Lost a Zebra Finch unexpectedly - worried about the others

[Sir Bubbles]

Hello everyone. It's been a while since I've posted on here. Unfortunately I have to come back with a heavy heart and bad news, my little zebra finch Melody has passed away. She was my first bird and we've been through a lot together and it breaks my heart to see her go. She seemed like a tough little gal and pulled through a couple other issues in the past, but unfortunately something got to her this time.

On Thursday morning I found her sitting at the bottom of the aviary, perching on a small edge of the plastic tray that serves as the basing. She was able to stand and perch but she had her eyes closed, bobbing her head and tail with her beak open. I watched her for a little bit before I decided to catch her and place her in a hospital cage. The cage had a perch in it and surprisingly she still felt like standing on it. I gave the vet a call to explain what was going on, but I was only able to get ahold of a technician before I could speak to the doctor. I left him a message and sat waiting for a call back. My partner and I watched her, talking to her and speculating about what could be wrong. We listened closely and could hear her making a faint squeaking/clicking sound with each thrusting motion and opening of her beak. During this time she would occasionally let out a small, clear, runny poop. Suddenly she fell off the perch and sat on the ground for half a minute, finally shutting her eyes again and slipping over sideways on the ground.

It was heartbreaking to witness this happen and I'm torn up over our loss. We loved Melody very much, she was such a character with loud peeps and a sassy attitude, and now the aviary feels a lot emptier without her. As terrible as it is there's always a sense of relief when you watch your bird slip away from their suffering. I only wish that we could have done something to prevent this or help her, but unfortunately I didn't know what to do.

I feel like it might have been air sac mites, but I'm not entirely sure. I'm worried for the other birds that she may have caught or developed some sort of infection and that it might spread to the rest of them. I feel like I may need to disinfect the aviary but I'm not sure what's the best way to go about this.

I should mention a couple of other things since I have been absent from the forum for a while. About two months ago we picked up two new zebra finches ( Zoey and Penelope ) and they have been getting along just fine, bringing our flock up to 6 birdies ( but now unfortunately 5. ) Things have been going well with the exception of the past 3 weeks, one of my older birds, Sandy, appeared to get sick or injured out of nowhere. She exhibited the typical behaviors that my birds normally would when they don't feel well. Eyes closed, fluffed feathers, sitting on the ground. Unsure what the problem was, we kept an eye on her for a day and gave her a heat lamp, and she miraculously got better. It was strange, but we didn't stress it much after that. Then the same thing happened again to Penelope about 2 weeks later, and again with Melody several days after. She had just gotten over this strange half-a-day " sickness " and spent the next few days happy and active, and then Thursday morning happened.

So I'm worried if we have some sort of bug in the air or something else is getting to them. Nothing much has changed, their diet remains the same, with regular cleanings and daily fresh water. We try our best to keep them healthy and away from anything harmful in the air.

What do you think could be going on? I would love to hear any thoughts and advice.

[Shannylee]

Sir Bubbles, I'm new to this finch hobby but am very sorry for your loss. Hopefully, one of the experts can help you figure out what might be going on.

[cindy]

Sorry for your loss. The droppings what color were they? Mostly white, yellow, light green, dark green, black? Runny, mostly water or was there feces in it? Was she thin, breast bone very sharp and the lower abdomen swollen or concave. Did she have undigested seed in her droppings? As they pass away they may breathe with the mouth open like a little pant. Several things could have caused this, an internal infection, internal parasites not ASM.

I would have typically seen signs earlier and likely been able to clear it up.

Was she eating, in the food dish non stop? Was she nesting? Did you save her little body to take to the vet? Often too you tell some of what is going on by the lower belly, was the liver dark, was there a liver bleed?

[Sir Bubbles]

Sorry for your loss. The droppings what color were they? Mostly white, yellow, light green, dark green, black? Runny, mostly water or was there feces in it? Was she thin, breast bone very sharp and the lower abdomen swollen or concave. Did she have undigested seed in her droppings? As they pass away they may breathe with the mouth open like a little pant. Several things could have caused this, an internal infection, internal parasites not ASM.

