My finch just died this morning...

[David]

My zebbie finch was so strong and active, never have any illness since I raised her 2 years ago.
Nightmare just happened last nite, she flew around the cage and hitting herself on cage floor with her head down which the bill was hiding under her chest. I was scaring to death to see her like that, my heart sank and heavy. I can't help her until about 10minutes later see what's going on, since she look like only sit there with her head down, then bleeding start suddenly...that was the most worst experience I ever had since I have all my zebra finches, I never seen that much of blood from a finch before. I helped put some flour and cornstarch on it by dab it with little pressure around bleeding area. Then finally stop bleeding before I put her back to nest, she sit still and close eyes so I didn't disturb her afterward. This morning I found her sitting at the same position in her nest died. anyone have this kind of behavior which happened night time and bleeding suddenly? What kind of symptom is this? I missed her so much now :<can't believe my eyes this morning and why I can't help her to survive even stepped bleeding? Any ideas would be great, thanks in advance.

[David]

This is how she looks like this morning when I saw her sitting in her nest. the white powder color on her back was the flour I put on her bleeding part last night when that bleeding happened. I'm so sad now.

[lovezebs]

David
Hi. So sorry to hear about your little girl.

[afinch]

Sorry about your bird :/

[finchmix22]

David
I am very sorry you lost her in that manner. It looks like the wound is a large cut, so flour would not help that type of bleeding. It doesn't take much for them to die from blood loss. You probably could not have done anything more to help her survive. The story sounds like a "night fright" when a finch is suddenly startled and panics, flying erratically around the cage. They can fly into something or injure themselves, as your hen did. Was this at night and was there a night light? If so, make sure you put a night light in the bird room, so they don't freak out if a noise startles them at night.

Again, so sorry she died. RIP sweet little zebbie hen

[Sam007]

So sorry to hear that.

[David]

Thanks for all your replies.

Finchmix22

yes I always put a night light in the hallway, where it automatically turn on when the sun goes down. When this happened last night I was still in kitchen with the regular light on. I suddenly heard something fell or dropped down. I went saw her on the cage floor, the way she looks so weird to me, like she has been hit something and sitting there quietly without move around when on the floor. The weird thing is she turned her head to the right side (where you see the bleeding area from pic above) when I saw her and not even can move her head until like 10minutes later, by that time start bleeding non stop, I feel like I can't help her and watch her suffering all the painful

[David]

If there's no sign of blood at beginning, is it possible hurt internal part? I don't get it, but if it's internal part then why it's bleeding afterward like 10-15 minutes later? Maybe when she tried to turn her head and accidentally poke her beak into her chest area or the right side of her neck/back because the beak too sharp and with that speed when she tried landed on the floor??? Is that related to "Self- Mutilated" but why it happen nighttime? I don't see her pluck her own feather normally. Really make me sad today and feel so sorry for my lovely birdie. I put her into a sandwich bag and then into a nice box for her today, even I really don't want to bury or put her away from my home

[MiaCarter]

David -- I'm so sorry about your girl.

It's hard to say what happened; something obviously spooked her and caused her to get injured.

Have you been able to identify what she cut herself on? I'd try to see if you can find what caused the injury so you can remove or fix it.

It's certainly possible she had some serious internal injury. Very possible.

For the bleeding, my guess would be that she was fatally injured with the cut. It's possible she held her head/neck in a way that cinched an injured vessel closed -- sort of like bending a water hose to stop the flow -- then when she changed position, she un-bent the "hose" and the blood flowed.

It's also possible she bled internally first, but only had a small cut on her skin. The pressure of the blood pooling under the skin causes the small cut to enlarge, causing the blood to flow externally.

For what it's worth, there's nothing you could have done. And she likely passed pretty quickly from the blood loss. She would have gotten very tired and then just went to sleep.

[Jen]

I recently lost my female canary for no "obvious" reason. I also had a night light in the aviary, but found her dead one morning on the floor of the aviary. (no previous illness at all). The only thing I can assume is that something scared her during the night (even with the light on) and she flew into something that injured her. No other birds were hurt that night or since then. It is what it is...I am still sad about her loss. We try as birds enthusiast to give them the best we can and that is all we can do. I'm sorry for you loss.

[David]

MiaCarter,
When this happened last night, there's a water cup, food dish and a perch in the cage which as usual. She has been living in the cage for more than a year, and nothing abnormal. When I heard a bird landed on floor last night, I immediately turn on the big light in living room where my bird cages are. So there's nothing she ever hit before get to the cage floor. That's why weird to me, in fact this is 2nd time happened, same bird (and no other birds act like this) and same behavior. But last time when her head down to the same right side position, after few minutes she turn her head back to normal and even eating some seeds before I turn off the light and she went to sleep. The next morning is normal like usual, she take bath and eat and jump around. The first time it happened about 2 months ago, so this is 2nd time but worse, and even ended up dying I really want to know what's going on, I am guessing it's because her beak cut in herself when turn her head to the right side before turn it back to normal position? I also hate it because it bleed a huge amount, like the pic you see above, even covered with a lot of flour on her back, but the bleeding even so visible from her neck area. Any ideas if this is because the stroke? Or heart-stroke? You were right about maybe the cuts or even little one will cause her to bleeding more afterward. I know she passed already but still wanna know what the reason is so I won't let this happen to my other zebbies I miss her chirp sound and playful moment

[David]

Jenny,
Sorry for your loss too. I'm sure we don't want anything happen to our birdies. I think you are right, even if something fly around near the night light, my birds are scare sometime too. But this time, I think it's because she was having some issues around her, otherwise why she just dropped down on floor and hidden her head down without any defensive or alert position? This birdie only 2years old, I really miss the time I spend with her and how she came close to my hand every time I fed her some special treats like egg, millet, veggies etc which she loved to eat and NEVER picky like other birds.