sick zebra hens

[tinysparrow]

hi,
its my first time posting here on finch forum! i hope that i can get some advice about what happened with two of my zebra hens over the past few days.

these two hens always slept really close together. i noticed on friday that one of the hens had a "watery" substance on her head. i took her out of the flight cage she was in and inspected her. it was all crusty, like dried glue on her head. i had no idea what it could be. i cleaned her head with water and then put her into a hospital cage with the other zebra hen who also had some crust on her head. she was flying around the bathroom after i cleaned her up so i didn't think it was too bad.

over the next 24 hours the first bird deteriorated rapidly. both hens stayed really close to the lamp i had set up for them to keep warm. they both ate water from a shallow dish with vitamins in it and ate millet. on saturday, the first hen looked like she was constantly swallowing water that was coming out of her beak and nostrils (it looked like it was pouring out of her). she died on saturday night. the other hen died last night although she really had no symptoms at all, other than the crust on her head (which i think may have been from sleeping so close to the first hen).

does this sound familiar to anyone? i'd like to know what to do in the future if it happens again.

thanks,
amy

[Ria]

I'm sorry to hear about your girls!

Although I don't know what their illness might have been, it sounds like your one female was vomiting. chances are, the other one had the same problem, you just never got to see it. you definitely did the right thing, getting them the heat lamp and easy access to food/water. unfortunately, a lot of illnesses can't be identified, the surface symptoms are just too similar. even when we do our best to keep things clean, feed good diets and provide a safe home, sometimes a bird just takes ill.

wish you best of luck with your next birds!

[tinysparrow]

thanks for getting back to me

so vomiting? that makes sense in hindsight. this is the first time i have even seen it from my birds so it was so scary. i didn't know what to do and i really didn't want them to die.

i have read other forum members who say that you can put electrolytes in the water if the birds are sick or dehydrated. what is recommended to use? i read some people use pedialyte. what is the recommended dosage?

thanks,
amy

[cindy]

I may have been some sort of bacterial sinus infection, it may have spread to their lungs. I am so sorry for your loss.