Finch squinting

Finch Fry · Post by **Finch Fry** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 1:45 pm

I have an adult female zebra who is squinting in her left eye.

It was noticed yesterday. She has just finished raising 2 young and she and her partner seem to be getting ready for some more baby action. They wiggle their butts and ruffle their feathers pretty fast. The 2 babies are on the verge of fledging and only the dad seems to feed them. Although, the mom does on occasion, but the male seems to be doing the bulk of the work feeding the babies and weening them.

So that was all just some background to give a bit of a history on this subject, but my zebra hen is squinting is what is concerning me. Anyone have some ideas?

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 1:49 pm

I had a gouldian that did that for a while. It stopped after a day or two. I never knew what it was. Sorry, I know that doesn't help, but perhaps yours will stop too.

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 1:54 pm

Chris
I really don't know of any thing that would make them squint other than maybe scratched it or some kind of irritations,someone else will add to this I hope. Here is a good link for you to keep about finch illness
http://www.finchniche.com/f-sick.mgi

Finch Fry · Post by **Finch Fry** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 1:57 pm

ok. I am hoping its just she poked her eye a little bit and it will be better in a few days.

My gf is a doctor (a human doctor, not a vet) but I had her do some background searching and she came up with all of these crazy possibilities. I cant even spell the stuff she said but there seems to be all types of eye drops and ointment solutions.

Before I stress her out though, I think I am going to wait a day or 2 more and see if it gets worse or better....

For now I am going out to buy a little lamp and put it on the corner of the cage.

(I cant believe how attached I am to this little finch, its really ruining my day how upset I am over her squinting!!!)

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 2:18 pm

As long as she is acting normal otherwise (eating, flying and generally happy) then I wouldn't worry too much. But if she starts being fluffed and sleeping more - then I would worry.

A heatlamp might be nice for her for a couple of days - good idea.

franny · Post by **franny** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:47 pm

Hopefully it's just a bit of dust got in her eye. Especially if it's just the one eye. It will probably get better on it's own. Good luck.

Finch Fry · Post by **Finch Fry** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 2:50 pm

Well, she still isnt better. But it doesn't seem to be getting worse.

She looks like a pirate, with a squint in one eye, you know.
I have read at finch niche and lady gouldian finch . com's that this could be a chlamydia of the eye. They suggest antibiotics. And unfortunately, they suggest a set of probiotics afterward to regenerate the dead good bacteria caused by the antibiotics.

The set is gonna cost me 35 almost + shipping and I think I am gonna 2 day or 3 day it (so another 10 or 15, for a total of 50) because I cant let Leela die or loose an eye on account of me being a stingy dude. *sigh* I still should be able to recoop my money to buy a cage and pair of stars in Atlanta in 2 weeks.

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:53 pm

Where are you ordering this from? Try ladygouldian.com. They can ship out of Atlanta and you should get it in two , three days without that extra charge. Too bad it's not closer to the bird fair and you could have picked it up there. It is a good idea to have these things on hand....

Hope she gets okay!!

Finch Fry · Post by **Finch Fry** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:24 pm

Me TOO!!!!!

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:46 pm

How is the little bird doing?

Finch Fry · Post by **Finch Fry** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 10:22 am

I will be honest with you. The last few days have been a nightmare.

Once Leela and Fry stopped brooding the hatchlings cause they had their own feathers, they started getting frisky and in the mood. Well, Leela accepted Fry's advances and gave him the green light. Fry wasted no time.... This happened on Saturday, the day I noticed Leela with the eye squint.

However, since Friday, Fry has been getting REALLY aggressive. He is always picking at Leelas tail feathers AND picking at her face. I wonder if he in fact hurt her eye and that is why she has a squint. Anyways, he started getting quite aggressive not only with her but with the hatchlings. They are scheduled to fledge today (Tuesday) but were both basically pushed from the nest quite early, I would say becasue of Fry being aggressive and wanting the nest again for babies. He goes into the nest to try to build it, its clear as he rips up newspaper and looks for whatever he can to build the nest.. but he wants those babies out so he can do his work....Well, he got his wish, they fledged on Friday and Saturday. Now he chases them around the cage and picks at them and picks at Leela. I only have 1 back up cage, which purpose is a hospital cage if I have an issue or the juvie cage once they are weened. Well, I have too much happening, I need the cage for Leela to put her in hospital mode, but Fry is too aggressive with the juvies. They huddle in the corner and close their eyes ,he wont let them eat or drink or stay on the perches. So.... last night I got tired of his aggressive behavior and he is in jail. He is in the back up cage now. I tell you, this is probably the best situation for the finches, the babies and Leela are SOOO calm. They all 3 sit together under the big heat lamp and cuddle up. Leela feeds them no problem. The babies are free to fly about the cage now and explore and perch and learn to eat on their own.

