Gouldian finch with 'shoebill'

[Stine]

Hi all
The pet shop that I work at bought 10 gouldian babies a few days ago. One of those has something strange going on with its beak. I call it Shoebill, since I think the deformity resembles the beak of a shoebill. The color is also quite off compared to the others, but I'm not sure whether this could be related to its head color, which might be yellow (looks black to me, but apparently the breeder told my colleague they were all going to be red or yellow heads)? There is one more with the same beak color and no deformity - its beak doesn't look as smooth as the others' though.
Googling beak deformities didn't turn up anything quite like his beak so I'm hoping someone on here can tell me what's going on.
My main theories right now are malnutrition or parasites. Google mentioned polyoma virus causing overgrown beaks and whereas I didn't notice this when looking at the bird I do think the beak looks slightly overgrown in the pictures.
Please let me know what you think:



Not the best pictures but the birds didn't particularly like having my camera in their cage so I hope you can make something of them.

[GouldianGuy]

need a flash

[wildbird]

A flash could damage their eyes.

[lovezebs]

Stine

It almost looks like there is something stuck on his beak in the one picture.

Have you grabbed him and taken a closer look at his beak?

Some birds slough off or shed bits of their beaks more than others. I doubt that it would be mites, because then they would probably all have the same issue.

I would make a recommendation to your manager btw that buying unmoulted Gouldian babies, is not a great idea. It's always better to purchase Gouldis after their first molt, when they are fully coloured.

[Stine]

I haven't grabbed him, no. I don't think there is anything stuck but I will take a closer look today.
The breeder had told them the birds had molted enough to tell the sexes. This made me believe they were quite a bit further in their molt than was the case - I can tell the sex for certain in 3 or 4 of them, maybe.
I was thinking a little baby feathers was better than none, as with none he could have given us old birds and we wouldn't have been able to tell. But yeah, definitely would have preferred them to be further in their molt. We'll see how it goes. I've started giving them egg food but I can't tell whether they actually eat the egg or just the seeds in the eggfood.

[debbie276]

Have a look at this site
https://ladygouldian.com/node/223
Towards the bottom you will see a picture of an overgrown beaK with "fang" and what a beak with polyoma like virus looks like.
That bird is going to be a YellowHead. You can tell because the beak has a yellow tip, Black and Red heads have red tipped beaks.
Way to young to be sold, hope all goes well and they don't over stress.

[sparrowsong98]

could the beak have overgrown? It happens in other birds, just not sure about finches.

[Stine]

It does resemble the picture of the one with a growth, just much worse and in a more deform way.. There isn't anything stuck to the beak, it's just the beak that has strange angles.
I could have sworn there were only two birds with yellow beaks yesterday. Today there were 3. And shoebill and one of the others ended up in a different cage with a heat lamp as they were repeatedly sleeping with their head under the wing in my presence while the others were eyeing me suspiciously. Shoebill was too easy to catch, he definitely needed to go to the sick cage. Both seemed to benefit from the heat lamp.
I appreciate your advice and thoughts on the matter. And I'll make sure we don't buy gouldians this young in the future.

[Babs _Owner]

Stine

All I could think when I saw the pictures, is inbred. I'm going by intuition only, mind you. Several generations.

[lovezebs]

Stine

Honestly I would not deal with this breeder again......moulted enough to be able to sex them, my foot.....

Is this breeder trying to say then that it's ok to sell them in the middle of their first moult when they are most vulnerable? That's just rubbish. Juvie Gouldians should not be in an stage of their moult when they are sold. They should be finished their moult, and in full adult plumage.

I hope they manage to get through their first moult, poor little kids.
Make sure they have hard boiled eggs in a seperate dish, not mixed with their regular seeds, and some nice fresh greens. I would also add a few drops of some high end vitamins to their water 2 or 3 times a week.

Good luck.

[Stine]

Unfortunately Shoebill died today His friend in the sick cage might be a little better so I hope he gets over it. The remaining birds look healthy, hopefully they will continue to do so.

[Sally]

Stine Just catching up with this thread. I'm so sorry you lost Shoebill, he probably didn't have a chance since he was sold too young. How are the other birds doing?

[Stine]

His friend is still in the sick cage as he still doesn't appear fully well, though I can't really say how he looks unwell either. I just don't feel he's ready to go back with the others - he's holding his wings a little low, not singing (the other males are), that kind of stuff. The other birds are doing very well and have really taken to the egg food I make for them (it's damn convenient to have button quail at the shop as well).
A customer offered us his 4 baby gouldians and I made sure to tell him they needed to be almost done with the moult before we could take them.

[Shannylee]

Stine Sorry you lost Shoebill. Hope his little friend pulls through. Do you have heat on the sick cage?

You guys wouldn't have believed the gouldian chick I saw in a pet store last week. He still had his baby feathers...no sign of coloring at all and short little tail feathers. All puffed up on the bottom of the cage. His parents were in with him but I doubt they were feeding him after being so stressed from being sold just as the baby fledged.

[Stine]

Yup, the sick cage has a heat lamp.
Actually the bird in there is starting to resemble Shoebill - I'm beginning to think Shoebill looked like he did due to not wearing the beak properly when he was feeling ill. The other one is getting a very long upper beak and also has some of the overgrown sides to the beak that Shoebill did.

Poor little baby birds - both the one at the petshop you visited and Shoebill the 2nd :/