Quarantine After Bird Dying

[Cpht]

I have a question in regard to quarantine after one of my female zebra finches suddenly died. She was perfectly fine the day before and Sunday morning I found her dead on the bottom of the cage. She was in a cage with my male (I had them as my breeding pair, hoping they would have some little ones). My male is lost without her needless to say. I have another cage with my other zebras and societies across the room and in the room next door my parakeets (my floor plan is open). I have no idea what happened to my Lila. I know birds are great at hiding illness, but I didn't see anything to indicate any illness. All I can come up with is she got scared of something or maybe was egg bound? Anyhow, my question is, how long before I can put another bird in with my male? 6 weeks? Could my other birds be in danger? I have already taken the cage apart and took everything out and disinfected everything just in case. Should I do a round of antibiotics? I don't want to lose any of my other babies. I know I could have taken her to have her tested to see exactly what I'm dealing with, but with my own medical bills and dogs going to the vet my budget is spread thin and that just wasn't feasible for me right now. Please don't think I don't care for my birds, it's just money is really tight and I'm doing the best I can right now. I just want them all to be healthy and happy. Any thoughts?

[FinchLady]

It's always sad and baffling to have one of our seemingly health birds suddenly die. But sometimes it happens. It is obvious you care about your birds and take very good care of them. Disinfecting the cage is certainly a good precaution. I'll let others on the forum with more experience with multiple cages advise you. Just wanted to say I'm sorry about your loss. Hopefully it was an isolated incident.

[wildbird]

No, don't give any antibiotics. Never medicate as a preventative. All medications have unwanted side effects. Since this happened so suddenly and no noticeable symptoms, it probably won't effect the other birds.

[Cpht]

FinchLady thank you. I cried so much. My birds are my babies. I'm going through a rough time right now and my animals keep me sane. I love waking up every morning to the sound of my birds chattering. My husband finds their noise obnoxious, but I think it's beautiful. He loves the birds, just not the noise! I really hope it was nothing contagious. I have a lot of time and money invested in these babies and I don't want to lose any more. They each have their own little personality. My little jewel is my male society finch. He will sing and puff his chest out and hop around trying his best to flatter my female. He actually is the most "tame" of all of my finches and has personality plus. He actually sings to me (at least I think so). He gets really excited when I come up to the cage and he absolutely loves when I fill his little bathtub and I can hardly get it attached to the cage before he gets in and splashes away. I just love it! Sorry if I'm rambling, I've had birds all of my life, but only in the past year did I decide to get finches. Needless to say I am hooked, I can't imagine what life would be like without them!

[Sally]

Cpht So sorry you lost her. Unfortunately, we often have no idea what happened when we lose one of our birds. To be honest, even with a necropsy, vets often can't say what happened either, and then you have spent money for nothing. I don't have necropsies done, just accept that this is a fact of having finches.

If you are getting a new female, then it is best to quarantine for at least two weeks. If you are just moving one of your current females in with the male, you can do that whenever you are ready. Just keep an eye on them as they settle in and get used to each other.