First time on a finch forum! Need a little advice...

[jessyh]

So, I caught the "finch bug." It happened very quickly and I'm glad it did! I'll try to make this short, but that never happens. You'll soon realize that I type extremely long posts in forums.

I'm 23, female and live in Washington state. I LOVE it here. I started keeping finches around March of this year. I ran out and bought 3 pairs of Gouldians right off the bat. Many people would say this is not a great idea for a first time finch owner but everything has been marvelous ever since! I had great success breeding those first 6 birds and still have them all. I now have:
Diamond Doves
Euro Societies
Normal societies
Zebras (Many different colors, my pure whites are my favorite)
Orange Cheek Waxbills
Shaft Tails
Cut Throats
Canaries (with their first 3 kids right now)
Gouldians
Hybrids (Society/Shaft Tail) They were given to me free, no I won't breed them.

And one star finch. Which leads me to the health section.
Here's the story:
For about 6 months (or more), Petsmart has had one lonely star finch. All by herself in a tiny cage filled with zebras. Her nails spiraling several times over. Poofed out and clearly unhappy and sick. Customers told the employees she was pretty bad but nobody bought her. Nobody cared and they never cut her nails.

A few weeks had gone by since my last visit and I decided to take a drive over there. She was still there. Little cage, zebras building nests everywhere and now her beak has overgrown and crossed. She looks more like a crossbill. Totally poofed out and scratching her face on the perch obsessively. I noticed they had dropped her price from $99.99 to $30.00. The bird lady heard a little mouthful from me about how terrible the bird was and I finally just said, "I'll take her." Bad to support a place that doesn't care about or for their finches? Yes. Walking away and letting the bird slowly die over several MORE months? No way.

Well, I got her home and put her in quarantine. First thing I do with new birds is treat for mites, lice and worms. S76 to the rescue. I gave her a shallow dish with water (and S76) and she took a much deserved bath. And she won't stop eating! Man, I have never seen a skinnier finch. Probably had to fight to get to the food with all those zebras. Well, I checked on her a little bit ago and she is plucking every last one of her flight feathers. Very aggressively, to the point that she is rolling all over the ground while yanking them. Is she doing this because of prolonged extreme stress? Like a parrot? Is the S76 working and she is just so itchy from dying and biting bugs? I didn't overdose it and all my other birds take baths in their S76 water with no issues. Has anyone ever seen a plucking finch where it was psychological/behavioral? Will she be fine once she's healthy and in a flight with peaceful birds? Ok, I'll cut this off now, it's long enough! Thanks again and I'm glad to be on a great forum!

[dfcauley]

First off, welcome to the finch forum. It is wonderful when people like you take on birds with problems! Kudos to you!!!

I am wondering if the bird may have something else going on. s76 is a great med for prevention and air sac mites. IF she another type of mites it may not be working on that.

I would get some scatt or iverlux I think it is called..... alot of people on here use that. It is applied directly to the bird. It really sounds like mites.

Good luck and hopefully soon someone else will chime in with some advice.

Again... welcome!!!

[cindy]

Hi and welcome. It is wonderful that you rescued him from such conditions.

Hope your little Star gets better soon.

[jessyh]

Thank you guys! What a difference a day can make, she already looks so much better! Her energy level is through the roof, like she hasn't had a better day in months. She clings to the bars chirping all day long, trying so hard to get to the other birds. I caught her out of her little cage today to clip her beak and a little bit more of her nails. I have never had a better "hospital" patient. Not one wiggle while I held her. Not one jerk when I cut all the nails. She didn't move an inch when I put those big fingernail clippers up to her tiny beak and started cutting. Almost like she knew what was going on and was....relieved. I put a drop of S76 on her leg and put her back. She was happy and chirping right off the bat. I may not even give her other meds. Just treat for the bugs and make sure she gains weight. Oh, and dfcauley...here's a a great article about S76. It is best known for air sac mites but it also eradicates worm and mite infestations. It's better than Scatt in my opinion. You can either apply it to the bird or put it in water. There are too many cons about Scatt and so many pros about S76. http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/features_scatt-s76.mgi
Anyways, thanks for your responses guys!

[dfcauley]

So glad that she is better!

Yes, I also use s76 and have never used the other. I have never had a problem with mites ...yet.. I use it as a prevenative.
I just thought that if it didn't seem to work (as you had indicated) perhaps have a stab at another kind.
Many on this forum have had great success using other mite meds.

