FINCHforum

I was thinking of getting some zebra finches (love their colors and beeps!) and answered an ad from a guy who had six. When I got there, the cage was filthy and the birds in a horrible state. All of them have feather loss, some covering about 80 percent of their bodies. One had an overgrown beak about...I'm not kidding...an inch long. Lots are missing toes. One bird has only one two on each feet.

They were in a large flight cage, but there was no place to hide or to nest. It was in front of a very large bay window, and there was no escape from sun.

He showed me what he has feeding them....he'd been upset that pet stores wanted $6.99 for a pound of seed, so he'd gone to a large retail store and purchased generic wild bird seed. The seed was designed for larger birds. There were sunflower seeds, etc in it, and I'm personally surprised the finches could find anything to eat. What I saw in their crops seemed much too large to be comfortable.

I wasn't going to leave them there, so I took them and brought them to a vet. No lab work was done, but from what she could tell the feather loss is due to plucking. She didn't see signs of a skin condition or mites.

So I have a couple questions. I know when I rescued my canary, Tika, it took a year to get her feathers back. Do you think that is what I am looking at now?

I've got them on the appropriate seed mix, have included fresh veggies, millett and pellets, which they SEEM to be eating. I'v added crushed oyster shell in the cage. Is there anything else I should be giving them to get them back to health?

I've placed platforms in the cage for the birds with difficulty perching, the overgrown beaks have been trimmed. They have nests now and I've covered about a third of the cage to try to give them some feeling of protection.

Is there anything else I can do for them? I really want to try to get these birds to health. I feel so bad for them.

Koodos to you for saving these little ones even though they looked so bad

May I suggest feeding them some eggfood to help them get their feathers back.
As we well know feathers are made up of mostly protein, and eggs are an excellent source of protein. Also if you have it, feather fast, just to give them that little extra help.

I would add cuttlebone and perhaps a good pellet such as the Laferbers for finches (small container in pet stores) or Zupreem fruit blends for canaries and finches, or Roudybush nibbles. It will give them some nutrients they most likely have been lacking. The Laferbers contains some egg and young weaning finches seem to like it.

Boil up some eggs and grate it with the shell on, they will love it and the protein will do them good.

Bless you for not turning your back on these poor neglected birds. Keep us posted....they should start turning around health and feather wise fairly quickly.

Thank you for the responses!

I do have Roudybush pellets in there, and cuttlebone. What I haven't done is given them egg yet so that might be what I add next.



I also need to get a much larger cage, since the one I have is really only designed for 2 birds. The guy had a nice sized flight cage, but there was no way I was going to take it in the state it was in.

What a great rescue story
now they will have the life they deserve.
A similar thing happened to me a few months ago with a Gouldian..I answered an ad, bought the bird and cried all the way home about what I saw at the breeder's house.
Keep us posted on their recovery!

Also, what do you think the missing toes is from?? Could that be from 'plucking' too..?

Personally, I think the missing toes are from aggression due to stress. He had them out in his living room. If he couldn't buy the right food for them, he probably didn't worry about keeping them up all night and lord knows what else he thought was okay. He also said they used to lay eggs until he took nests away. Maybe aggression from there as well? I don't know.

good for you to help them out of deplorable conditions. There is a local plant store here that has a huge flight of zebras in greenhouse....same thing plucked,filthy,no cuttlebone and wild bird seed. I just caught wind he wants to get rid of them so I am maybe gonna call....just havent decided yet if I can take that project on right now. There is an adorable fawn penguin hen in the cage I want.for sure follow the egg advice, and feather fast is great!! good luck!

What's sad is the gentleman I go them from works at the same wildlife rehabilitation center where I volunteer. He works with mammals, though, not birds. He's going to Costa Rica as part of some kind of wildlife rehab project. I'm ashamed he's being given that much trust. The birds in our wildlife center get better care than his "pets" did. I just don't get it.

yes it is sad when something is caged and cannot have access to even the basics needed for survival.

Install a heat lamp (or two lamps) above or on the side of a perch where they can all get to it, and run it 24x7. Until the feathers grow in, they don't have anything to hold in their body heat. And as badly plucked as they are, loss of body heat can be a serious problem.

Give them chopped up hardboiled egg, that will provide them the protein they need to regrow their feathers. Give them the egg 2x a day; in the morning before you go to work and in the evening when you get home. If they have not eaten egg before, it could take them a bit to start eating. Sprinkle some seeds on the eggs, to encourage them to "try" it.

I would REMOVE the nest.
For zebras, a nest in the cage encourages mating.
nest = mating = eggs = chicks
And until they recover their health, you do not want them mating.
And even with all same sex birds, a nest may put them into a breeding/mating mood which can change their behavior to be more aggressive.
I only put a nest in cages where I am breeding or fostering birds. All non-breeding cages do NOT have a nest.

gud luk with the rescues

Good for you taking in these birds!.....Keep us posted on their progress..Pictures would be great to document how the rehab goes!

Okay, nests will come out and I do have a heat lamp I can install tonight. And they will get the eggs twice daily.

Thanks so much!

Glad you helped them! Soaked seed is a great way to get lots of nutrition to them. The birds love it.

Good for you for helping the poor little finches. It makes me mad that people think its ok to treat these little birds like that, or don't take the time to learn about the proper care that they need. I'm sure the little finches will be forever grateful to you.

By the way, here is a pic of the worst overgrown beak I have seen on a finch..