FINCHforum

I hope this is the proper place to ask this. If not, perhaps a kind moderator will move it to the proper heading.

Well, Christmas came early for me on the 15th of December. I had mentioned to my son, that after the aviary was complete, I had planned on adding a pair of male Lady Gouldians and several societies. I had also mentioned that societies should be bought in groups. preferably 2's or 3's. Well, on 15th my son and his fiancée returned from the city with a live bird container and guess what was in it?

No less than 4 societies. Talk about a surprise. Well, I scrambled to reclean the cage that the waxbills and bleus had just vacated for the aviary and quickly got quaranteen quarters set up for the new members of my flock.


So, now that I have the 4 societies settled in and enjoying their temporary quarters ( I plan on keeping them there for 6 weeks duration), what do I do? I know this sounds obvious, but just what should I do during this 6 weeks besides observing them for signs of illness. Should I be purchasing some treatments for various things they might possibly be carrying or is just keeping them in quaranteen for 6 weeks and treating them for any illnesses that may show up enough? I'm wondering what type of meds if any I should be treating them with whilst they are in quaranteen quarters.

Thankyou in advance. Will be placing an online order in the next few days, hence the reason for my quick questions without yet doing a whole lot of research on the subject.

Thanks everyone,

Ed

Hi Ed,
Congratulations on the new societies! What a great Christmas present I found this thread discussing quarantine procedures that I'm sure will help you I know that it helped me!

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... ne#p254122

Ed you WILL get a range of opinions ranging from 1 month of just observe the birds, to my 11 weeks of quarantine including medication treatment. Each person will have their own opinion of why they do what they do.

I do my 11 week medicated treatment, because I cannot afford to have a "bug" get into my flock. I could not afford to replace the gouldians I would loose.

If you PM me your email, I will send you an Excel chart of my quarantine treatment plan.

You happen to have picked a tricky combination that I also have, gouldians and societies.

The "problem" is that societies "could be" carriers of 2 diseases; Campylobacter and Cochlosoma, what I call C&C diseases. These diseases are FATAL to gouldian chicks. "So far" I have been lucky, with none of my societies having the disease. But there are a few on the forum that have run into it.

I know of only 2 ways to determine if the societies are carriers of C&C.
#1 - A lab test by an avian vet. This is VERY expensive, at about $120 per bird. In your case, about $480 total.
#2 - Have the societies foster raise a few gouldian chicks. If the chicks live, the societies are "clean." While this seems cruel, when you are talking about several societies, it is the more financially affordable option to the expensive lab test.

Until I KNOW the societies are "clean" they are not even in the same room as my gouldians. And when you don't have a steady stream of eggs and chicks, this can and for me has been a long separation.

If you don't intend to breed your gouldians, this may not matter.

Two very good articles about quarantine protocol are:
http://ladygouldian.com/content/why-qua ... -new-birds
http://nixity.angelfire.com/quarantine.html

Pardon my spelling error re: quarantine

Sure was a surprise for me Amy Thanks for the excellent link.

Gary: Sent you a PM with my email address. Would enjoy looking at your quarantine sheet. Thanks for the info as well. As of yet I have no Gouldians, although who knows what might be in the stocking.

Currently I have a pair of RC Cordon Bleu and a pair of Goldbreasted Waxbills in the aviary, 2 male zebras in a cage by themselves who are well over 3 years old now, and 4 societies , sexes and ages unknown in a quarantine cage.

Thank you for the article links Debbie. Much appreciated.


Thanks everyone for your input,

Ed