FINCHforum

Hi guys, I'm new here! I have 2 finches (an owl finch and an orange-cheeked finch who live together). I have a health-related question about one of them. My owl finch has developed dark patches on his/her chest over the past several months. I have asked around to see if anyone knows what this means, but to no avail. His/her breast used to be a solid light beige color. Does this indicate a nutritional deficiency? Not enough direct sunlight? Parasites? Or just a genetic thing? I have no idea!

They live in a standard 30" x 18" x 18" flight cage and are on a diet of ABBA finch seed, finch and canary Zupreem pellets, and fresh greens.

Thanks in advance!

(Pic below)

I just did a search and found this:

QUESTION:
I have a question.. One of my owls faces turned black. It kinda looks like he/she smeared ink all over the face and neck area. What causes this and is there anything I can do make him/her look normal again? I've only owned this finch for 6 months, and it looked normal when I bought it. I don't know how old it really is.

RESPONSE:
They go black due to a lack of vitamin D. This is because they are not getting enough sunlight. I have an orange breast that has a completely black front now, quite interesting. You need to put it in the sun every so often and maybe give a vitamin d supplement, such as cod liver oil. Alternatively offer a vitamin and mineral supplement obtainable from any pet shop. It will then moult out over a few months.

http://www.finchworld.com/listserv/Owl_ ... k_face.htm

Hope that helps!

Yes, thank you so much! I had googled it before and never found anything, so that answers my question. It has been so cloudy and overcast here for the past eight weeks, I wonder if full-spectrum lighting would help to replace the sun until it warms up. Plus they have been in a lower level of two stacked cages, so the light has to hit from the front because overhead is blocked. I will move their cage to a location that gets more sun, for sure. Also will try the cod liver oil suggestion. Thanks again!

Many of the finches suffer from melanism when they don't get enough sunlight. I put my breeding cages on shelves, so that I can lay a fluorescent light on top of each cage, plus they get a vitamin A+D3 supplement.

Where do you get your supplement from, Sally? Can you tell me how you administer it?

I have purchased supplements from www.ladygouldianfinch.com. Ioford NF has the vit D. There are also lots of other supplements there which I use. ALso, the little fluorescent lights (about 16-18" long) with a full spectrum light are pretty inexpensive (home depot or the like). ALso check out www.justbirdstuff.com

Actually, I wrote that vitamin wrong, it is Nature's Way vitamin A & D, not D3, available at health food stores. I read about using it in the NFSS forum. Robert Black, one of the 'gurus', uses it to prevent eggbinding, so that is why I started using it, but I'm thinking the D would help with melanism, maybe. Anyway, I have been adding it to my eggfood--I take apart one capsule and mix it in with the eggfood that I am giving to about 40 finches. I just do it once a week. For just a few birds, if you are feeding a vitamin supplement, just see if it has D in it.

If you can't or aren't giveing your birds natural sunlight then of full spectrum florecent is the next best thing for them. Mine get both now but I breed them for years in a basement with florecents. You don't need to get the vita-lites which are ridiculous in price @18-$30 each. Just check the CRI on the bulb. Thats the color rating index. Most statndard florecents are around 85cri but you can get 91 or 95 cri at most lighting stores for around $6 a bulb and I've even seen them at walmart for like $8. If you get to the 90 cri mark you have a full specturm bulb whether they label it that or not depends on how they are marketing the bulb. My brother in law works for GE and got me a case of 92 cri for about $3 a bulb.
Gunnar

Great, thanks for the help! I moved them closer to a window and set up the OTT light in front of their cage. Hopefully that will do the trick!