FINCHforum

Hi there,
I’m wondering if anyone could help as we have a very sick female zebra finch and are very worried.

As she has always been a very ‘sickly’ finch, I will start from the beginning which will hopefully help with the advice….

We originally bought our zebra finches about a year ago. We are both first time owners. We bought both a male and a female from a local pet store, which, looking back, weren't the greatest of conditions and could be the root cause of her problems (note: the male finch has no problems).

As mentioned, the finch has always been a ‘sickly’ finch. She has often displayed symptoms of a ill bird – fluffed feathers, sleepy eyes and general lethargy – and we have taken her to the vets numerous times to be told to prepare for the worst. Miraculously, she has always pulled through.

Due to all these illnesses, we separated the male and female until 2weeks ago when we reunited them. After this we noticed our female had developed a droopy right wing. The wing would hang slightly lower than her body and occasionally ‘shake’.

Yesterday morning, our female took a turn for the worse. She was hopping very slowly and could not seem to keep her balance on the perches. After a while, she hoped/stumbled to the bottom of the cage (which she has not moved from since) and has got progressively worse.

Current symptoms
• Laying on belly at the bottom of the cage, with tail pointing upwards (please see below image)
• Right wing shaking
• Tail bobbing
• Breathing heavily (can see her body moving up and down rapidly)
• Can’t fly and splays wings when trying to hop around bottom of the cage
• Beak occasionally hanging open when humans come too close to cage

I appreciate the easiest thing to assume is that the bird is egg bound. This could definitely be a possibility, however, these symptoms have nearly persisted for 48 hours and she is still the same. From reading previous posts, I believe that if she was egg bound, then she would have passed the egg by now. Also, she IS still eating and is not ‘fluffed up’ which would you usually associate with being egg bound.

ANY advice would be greatly appreciated, however, as mentioned in her symptoms, she is very distressed so would not react very well to human contact. If possible, we would prefer advice which doesn't involve human contact as we think it could be too much for her.

Thank you very much in advance
Claire x

Have you given her liquid calcium to help pass the egg, if in fact it is eggbound?

Hi Debbie,

Thank you so much for the quick reply.

We have put liquid calcium in her water (a few drops) and 'Nutrobal' on her food (which she's been eating). I would be hesitant to administer calcium directly to the beak because i think it's too much for her to handle as she's already very distressed

Do you think the above suggests she is egg bound? Is it possible for hens to be egg bound for 2days?

Thanks x

So sorry. Hope she makes it. But, prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.

Do you have a heat lamp for her? That is the very first thing I would do.

Lauren

Thank you Lauren. Fingers crossed she makes it...
We have a heatlamp on her isolated cage so trying to make her as comfortable as possible.
I've heard putting the finch in the bathroom with the shower on (so it's very steamy) could help if she is egg bound?

I wish I could say for sure what is wrong but I can't
Sending prayers that she comes out of it.

Shame. Sorry for both you and your bird.

It definitely sounds like an ongoing illness. Did the vets check for anything? Do fecal or blood tests etc? IF so what did those show?

There are just too many ailments these little birds can get that have similar symptoms. Fluffed and not flying around usually is a good indication something major is wrong. Perhaps she had a head injury or something that could account for the unbalanced nature. Bacterial infections too can cause unbalanced stance. Its just too difficult to do on a picture alone.
I have also had an unidentified illness go through my birds occasionally and there is nothing you can do except make them comfortable or if you see them suffering do what needs to be done to end it.

Hopefully you can find a reason for why she is like this.

Once i put my 3 new born baby finches in the bathroom with shower on so steam the babies get warm, while parents didn't sit on them that couple of days.it works and they survived grow to adult now. But in your situation, kind of different. The finch may have some egg bound problem and stress out like you mentioned. I think she would have pass an egg out within the 2 days if egg bound is the symptom, because doesn't take 2days long for egg bound reason. Did she lay any eggs recently? Maybe you should put some oyster shell for her beside cuttle bone, which I did to all my finches and they lay eggs no problem, also put some egg food if you can. I hope it help some and wish her healthy again. keep post more if you have questions and I am glad to answer the best I can.

Hi all,

Thank you so much for taking the time to post a reply and give very helpful advice.

Against all the odds our little finch has made it out the other side of this mystery illness and seems very flighty and happy Especially considering this time last week she could not move off the bottom of the cage without falling over. I don't know how she's managed to do it, as finches normally don't get through illness but we're happy

Just one thing - i mentioned in my original post that they are back in separate cages but they seem sad without contact with eachother Would people suggest putting them back in together?

Thanks once again xx

Glad to hear your little hen is doing better. Sometimes we never know what was wrong with them, it is often very difficult to diagnose finches. It is possible for a hen to take several days to pass an egg when eggbound, though they usually don't make it if they don't pass the egg in about a day. There is also the possibility that she had a soft-shelled egg which she was having difficulty passing. In that case, you will often see a yellow splotch on the bottom of the cage. Sometimes it is not easy to spot that splotch, if it happens to be near a seed cup, etc., and gets covered by hulls. Still, given her history of illness, it is hard to think it could be eggbinding.

As far as putting them back together, I would hesitate to do that. Again, with her history of illness, she is probably not in condition for breeding, so that if the two mated and she started producing eggs, she could become eggbound or not able to handle the stress of egglaying. Perhaps you could keep them separated but in adjoining cages, so they can visit through the bars.

Glad things have turned around for the better
Good luck

Perhaps you could keep them separated but in adjoining cages, so they can visit through the bars.

I think this is a great idea and will allow your sweet little hen additional time to grow stronger. Give it a try and see how it goes

add a little apple cider vinegar to the water every few weeks