Fry chilled out MAJORLY when he was moved away from the nest and Leela and the juvies.

The next issue I had was the nest... There is still an egg in it that never hatched and the nest is quite dirty from the last clutch. Problem is, kowing Leela and Fry got down to business on Saturday, I know Leela is gonna lay eggs by the end of the week. So I took the nest out, emptied it, scraped it clean, disinfected it, dried it..etc. and then i basically built the nest for Leela like fry wanted to. I put the nest back in. Let me tell you, the babies, they hesitated at first, but were so happy to have a nest back in the cage to sleep in, they hopped in and rearranged things and by the end of the night, Leela and both juvs were fast asleep in the nest. For the first time in days, all the birds are quiet, calm and happy.

My plan now is to keep Fry in detention until my meds come in the mail. At that time, I need to remove Leela to the back up cage, put Fry back in with the babies. It should be to the point where I can remove the nest and put it in the back up cage that Leela will be in. She can maintain her breeding routine with laying, incubating etc on her own while she undergoes full spectrum antibiotics and then probiotics. Fry will be fine to feed the babies and hopefully the lack of a nest and Leela will chill him out.

Finally, the most important question. Leela has not degraded in health whatsoever. She is fast, sharp, happy and cheerful and flies around. She does her motherly duties by feeding the babies. She only has a squint (I should rename her Pirate Leela). I also have not noticed any discharges around her nares or eyes... which is a good sign.

I think the kicker here is what I discovered last night when I cleaned out the nest. See, there were 7 eggs, 2 hatched and become awesome little juvies. But 5 didnt, but only 1 egg is now in the nest. So 4 of the eggs were broken by the hatchlings. Ok, thats fine. I will never know if it was DIS, unfertile blah blah. But the one egg that I took out, I wanted to candle it and open the egg (the egg is at this point 35 days old and not hatched). So, i candle it, i see a dark mass.... DIS. So I open it up and its an almost fully formed chick. The DIS mass looked like what my hatchlings looked like when they hatched. I thought long and hard, and I lost power the first day the eggs hatched. My hypothesis... the loss of power and my apartment cooling to 45 F within 12 hours and out of power for 24 hours.... i think thats what killed that potential baby.

Yah, its been a heck of a past 72 hours. I look forward to better days with my finches.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 10:42 am

Sounds like you're doing fine. You were right to remove the male and will not be able to put him back unless you remove the nest. If you remove the nest - then you can put him back with no problems. But it sounds like Ms Leela has it all under control.

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 2:06 pm

So sorry, but that is a zebra for you!! They have one thing on their mind all the time.....

I would keep him seperated for sure. Watch him closely if you put him in with the babies. Mama is not going to be happy being seperated from those babies. Is there any way to put off medicating her until afther the babies are weaned?

Finch Fry · Post by **Finch Fry** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 2:30 pm

dfcauley wrote:I would keep him seperated for sure. Watch him closely if you put him in with the babies. Mama is not going to be happy being seperated from those babies. Is there any way to put off medicating her until afther the babies are weaned?

When Fry and Leela are together, Fry seems to do the majority of the feeding of the juvs. So to that end, i have no concerns of babies not getting fed with Fry in charge. I am concerned at him picking at them. But if the nest AND Leela are not in the cage, well, not much to stimulate him into happy time and hopefully he will be much less aggressive.

Also, I can just leave Leela with the juvs. But, the squint has not gotten better..and to be fair, not worse... If it does not get better by the time the meds arrive, I will be inclined to start her immediately on the meds. I look forward and know I would only beat myself up if I lost her to not having started the meds earlier. Conjunctivitus can spread to respitory and permanently disable or kill a finch inside of 1-2 weeks. I wont risk her especially knowing that Fry may act normal and will feed the juvs, so long as he is not stimulated by the hen and nest being available.

I am still open to suggestions and listening to other experiences. In the end, however, I have to make the call and I will do that with all the info I get from everyone. I have a positive attitude though, i feel i am doing everything I can from my end.

Finch Fry · Post by **Finch Fry** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:54 pm

She laid her first egg of the 2nd clutch this morning...

This just keeps getting better and better.

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