FINCHforum

one of my birds died just a few minutes ago now another cage mate is acting sick...the third one is acting ok so far..I put a heat lamp on one side of the cage...the one acting sick was trying to eat earlier but seems to be getting worse FAST....i am new to small birds and I don't know what to do....i read somewhere that a bird protector is toxic...is that true?

Bird protectors are basically poison -- they have to be to kill parasites -- so if they got into it and ate any, that would BAD.

Any fumes in the house? Cook on teflon? Use any aerosol sprays, perfumes, cleaners?

I'm no vet but something progressing that fast sounds like a toxin.

I keep my birds in my bedroom...where it is the quietist...I also have 2 zebras....in thier own cage...2 parakeets also in thier own cage...a cage of 7 societies....and a cockatiel.......the rest of the birds seem fine....since the gouldian doesn't have a buddy now should i put one of the societies in with him?

Not only would I not put that LG in with any other birds, I would isolate it from the other birds, as far away as I could, just in case something infectious is going on. I read your other post under species, and I really thought it might be something environmental, but now that I see you have other birds, which are not having any problems, that sort of rules that out. If it was toxic fumes, other birds would be having problems.

So now we are down to only what is specific to the LGs and their cage. I still would like to know the water situation. I know of cases where people used tube-style or water bottles, the birds had been used to open water dishes, and they literally die from lack of water. I always give open water dishes to new birds. A change of food usually doesn't cause a problem, as long as a finch mix was offered. I offer spray millet to new birds, too, because there aren't many finches that won't eat spray millet, so I make sure they are eating something while they get settled in their new home.

You will need to contact the pet store where you bought them, not only because they may have a guarantee, which would help you monetarily, but because you need to find out if they have any other sick birds. I hope you find out what is happening with these birds. Please keep us posted.