Pls. Help! Missing feathers, picking and bloody

jendavis · Post by **jendavis** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:53 am

So this post is somewhat of a continuation.

I moved across country and had issues with my male. All was going well, they adjusted, seemed happy and laid eggs. They are now currently sitting on eggs. I noticed that the male was missing feathers a few weeks ago and thought it might be due to breeding. But as more time passed it got worse...... he was scratching a lot and missing more and more feather behind his head to lower neck area. In the last two days I noticed the female scratching but no missing feathers. I've been researching air sac mites and looking at all the posts on this subject so I purchased S76 to treat my finches. The male looked really bad this am and I took him out to examine him ( which I hate to do)...... he is missing a TON of feathers... and somewhat bloody..... I'm not sure what to do.(i'm so stressed) I have him in a hospital cage...... should I take him to the vet?.... it would be a two hour drive for me.

thanks for any advise..... I'm really worried

I've attached photos.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:10 am

Wow - I wish I could help! I'm sure others more experienced will be on here soon. I'm interested to hear what others may think.

How is he acting? Is he fluffed? Sitting on the floor? Eating? Drinking? How do his poops look?

jendavis · Post by **jendavis** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:40 am

He has been acting pretty normal considering. He eats and drinks. I feed them fresh seed/water, egg food, apples, romaine, and millet every day. Poop look normal. He's not on the floor or puffed up.

he scratches and preens a lot...... I'm think it might be Blood mites!

I'm not sure what to do.

Oh Boy.

He is in the hospital cage in the bathroom She is sitting on the egg in the nest....

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:15 pm

S76 is slow to work if it is mite...you need a spray from your pet store that can have immediate effect and kill on contact...upsetting for the bird I know, but you need two of you..one to open the birds wings another to direct the spray underneath...Avoid the eyes.There are many suitable on the market.Try to get the spray onto flesh not just on top of the feathers.

That's if it is mites of course...I'm no vet. Sounds like you need something to go on the open wound too to avoid infection.Maybe a phone call to a vet might help.

jendavis · Post by **jendavis** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 11:16 am

Thanks poohbear.

I do not believe I have a mite problem. although there was little blood spots around the nest area, I think that was due to the ruffing feather when he was bleeding. I took my little bird to a avian vet on monday.... it looks like he had a laceration which had become infected. He is on antibiotics and has twice daily cleaning with a topical applied after. this routine is quite an ordeal as you can imagine but willing to do pretty much anything to heal my little buddy.

The avian vet had never seen a finch before...... he made quite an impression.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:27 pm

Well it's good that it's not mites. I hope the treatment works for him (and you)!

You might want to check your cage/aviary to see what may be there that could have caused the laceration and remove or fix it. Perhaps a wire bent out of shape...?

Best wishes for a speedy recovery - he's beautiful.

Post by **Sally** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:35 pm

jendavis wrote:The avian vet had never seen a finch before...... he made quite an impression.

I think that most of the avian vets only see the more expensive and larger hookbills. I took a Star baby to an avian vet one time, and it was also the first time he had actually treated a finch. Your little male may not have recovered without the vet visit--hope he has a swift recovery.