Arnie the Fire Finch Needs Help ...

[Sally]

I'd definitely leave them together, a separation might be too stressful.

[7936tj]

Thank you, I was thinking the same xxx

[debbie276]

I would definitely keep them together so not to stress them even more.
best of luck

[monotwine]

It's rather difficult to see what the chalky stuff is in the picture. It could possibly be mites, nits, eggs etc of any of the topical parasites.
If you got a magnified glass or hand lens, try see what it is.

Moxidectin should solve those IF they come into direct contact with it.
Lice and stuff that feed off the birds blood will die with treatment of moxi, but feather feeding ones don't. They need to be directly sprayed.
Your birds have lots of feather loss, but what feathers they have also seem very sparse. Usually indicating a feather lice/mite. They tiny but nasty critters. http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/0 ... ation.html this site may help

So if your birds are not bathing (drenching themselves topically with moxi), then either you can try spray them down (sounds terrible, but do it on a hot day / when you can provide them with heat to dry off) Spread their wings and spray those too, but be careful now to not overdose them with Moxi as it does get absorbed through the skin.

Alternatively if you can get something like Karbadust (used for chickens) and sparingly as in pinch at a time wipe it on their feathers, under wings. A dose or two won't hurt the finches, but its not my favourite form of mite / lice control. Don't inhale it or make too much dust the birds can inhale either. They will preen themselves after and shake off any excess. Not had a bird negatively affected by it in the past. But is does kill off the nasty feather feeders quickly.

Then try get your birds some vitamins and see if they will take stuff like eggs to increase their protein in take which will help develop new feathers quickly.
It could be that combined with mite issues, stress of moving and all that they are going to go into a very heavy moult. IF they look like they loosing too much feather cover, try offer them a lamp so they can warm themselves.

Good luck. Hope your babies feel better soon. They in good hands with you.

[MiaCarter]

Aw, poor guy looks quite pitiful!

Everyone has covered the essentials already. But I also wanted to add that youngsters are more apt to show more dramatic, profound effects from parasites.

Just a quick example: demodex (a less dramatic form of mange) is most obvious in young, sick and elderly animals (mammals). The mite lives in the hair follicle and in a healthy animal, the mites have a hard time getting established and even when infested, a healthy body easily repairs follicle damage and regrows hair. So many healthy adults have demodex, but it's not all that apparent.

In a sick animal, baby or senior, demodex is very apparent because they don't have the immune system and physical reserves to combat it and its effects.

The same is true for lots of other parasites - the effect is much more pronounced and apparent in young, old or sick animals. So I think you're simply seeing such obvious symptoms in these two since they're relatively young and fragile.

But my guess would be that everyone is affected - typically the case with any sort of parasite, internal or external.

And as the others mentioned, external parasites are tough to eradicate since you need to treat the environment very thoroughly.

Not sure on the chalky stuff. I wonder if it's something from parasites (e.g. mite poop or dead skin cells, damaged by parasites.) Tough to tell. I don't ever recall seeing anything chalky, though I have seen sort of a dandruff and flaking from skin. But that's more dandruff-like vs. fine chalky powder.
Feather mites can cause damage to the feathers and it often looks like they've been eaten away/eroded. I imagine the matter has to go somewhere, so I suppose that's a possibility that it could appear chalky.

As for re-growing, it's possible they may not fill in properly until their next moult. So just keep that in mind. Unfortunately, this makes it tough to know whether you've successfully treated the issue.

[7936tj]

Thanks so much everyone for such wonderful, informative posts. We'll keep treating, as well as trying some of the things mentioned & groups mentioned too. Will keep everyone posted with their progress xxx

[7936tj]

Well ... it's been ages, but I finally have some photos of Arnie & Snoopy & I'm super proud to say they are on the mend. Snoopy is looking great & Arnie is growing so many new feathers I'm astounded. For a while there, I honestly thought he was going to be bald forever. They both now cheep beautifully & Snoopy can even sing!!! At the moment, every bird here is moulting, so the boys are feathering AND getting new feathers AND finally getting their red colours. It's almost like they're fluffy! So cute

[debbie276]

They look wonderful!!
best of luck

[lovezebs]

7936tj

Hi Tina,

They look great!
Looks like you have them back indoors from the pictures.
Whatever you're doing, keep doing it, they are beautiful .

[Sally]

Wow, what a change, they look great!

[7936tj]

Thanks so much everyone, we are so thrilled with their progress & are super happy to report that these two wee cherubs will be joining their aviary friends in a week's time. They are so excited every time they hear the Baron & all cheep at each other, it will be so nice to put them altogether again. We've had them indoors since the end of September, so my prediction of Christmas was pretty bang on.

As an added extra, we are going to catch all of our bird friends, cage them & pull apart the aviary, re-jigging it so that everyone goes back in at the same time without a territory, moving all of the branches etc so it appears new, as well as completely washing it down (even though we completely clean it every week for their health). The thing is going to sparkle by the time we've finished with it heehee.

We completed a total of 4 sets of medication using Moxidectin, end on end, on the boys before we felt satisfied we had eradicated whatever nasties were making them so ill. Which meant catching the poor wee dears a total of 8 times to medicate directly onto the back of their necks as well as gently wiping a little on the affected areas ie wing tips & top of legs using a soft q-tip. They have been wee troopers & I have to say, they are the quietest & well behaved of all of our finches when it comes to cleaning day. They are almost domesticated now I think, they don't even flap when I pop their fresh food in each morning, change their water etc.

Thank you so much to everyone for all of your awesome advice. It has definitely paid off & because of this, we have two healthy wee men that we didn't expect to make it. Much love to you all

[Sam007]

They look gorgeous! Congrats!

[Rox]

They look fantastic, well done!!

Great idea to do a clean up and re-arrangement of the aviary at the same time. I'm sure the birds will love their revamped home!

[erine]

Oh, they are so pretty!

[Babs _Owner]

7936tj

The transformation is dramatic and wonderful!