FINCHforum

Just joined and already posting about a possible ailment. Ah well. This is really getting to me.

One of my white zebra finches, Carrie, just doesn't seem...well to me. Now I've only had for about a month but something seems off.

I've seen her do a little open mouth breathing but its rare. She's missing some feathers on both sides just above her wings..kinda below the 'shoulder blade' area. Hard to describe. I'll have to look for my camera.

She eats and drinks and baths just as much as Mariah does. She preens a lot, they both do, but I don't know what's normal for that breed.

The weirdest thing is that even though she seems fine outside the nest every time she hops inside it, she makes this weird hoarse cry. She sounds normal outside the nest.

Inside the nest there is still an egg that I don't think will ever hatch. (The girls are fostering it.) Is it possible she knows it won't hatch and is upset by that??

I'm sooo confused. Help a new finch mama out, please??

Hi Frannie, welcome to the forum. First off..... do you have her in other finches, how many and what size is your cage?

I would wonder if the other birds are plucking her feathers? Also, she could have mites. Did you just get this one and add it a month ago to othe birds? If you could give us a little more info that would help.

Donna

My female finch, leela (she is a zeb), only recently started to "open her mouth to breath," as you stated. She is on the 4th day of laying eggs. My personal opinion to the open mouth breathing is that she is in fact not breathing but more prepared to make a call or a warning to me if i get close. When i have my back to her doing something else, she is just great. But if i stick my head in close to the cage to peer into the nest, she gives me the one eye stare down and opens her mouth. When she does make a little beep or small cry, she is typically calling the male. Who is sitting outside of the next, like a guard. The instant she beeps, he beeps loud and quite a few times while looking up at me. So i would guess for you, its just her calling for backup and a warning to get away from her little egg.

Reading your introduction, you said you have young siblings and the finches act like the devil when your siblings are around. I suspect that this is putting high stress on the birds, thus the loss of the feathers. I might suggest moving them up higher or away from high traffic or just not letting your siblings see them as often. Make sure they arent shaking or taping the cage either.


This is all just a guess but it seems to make sense and i am not too concerned with my girl zeb doing the open mouth thing.

Hello!

Yes she is in a cage with one other finch. They came from the same home. The two came from my sister's friend's mom's house. I was told she has at least 10-15 so she had no problem giving away a pair of females.

I worried she might have mites and bought a bottle of Scalex just in case. But I don't want to use it if it's not necessary.

Hmm.. I never thought about it like she was about to make a call. Just in doing research I've read on different sites that its not good when they do that and that it could be air tract mites. But she doesn't make a clicking sound.

Even as I type this she's in the nest making this soft, hoarse little cry. Every so often the one outside the nest will peep back and go look in the nest.

Maybe I'm worrying over nothing. But they used to be so loud! Making their little 'MEH' peep all the time and now they're quiet and it worries me.

Well the girls are kept in my room. Not hardly a high traffic area. The door is kept shut. But every so often my sister will come in to ask me something and you'd think her forehead was stamped '666.' I guess they don't like teen angst?

Is it possible she's plucking her own feathers for the nest? Because it looks like she's tossing out all the hay from the nest.

Oh yeah cage size.. Hmm I'm not really sure about that. I can't find my tape measure. I'd guestimate it at being 18-24" h x 12"w x 16-18" L.

Okay. I know I just posted but I think maybe they do indeed have mites. I just watched Mariah rub her face against the perch dowels a lot and scratch both sides of her head like a dog with her feet.

And I finally got a decent look at Carrie's wings and there's more feathers missing than I thought. It looks very red and irritated. So with this scalex are there any extra precautions I should take??

I know take out all food and water and basically spray everything. Try not to spray their faces but that's gonna be hard as hell considering they.. you know...don't sit still.

Do you think they came here with mites? My poor girls. I dunno how they coulda picked it up...

Before I spray them though. Is there a way to check for mites? I mean. If I caught one would I be able to see it?

Frannie, I am sure they probably had the mites when you got them.
I would go ahead and spray them. If you can catch them up and try to cover their eyes before you spray them.

Spray the nest really well, all around the cage. Remove the food and water dishes, wash them really good in hot soapy water before you put them back into the cage. Then you will need to repeat this in about ten days.

If you can't catch them to spray (it's hard to hold on to one, and spray at the same time....) just try to spray in short bursts. And try not to drench their faces. It's impossible to not get their faces, but just do your best. I haven't heard of anyone killing them yet when spraying for mites.

