FINCHforum

Hi everyone. I wrote in about 3 weeks ago when we first got our final establishment of finches. 2 cordon bleus, 2 gold-breasted waxbills and 2 gouldians. They have all been very happy and healthy so far. There are 4 nesting baskets in the cage and, though they all usually sleep on their perches, the gouldians have been in and out of the basket and seem to sometimes sleep in there. Do gouldians sleep in their nests or is this only when they are starting a family? And a concern - our male has been looking a bit puffed up and disheveled. When he eats, I notice his side feathers are not neat against his body, but a couple hang down a bit. He does seem to spend a lot of time under the heat lamp. The two are not at all as outgoing and peppy as they were last week and both seemed a bit puffed up. Is there a problem going on? I have had a full spectrum daylight lamp on top of a corner of the cage and am thinking of adding a red one tonight.

Moving to a new home, with new cage mates, is stressful. The fact that the male is puffy looking and spending a lot of time under the heat lamp sounds like he isn't feeling well. Do you have a separate small cage where you could keep him by himself for a while? Do you have anything like a probiotic, which is always good to give them when they are stressed.

My Gouldians only use the nest when breeding. They sleep on perches, otherwise. If your Gouldians are in and out of the nest, they may be getting ready to breed.

on an added note i would actually remove both goulds if they arent up to par and put in hospital cage and remove them from ANY NESTS asking them to start a family when not feeling well will add to there stress.

Just an add-on to what was already said. Gouldians are especially prone to stress and are very sensitive. Whenever I obtain a new Gould I always quarantine them for at least 4 weeks in a smaller cage in a quiet area, so I'll definitely remove them from the flock

Hi again. This morning, the male is very perky and it's the female who is fluffed up a bit, sitting on the perch while all the others fly around. They seems to trade off with one being a little more fluffed than the other every time I look. I am concerned about the ordeal of catching them, that it could cause more stress. It's a flight cage that is 2 1/2 ' by 1 1/2', with 6 finches and I am not good at catching them. I only want to do this if it is really necessary. Or, in your experience, is the ordeal of being caught and all the commotion that goes with it not so hard on them all? Thanks!

How much fluffed up time is normal? Maybe I should ask that?

One more question - we were told to put the baskets in the cage when we bought our finches. But is that a cue for the birds to breed? Sounds like they are fine without the baskets and it can be stressful for them to need to breed if there is too much other activity in the cage or for any other reason? So it sounds like it would be approprate to take all the baskets out?

Just observe them very carefully if they are looking a bit better leave them in the cage for now. Catching them might cause them more stress than needed, I'll add the red heatlamp like you suggested, that will also help. But if there is no improvement I'll remove them as this might infect the other birds as well, or the healthy birds might start attacking them.

If you do decide to remove them, you can remove the perches, this makes it allot easier to catch them

Thank you. I will be keeping my eye on them a lot today. I would like to know if it is natural for gouldians to be a bit fluffed up sometimes, even if they are well. I appreciate your help.

All finches fluff up sometimes but if this goes on for a long period it is the bird's natural way of trying to get warm which is not a good sign. Sometimes they are just cold, sometimes they do this when courting during the mating season but when their tails starts to drop or the feathers are not held close to the body as you describe it is usually a sign of an unhappy bird. Stress also sometimes causes the fluffy look.

The best thing you can do for them is provide heat and easy accessible food and water