OMG!

[JRs Gouldians]

So today I noticed that one of my males was not looking to go. So I just set up a hospital cage for him got everything set up went to go catch him got him in my hand and then... He started coughing and blood spilled out of his mouth and he died in my hands!!! Does anyone know what might have caused this?! I'm like freaking out he was perfectly fine the other day I saw him courting a female and everything and now today bam he died in my hands... Any advice please! I have never seen this.

[L in Ontario]

I've never seen that either. What symptoms did he display that made you decide to put him in a hospital cage?

[JRs Gouldians]

He was puffed up, either sitting on the bottom of the cage or his perch sleeping. I knew there was something wrong. But what I don't get is he was perfectly fine yesterday. When I had him in my hands and he started coughing it was like he was having trouble breathing i could hear a noise like bubbles and thats when he coughed up the blood and passed away. I have inspected him since he has passed and I found no trace of mites, I do treat all my birds for them so this death troubles me.

[G8love4finches]

So sorry for your loss....I hope you can find some answers to why

[L in Ontario]

He was puffed up, either sitting on the bottom of the cage or his perch sleeping. I knew there was something wrong. But what I don't get is he was perfectly fine yesterday. When I had him in my hands and he started coughing it was like he was having trouble breathing i could hear a noise like bubbles and thats when he coughed up the blood and passed away. I have inspected him since he has passed and I found no trace of mites, I do treat all my birds for them so this death troubles me.

Sounds like blood got into his lungs (air sac) somehow. Very sad. I'm so sorry for him and you. Sometimes we never know why.

[annague]

So sad; very sorry for your loss. It's a very traumatic thing for a keeper to have to watch a bird to die like that.

Have you thought about a bacterial infection? I read recently that bact. infections can act like pneumonia in birds -- cause labored breathing, etc. and I had one pass away that was puffed, labored breathing and had a clear bubble at the corner of her beak as if liquid was coming from her lungs.... I treated the rest for bact. infections and haven't had a problem since. Just a thought.

[CandoAviary]

Actually I have had this happen. My first silver chick had fledged and was well independent. He was still with his parents as he was the only chick of the clutch of eggs that hatched. He was a picture of health as you can see in this post...he was a whopper of a bird
http://finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7 ... rst+silver
He was fine one day and the next afternoon I saw him sitting on the bottom of the cage looking miserable. I thought he must of somehow injured himself. I reached in the cage and he didn't even try to get away from me.Then I knew it was dismal. I picked him up and and removed him from the cage . I begin to examine him to try and figure out what was wrong when he regurgitated fresh blood. I was shocked! he did this a couple of more times and past away quickly. I went back to the cage and his parents were fine. There was a spot of blood on the cage bottom where he was sitting.
I have no idea what happened. If it had been a bacteria infection there would of been a gradual decline in health before it reached this point. Any contagious disease and other birds in the bird room would of been affected I believe. The parents went on to hatch out the next clutch with no problems. So I wrote this mysterious death off as a freak occurance, a genetic fault, a birth defect, or terminal cancer. I went through many possibilities...
I assumed the bird either gorged himself on oystershell ? Once I had a bird get pierced with the dried sharp edge of a large herb leaf in the product 'herb salad' so I thought maybe he had swallowed a sharp piece? Maybe a piece of bark/splinter off the perch? Maybe a ruptured blood vessel that did indeed fill his lungs with blood. A tumor. A defority that proved fatal as the bird matured. I will never know but it was an extremely strange occurance. I will never know what happened.
Sorry for your loss, possibly one of those freak incidences that happens to us all but keep a close eye for any developing listlessness, puffiness amongst the rest of the flock you may want to seek the help of a veterinary.
When birds are housed outdoors and not screened in there are many factors that can lead to problems over the inside counterparts, like west nile, worms, etc. Not sure if you had them inside or outside.

[Sally]

So sorry for your loss, that had to have been so frightening. I've never had anything similar, but it may be as Candace said, just one of those freak things that will never be explained.

[JRs Gouldians]

Candace described it spot on that's exactly what happened to my little guy. I will defiantly keep an eye out on all the other birds I really hope it was just a freak of nature. I guess some things we just never get to know.

[cindy]

So sorry for you loss...it could have been a freak accident, he may have flown into the cage bars or something in the enclosure and broken a rib, punctured a lung or rupturing a blood vessel within the lung. Coughing blood up might have been the body's way of trying to clear it from the lungs.

However it happened it is still sad to see and have happen to our little ones.

[lovemyfinch]

So sorry

[konkata]

How horrible! Its hard to imagine what could have happened. Hopefully its the first and last time it happens to you and your birds

[monotwine]

So sorry for you. Thats an aweful thing to experience.

Any chance of getting a post mortem on the bird? It could help you id what may be the cause.

We get Avian TB here. Do you get it there?

[JRs Gouldians]

I don't think this was a freak of nature.... I came home from work today and was doing the morning round. Came up to one of my cages and found my silver female on the bottom of the cage. I picked her up and took her out of her cage. The first thing I noticed... She had blood on the tip of her beak. Just like the male that had died a week earlier. She was in perfect health yesterday and now today I find her at the bottom of the cage. I was hoping to write this off as a freak of nature but now I'm scared its not. I'm trying to think of a cause for this to happen to two birds within about a week. My birds are housed outdoors in a screened in lanai. The two birds that passed were not housed in the same cage, although they were within about 10-12 feet of each other. I am really hoping that this is going to be it for this type of death. The only thing I can think of that might help the info is both of the birds BH/PB/YB male and RH/PB/SB female were both bought off the same breeder. But they both did quarantine and have since been treated for mites regularly. If it was a freak of nature I don't know why it would happen twice within a short span, thats like lighting striking the same place twice...

[Summer Bird]

If that happened to me, I'd seriously consider having a necropsy done on the second bird. It may be too late to do that now if you've disposed of the bird already, but I would definitely want an answer as to what was happening to my birds.