Difficulty finding female cordon bleu...

Ravenlock · Post by **Ravenlock** » Sat May 05, 2007 11:11 am

Hello! I haven't been here in a dogs age. Hope everything has been going well for your birds!

I have a slight problem that I was hoping you guys could help me with.

I had a pair of cordon bleus. The female recently passed away and I was hoping to replace her with another. However according to the local pet store there is a ban or something on imported birds right now in Ontario Canada. I am unable to find another female. They say that the ban could be for quite some time.

1. So my questions are will he be alright by himself if this lasts for months? He is housed in a large flight with a pair of Owls, so he is not totally alone.

2. Would he bond with a society? I did that with my owl finch for a few months until I was able to find another owl.

Thanks for your thoughts!

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Sat May 05, 2007 12:04 pm

Losing a female CB seems to be a theme around here. TammieB and I have both had the same problem. A few months later, I lost an OC Waxbill as well, and the male CB and the remaining OC Waxbill have bonded quite nicely, and sleep cuddled up on the perch and everything. I suspect that as long as you put in a bird that is of the cuddly type (probably not a gouldian, not a black-headed nun, etc), he will make a friend and bond nicely. A society would probably fit the bill pretty well.

Sorry for your loss.

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Sat May 05, 2007 1:23 pm

OOH someone in.... Toronto... maybe Hamilton had CB's for sale. You should check, I think it was Kijiji or therecord.com, also if you don't mind the drive check with Exotic Wings and Pet Things in St. Clements, they have a lot of different birds.

Ravenlock · Post by **Ravenlock** » Sat May 05, 2007 8:30 pm

Thanks a lot! I feel bad for him as he is always sitting near the owls looking lonely...

I'm going to try some Toronto pet stores as well this week. One of the stores in Hamilton has a pair, but they are being sold only as a pair, so no help there...

I think if I can't find a female then I will just get a little society. There are certainly lots of those around here! Then if I do eventually find a female I'll simply move the society in with my other society pairs and get it a mate.
Thanks guys!

Sorry to here that this seems to be a trend lately...

Post by **Sally** » Sun May 06, 2007 1:37 am

Sorry for your loss. I don't know if this was your problem, but I had quite a time with my female CBs getting eggbound. I thought I was going to lose one of them several times, she looked so bad. I gave them a drop of liquid calcium right in the beak, and heat, and they pulled thru, but I decided to pull the nests and put them in resting mode for a while.

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Sun May 06, 2007 12:05 pm

http://kitchener.kijiji.ca/c-pets-birds ... dZ13388403
Here's that link!

Ravenlock · Post by **Ravenlock** » Sun May 06, 2007 4:07 pm

Yup she was eggbound. She had been eggbound 2x before and both times I took her to the vet and they were able to save her. This time though I was away for a few days and my mother did not recognize the signs.

She called me to say she was on the floor of the cage straining and that she has called the vet for an appointment, but she died before she could get her there. She didn't know anything about a hospital cage or calcium...
She felt so bad! I told her these things happen and that it wasn't her fault. Now she is afraid to babysit my birds!

She is terrified that something will happen to my Zoe(green cheek). She knows how much I love my fid! Anyway... such is life...

I had a female canary that used to have trouble laying. It was kind of funny, whenever I got to the vet she had laid an egg on the way. Eventually I just started driving her around in the car whenever she looked like she was in trouble. I guess it scared the eggs out of her!

Thank you for the link, but it said "site not found". I'll keep checking stores and see what I can find. I believe there is a store in the outskirts of Toronto that sells them if I could only remember the name....

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Sun May 06, 2007 5:00 pm

that's weird, if you go to the kijiji.com and under kitchener look under their bird section it's there

Ravenlock · Post by **Ravenlock** » Sun May 06, 2007 8:09 pm

Ahhh...That's better! Thanks.

bonkers · Post by **bonkers** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:38 pm

I had a pair of Cordon Bleu finches and during our last big ice storm (early December)--I lost the little female to being eggbound. It was dark in our house due to no electricity for 10 days and I just didn't keep a close enough eye on her until it was too late. I thought she just got chilled but later decided she had been eggbound when I found one egg had been layed in the fake plant leaves in a makeshift nest. She was eggbound once before and we pulled her through it. Why I didn't think of eggbinding when I found her that evening is not clear to me--except I thought she was chilled rather than eggbound.

Now I would like to find another female for my male, Mr. Boo. Will I lose him if I do not find a mate for him???? He sits and sings alot. I live in the very NE corner of Kansas and would like to find someone close that I could pick one up. All the pet stores in my area--Topeka, KS, St.JOe.MO, Kansas City area, Omaha, NE ---everywhere I check they tell me that they cannot obtain one for me.

If I cannot find a female---what do I do with my male???? I don't want to lose him too! Does anyone ever "loan" their bird to others??? I thought if nothing else maybe I could loan him to someone until I do locate a female.

ladylovesfinch · Post by **ladylovesfinch** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:05 pm

I am sorry to hear your sad news.
I have not had a hen become egg-bound, but I work with Flower Essences. They are for people and pets too! Bach Flower Rescue Remedy is recommended for egg bound birds. I would use the smallest drop. The wonderful thing about flower essences is that they are very gentle. If the remedy isn't going to work, it will not cause any other problems. I take them myself and give them to my kids, dogs & have given the Rescue Remedy (one drop in their water) when I've brought a new bird into the home. Rescue Remedy is for any kind of stress! It must help relax the bird enough to pass the egg. It can be found @ Whole Foods, etc...

All the best,

kiwi & mango · Post by **kiwi & mango** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:52 pm

Ravenlock

What pet store in Hamilton has them for sale. I am in Hamilton as well and was just looking at the stores the week between Christmas and New Year and I didn't see any.

Post by **Hilary** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:35 am

If you can't find a female CB, any cuddly finch will do for him (just not another male cb). I'm "birdsitting" a pair for Roger (since last May!) that is a male cb and a female society. They always sleep side by side at night even though they're in a large cage with other birds - very cute, and it's so obvious that they've bonded.

fairestfinches · Post by **fairestfinches** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:47 am

bonkers wrote:I had a pair of Cordon Bleu finches and during our last big ice storm (early December)--I lost the little female to being eggbound. Now I would like to find another female for my male, Mr. Boo.

Bonkers, we have LOTS of CB's that will be ready for new homes by the end of next month. While we are located in central IL, my parents live in the Jeff City area of MO and we travel there several times a year. I don't see why we couldn't bring you a CB on our next trip and meet you somewhere. Let me know if you're interested.

Will I lose him if I do not find a mate for him???? If I cannot find a female---what do I do with my male???? I don't want to lose him too!

We have a lone male CB and he's been just fine in a cage by himself for many months now. But, like others have posted, you could put a society or other passive finch in with him to keep him company as long as he's not aggressive toward the other finch.

Michele

Post by **Sally** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:12 am

Bonkers, since you didn't have any power for 10 days, I don't know that you would have been able to save your little eggbound hen. When I had eggbound hens in the past, I would give them a drop of calcium in the beak, but they always got extra heat, really warm. I would direct a heat lamp right at them, or put them in my hospital cage. I think the heat helped them as much as the calcium.

BTW, since I have improved their calcium intake with oyster shell, crushed eggshells, and liquid calcium, no eggbound hens.