FINCHforum

Have you ever seen a bird in a pet store that did not look great and you felt so sorry for it. Well this happened to me about a month ago. I found a blue capped cordon bleu shoved in a cage with many other finches. Some of the species it was with were aggressive, i.e. cutthroats, parsons, etc. The neck had very little feathers on it and the little guy just sat on the bottom of the cage. Well I could not stand to see that so I brought him home.
His feathers are still not grown back and he still sits on the bottom of the cage a good bit. That said, he seems very health otherwise. He eats, drinks, and does fly about and spends some time on the perches. I obviously have him in his own cage. What else would you do for him?

Chase, Great job taking in the poor little finch! I would do what we usually do for sick finches, even though he seems healthy. You never know how much he was exposed to and he probably needs some time to adjust and realize he is going to be alright and not bullied anymore. All the TLC you can offer, heat, eggfood, quarantine regime and good seed/pellets and veggies. Then, when he is adjusted, he'll probably act just like a normal cordon blue! Good Luck with him.

Aww, you're a good kind person. I get so angry when I see birds like that. I try to talk to the staff, but am usually met with some pimple faced sales person who blows me off. That said, I just say a little prayer for the bird and go home sad. I do not have the luxury, space
or finance to save every poor bird.

Chase, what a kind heart you have. I agree with Deborah...heat and TLC. The poor thing probably was so scared in with all those birds, they are a bit timid to begin with.

Keep us posted on him.

Your a true friend to the feathered type, good on you. As stated alot of TLC and good food ECT. I would consider a friend, I have a spare male RCCB with a spare male red billed fire finch and they sit together and are great mates.

Hows the little guy doing?

Perhaps a buddy?

That was very sweet of you to save him. I agree with Deborah.
Best of luck

I've seen the local PetSmart do the same thing with the Cordon Bleu's. Each time, I called over the manager and explained why the CB should not be in with the Green Singers or the Cut Throats, or the Weavers. They do move them but I address the problem every few months regardless -- seems like they don't learn.

His feathers are still not grown back and he still sits on the bottom of the cage a good bit.

He may need to go through a good molt to get his feathers growing again -- and if the rest of the birds are breeding it may be a while before the "season" grows short enough for his system to tell him to molt.

I'm glad you rescued him -- I've done the same several times but you can't possibly help them all...