A bad molt, or something more? + calcium supplement question
Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:54 pm
I recently adopted a fawn and cfw hen from a person who no longer wanted them. As soon as I got the hens into the car, I heard the dreaded clicking noise.
My initial reaction was air sac mites, because the tiny cage the hens had been in were sandwiched between the owner's parakeets and canary. But honestly, I'm unsure what it was. The cages were filthy, the water cups were filled with droppings, the room they were being kept in had poor ventilation and when I asked the owner she said she fed them a seed only diet.
The hens themselves were lethargic and mostly stayed puffed up on their perches. As part of their quarantine process, they were treated with SCATT and given a multivitamin in their food in an attempt to rule out ASM and vitamin A deficiency.
A week after the first treatment with SCATT they were still clicking, but about a week and a half later the clicking stopped. At this point, they started making their beeping noises and bouncing around their cage.
That was about a month ago, the hens seem to be doing well. They are voracious eaters and drink without a problem, and are now fluttering around their flight cage. However, they are losing a lot of feathers. About every three days, I have to take the hand vacuum around the cage because when I walk by I stir up a small tornado of feathers.
The fawn hen seems to have it the worst--she is missing feathers along her thigh and her back where her tail feathers connect to her rump.
The cfw hen only has one balding patch, which is located next to her right ear.
Any recommendations? Should I try the Feather Fast product?
My other question is about an egg happy zebra finch pair. The hen and cock are in their own cage trying to create an army! In the last 2 weeks she has laid 10 eggs
She is finally sitting on them, but it seems like she keeps adding an egg every other day. I've slowly been substituting fake eggs, but it's like she knows I took them and laid an egg to replace the ones I take! I'm worried about egg binding, and so I figured I might need to look into a calcium supplement. Unfortunately, the bird section of my pet stores don't have an calcium supplement. Then I had a realization. Reptiles have cloacae and lay eggs, so maybe the lizards have a liquid calcium supplement? Lo and behold, they did!
http://www.petco.com/product/108569/Zil ... Spray.aspx
Can anyone tell me if this would be compatible with finches?
Thank you for any advice that you can give me.
My initial reaction was air sac mites, because the tiny cage the hens had been in were sandwiched between the owner's parakeets and canary. But honestly, I'm unsure what it was. The cages were filthy, the water cups were filled with droppings, the room they were being kept in had poor ventilation and when I asked the owner she said she fed them a seed only diet.
The hens themselves were lethargic and mostly stayed puffed up on their perches. As part of their quarantine process, they were treated with SCATT and given a multivitamin in their food in an attempt to rule out ASM and vitamin A deficiency.
A week after the first treatment with SCATT they were still clicking, but about a week and a half later the clicking stopped. At this point, they started making their beeping noises and bouncing around their cage.
That was about a month ago, the hens seem to be doing well. They are voracious eaters and drink without a problem, and are now fluttering around their flight cage. However, they are losing a lot of feathers. About every three days, I have to take the hand vacuum around the cage because when I walk by I stir up a small tornado of feathers.
The fawn hen seems to have it the worst--she is missing feathers along her thigh and her back where her tail feathers connect to her rump.
The cfw hen only has one balding patch, which is located next to her right ear.
Any recommendations? Should I try the Feather Fast product?
My other question is about an egg happy zebra finch pair. The hen and cock are in their own cage trying to create an army! In the last 2 weeks she has laid 10 eggs
She is finally sitting on them, but it seems like she keeps adding an egg every other day. I've slowly been substituting fake eggs, but it's like she knows I took them and laid an egg to replace the ones I take! I'm worried about egg binding, and so I figured I might need to look into a calcium supplement. Unfortunately, the bird section of my pet stores don't have an calcium supplement. Then I had a realization. Reptiles have cloacae and lay eggs, so maybe the lizards have a liquid calcium supplement? Lo and behold, they did!http://www.petco.com/product/108569/Zil ... Spray.aspx
Can anyone tell me if this would be compatible with finches?
Thank you for any advice that you can give me.
I forgot to mention I did do a second SCATT treatment to follow through while they were in quarantine. I'll edit my first post to reflect that.