Lady Gouldian can’t fly

[kurens]

Hi everyone.

I recently bought couple birds from Florida,found them on hoobly classified and I placed my order. They were shipped to Chicago through USPS.

Long story short from the beginning young chick couldn’t fly more then 2 feet high.
I contacted seller after day or two about issue with bird and I was told thst she’s going through molt and I should treat her with Ronivet...and I did.

After 2 weeks or so I decided to inspect her wings because she wasn’t any better and to my surprise she’s missing half of center feather on both wings.

Can anybody advice how to rescue this poor bird?

I already opened case with PayPal due to no communication from seller whatsoever.

Here are some pics.

Thank you

Peter

[paul-inAZ]

This almost looks like the wings have been clipped.

At least you were lucky they got there in otherwise good shape. USPS is not the best way to ship that distance. I don't know the status now but weren't small birds illegal to ship by mail recently?

[FinchLady]

Clipped wings was my initial reaction as well. Local pet shop with open topped Budgie bin clips wings exactly that way. Although I have never heard of clipping finch wings- only Budgies.
I was also wondering about regulations prohibiting shipping small birds USPS. Any current information?

[vafa]

aside from the issue of mailing them this way,...this is not 'clipping' their wings, actually their wing feathers have been 'broken'. i have zebra finches myself and some of them tend to break their wing feathers or even tail feathers just in this manner every once in a while and have problem flying. so they keep just walking on the floor or jump a bit.
so dont worry. these broken feathers will fall on their own and be replaced with new ones in a while. wing feathers take a bit longer to grow back but they definitely will. one of my finches once got its wing stuck in a small space and broke some wing feathers badly....bled too. but thankfully it all grew out again.
in case the tail feathers also are similarly broken, you can use tweezers and carefully pluck out the broken ones. but dont do this for the wing feathers at all because it will lead to bleeding and you definitely dont want that.
good luck

[kurens]

Thanks for response,I will inspect tail feathers too.

Looks like I will have to wait and hopefully it will grow back.

I didn’t see any parts of feathers in shipping box and unfortunately seller is blaming me for her condition.

Thanks again.

[Icearstorm]

kurens

It could have been clipped, but the messiness and angle of the broken feathers make me think otherwise. I once got four societies from one person and one of them had its wings messed up like that while the others had no wing damage, so clipping seemed unlikely. I'm guessing that they were kept in overcrowded situations and got broken, or the shipping could have done it like vafa said. White feathers have no melanin or other pigments and may be slightly weaker as a result, which could have made breakage more likely.

Some people use a method called imping to fix broken feathers, but it would probably be impractical on a bird that size. Just put food and water a bit lower down for easy access, and wait for the bird to moult out and be able to fly again. Also make sure it doesn't fall out of the cage while you are cleaning. That's what happened to the broken-feathered society I had, and I didn't realize until I found the dog had killed him...

[paul-inAZ]

The US mail allows shipping of disease free adult birds with NO food or water, in a USPS shipping container sold by the post office. With a lower limit of 6 ounces per bird that would preclude all finches which weigh 1/2 oz. to well under 1 ounce [14 to 28 grams]

Some of the post office regulations:
Adult birds must be properly packaged and able to sustain shipment without food or water because liquids, moisture, and loose foodstuffs can cause damage to the shipping container, other mail, and Postal Service equipment during transport.
526.42 Mailability Requirements
Adult birds are mailable only when sent under the following conditions:
❖ The shipment is mailed using Priority Mail Express service.
❖ Each bird must weigh more than 6 ounces and no more than 25 pounds.
❖ The number of birds per parcel must follow the container manufacturer limits.
❖ The mailer must secure containers approved by the manager, Product Classification (see 214 for address).
❖ A mailing container must be used that is constructed by a USPS–approved manufacturer