FINCHforum

hello everyone-- just wondering if you could solve this mystery for me.
about 3 days ago i bought a male pintail whydah from a guy. i have a big aviary with a pair of orange weavers (male and female). the plan was to keep him in smaller cage for a couple of days next to the big cage before i put him in there with the others. this bird was in perfect health from what i could tell... he was eating and chirping and active. so today i put him in the cage with the others. they seemed to get along well! all three sitting next to each other on a branch. then i went to the library for about two hours and when i came back the whydah was sitting on the floor of the cage. i found this odd, so i walked up and to my surprise he let me pick him up. he had no physical evidence of trauma, but this bird was obviously unwell. he could barely hop around. within another hour he was dead. all i can figure is he was injured by my other bird? or did he have a disease that suddenly killed him? let me know what you think!
thanks!

Sorry to hear of your loss. I am not sure what could have happened as it could have been any number of things. Sometimes if you add a new bird to a cage the others can be territotial. Hopefully that is not what happened, but if it was weavers..... possibly.

Anytime you get a new bird you need to isolate it for 3-4 weeks Birds can mask their illness so you may never know if it was sick. Perhaps someone else will chime in soon and have more to offer here.

Again, sorry for the loss of your bird.

I can only echo Donna's statement - I don't know either - too many possibilities. But I too quarantine all new birds for 30 days well away from existing birds in the home - in a different room and if possible on a different floor. New birds rarely show illness in the first 2, 3 or more weeks, until they settle in and are comfortable in their new home. I'm sorry for your loss.

I agree with the others--there are too many things that could have gone wrong. If he was attacked by the other birds, you would expect to see some trauma--could they have just chased him to death? A pair of Weavers would probably be very territorial about the aviary, since they were the only occupants before.

In the case of illness, birds are very good about hiding it, though you usually at least see them puffed up and showing signs for perhaps a day before they pass, not just a few hours.

The others have given good advice about quarantine. When adding a single bird to a couple, you have to be extra careful, as trios often don't work. There is some good advice about introducing new birds at the Finch Information Center, linked at left.

Sorry I can't help you more, and sorry for your loss.

hey guys thanks so much for the input
i hope he didn't have something my others could catch. next time i get a bird i'll definitely quarantine it for a lot longer. i'm thinking i'll just get some more female weavers, just in case his death was due to bullying.