FINCHforum

Uncovered the Societies this morning.
See Oreo laying across a V in the perches, one wing kind of out across a branch, eyes open.
Others start moving.
Start pecking at Oreo, who doesn't move.
In alarm, I tap the cage firmly.
Oreo doesn't move, the others fly away in alarm.
Oreo falls forward, but his feet are still wrapped around the branch, so now he's hanging upside down, still not moving.
Other come back, start pecking at him again.
Still, he doesn't move, still hanging upside down.
I tap the cage again to chase them away and stop pecking at him. Cage is up on top of another cage, so I frantically start setting up the step stool.
He falls off the branch to the floor.
By the time I get up to where I can see, he is standing there, looking befuddled.
A couple minutes later, he flies up to a branch. Has seemed normal ever since.

What the heck was going on??? I thought he had died clenching the branch!

I've never heard of that happening before! WEIRD!

Not sure I've ever witnessed that before!

I'd keep an eye on him, if the others are picking on him obviously something is a miss. They usually pick on the weak

They only pecked at him while he was "stiff". Everything is fine and normal now. No one is acting strangely towards him, or in general. Really freaky. Especially when he was hanging upside down, stiff, thought I was going to have to pry his cold, dead toes off the branch.

He may have had a night fright and hit the cage sides, stunning him temporarily. Is there a night light for the birds to help avoid night fright?

Nerien
Wow!!! Sounds like the kind of seizures my son has (Absence Seizures). Maybe its neurological???

My society finch actually fell off a branch while in deep sleep. All I saw through the darkness was a shape falling in the cage and a THUD. So I ran over and saw the society on the ground, not moving. I quickly opened the cage to grab him but his little eyes widened and he flew off! It SCARED me. But he was fine.

I hope your little guy is alright!

Only the front 3/4 of the cage is covered, there are gaps at the back corner and top back edge, so light does get in, the room has so many blasted indicator and diode lights on all the electronics, it looks like the friggin' Starship Enterprise in here at night. Budgies and parrotlets get heavily covered so they go to sleep and stay asleep and (mostly) don't get any ideas about 'fraternizing' because they think it's the long days of summer. Finches get lightly covered just because it's the living room and people, TV, lights, etc are on 6am to 11pm or later sometimes, and a light covering seems to be enough to get them to settle.

Oreo seems to be just fine, now, have not seen anything weird since he finally woke up. Hoping it doesn't continue to happen, already paranoid enough that as I uncover everyone, I check the bottom of the cage. Seeing a stiff bird hanging upside down from a branch every morning is NOT going to help this paranoia.

Is the cover dark or opaque? I put a sheer curtain on the side of the flights that faces our family room, for the same reasons. When we go to bed, I still leave on a small, dim light. I use a blue light that glows and gives them some way to see if they need to get water or food at night. My budgies get covered or the Society's keep them awake. Everyone else sleeps within the greenery if the light at night bothers them. Hopefully, the finch is alright and it was just a one time incident.

Freaky and yes, that would scare me too.

I would just continue to keep an eye on him.

Today all was normal. No freaky frozen bird upon awakening. Hope I never see that again.

Reminded me of way back when I was in college, had a roommate with a very old cat, Rosita. Rosita would fall asleep in the middle of our livingroom floor. You know how cats sit like a sphinx, but with their paws tucked under? Well, Rosita would start like that, but then sort of ooze forward so that her front legs were splayed out, and her neck and chin were flat on the floor. Looked like she'd melted there. Or died.
and because she was so old, it would take her a while to wake up. Five or ten minutes, easily. So, every day I got home from classes first, and as I came in the door, there was Rosita oozed out across the living room floor, looking limp and dead, and not waking up as I came in calling, "Rosita? Rosita?" and slinking along the edge of the room to get around her, just certain that she finally, actually, was dead, and I would be stuck in the apartment with this dead cat in the middle of the living room for several hours until my roommate got home and took care of her. Did not mind moving out of there and on to another place at all.

That is so creepy, I hope that never happens again... to anyone

It's common for my waxbill to stay deeply asleep when I get up at 5 a.m. to feed the dogs...all 4 of them! This does involve a lot of racket and some barking, but she sleeps through all of it with her little head tucked under her wing!

I also have a VERY old little poodle that is deaf and nearly blind. He sleeps so soundly that at least once a month I think he's a goner. I poke and prod him a little and he takes forever to wake up. I think his deafness and blindness puts him in a very cozy little snooze place.

I hope you don't have to endure another episode like that with your little bird. That would really freak me out. I kind of have a phobia about finding one of my birds on the cage floor...you know...dead, ever since Dwight passed suddenly and quietly during the night several weeks back.

Interesting! How lucky you were there to shoo the other birds away while he was in his trance!