FINCHforum

I have no idea what's going on. I have had a happy healthy bird family and now suddenly the zebras are dying off. I'm really upset, and I wish I knew what was happening. A few weeks ago, I moved them all into a new bigger cage. A few days ago, I found one of my females dead. At the time I suspected egg binding, as there was an egg wedged under her. Yesterday, one of my juvies was dead. Couldn't see any sign of injury. This morning they were all flying around happily. I just went to clean the cages, and there's a juvie on the ground, listing sideways, clearly dying. She looked injured, her tail was kind of bent upwards, and she was half on her side. I was trying to think of a good way to put her out of her misery, but as I watched, and I was only there for about 30 seconds, her life just slipped away. I'm so heartbroken, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong, they've always been so healthy. I am trying really hard not to cry, because I don't want my son to get upset, but it's hard.

First I would ask about your cage...... where did it come from and was it cleaned good if it had been used by someone else......

Apparently they have something that they are spreading to each other or...... are you burning candles of any kind?

Also has anything changed in your house such are painting, new flooring etc....?

I am so sorry for your problems Hopefully it can be figured out.

It is a second hand cage, but when I got it I took it on the balcony and washed it with a bleach and water solution, and threw out any accessories that came with it. I rinsed it repeatedly, and left it out there to dry. All the perches and whatnot are brand new.

I haven't done any work in the apartment, and I don't have scented candles, or anything else for that matter. The food dishes are all replaced daily, as I have many.

The only thing I can think of is that they're hurting themselves, as I've noticed that now that they have all the extra space, they're flying around like crazy.

I should mention that the canary cage is on top of the other cage, and the canries appear to be thriving.

So sorry for your losses, it's always tough to lose any of them. How old are your juvies? When you lose more than one at a time, the cause is often environmental. I don't think the cage would be a problem, since you cleaned it well and rinsed thoroughly. Could the canary cage on top of their cage be freaking them out? Juvies, especially, can hurt themselves very quickly when they panic. I would place the canary cage somewhere else and see what happens.

The juvies are almost 2 months old. I never thought about the other cage spooking them, since they used to live with the canaries (oddly enough, I moved them as the zebs were picking on one of the canaries). I'll move the cage. Right now they all look ok. They're all having a bath.

I meant to say too that when I looked more closely at the baby that died today, she had a very badly broken leg.

Sounds like the juvie caught her leg somewhere and in trying to free herself... broke her leg. Do you have the grate on the bottom covered with newspaper or removed altogether? Is there a night light close by to reduce possible nightfrights?

I'm so sorry for all your losses. Hope the rest are okay.

On this cage, the grate isn't removeable, so it's covered in newspaper. I live right in the middle of downtown in a highrise, so even at night it's not super dark in here, because I never close the blinds, the window is large, because, well, it leads to the balcony, lol.

I moved the canary cage, because I think Sally may be right. I noticed when I was changing the paper in the canary cage above, the zebs were freaking out. Now they're on a separate table, and they seem happy because they're all chirping away. And the finches seem to have more light. Thanks!

This is interesting as I see many pix of stacked breeding cages.
And I will have to stack mine, as I don't have the floor space to go side-by-side.
How can we minimize the "spooking" of the upper and/or lower cages when the cages are stacked?

I have 10 sets of stacked cages. I find as long as I don't have too many birds in the cages then they have more room to fly when they are 'spooked' when I'm changing the upper cages. If I have too many in a cage then they start flying into each other and the walls of the cage.

The top birds don't get spooked when I'm changing the lower cages as they can't see the cage beneath them. It's only when I pull the upper trays out to clean them that the lower birds get freaked.

FinchMommy - glad to hear you have newspaper on top of those grates - I do too. Best wishes for happy, healthier birds now.

Since moving the canary cage, not only are the finches more relaxed, because there's nothing above them, but the canaries are happier too, because they can see their finch buddies. The zebs seem to be very happy, and are less prone to panic when I go near their cage. Thanks all!

I am sorry for your loss.
I have stacked cages and wire floors. I do leave a light on through the night that puts out enough light that birds can return to their perches if frightened off in the night.
I have never had a bird caught in the floor grate. I have had them caught in a door bend or the side corner.

So sorry to hear of your losses But im glad thing are starting to turn around

I only have two cages stacked on top of each other but when I would change the tray on the cage they really went crazy in the lower cage so I cut A piece of plastic the same size as the top of cage and laid this on top between the two cages it did help as they don't see the tray moving when I am changing it [colorplast would be good to]