FINCHforum

I purchased a pair of Gouldian's about 5 weeks ago. They are not very active but seem to be eating seed and drinking good. I finished a 3 week preventative round of S76 and I supply liquid vitamins in their water. The thing that concerns me is that they do not look as crisp as they did when I got them. When I say crisp, I mean their color is not as sharp and their feathers not as tight. Compared to the Cordon Bleus and Orange Cheeks, I cannot tell if they are just less active than them or lethargic. Let me know your thoughts and if you would give them anything special. I could also just be a super freak and worrying for nothing since I have never owned Gouldians.

Thanks for the help!

Another note: They sit up on the highest perches never have gone to the floor of the aviary and preen an absolute TON.

How about other food; egg and veggies?

Don't overdo the vitamin. If you are doing every day, cut back to every other day.
BTW I do not give mine vitamins. All their nutrition comes from the food; Lafebers finch food (pellets), and egg+veggies+seeds 2 or 3x a week. Breeding & molting get the egg+veggie+seeds 2 or 3x a day.

Do you give them a bath to use?
Depending on the bird, I have gouldians that have never used the bath, and I have some that use it whenever I put it on their cage.

All my Gouldian are Molting right now, so they do not look crisp eather!! I give Calcium Plus & Liquid Iodine in water every day. Vitamin 2.3 times a week.Soaked seeds. My Gouldian wont eat any veggies.... Good lack

lovepoodle wrote:All my Gouldian are Molting right now, so they do not look crisp eather!! I give Calcium Plus & Liquid Iodine in water every day. Vitamin 2.3 times a week.Soaked seeds. My Gouldian wont eat any veggies.... Good lack

Just wanted to say please be careful with both iodine and liquid calcium - too much of a good thing is NOT good either.

Don't worry, Liz 2 drops of Calcium and a bit of Iodine, for large water cup. It's OK right

Did you look for mites?

I have looked. Are they pretty visible? I have not seen anything yet.

Perhaps talk to the original breeder you got them from and find out his or her program? Was it Cecil that you got them from or someone else at the fair?

I think Gouldians are notorious for getting bacterial/yeast problems from moves and their new environment... meaning the other birds maybe a carrier of something that they all keep in check but the Gouldians do not have an immunity to yet. Some Goulds never show any problems and others might become affected by "whatever" it might be... another thought is temps. Mine birds are used to being in temps ranging from 50 to 90 - others are kept in a range of 70 to 80 at all times so if it is colder than what they are used to they can show signs of stress do to that as well.

I find a normal healthy Gouldian is a busy body! Never perch potatoes - even when molting.

Misty- Should I try to treat for something? I am not sure what though. The temp is 71 around the clock. They seem to eat and drink fine, but they don't look that good...very ragged. I can't tell if it's a molt, stress, or what ever.

What about their poops? Formed and tight and no odd colors like green or yellow? Or tight and firm?

I hate to treat birds for just anything but feel Ronivet is the medicine with the most success in Gouldians and Medistatin or Nystatin as second... others will disagree with me but after loosing many Gouldians that were shipped to me for no apparent reason I started to treat them upon arrival with Ronivet as part of my quarantine procedures and I stopped loosing them and actually they stopped getting puffy too...

I agree with Misty. Start with Ronivet first. My gouldians are also very active, unless they are "right". I will also say that these are the birds that seem to cause me the most "grief". They are very sensitive to bacterias and illness in my opinion.

Does it matter if some of the other birds have it as well?

Here are some pictures that may help.

You can treat them all and I would - they look like they are going to molt or starting to molt from what I can see in the pictures.

You are giving extra protein with eggfood right? So don't think it is a lack of protein... they may just be feeling off from a molt.

Look at their poos if they are firm and tight and not ugly green and yellow they are probably fine. Do you give your probiotics?