I would have typically seen signs earlier and likely been able to clear it up.

Was she eating, in the food dish non stop? Was she nesting? Did you save her little body to take to the vet? Often too you tell some of what is going on by the lower belly, was the liver dark, was there a liver bleed?

They all live together in the same enclosure so it can be difficult to keep track of the consistency and color of each birds' droppings. On the day she passed away her droppings were clear like water and runny. When we moved her into the hospital cage her droppings absorbed instantly into the towel we keep on the ground in the cage. No undigested seeds from what I saw.

Aside from that, their collective droppings in general tend to be white with hints of light green or light yellow, and light brown.

As for her body shape, she seemed normal from what I could tell. Not thin or fat, no immediately apparent feeling of bone from what I remember.

We buried her with her old friends so the body isn't available for examination anymore. I realize this may contradict my desire to find out what happened to her, but I don't feel comfortable taking her body to the vet to have it examined and dissected.

She was showing her typical behavior up until the morning I found her. She tends to sit in her nest and come out repeatedly throughout the day to eat, drink, take baths and look for paper towels and such to bring back to her nest.

If she had an infection or parasites, should I be worried for the others? What precautions could I take to prevent this sort of thing in the future?

Thanks for the responses and kind words.

[cindy]

Without seeing the droppings it would be difficult to determine if she was eating certain foods or not able to digest well.

You mentioned she was nesting, how long was or had she been sitting? Do you keep nests up all the time? Do you serve soft foods like boiled egg and veggies?

Since you have buried her, if by chance (hope this does not happen) but if another falls ill please pm me, will help try to help you. If another passes please wrap the body in paper towels and place in a ziplock in a baggie and pm me.

This might just be isolated to her but if not I completely understand your concern.

[Sir Bubbles]

Without seeing the droppings it would be difficult to determine if she was eating certain foods or not able to digest well.

You mentioned she was nesting, how long was or had she been sitting? Do you keep nests up all the time? Do you serve soft foods like boiled egg and veggies?

Since you have buried her, if by chance (hope this does not happen) but if another falls ill please pm me, will help try to help you. If another passes please wrap the body in paper towels and place in a ziplock in a baggie and pm me.

This might just be isolated to her but if not I completely understand your concern.

We cleaned their aviary yesterday, I tried to inspect around for any sign of abnormal droppings but as I mentioned it's difficult to determine which ones belong to who. Melody seemed to always have larger droppings than the rest of the birds, which I believe at some point someone told me that this could be due to her excessive nesting. So I looked around and noticed that in some of the larger droppings the feces was dark green. Could this mean something?

If you are asking how long she was sitting while sick, for about 2 hours. At least, that's how long it was from when I found her to when she passed away. It could have been a lot longer ( all night perhaps. )

We keep nests up for them all the time. They spend roughly a third of their day time in them and sleep in them all night, with the exception of two other birds who, despite having 3 huts available with one normally being unused ( two now, since Melody has passed ) they seem to like nesting elsewhere. When they aren't in the nests they're pretty active and chatty.

We occasionally give them vegetables like lettuce and carrots, as well as fruits like strawberries, grapes, and apples. I have given them boiled eggs in the past but none of them seem to be very thrilled about it. I still try the eggs from time to time but not very often, and not recently.

Currently I've been observing another one of our birds, Lily, who seems to be " slowing down " a tiny bit. She seems to be a bit quieter than usual and spend more time with her eyes closed on the perch, and not always standing at " full alert " like the other birds.

Maybe it's just in my head and I'm worried because Melody just passed away, but I hope nothing is going on with her. She always did seem to be the quiet one of the group so it could just be her normal behavior and I'm over-observing it is all.

I will let you know if anything else happens to any of them. Thank you Cindy, I appreciate the help.

[cindy]

Could I advise that you not keep nests up all the time. Finches do not need nests to sleep in.

