Sick Owl finch

[Dr.castiel]

Hello.
SO i had purchased 2 owl finches back in November and a few months ago 1 had dies due to air sac mites. i still have the female and i treated her for mites and for a while she seemed to be ok but about a month ago she started to be poofed up and will only breath through her mouth. i started treating her again for mites thinking shes got them again and i didn't kill the mites off. 1 month later shes a bit more active but still only breaths through the mouth i have put her in a steam room thinking maybe shes just blocked up and that helps a little but still will not breath through the nose and only the mouth. on top of that i finally got her a new mate and hes healthy and very active and just loves to beep like theirs no tomorrow. so i'm assuming the person who sold me these birds gave me sick babies. since they where both quiet and not very active. i'm hoping i can heal up owlie (her name) but im out of ideas of what can be wrong i have also tried antibiotics thinking theirs an infection but no improvements.

i hope someone can help and id be very appreciative ill attach a few photos of owlie maybe you can get an idea of her condition.

[wildbird]

Your bird looks awfully scruffy, maybe young. The conditions it is living in look terrible. The cage is dirty and it looks like a large cup with water in it. I don't see any seed cup, only maybe seed below the floor wire. No perches. I would say the bird is in that condition because of the environment is forced to live in. Give the bird to someone who will take good care of it.

[Dr.castiel]

Your bird looks awfully scruffy, maybe young. The conditions it is living in look terrible. The cage is dirty and it looks like a large cup with water in it. I don't see any seed cup, only maybe seed below the floor wire. No perches. I would say the bird is in that condition because of the environment is forced to live in. Give the bird to someone who will take good care of it.

i'm unsure of the birds age but what you can see in the photo isn't even close to the full size of the cage. the bowl is a bath bowl she has water and seeds perches toys and a nest. i am fully capable of having this bird considering i have a more then just the one...

[wildbird]

The number of birds you have means nothing. It's the quality of their care that matters. The least you can do is clean their cage. I feel sorry for any bird that ends up in this kind of environment.

[Dr.castiel]

So helpful... what a waste of my time.

[Fernando]

Hello,
I do have owls and they are quite resilient. Your bird looks awful, it is very sick. I must admit, the cage looks awful, too.

Have you been to a vet? Antibiotics without a diagnosis are sense less unless you hit by chance the right one.
If there is no vet where you live - I know the problem, not many vets are specialized with birds - try to locate the vet that attends the nearest zoo, if there is one.

As you don't give hints where you and the birds live, just a few ideas:
- give the bird a secure cage, not too big, with warmth. (IR-Lamp)
- does the bird drink enough? try every second day oregano-infusion (one spoonful of oregano in hot water 200ml, let cool and use as drinking water)
- be extremely clean! Fresh water every day or two times a day! Fresh tray with food every day! Watch out there is no re-infection with what so ever!
- don't offer any kind of 'wet' food, no egg no sprouts no soaked grains for it might be a yeast infection.
- give the bird a little piece of wood to sit on and change daily and control the deposits on it! Try to figure out what infection it can be besides air mites!

Please remember that the responses you get depend only on the information you give. We might be wrong, but we are no vets and do not see the bird and its surroundings. We understand you want urgent help for your bird.

Good luck!

[Dr.castiel]

Hello,
I do have owls and they are quite resilient. Your bird looks awful, it is very sick. I must admit, the cage looks awful, too.

Have you been to a vet? Antibiotics without a diagnosis are sense less unless you hit by chance the right one.
If there is no vet where you live - I know the problem, not many vets are specialized with birds - try to locate the vet that attends the nearest zoo, if there is one.

As you don't give hints where you and the birds live, just a few ideas:
- give the bird a secure cage, not too big, with warmth. (IR-Lamp)
- does the bird drink enough? try every second day oregano-infusion (one spoonful of oregano in hot water 200ml, let cool and use as drinking water)
- be extremely clean! Fresh water every day or two times a day! Fresh tray with food every day! Watch out there is no re-infection with what so ever!
- don't offer any kind of 'wet' food, no egg no sprouts no soaked grains for it might be a yeast infection.
- give the bird a little piece of wood to sit on and change daily and control the deposits on it! Try to figure out what infection it can be besides air mites!

Please remember that the responses you get depend only on the information you give. We might be wrong, but we are no vets and do not see the bird and its surroundings. We understand you want urgent help for your bird.

Good luck!

U are correct i can not find a vet near my location. i do tend to the cage as often as i can the cage does look entirely different than the photo you see.
every morning i dump and give them fresh water and seeds.
i do see her drink quite often. i will try the oregano.
she has 2 perches and a swing she uses every day you cant see them in the photo since i was only taking a photo of her. she is hardly ever on the floor of the cage. she likes to sit on top of her nest more then anything but flys about the cage alot.

she is quite difficult to find out her issue since she acts normally aside from the beak breathing and that she never makes any sounds.
i tried steam baths every other day thinking her nose is blocked up or maybe the mites are inhibiting her breathing but her mate hasnt shown any signs of mites or even scaly face. to be safe i have treated him as well but hes as far as i can tell he is healthy as can be. ill post a new photo of the cage and both this sick finch and her healthy mate so you can see.

[CathyCraftz]

Yes the cage is very dirty and needs to be cleaned more often. Birds can easily get infections and so on from dirty cages.
Separate it from its companion in case it is contagious.
Steam baths do not work on birds! I believe it's air sac mite.

[Yellowpurple]

Dr.castiel - I can tell u care about ur bird when you've been doing so much for it.
In a weakened condition the bath cup looks too deep.
Even for the size of the bird a shallower bath is best, about 1/2 inch of water to 1 inch max with minimal sides to made it easy to get out of when wet, especially when weak 1/2 max.
Be careful of chill after she bathes and best to give bath dish only when present in case she can't get out of it plys u can see her reaction after if she looks worse or better.

I don't know about air sac mites except what I read.
I bought a bird recently and had to return to breeder next day because of constant gasping and clicking with beak open.
Now a week later her sister is showing signs of being sick.
Air sac mites r very contagious and often deadly.
Please take care that she is not in contact with other birds.

I myself I'm concerned that these 2 sisters have or will cause all my otger society finches to becone ill too.
This last sick one is distancing herself from all the others and didn't even want to sleep with them. But I push her to go sleep with them and I'm not sure from reading about air sack mites that i did the right thing.
Sick birds also stress out their owners who want to help make them well without endangering all the healthy birds.

Have u tried vitamins to try to boost her immune system.
From reading it sounds like when birds are stressed or weak air sac mites can multiple faster.

[MariusStegmann]

I am sure yellowpurple is correct and that the bird has airsac mites. Treat with immediately with moxidextin or scatt.