If the friend's mother has a lot of finches, it's possible they already had the mites when you got them, for sure. Overcrowding or large numbers of birds means a busy finch keeper might not notice the symptoms as quickly as you did with just the two to keep track of. Some mites might be visible as tiny red dots, moving around under the wings. If the scratching stops after you've sprayed, then it was mites.

Wouldn't hurt, if this is the case, to ask your sister's friend to let her mother know. Doesn't have to be in a critical way or anything. But she might just not know the symptoms. Anyway, if she hasn't treated her birds for mites, it sounds like she probably should, too. It's only fair to let her know. But best make sure that the spray does the trick, so you are sure that was the problem. Good luck.

If they have feather mite you should be able to see these under the wings,if your eyesight is good.
If it's red mite..these only come out at night and leave the host during the day.Check under the nest material..if you see black dots in the nest box rub them with your finger..mites will leave a bloody trace.
If you spray your birds it's easier if you have help...get a friend to spray the bird while you hold it secure and spread the wing...this is the best way of avoiding the eyes.
If you really want to stop mite...get S76 from the Lady Gouldian site...it's very good ...lots of breeders in the UK have it sent over especially...at great cost.
But...it may not be mite after all....if you're lucky

I just finished my epic attack of the mites. Well. Not really sure they had mites cause my vision is horrible and even after I caught Carrie I couldn't really see anything. But like I said. Horrible vision. So I started the tedious task of taking things out and I decided to wash the nest and lo and behold! I think I know why Carrie was making those hoarse sounds.

She laid an egg!

Her egg was lots smaller than the other one in there. The one I'm fairly certain died. Its been 20 days I think and it hasn't hatched. Don't think it will. :/ Bummer.

I couldn't catch Mariah so I just sprayed her in the cage with short bursts. They seem to be almost yelling at me every time I look at the cage so they're very not happy with what I did. Though, I haven't seen them scratching so they'll just have to get over it.

I'm definitely going to get some S76 and use it as a preventive. Just have to wait for payday.

Yes I think you can safely assume that egg was no good. They usually hatch in 12-14 days according to the Finch Information Centre. So you can toss that 20 day old egg.

And since you've had the two girls for over a month... that new egg will be no good either. (That is, if you're positive she gave you 2 girls.) Do they both have orange beaks, or does one have a red beak?

I think if you have two girls, you should probably just remove the nest. She'll only keep laying eggs and that can be hard on her health. They will be just fine without a nest. And one less place for mites to hide. They will roost on the perches to sleep at night. If they're nervous, give them a bit of silk ivy in the cage, or on top of it, to make them feel safe at night.

Do you have natural branch perches, or are you using the dowels that come with the cage? You've maybe read enough on here to know already, but just in case you don't... toss the wooden dowel perches you have. They are just plain bad for their feet. Or at least provide one natural branch as well, so their feet get some exercise instead of always clamping on to the same smooth perch.

Also, the cage you have is probably a bit small, but since it's two girls, they'll probably be OK and won't fight. But they would still definitely benefit if you can eventually move up to a bit bigger cage. Check out this link and you'll see what size cage they should actually have, if you can afford it, and can make the room for it:

http://www.finchinfo.com/housing/cage_size_calculator.php

Hope they are going to feel a lot better now that they've been treated for the mites. Let us know how they're doing, and if they forgive you for the indignity!

just to confirm the hoarse sound.... My female madw those noises today when she laid her egg. I thing it is like labor sounds. As for the feather loss.... If u didnt find mites... Consider they are stressed and putting them higher up or something along those lines

Well. Since spraying them for mites, and trashing the nest, they're back to their loud, happy selves..! They happily wake me up in the morning all bright and early. No sleeping in for me..!

Heh, they're so cute. Especially when they sleep all cuddled together.

Right now they do have the dowel perches. Only because I have to wait until payday tomorrow to get them something decent to stand on. Same with the cage. It's just going to have to do until I can afford something bigger and have bigger space to put it in. :/

Birdie labor sounds.. wow. Well, at least I can say I know what that sounds like now..!

It looks like Carrie's feathers are filling in. Its far too stressful for both of us if I try to catch her to make sure so I'm just going to watch from afar.

Thanks y'all for being so helpful and keeping me from going insane..!

Glad they are feeling better.

You don't need to go to the pet store to buy perches. You can just use some branches from native trees. (I'm really lazy and just pick up branches that have fallen from our maples after a wind storm.)

Just give them a wipe with water and plain old vinegar, then rinse with plain water and let dry, and cut to the desired length. Free, and they look nice and natural too. If you leave the bark on they will give the birds good grip. Just don't use too thick a branch. 3/8" to 5/8" would be OK. My birds are small so I stick to the smaller end of the scale.

The FIC link has a list of safe trees on there somewhere.