FINCHforum

I'm puzzled and a bit concerned about a new female zebra that is in quarantine.

She periodically pumps her rump like she is trying to push something out.
But she poops just fine, based on what I see on the bottom of the cage, so that does not appear to be the problem.
I was concerned that it might be an egg. So I gave her liquid calcium in her water and egg shells. She has been doing this periodically for several days, so I don't think it is egg binding...or could it still be?

I don't know her age.

With egg binding, they usually look pretty ill. They will puff up, droop their wings, close their eyes, sit on the cage floor, just look miserable. Are you sure the pumping action isn't just normal movements while pooping?

I was watching her and she would pump, nothing comes out, then she would some times look at her butt/vent area. That is part of what got me concerned. What was she looking for, an egg?

When she does poop, she behaves differently. I don't see the pumping motion. She just kinda bends or squats, and it comes out.

At least she does not look like what you said she would if egg bound.
Her feathers look fine, and she hops about the cage and seems otherwise quite normal.

Although the other day, I did see her sitting on the cage floor, away from the lamp. Because of where the lamp is, down low, she will sometimes sit on the cage floor in front of the lamp.

When they are eggbound, it is hard to miss, they really look miserable and like they are in big trouble. Is she eating and drinking normally? What do her poops look like? There is an article on poop at www.finchniche.com (called poopology). Is it similar to flicking their tail? Some birds flick their tail much more than others.

She is eating and drinking normally.
I have to go study her poop, but I think it is OK.

Yes, I think her rump pumping is like flicking her tail up.
But I don't remember seeing her tail go up when she did that. I'll watch her again to see what she does with her tail.

Yes I have seen this behavior in birds before. I am not sure what they are doing. I also thought that it had something to do with pooping. They act like they are really forcing it. Possibly constipation? May be bird poots
If the vent is clear of any droppings and you put down paper (to observe the poop) and it looks fine then I wouldn't worry. If she continues to do it or gets worse you may want to worm, treat with broad spectrum antibiotic, probiotic ......
change of diet can mess with a birds system (do you feed pelleted food only?) sometimes it takes a few days to a couple of weeks.
I would keep her on a bland diet, seed, millet. no insects, no eggfood, no fruit or vegatables, no GRIT (did she consume a lot when you got her?)
I have seen some of my own finches that I bred do this..... they stopped on their own.... I wrote it off as constipated.

When I brought her home I offer her pellets...and she ate it. So I just kept feeding her pellets, no seeds.
Tried giving her egg, not touched.
She did not get any grit. But I did give her egg shells, which she did eat some of. I did not keep track of how much egg shells she ate.
Since I just put her in in quarantine, I did not want to give a lot of different foods just yet. Next was going to be different vegetables.

I will keep an eye on her.

thanks

If she wasn't used to eating pellets, they should have been introduced gradually. An abrupt change in diet could cause upset.

Those pellets could be the problem ...UK birdkeepers won't use them...you can't beat a natural varied diet of seeds.

poohbear wrote:Those pellets could be the problem ...UK birdkeepers won't use them...you can't beat a natural varied diet of seeds.

I agree with poohbear. I know pellets are easier for us as far as mess goes, but seeds are better for the birds. I have tried both.

I always attribute butt pumping (either after pooping, or just sporadically) to be the sign of either reproductive or digestive distress.

Oftentimes, in maiden hens, you will notice a serious change in poo behavior when they get close to laying their first egg. The poo often becomes sort of runny, and they do this butt pumping thing after they poo - their tails also sort of bob a lot when they are either close to, or in the middle of, laying - especially in the morning after having laid an egg.

With birds that have problems like yeast, protozoal or worm infections, I see the butt pumping thing as well.

The feed bin at the store had both seeds & pellets. Since she took to the pellets so fast, I figured she was used to pellets. I'll try adding some seeds to the feed and see what happens.

Tiffany
I don't know how old/young she is, but I was thinking about an egg. But I have not seen one on the floor of the cage...yet. Today is day 9 in quarantine. I figure if she had mated with another bird at the store I would have seen an egg by day 14. Unless as you said, this is her first non-fertilized egg.

I have the worm med, but have not ordered the protozoa med yet.

How long has she been doing the butt pumping thing? Since she's been in quarantine? Or has it started recently?
I find my hens start doing this when they are about 2-3 days away from laying their first egg, and it continues throughout egg laying until sitting begins.
Obviously, they are really going through a "labor" process when they lay, and creating the egg itself is very strenuous.
I think it's a good idea to provide the calcium - but I might give her a drop undiluted directly to the beak once a day rather than supply it in her water.
Maybe also provide a vitamin supplement daily - as this is a good idea when birds are getting ready to lay; sort of like gut loading insects, this helps produce large, healthy eggs and gives the hens body what she needs in terms of egg production and laying.

It may also be helpful to provide a soft food or some oily seed (nyjer, sesame, flax, etc.) because they're a bit higher in fat content.

I feel like if it was protozoal in nature you would be noticing some things with the poo - runny, bright green, sticky/tacky looking, etc.

I just noticed it a few days ago, so I don't know when she started doing it.

Hmm calcium once a day to the beak, I'm going to have to figure out how to catch her w/o taumatizing her so often. She gets excited when I put my hand in the cage.

I'll add the vitamins and seeds and see what happens.
I put the egg shells in a separate dish, so I can monitor it, and she has not eaten much of the egg shells over the past day or so.

update-1
I put the vitamins into her water and added seeds to her pellet dish.
Funny, at first she just looked at the seeds and seemed upset that there was "something else" in her food. Then after a few minutes of fluttering about she started eating the seeds. I'll have to look for the oily seeds.

update-2
I thought I had seed mix w nyjer, but it was a different dark seed.
She does not seem to be much of a seed eater, maybe the breeder raised her on pellets.
She picked at the seeds, but didn't eat much, so I gave her a piece of millet spray. She ate more of the millet spray than seeds out of the feed tray. I need to change her to also eat seeds since I want them eating seeds so they can feeding the nestlings, something I understand they have trouble doing with pellets.

I see the value of the quarantine process.
It is a lot easier with the one bird in the smaller cage than trying to deal with her in with the others in the bigger cage. I can tweak her diet and treatment w/o interference/disruption from the other birds.