is a new, growing feather with its own blood supply. Press gently with clean gauze or cotton, and never press on the chest, because that makes it hard for your bird to breathe. Styptic gel may help, on the feather only. Do not use powders your bird could breathe in. Do not pull or cut the feather at home. Once the bleeding stops, leave the clot alone and see an avian vet as soon as possible.
Weight and liver
Watching obesity and fatty liver risk
Obesity is common in companion birds, and extra weight raises the risk of fatty liver, artery disease and egg binding.
A yes or no home check
Seven short questions, most urgent first: breathing effort, a swollen belly, huddled or on the floor, green or yellow urates, eating less, beak or nails overgrowing, and a keel check that feels heavy. Chicks skip the keel question.
The weight trend
It reads the same weigh-ins and the same baseline as the Weight screen, and a weight from a vet visit can replace that baseline. Down 10% or more means an avian vet within a day. Up 10% or more means book a check. The alerts are off for chicks, who follow a growth chart.
What it tells you
Emergency signs: go to an avian vet now. Green or yellow urates, a 10% loss or poor appetite: within a day. A 10% gain, a heavy keel or overgrowing beak and nails: book a check. These timings are our own advice, because no source gives hours. Calm wording never says your bird is healthy.
What a scale can and cannot tell you
A scale cannot diagnose fatty liver. A vet must, and it may take a liver biopsy. A bird with liver disease can also lose weight, so a falling number does not prove your bird is getting better.
Any diet change goes through your avian vet. The app gives no food cuts and no feeding numbers, and our nutrition tools follow the same rule.
Sources: Merck Veterinary Manual, Nutritional Diseases of Pet Birds · Merck Veterinary Manual, Geriatric Diseases of Pet Birds · Merck Veterinary Manual, Management of Pet Birds · Association of Avian Veterinarians
The rules
The app never diagnoses or doses
All three follow the same rules. The app never diagnoses. It never suggests a medicine or works out a dose. Whatever your vet prescribes goes in Medications, exactly as written. Each tracker prints plain facts into the vet report, with no verdicts, so your vet draws the conclusions.
You turn each one on for the birds that need it, and it adds a line to Home until you stop tracking it there.
Managing something these do not cover? Tell us about it.
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