Nests can stimulate hens to lay eggs, this can cause issues for the hens to lay eggs. It is not good for them to sit for long periods of time unless actually breeding.

If Lily seems worse please pm me

[lovezebs]

Sir Bubbles

Sorry about your little Melody.
Do you know how old she was?
Is it at all possible that she was egg bound?

I ask, because I just recently lost a bird to egg binding. Fine one day, gone the following morning. Didn't see that one coming at all, seeing as I haven't been breeding them and there are no nests in the flight.

Hopefully all your other birds will be OK.

[Sir Bubbles]

Could I advise that you not keep nests up all the time. Finches do not need nests to sleep in.

Nests can stimulate hens to lay eggs, this can cause issues for the hens to lay eggs. It is not good for them to sit for long periods of time unless actually breeding.

If Lily seems worse please pm me

I didn't realize that about the nests. Thanks for the tip. How often do you think I should let them use the nests? Should I alternate a couple weeks with and a couple weeks without?

Sir Bubbles

Sorry about your little Melody.
Do you know how old she was?
Is it at all possible that she was egg bound?

I ask, because I just recently lost a bird to egg binding. Fine one day, gone the following morning. Didn't see that one coming at all, seeing as I haven't been breeding them and there are no nests in the flight.

Hopefully all your other birds will be OK.

Thank you for the kind words. I would have had Melody for three years next February. I don't know how old she was when I got her, so I would guess she was still under three years old when she passed.

Sorry to hear about your birdies. It's rough to watch them go and not be able to help them.

I also wanted to post an update on Lily. She seems to be doing the same, not getting any better, but not noticeably worse. She still spends a lot of time resting on the perches or the food shelf. She doesn't peep much at all, and I'm not sure how much she's eating or drinking. I've noticed black & white poops around the aviary and I suspect these may be hers but I don't know that for sure. If this is indicative of anything let me know and I will see about taking some pictures.

Is there anything I should do for her in the mean time? She is obviously not feeling well because her behavior is unlike the rest of the birds; very tired and inactive. I really hope this doesn't escalate into something worse. I don't want to have to lose another birdy so soon.

[cindy]

Provide nests only when you want them to breed.


You can try these as an alternative, I use them with my gouldian and shaft tail. They are called stress perches....they all go to them to roost prior to lights out. I goth them glamgouldians.com

[Sir Bubbles]

Provide nests only when you want them to breed.


You can try these as an alternative, I use them with my gouldian and shaft tail. They are called stress perches....they all go to them to roost prior to lights out. I goth them glamgouldians.com

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I might see about having my dad build something like that for them since he built the entire aviary for us. In the mean time, I have removed the nests and they seem to be getting along without them.

Another update on Lily: I have noticed that she has been holding one of her wings back differently than the other, and because of this I am beginning to suspect that she has a wing injury. However I'm not sure which one is the injured one if that is the case, but I suspect it might be the right one because it isn't being moved as much. I've also noticed her flying slower and with seemingly more difficulty. At first I suspected this was because she was simply not feeling well due to some other reason, but I now believe that her wing IS the reason. She seems to be fine in all other aspects aside from that fact that she's worn out and possibly experiencing pain/discomfort from this problem.

I feel like if she was sick or had an internal issue going on, it would have escalated by now, but she has remained the same for the past week.

Is there anything I can do for her, or is it best to leave her be for now and see what becomes of it?

[athens.asad]

I am sorry for your loss . I am on the verge of losing a male Gouldian .Attached is my hero ,he was always active but since few days he is lazy and sleeping. With dropped feather and anus with attached poop looks very miserable.i am not sure what's wrong . I can understand your feelings.

[cindy]

what color is the droppings stuck to his bottom?

[athens.asad]

Thanks Cindy .The poop colour is black on the floor . Near the bottom its dirty yellowish and white ,

[Sir Bubbles]

Hi Athens, thanks for your sympathies. I'm sorry to hear about your birdy. It hurts a lot to watch them when they're not feeling well and not knowing what the problem is or how to help. I hope he feels better!