Thanks everyone... things seem to be settling down again now (fingers crossed it stays this way!)
hopefully nothing is going through the aviary. Have you seen any warning signs of trouble?
The only thing to note is one of my long time adult birds, Heaven, (bred in my home last year) suddenly had one eye closed last week and has been less active, a little puffy. I isolated him to a hospital cage and treated his eye, offered him heat, etc. After 2 days, his eye was fine and he was no longer puffy and acting normal again. I moved him back into the aviary on the 3rd day and within half hour, his eye was closed again! Caught him again and treated his eye and it's been normal ever since. He does, however, sit close to the lights and hasn't really been singing much (he's usually a big singer). Then I noticed one of my other normals, Hurricane, (also bred in my home last year) started puffing up a little. Neither one is at the stage where they are easy to catch by any means so what I did is set up two heat lamp stations within the aviary; one at each end. Most of the other birds in this aviary are molting juveniles (all bred at my home). I've noticed that sometimes when the juveniles start really accelerated molting, they get a little puffy and sickly acting for a few days while the colors start rushing in and then they are fine. This is what was happening at the same time so it was hard to judge who may really be ill with something and who is just going through a taxing molt. Here we are a week later and everyone is fine with the exception of Heaven, who's not quite acting himself. I did some research on the net and found what is called a "one eyed cold" that is associated with ornithosis. The symptoms did seem to fit for Heaven AND the juvenile (Mee-Meep) that just recently passed (who was in the same aviary). I ordered some Doxycycline from Laraine which should be arriving tomorrow. It said it will not hurt a flock to be treated for 3 days to determine if this is a problem in the aviary so I thought I'll try it and see if I see any improvement with him. I've been very torn about whether to treat everyone or just pull Heaven and maybe even Hurricane (who now seems better and is singing up a storm again). But I keep thinking if one bird does have something, they've all been exposed to it.
I've just been keeping an eye on things for any changes. One thing I did notice about Mee-Meep right before she passed (she fluffed up about a day or so before she passed), was that she had yellowish droppings with clear urine around it (no seeds in it).
The blue hen, Misty, that died very unexpectedly and with such strange symptoms (the slow motion, sitting extremely still for hours with eyes closed) is in the same room (my family room) but not in the aviary. In fact, she is clear across the room. She had been sitting on eggs recently so it is possible she had symptoms that I never saw due to her always being in the nest (she was the primary sitter - it wasn't until her mate started staying in the nest for extended periods with her outside the nest that day that I noticed anything was wrong with her. Normally she'd pop out for a few minutes, eat, bathe, drink, go back in. On that particular day, she stayed out while he sat).
Sunbay, I did see that thread and those chain lights are a great idea! I do have 4 night lights in that room already, illuminating from each corner. Usually the birds are fine and can see well enough to get around even in the dark. If I pass through the room in the dark, as long as I speak to them while in the room, they know it's just me and are fine. I don't want to place any blame on my hubby but have a sneaking suspicion he may have made too much noise right outside the room and freaked them out, starting the night fright. You have to pass by the family room to get the kitchen. If he made a racket at 4am while walking by, I can see that spooking them. I just wish he had come woken me up or something ... I would have jumped right out of bed and went to them to turn on the lights and help them get reoriented and calmed down
