puffed up gouldian juvenile

[ac12]

Tiffany
This guy is one of the 3 that hatched...the BIG one.
It flies about fine, so it isn't lethargic.
But when it perches, about half the time (maybe more or less), it looks FAT. It puffs up its chest feathers. Room temp was about 68F, so I do not know if that was the reason. But it wasn't perching under the light bulb, where it knows the heat is, so I do not think that it was cold. So I'm not sure what is going on.

My YB has tight feathers, and the other 2 juvs might puff up a little, not not like the white chested one. It was puffed up before and looked a lot better after I put the 60watt lamps over the cage to provide heat. But then it started puffing up again, and just did not look right. So today I put it into a travel cage under an IR lamp to provide more heat than the 60w bulb could.

Just in case, I will be replacing the 60w bulb in the clamp on reflector over the main cage with a reflector lamp, which should provide more heat downward than the regular light bulb.

[CandoAviary]

Juniniles before/while moulting can be more fragile. Heat was a great choice. The bird may also have an infection. As juvies they chew on everything...may have eaten poop? Have you moved them to a new cage or location lately?
If the bird gets worse I would get some antibiotics in it. Hopefully the heat and rest from the others will help. I had just remove 6 gouldians from the foster soieties. The 4 older fledglings did great. The 2 slightly younger didn't. The yellow chick within 6 hours puffed and was trying to escape off to the corner for some solitude. They had plenty of heat. I put the bird back on with the societies and within an hour it was as normal as could be. I believe it was the stress of moving. I will try and move the 2 again in a week or two.

[ac12]

Movement history

These were eggs from Tiffany foster raised by 3 societies.

After they were weaned, I moved the 3 of them from the societies cage 14x32 into a 16x24 breeding cage. I noticed the WB juv was slightly puffy there. But not all the time.

About 4 weeks after they were put into the breeding cage by themselves, I had to separate my male YB from the female, after 3 abandoned clutches. I moved the 3 juvs + the male YB into an 18x30 breeding cage. The 3 were ganging up on the YB male, so I slid in the divider and separated the YB from the 3 juvs, then I put one of the juvs in with the YB, so it was a 1 on 1 situation. The other 2 could watch from the other side of the divider.

That was when I noticed the WB juv was again puffy. So I put a 60w bulb into a clamp on reflector and put it over the the cage. The WB went under the lamp, but so did the other 2. It seems a lot better, not being puffy, so I decided to leave the lamp up.

They got along, and after a week I removed the divider so all could intermingle and all was fine. The lamp was still above the cage. Then a couple days ago I noticed that it was puffy again. But it was puffy perched on a perch that was not under the lamp. If it was cold, it could go under the lamp for heat. After about a day, I decided that maybe I need to let it be warm, so I removed it into a small travel cage with an IR lamp over one side of the cage.

I noticed last night when it was sleeping that it was on the other side of the cage, not under the IR lamp. Its feathers are also nice and tight, and I have not seen it puff up at all. But then I have not seen it sitting still very much, usually it is moving about wanting to get out.

Yesterday, it wanted to be back with its sibling and was fluttering about the cage. Again today it is trying to get out of the hospital cage. I think if I keep it out, I think I need to move it to another room where it can't hear its siblings, and maybe it will calm down.

Both breeding cages have wire floors, so most of the poop is out of reach of being eaten. Yes I did notice that with the fledglings and juvs, they will eat dried poop. So I try to clean the newspaper bottom cages more often.

In addition to seeds and pellets (they eat pellets even w seeds in the cage), they have egg + feather fast almost every day.

I hope I gave enough info to help figure out what might be going on.

[CandoAviary]

If it was not under the light and active for the most part, trying to get out it does not sound like a sick finch. It could of puffed because of a slight chill temporarily. Most of my birds fluff some and tuck their heads while sleeping. Maybe the bird was just overly tired. I guess the best thing is just to observe and keep the light on so if the bird wants to get under it it can. Sick birds are not active.

[MLaRue]

What about the poop from this baby bird? Color, smell, consistency?

Does this baby have access to lots of spray millet?

Sometimes keeping the baby from the other siblings will cause too much stress if he/she may already be sick with something else. This will make it so the baby is not eating enough because he/she is frantically trying to get back "home".

[ac12]

Misty
The juv is getting a LOT of millet now. I think it went thru a whole spray in about the last day. I have to cut the millet into pieces to fit into the hospital cage, so it does not get the entire spray at once. But thanks for the info, as I had not thought of that it might not eat because it wanted to go "home."

I have to check the poop, I did not look carefully. And like a dummy I did not put a fresh newspaper under the cage, so the poop might be mixed up w poop from another bird that I separated while I was working on its cage.

[nixity]

Can you please describe in detail what you mean by looking "puffy"?

I have to say I think my juveniles spend a lot more time looking relaxed and comfortable, and this could probably be easily confused with being "sick" puffy.

But birds will also be fluffy when they are keeping warm, or sleeping, etc.

The kicker is that a sick bird will be noticeably lethargic and puffed, not moving about much, except perhaps to eat and drink - they will sleep much of the time, you will see a significant difference in behavior.

I am very hesitant to assume this baby is sick just because he might be a little fluffy sometimes - especially with temps around 68.
I think this would be normal and the baby is just fluffing some to keep warm.

[lovemyfinch]

Tiffany, you just answered the question that has been on my mind. I have noticed that the juveniles while resting or taking a nap do look puffy. Now I am glad to know that it is normal. Thanks

[Sally]

Some, but not all, of my juvies will not look as sleek and polished as I would like, and they sometimes spend more time sleeping than I like, but maybe it is like human teenagers--they need lots of rest!! My BCCB juvies are molting right now and really look ratty--I put a heat lamp on them, and they seem to appreciate it. They are also eating as much eggfood as a pair of parents feeding babies, so they really need a lot of protein while growing.

[ac12]

Tiffany
I knew I should have taken a pix of him before I moved him.
His chest would be a little puffed up, like he was trying to keep warm. And I only noticed the chest area puffing up. The entire body was not puffed up. I noticed this because when the chest feathers puff up, his head looks small in relation to its body. But I think you may have hit it. It is not lethargic and sleeping a lot, well it doesn't sleep significantly more that the other 2 juveniles. When it is moving about the cage, the feathers look fine. It is when it is perched that it puffs up.

I am bumbling about with only 2 references.
#1 is the adult YB, and when he is not puffed up, I wonder why the juv is. Interestingly, just as you mentioned, I do not see the adult puffed up very much. Maybe the juvs relax more.
#2 are the other 2 juveniles. I do see them puff up some, but because they are smaller than the BIG guy, I don't notice them puffed up as much.

Finally is the perception problem. Since I am worried about it, my mind may be exagerating what I see and think it is worse than it really is. I'm just being a worry-wart grandpa.

But it sounds like it may be fine, and I will put it back with its siblings tomorrow.

Thanks much
Gary