Fledglings died

hayley87 · Post by **hayley87** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:23 pm

My first pair of finches successfully raised 4 chicks this summer, but this month they raised two chicks who failed to thrive after they fledged two weeks ago and sadly died yesterday. All conditions were the same, so is there anything I can do to ensure this doesn't happen again? They are kept indoors so surely the cold weather wouldn't have affected them much.

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:31 pm

hayley87 wrote:My first pair of finches successfully raised 4 chicks this summer, but this month they raised two chicks who failed to thrive after they fledged two weeks ago and sadly died yesterday. All conditions were the same, so is there anything I can do to ensure this doesn't happen again? They are kept indoors so surely the cold weather wouldn't have affected them much.

Was it the two chicks that died? First I would ask had you already taken them from their parents? Did they die at the same time?

hayley87 · Post by **hayley87** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:47 pm

Yes the two chicks they raised this last few weeks left the nest as usual and were being fed by the parents until they died, together overnight, but they were never able to fly and looked fluffed up and slept most of the time. When I found them dead in the morning they both had abnormally large lumps of what looked like undigested poo on their bottoms.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:52 pm

If they had undigested seeds in their feces - I believe that is a specific illness and not actually "failure to thrive". How long did you notice this condition?

I'm sure someone more experienced will be able to post and explain it to us.

hayley87 · Post by **hayley87** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 4:59 pm

I only noticed this very occassionally, maybe only twice since they left the nest. But from day one they were unable to fly, just made poor efforts as if their muscles hadn't developed properly. They made attempts at feeding themselves but mainly still fed from the parents. They just never seemed right once they left the nest and were never able to get back to it themselves, just sleeping on the floor most of the day and at night.

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:05 pm

So sorry to hear they died. I always hate to hear about everybody's little babies that don't make it....so many things can seem to just go wrong.

FINCHforum

Fledglings died

Fledglings died

Re: Fledglings died