FINCHforum

I am not sure if he is sick or he is just resting , but from time to time during a day he kind of looks like he is sleeping , but his wings shiver while trying to sleep
A stranger thing that happaned is that when I moved him into his old smaller cage and put him next to the window (sun light) he started hopping around and not resting for some time , he looked really happy , I wasnt sure if it was because of sun light or the fact that he was back into his old home again , he took a break and had smaller shivers on the wing but he wasnt trying to sleep by closing his eyes.
His wing feathers look darker then usual kind of like they are wet and some are twisted also 1 feather on his tail got twisted .
Also he is a full pied or white , maybe he is natural white , I dont know but :
Is it possible that this is all happening because he is moulting or not?
Do feathers get darker (almost looking wet) and twisted when they moult?(noticable on white)
Would he shiver because of moulting.
Why was he all of a sudden looking happy , chirping , beeping , hopping on the perch when I moved him into his older smaller cage?

StodOne

I am not an expert on avian illness or finches but I have a canary that is going through his molt and sometimes I see feathers twisted and shortly later I find them on the bottom of the cage, so I am assuming it it from molting . Maybe your zebra was getting heat from the sunny window and maybe you could try some heat on one side of his cage, making sure he can get out of the heat if he needs to. Hope this helps until someone with more experience can help you !! Good luck with your finch !

lem2bert He had the twisted feathers for quite some time , but yeah it makes sense , for now I will be giving him only heat until I find out what else ..

What I noticed now too is that he brings his legs close together as he puffs up , and he did that before I just havent noticed the shivers , he got fine after some time so that is why I am assuming he is just molting , as he had the same symptoms before and he got better after a few days .He is tame so i held him in my finger brought him up to my ear and heard a buz sound , that is probably his wings shivering

StodOne

Not sure what the buzz sound is, but as long as he is not getting overheated, I would just give him light and heat until someone with experience can help you. He sounds like such a sweet little bird and I hope he is ok .

lem2bert The buz sound is from the wings shaking/shivering .
He really is that finch that will make you smile xD when you talk to him it is as if he responds xD

is he thin? lower belly sunk in, breastbone sharp?

Internal parasites (not mites) can get into the organs and the brain. They can keep the bird from taking in the nutrition it needs. They can also cause twitching, seizures. Wing shivering could be a sign of parasites. Are the dropping runny? Formed? mushy?

cindy his droppings are actually fine , healthy ammound of urates , urine and feces .
He also stretches his wings from time too time , when i leave him alone or stop doing anything he will act like that , when i make a sound of some sort he will as soon as he hears it respond and start beeping and singing .
But quickly after kind of closes his eyes , like he is trying to sleep .
I was wondering do birds shiver when it is cold , or not?

usually they puff up and sit low to keep the warmth under the feather..try a heat lamp on one side of the cage and make sure there is no drafts from air conditioning, fans or from outside chilling him

cindy There is not draft , plus his cage has net wire only on one side , and the other sides is just wood , I personaly dont like that cage any more as he gets minimal sun light , I think i might have to fix the cage and buy a piece of glass , and put it on the side of the cage .
By the way , when I put a heat source , how do I cover the cage , do I leave a part opened , so it doesent act as an oven ?
I am afraid to close him off completely , also do I need to put him in a smaller cage to heat the cage up , the cage he is in is 80 cm long , 50 cm high and 30 cm wide , and it is closed off from all sides , there is wire net only on 1 side of the cage , can I heat it up like that , also it is a 25 watt light bulb , not sure if it is enough?

If you put the lamp next to the cage, at the end of a perch, the bird can position itself closer or farther from the lamp to get more or less heat.

A 25w bulb in a small reflector should be fine.
You can always go higher, if the bird is constantly right up to the lamp. That is an indication that the the 25w bulb is not giving it enough heat.

ac12 Ok , thanks , he constantly moves on the perch to get as much heat as he wants , I thought that it didnt give enough heat.
Also I am a bit afraid it wont catch on fire or melt , as the light bulb tends to get quite hot , also around the light bulb there is like blue (light bulb shaped) glass that prevents direct contact , but still am a bit cautious

SO

Watch his position on the perch. That will tell you how much heat he wants.
- If he is right next to the lamp, that means that he wants all the heat he can get, and the lamp is not giving him enough. This is when you need to do something about giving him more heat.
- If he is at different distances from the lamp, that means he is getting enough heat, and is adjusting to give him the heat that he wants at the time.

Keep ALL flamable stuff away from the lamp and the reflector; paper, plastic, etc. An incandescent bulb will get HOT enough to sometimes cause a dry piece of paper to catch fire.