FINCHforum

Not sure if anyone remembers, but several months ago I placed 5 abandoned Shaft-tail eggs under Societies. They all hatched and were fine until about 10 days old. Two died the same day. The third one died a few days later, and then the last one died several days after that. I remember seeing a lot of large sticky feces in the nest that was yellow in color. I didn't really think much of it. A lot of feathers and nesting material was sticking to their bottoms.

Several weeks pass, I put other abandoned Gouldian eggs under them as well. 2 of the eggs hatched and were very close to fledging. They both died. Same yellow droppings and about the same 10-15 days of age.

A few weeks ago, I placed a few more eggs under them and 2 Gouldians hatched. They would be 17 days old today. Yesterday I looked in the nest box and something seemed very wrong with one of the chicks. It couldn't folds it's wings into their normal position and looked very uncomfortable. It died last night. This morning, the last chick looked normal, but not very lively. I came home from work and it died in my hands.

I had 2 pairs of Societies I purchased at Petco. Both pairs were successful in raising chicks to fledging. Figuring that if good things come out of 2 pair, why not have an extra pair just in case. I purchased a pair from a local birdmart. I believe this is when bad things starting happening. I did place all the societies together at one point to give them a rest from fostering and then back out to their individual breeding cages.

My long-winded point here is that it's important on who you acquire your finches from. I wish I would have noticed the obvious sooner and culled these societies from fostering months ago.

That's just awful news Jordan. So sorry for your losses.

Sorry for your losses Jordan. That's a shame that you had to find out the hard way.

Even though I got mine at a private bird store, I don't know anything about them but I would sware my trio are in the optimum of health and their babies look wonderful but it's scary that I wouldn't know for sure unless I used them to foster or have them tested. Also, by the way they care about their babies I would think they'd make wonderful fosters but have no way of knowing about that either. I hope I don't have to find out, I really enjoy just keeping them.

I know when Tiffany was here she was tempted to take a few babies but she was worried about that because there is just no way to know just by looking at them.

Since you mixed the pair from the bird mart with your other successful societies will they all have it now???

Renee

Is it possible to get them tested or is it to costly?

Thanks for the condolences...

I could get them tested at an avian vet. This disease is very common, not only in societies, but dogs, cats, fowl, and humans. By them all sharing the same water and nest (with feces in it) I can't help but think they all have it. I might be wrong, but I think I'll just get them out of the bird room and start with 2 from Petco. I know there isn't a guarantee that the birds from a pet store isn't going to be a carrier, but I'll start there. I'll call an avian vet to get a price on getting them tested and I'll let you all know.

Sorry for all your losses. Sometimes fosters prove more detrimental than helpful Since they can be carriers and not show any symptoms it is always a risk. I would assume that you could have a fecal smear done by the vet to see if they harbor it But not sure, I do not keep societies.

Sorry to hear of the losses, Jordan. It may be more economical to sell these as 'pets' and pick up a fresh pair as you said rather than pay $$? for testing.

Good luck and keep us posted.

What I would do if I were you is try to get a pair of societies from a Gouldian breeder that has their own stock of clean societies they use themselves.

This is what I did - the only two societies I use to foster I got from a woman getting out of Gould breeding who had used them many times before. They have raised about 3 successful abandoned clutches (~ 11 babies) for me over the last year and a half with absolutely no problems.

I am so paranoid about societies and these two diseases.. I have three others that I also got from a pet store (2 females and 1 male) that I got really to breed more societies and potentially as fosters, but I am too scared to use them and lose babies :(

Jordan
good luck with what you decide

Well I had never hear of this until on this forum. I was very, very blessed with the only three society finches I have ever had.

They have fostered just about anything I have thrown at them. No problems with birds dying... except for one time I lost some courdons. I do not think it was because of my society finches though.

They deserve the best of everything!
My pair have fostered owls, courdons and now a gouldian.

So the avian vet in my area charges $20 to run each fecal test. I've already decided last night to abandon these 3 and get 2 fresh ones from Petco. I'd like not have any Societies at all, but you know what happens when you don't have any available....you kick yourself for not having any when you really need them.

****edit. The vet called and made a mistake. This type of examine requires it to be sent out at the whopping cost of $102!!!

atarasi wrote:So the avian vet in my area charges $20 to run each fecal test. I've already decided last night to abandon these 3 and get 2 fresh ones from Petco. I'd like not have any Societies at all, but you know what happens when you don't have any available....you kick yourself for not having any when you really need them.

****edit. The vet called and made a mistake. This type of examine requires it to be sent out at the whopping cost of $102!!!

ouch! I think it would be cheaper to get some more from a reliable breeder.

Yeah I sure would not be going that route either! They'll make great pets for someone who doesn't need foster birds.

Yes, I'll make sure they go into good homes. They did, after all, raise a few chicks to fledging last year before I brought in that pair from the bird mart that caused the problems.

I'm off to the pet store to acquire 2 new societies. This time I'll stick with what I have or only purchase from reliable places that use them for fostering dryland species.

I'm just kickin' myself for not seeing the pattern of the chicks dying around the same age sooner.

Man this is scaring me.
I really need to get my act together to plan this out if I want backup fosters for gouldians.
- get 2 or 3 male societies
- do a trial foster using some of the eggs from a zebra clutch