FINCHforum

I just found one of my zebra girls dead this morning. She was getting up there in age, maybe four or five years old. The last week I'd noticed her a bit fluffed up, but her and get mate were constantly nesting in food dishes, so I assumed she was feeling an egg coming on. I upped the egg food and calcium drops in the water to help. She was constantly laying, so I did what I could to get her through it. It's been a couple days since her last egg, but I kept egg food in her cage at all times. This isn't the first time she's gone on egg laying sprees, you could say she was a chronic layer.

What gets me is that she was super active, and was always cuddling next to her mate at night. She wasn't distant or anything. Sometimes, just as I entered the room, she'd be on the cage floor, but would dart to a perch as soon as she saw me.

This behavior is exactly like that of her sister, who was also a chronic egg layer and died last year. I just wish I would have taken notice to the similarities in time.

So sorry for your loss.

Sorry to hear you lost her. But don't feel guilty about not noticing her symptoms….it is so easy to see things in hindsight.

I had an Owl finch that was a severe chronic egg layer. I tried everything to discourage her but she was an 'egg factory' and there was no stopping her. She didn't live very long.

I visited your website….very nice!

Thanks guys. I'm just disappointed in myself right now.

Well, I began to see similar signs in one of my other female zebra breeders. She was fluffed up and sleeping more than usual. She put up a heck of a fight when I went to catch her though. I have her in a separate cage with a heating pad and a heat lamp. I was also able to get a couple drops of liquid calcium into her mouth.

Don't beat yourself up! I know it's hard and I do the same thing but sometimes you can't save them. I just lost a hen to egg binding and she was gone in a matter of hours before I even noticed her symptoms. It sounds like you're doing everything you can.

As a side note: are you sure it's egg binding and not an infection, or mites?

Olympic_Aiairies wrote: As a side note: are you sure it's egg binding and not an infection, or mites?

I never really figured out what really happened to the one that died, or her sister that died a year earlier. I had another female that seemed to start showing similar symptoms, so I put her in a hospital cage. She was fine within hours, with no egg to show for her improved health. I left her in the hospital cage for three days, but she never acted weird again. She was active and very alert, so I put her back in with her mate. She has been fine ever since.

I think that I need to look at a better lighting system for the room. That might help me identify any potential health issues. As of now, I have UV lights only for the cages that have a breeding pair. The rest of the room is lit by natural light through windows or I simply flip on the overhead light. I admit that even with the natural light through the windows, the room isn't always bright. This might cause me to think that a sick bird is just one that's napping because of the dim lighting.

Sorry for your loss! I'm sure there are others who may have better solutions but I've always used full spectrum bulbs...just 60-75 watt in a regular lamp. I have them on some cages, near others...depending on the need, but also to really light up the room. They give off vitamins and also warmth. It may be that your birds need more Vitamin D...light especially. April is just after the long winter where they didn't get much real light. It could have been egg binding, or something else also...but better lighting is always good.

Raleighwheels.....maybe your birds are lacking vitamin d3

So sorry for your loss