FINCHforum

I'm at a friend's house and one of her zebra finches doesn't look so good. She's all fluffed up and sleeping looking. The male comes and tries to comfort her sometimes, but I guess he gets bored so he leaves after a while.

I told her to put out some eggfood, millet and lettuce. But the hen didn't eat much..

And the problem is, my friend can't go out to get medicine of any sort or a heat lamp. Is there anything else we can do?

She also doesn't have any other cages because she only has 2 finches in that one cage.

The first thing is heat....A heat lamp helps a sick bird save the energy required to keep itself warm and get better....If she is a hen, she may be going to lay an egg, and might be egg bound...Calcium is required in her diet to make sure she can lay an egg. Crushed eggshells are great or you can use a calcium supplement (like Calcium Plus) in the water....Keep her warm and keep an eye on her....Sometimes when they molt they will also sit fluffed and looking sick...Hope she gets better!

Albinosilver wrote:I'm at a friend's house and one of her zebra finches doesn't look so good. She's all fluffed up and sleeping looking. The male comes and tries to comfort her sometimes, but I guess he gets bored so he leaves after a while.

Sorry, I meant society finches d: got a bit confused..

@ G8love4finches

My firend doesn't have a heat lamp We already have crushed hard boiled egg out, but she hasn't touched it.

If you don't have a heat lamp, use a 60 watt bulb near one end of the cage, so she can move away from the heat, if she is too hot. Then put the cage in the bathroom or other small room, but I use the bathroom so I can run the shower on hot water to create humidity and heat. That will help her relax and possible pass an egg, is she is bound. If she will not eat, I'd use handfeeding formula, from petstores, like LaFeber or Kaytee and mix a slightly liquid, but not to a paste mix and give her some on the end of a toothpick. You may need to use a fingernail to pry her beak open a little and they can be wiggly because they are scared, but she needs a liquid nutrition to avoid getting dehydrated and too weak. Keep us posted.

Does she have any kind of a lamp? Even a clamp on lamp. Having the extra heat from any light bulb will work in a pinch. Clamp lamps are cheap. Maybe someone could go to the store and pick one up for her? Along with some Gatorade or other electrolyte supplement and mix it with the birds water. She can also get a lot of information on the internet. Good Luck with the little Society. Is it a hen? If it's egg bound she can look up what to do for that as well. Hope all goes well.

It is a hen. We got a 40 watt lamp on her, she's all fluffed up and sitting under it now. She's not eggbound though..I'm pretty sure of it.

Good!! You're doing fine. Make sure she has food easy to reach, millet is good it's full of fat that she might need if she's not feeling good, egg food, water. Hope she is well soon!

She drank some water and ate a bit of millet but is still sitting under the lamp.

I'm a bit worried about the eggs. Will they be okay? The male doesn't seem to be taking over.

The male is just singing/jumping around and eating most of the millet d:

The eggs do not need to be incubated for 5-7 days, so I wouldn't worry at this point. The hen is more important and she can have more later, when she is feeling better.

They're some very special eggs apparently...I think they were either owl or gouldian. Someone gave them to her.

But I hope the hen is better soon, I'll go over there tomorrow morning to check on her~

That's a shame about the eggs but if she's sick she will be too weak to take care of babies. Better to concentrate on getting the hen well again. You're a good friend to try to help your friends bird. Keep us posted.

Okay, this morning ,she seems a little bit better. But still sleepy and fluffed. Ate some more millet. Though she sorta "choked" on some of it and ended up spitting it out. (Problem, maybe?)

The male is really starting to annoy me. He's constantly trying to mate with her. I saw him jump on her while she was sleeping under the lamp, making her fall off the perch. D:

Albinosilver wrote:The male is really starting to annoy me. He's constantly trying to mate with her. I saw him jump on her while she was sleeping under the lamp, making her fall off the perch. D:

I would put a divider in the cage so the male can't bother her like that while she's not feeling 100%.

She seems to get terribly lonely without the male though. Calling for him.

We put the cage outside, it's quite warm and sunny. She's not fluffed up anymore, but still sleepy.

You can put them next to each other outside and let them be close, just so he can't interfere with her recovery.