FINCHforum

Hello All,

I'm fairly new to Gouldians and learning as I go. So everything I see that's out of the ordinary, I go through stages of panic until someone tells me it's ok!

I have a young Gouldian female (was given to me by a friend of a friend, can't guess age, but she's not in full colour).
She's been with me for about 1.5 months now, doing well.

Last night at 3 am I woke up to a ruckus in the cage downstairs (she shares with a male gouldian), and she was flying everywhere frantically, banging into the sides of the cage. After I turned on the light, she calmed down, so I though maybe she 'lost' her perch and couldn't find it again.

When I checked on her this morning, there are flight feathers everywhere in the cage and she can't fly more than a couple of inches off the ground, although she's desperately trying. Her wings seem ok, she is flapping them normally, but she just can't get any height.

I don't suspect the male had anything to do with this - he's very calm and has never shown pecking behaviours.

I moved the food and water where she can reach in on the ground.

Does anyone have any insight they can offer me? Whether this is normal/abnormal...to lose flight feathers like this, ever happened to anyone else? A sign of illness?

Thanks for your help!

Jasmin

Is there a light on during the night, so that the cage isn't in total darkness? If it is too dark, and something frightens the birds during the night, they can go into a real panic, injuring themselves. It is a good idea to have a small light nearby, all you need is enough light for the bird to find its way back to the perch.

No, I don't have a night light for them, but I will get one now!

Should I be worried about the lost flight feathers..?

The feathers will grow back in time.

All finches (and parrots, etc) should have nightlights. Seems each of us learns the hard way (myself included).

yeah, i got a night light too, after learning here on the forum about what may happen. better safe than sorry. i bought the "moonlight" but just a blue led light is fine.

Whenever I've had a bird loose feathers, I will add put some Miracle Meal (or fresh eggfood) sprinkled with Feather Fast in a separate treat cup. It really does help the bird feather fast!

I bought two societies with scraggly, shredded looking flight and tail feathers. I have eben giving the as much eggfood and treats as I can, now they can actually fly a few feet

Thanks for your help

I inspected her last night and aside from the lost feathers, she seems ok.
I did notice some caked blood on the tip of her wing, but I think it's from the feathers falling out.

I put extra perches in the cage so she can literally hop from perch to perch to move up and down without trying to fly..

Let's hope for speedy feather growth!

Give her LOTs of egg food.
And if you have Morning Bird "Feather Fast" add that to her soft food per the directions.

UPDATE:
The little Gouldian that lost her flight feathers a few weeks back: she's back in action!
They grew back, and she's flying up a storm!
A changed bird! She seems so happy!

That's great news