Mysterious female deaths :(

[artgecko]

Hello all,

It's been a while since I've posted and I'd like input on the deaths of my canary females... To give a little background first:
I purchased 2 sets of canaries from the same breeder at 2 different bird fairs. The first set was purchased about 1.5 years ago and the second about 1 year ago. At the first bird fair, I also purchased a pair of English budgies and later purchased another pair of parakeets (from a pet store roughly 8 months ago). In all cases, birds were treated with mite treatment and wormer and went through quarantine for at least 1 month before being placed in the bird room.

Room has a natural light cycle, highest temp is 80f in summer and coolest is 60f in the winter. All birds are fed a quality seed mix (Abba canary) and have access to pellets (roudybush), a cuttlebone, mineral block, crushed egg shell, charcoal, and grit on a daily basis. Water is changed daily, paper is changed daily. Fresh veggies and egg food given twice a week.

As to the deaths. The first 2 females were purchased together. They were both American singer canaries and I did not inquire about their age when purchasing. The first had to be euthanized about 8 months after purchase due to a broken wing and refusal to eat / drink (in hospital cage setup). The other female from that pair died last night... Was acting ill and not wanting to leave the bottom of the cage for over a week (put into hospital setup with additional heat and supplements), she would still hop around, eat, drink, etc. but would not fly to upper perches often. Condition seemed stable until found dead this morning.

From the second set (2 females: American singer and color-bred and a male Fife), the male is fine and singing, the color-bred is assumed a mis-sold male (started singing about 4 months ago) is also fine and active. The female from group died about 5 months ago... No symptoms, just found dead one morning.

All females were laying eggs frequently the year I purchased them. After that, less frequently. No discharge, blood, external wounds, sores, etc. or breathing issues seen.

None of the other birds, either the male fife, the *male* color-bred, or any of the budgies (1.3) appear to have any health issues whatsoever. Other than the purchases mentioned, I've had no other birds in or out of the collection and I have not handled any outside birds.

I'd like your input on whether this seems like it could be contagious illness or if it sounds like egg-binding?

If egg-binding, please let me know what in my feeding routine, etc. might be changed to help the issue... Neither female had a visible prolapse, but I'm not sure if I'd see that in an egg-bound female.

If contagious, is there a possibility of a disease being carried by budgies that would not effect them, but would effect canaries? Particularly only females?

Also, is there a possibility of old-age or weak lines / in-breeding being at fault? I do not know the age of these birds when purchased and also, the woman that bred the 3 American singer canaries that died is married to the breeder of the fife and color-bred (that are still seemingly healthy). I am guessing they don't cross these breeds, but probably house them all in one compound.

If you have any input or ideas, I'd love your feedback... I'd like to get this solved as I would love to work with canaries or another species, but want to remedy any possible issues on my end first.

[Sheather]

It sounds like you've done everything right and just had the misfortune of obtaining birds with unforeseeable health issues.

[Flight Feathers]

I am very sorry to hear of your loss and I hope that you have more luck next time you get canaries.

It could be old age or weak genetics? Or could they have been retired breeding canaries? Otherwise they could have been sick, but I am not sure that a budgie could pass on sickness to a canary. But you canaries also could have had health problems/conditions when you got them. Only they wouldn't have shown this because birds only look sick, once they are really sick as they are very good at covering sickness. This would explain how one died with no warning that anything was wrong. There are various things that can go wrong, but I don't think it was your fault at all! And I don't think they all died from the same thing.

[artgecko]

Thank you so much for your input! I'm glad to hear that it doesn't seem that I'm missing something in my care routine. They all died months apart, so it is probably correct that they may not have passed form the same thing.

I may try to get another female fife, as the male is my favorite, but I'll probably try another species for breeding unless I can find a different breeder to get birds from.

[Flight Feathers]

Wishing you the best of luck with finding a new female canary or a new bird species to breed!

[adoumski]

artgecko sorry to hear that but it does happen, could be weak genes, over bred, old birds, caught a sickness....

good thing is your birds are getting a good balanced nutrition and got dewormed and treated for mites.
i will advise you to also treat your birds for coccidiosis when u first get them, and every 6 month do a routine treatment.

best of luck

[artgecko]

artgecko sorry to hear that but it does happen, could be weak genes, over bred, old birds, caught a sickness....

good thing is your birds are getting a good balanced nutrition and got dewormed and treated for mites.
i will advise you to also treat your birds for coccidiosis when u first get them, and every 6 month do a routine treatment.

best of luck

adoumski- Thank you so much for the feedback! Could you recommend a good treatment to use for coccidiosis? Also, would birds need to be re-treated even if housed indoors?

[adoumski]

artgecko you are most welcome.

try a brand for avian use sold in your area. they should work.

and i do treat my birds housed indoors once a year just to be safe.

[Flight Feathers]

I just give my birds collidal silver, which helps prevent illness etc so you could try giving them collidal silver. I'm thinking of starting to give it to my birds daily to improve breeding results, and improve my birds health etc.