FINCHforum

Well, after my blueback gouldian from Adrian passed away, I contacted another finch dealer in the area, Jimmy, to see if he could get me a Blueback gouldian finch with similar coloration.

Black head, purple breast, blueback male Gouldian.
Here's what I got today...

Things I observed:
- I believe it is currently in a molt. I was told it's a juvenile bird, going through it's first molt to get adult plumage.
- Feet looks rather scaly...
- Nails were rather long when I first got him, I had Jimmy trim it for me, but I also trimmed it some more when I got home.
- Purple breast isn't as deep purple as I'd like. Perhaps this is due to the unfinished molt?
- Feathers aren't "picture perfect". This is probably due to its old living conditions. Perhaps too many birds in one cage. If it's healthy and all goes well, it should look better in no time.

My past experience with this seller has been fairly decent. I bought my first pair of finches, owl finches, from him. They did not have "perfect" feathering but I picked the best out of the bunch and they now look perfectly fine. No more messy feathers, I didn't have to treat them for mites or whatnot. Both are healthy and are nesting together.

So far, I added a drop of SCATT under his right wing for safety precautions.


My question to all you good folks is, can you point out anything from the pictures (or if you need a better photo, let me know) that is a warning sign of poor health?

Main things I am concerned about is:

- Does this bird truly look like a juvenile going through a molt, getting his adult plumage?

- Any info on breast color? It looks rather light to me, does it get darker over time?

- Can you tell, from the photos, that this is a male bird? Or is it female?

- How normal are these scaly legs? Should I treat them with SCATT?








Thanks in advance everyone!

My one beef w Jimmy (of HM Trading) is that he does not close band the birds, so you do not know for sure what it's age is. Close bands are probably an additional cost and labor that he wants to avoid to maintain his profit margin.

Most of his stock at the SJ bird mart were still going thru their first molt.
Both my YB hens that I got from him were still molting. There were barely any colored head feathers, we went by beak color to figure RH and OH.

I do not have experience with a blue, so I am going from experience w GB and YB.
That looks like gray feathers on his head, so if black is molting in, I think the gray is juvenile feathers, therefore it is probably his juvenile to adult molt.
Similarly for his breast feathers, I think purple is molting in, replacing the gray juv feathers.

ac12 wrote:My one beef w Jimmy (of HM Trading) is that he does not close band the birds, so you do not know for sure what it's age is. Close bands are probably an additional cost and labor that he wants to avoid to maintain his profit margin.

Most of his stock at the SJ bird mart were still going thru their first molt.
Both my YB hens that I got from him were still molting. There were barely any colored head feathers, we went by beak color to figure RH and OH.

I do not have experience with a blue, so I am going from experience w GB and YB.
That looks like gray feathers on his head, so if black is molting in, I think the gray is juvenile feathers, therefore it is probably his juvenile to adult molt.
Similarly for his breast feathers, I think purple is molting in, replacing the gray juv feathers.

Thank you, those were my assumptions too. Gray feathers getting their "real" colors in. But the feet is rather alarming to me. It's not nasty and clumpy enough for a BAAAD fungus/scaly growth but it isn't as smooth as my owls or my other finch too. Is this normal? Does anyone know what I can do?

Jeremiah, glad to see you replaced your blue male that passed away.
He definitely looks like he is stuck in molt.

I would also say this is a young bird going through its first moult. I agree though that his (I would also assume it is a boy) feet look under the weather. Though not badly so. The scatt will help for sure if it is any sort of mite. Perhaps add a cleanser / disinfectant to his bathing water for a week and see it that improves. I don't know what you guys have available that end. Here I use F10 or Avian virukill which is safe to put in their bathing and drinking water to help get rid of any nasty surface fungal/bacterial.

Ah... I feel more at ease now. Thank you guys, for your inputs.

Well, he's definitely a male bird. He made attempts to sing today. It sounds so awful but cute at the same time.

Just gotta deal with his feet now...

Those feet would concern me the most. Can you lubricate them daily (perhaps twice daily) with a very thin layer of an antibiotic ointment or even just Vaseline? I know the bird is young but those are not the feet of a young bird - poor thing. I've had a bird like that and the lubricant really helps. It will smother any possibly mites and help soften (and eventually remove) those hard scales.

Good luck with him.

How common is it that a juvenile gets stuck in molt for longer than one season? Could this bird be older than just 4-5 months? What else could cause feet like that?

Not very common at all for a finch to go beyond ~18 months stuck in a moult. I believe JohnBoy has a hen stuck in a moult - actually hasn't even started moulting and is well over a year old now.

Thanks for the advice, guys and gals. I'm definitely paying more attention to the feet for daily progression. Scatt has been treated already on day 1, so that should clear up any possible mite problems.
I haven't done the vaseline method yet though, I'm still a little hesitant in administering that because I'm still an amateur. I wonder if there are youtube videos on how to apply it... *goes to google/youtube*

The feet aren't as severe as the photos I've seen online, so I am pretty thankful for that. But definitely not in the same conditions as my owls or other gouldian (the female). I wonder if it's due to poor living conditions the seller had them in. I mean, he does pack 15+ finches into one 24-30 inch cages... Most of the birds in the store aren't exactly in tip-top shape. Although, I would say, healthy enough to purchase and give two or three weeks of a "proper care", they look good as new again.

--

On a happier note, all seems well. The female gouldian would try to snuggle up with him at night, when they're about to sleep. He's not very cooperative though, and rather scoots away as she scoots closer to him, to avoid snuggling. It's really humorous to watch.

Ebichua wrote: he does pack 15+ finches into one 24-30 inch cages... Most of the birds in the store aren't exactly in tip-top shape.

I think that'll do it if the bottom of the cages aren't cleaned several times a week. Birds are probably walking through feces, food, water quite a bit and over time that could affect the feet like this.

I sure hope you get him better
Sometimes i think we buy a bird without looking close enough and checking for health issues we listen to the person selling it to us( some can't be trusted) and we only see what they want us to see I have done this at least two times and lost both of them in the end .Again best of luck with yours

How is he doing now ?

Hello,
Thank you for your concerns.

Currently, as I type this, he is trying to sing again. So I am fairly confident that he's a healthy bird. His feet don't look like they're getting worse, although I don't think it has improved much either. It has only been a few days, so I'm just going to let time heal it up via better living conditions.

Overall, he's a good bird. Definitely better than the first one I got from Adrian, in terms of health. Just waiting for him to finish up his molt and get his adult feathers now. I want him looking amazing already

I will update as things progress!

Again, thank you all for your concern.