[Sally]

Welcome to the forum, and kudos for saving that little Star finch. I also have a Petsmart rescue, but I was lucky to find a sympathetic manager who donated the little Strawberry hen to me several years ago. It is a good feeling when they turn around and look so much better after a short time of good care.

You certainly have been bitten by the bug. May I suggest that you make a post in the Introductions section, so that everyone can see what you have in your collection. We also have at least several other members from Washington state.

[carmena]

That reminds me of a female canary I had some years back. She would chase any bird she could and pluck them then when I put her alone she would pull her own feathers out the same way.
I asked the breeder about it and she let me return her. She said it was a nutritional deficiency and would "take care of it". I never saw her or the breeder again and have no idea how it turned out but thought it sounded plausible.
Anyway, it is an avenue you could research.

[jessyh]

Well, my little star graduated up to the flight this morning. Probably way too soon but she has gained so much weight and stopped her itching so I thought she was ready. She's also a tiny bundle of energy so I don't think she has anything going on otherwise. With all the aquarium experience I have, you would think I would have learned my lesson about keeping them in quarantine.

Anyway, she is just totally ecstatic. Picking at the wheat grass, cuddling up to the waxbills and exploring everything in every single corner. I don't think she's sick with anything else, I think it was just stress mixed with the feather mites. She can't fly with her damaged flight feathers but she hops from branch to branch. I'm sure her feathers will grow back quickly now. She still isn't perfect, she's still thin but imagine this bird at 1/3 the current weight. Her feathers are 10 times better, too. She was just bones 3 days ago! I should trim her beak and nails again but they are fine for right now. A great breeder I met at a bird mart lives up the road a little, she said she'll sell me a boyfriend for her for $50. Thanks for the replies and I hope this is case closed!

[lovemyfinch]

I hope that she continues to improve in your care, she is looking to be well on the mend.

[jessyh]

Ok, I'm totally confused. I bought that first sick Star Finch. Totally convinced it was female because it has a tiny red mask and doesn't sing. So, I went to go get the "male" from the breeder yesterday. As soon as I saw it, I told her it was female. It had a tiny mask and looked exactly the same as the first one. She told me he is a male because he sings. He hasn't sung for me yet. So I bought a 3rd one tonight at the pet store(listed as a male) and again, it looks exactly like my other two. Maybe 2 or 3 extra red feathers above the eyes but nothing like I see on the males on the internet. This 3rd one sings his heart out so I'm positive it's a male. My question is, do males get like....more red as they mature? Do some males just have tiny little masks? Now I don't know what the first two are cause they all look just alike and don't have vibrant red heads! I thought sexing stars was easy!

[Domenic]

Sexing stars generally is pretty easy because males usually have much more red than females. If you could post a pic of all three together that would help us to sex them for you. But my star hen does make very long calling noises that are as long as a full song and I can see how someone would confuse her for a male, but I think the mask is the most reliable method of sexing stars.

[jessyh]

GREAT! I really hope I didn't buy 3 females. But I'm afraid I did. I'll take pics in the morning. When the 3rd one fluffs up "his" feathers and sings, the other two hop over and watch closely with great curiousity. Maybe they are confused because it's a beautifully singing female.
And his overall color is definitely brighter than the other two but his mask is still the same as theirs.

[jessyh]

Ok, I took some pics. Sorry they aren't very good, they hate the gigantic lens in their face and fly away. Now that I look, the new one from the pet store does have a bit more red but still a tiny mask.
Blue Band-Breeder-Promised he's male
No Band-Petsmart Bird-I believe Female
Black Band- Bird from yesterday-advertised as a male

First Picture: Black Band is on the Left, Blue Band on the Right
Second Pic: Black band is on the right, Blue on the left

[Domenic]

Those both look female to me also. If you look at this star finch profile page you can see how much redder a male's mask would be:

http://www.finchinfo.com/birds/finches/ ... _finch.php

[Sally]

Most Star males have a mask that extends beyond the eyes--behind them--and under the chin. Most Star females have a mask that stops either in front of the eyes or just at the eyes, and nothing under the chin. But that is most--there are some males that will not have much of a mask, there are some females that will have a really strong mask. The surest way to sex them is that only the males sing. It is a quiet, rather squeaky song, but unmistakable. Stars also engage in 'peering' behavior, as you described the one male singing, and the two hens peering into his face. Other males will also peer into the face of one singing. It is one of the cute behaviors that Stars have--one of my favorite finches!