FINCHforum

I have a female zebra finch that has previously been sort of sick, but I've treated her with antibiotics and she's recovered nicely. She's underweight though, only about 12g when my similarly-sized hens are 14-15g. She's alone in a hospital cage with all the food she can get, and I've also been putting NV Powder in her water. She was 11g about two weeks ago, so by now she's only gained 1g and I would have hoped to see a bigger improvement by now. Is there anything else I can do to help her gain some weight?

Her energy level is good, she's moving around a lot and isn't acting sick; she's preening and eating and drinking just fine. I just want to give her the added boost she needs to finish recovering from her illness.

Being onest fella I suppose there's not much more you can really do,

I presume the bird is on a good satisfactory diet and with NV powder in the water along with a little heat from the hospital cage is probably all you can do,

Yes you can add other supplements to the birds food IE multi-vitamin powders etc but feel that sometimes we can give em to much medication and tonics etc and can actually give the reverse affects,

I'd just play it by ear and see what happens, as you say your hen bird seems active enough and may just take a little time to improve on her weight although I certainly wouldn't over stress on this as if she is healthy and fit enough later on that would be the main thing and all I'd worry about

pidgepudge

Having been ill, it's not uncommon for a bird to be slightly underweight. Also with birds, just like with all other creatures, some are naturally smaller than others.

As long as your girl is eating well, pooping normally, and is active, I would not be too concerned. Are you offering small amounts of hard boiled eggs?

lovezebs yep she's getting some hard boiled egg daily alongside her usual seed and fresh veggies!