Open and closing beak female society.

[Makufye]

I have a female society who is opening and closing her beak. She is eating and drinking and is not puffed. I can't catch her to take her to the vet. What do I do? I don't hear clicking. She is laying eggs but this is new. Any tips?

[Makufye]

I did call the emergency vet. I got half way there and they called me back to say that the emergency vet on call doesn't do birds. Great. So I have her covered in a warmer room (we blocked the a/c vent and covered it.) she is cuddled with her cage mate. She is acting normal other than this which makes me wonder if it is behavior. I have no idea.

I would appreciate any thoughts.

[cindy]

closing off your air vent is not going to work... if egg bound you need a heat lamp (direct heat...between 80 to 85 degrees in one area of the cage for her to go to and get away from) if she is egg bound you need liquid calcium.... you need to drop a drop to the side of the closed beak, it will seep in, a drop an hour try to get at least three drops in her... the dry warm heat from a heat lamp will help most.

[cindy]

if you do not have avian liquid calcium you can use humane grade liquid calcium (drug store) only in emergency situations.

[Makufye]

Then she is going to need to go to the vet because she is too feisty for me to do this.

So you think she is egg bound?

[Makufye]

You are very smart. I drove her to the vet. While I was talking to the tech, she popped out an egg and promptly ate it. We are still waiting to be seen but she has eaten several meal worms, some millet, had a few drinks, and is grooming and singing.

I am still going to talk to the vet who I am sure will have some good suggestions for me. But hopefully she is now ok.

[cindy]

sounds like egg binding.... sounds like she is doing much better. Societies do not need meal worms or high protein like other species...waxbills do.

[Makufye]

I don't give her meal worms every day, nor millet. They are more of a treat and when I think she needs more calories (like when she is acting off.)

She seems fine now. The vet said she recommended not stressing her any more and said the only thing she might do is an x-ray but felt that it might not be productive as she would likely be hopping around.

She was preening and singing when we left. My kids are with her at my friends, watching her (my kids are teenage) and giving me regular reports (while I'm at work). The only thing the vet recommended was getting her on Harrison's. I have yet to have a bird who will eat it even when they don't get other stuff but I am willing to give it a try.

The vet also recommended putting her in my bathroom after the shower has run for a few days to make sure all is well.

I have another appointment next week with the regular avian vet (this was the daytime emergency one).

Thanks again for all of your help. I am surprised how much I love these guys. Plus I just lost my dog so I am feeling worried about my pets in general (dog had congestive heart failure. )

[cindy]

live food can open birds up to bacteria, fungal, internal parasites.... so make sure your substrate is clean, no wet areas from foods given for moisture.... and your source is clean... always when getting mealworm put them in a clean substrate and let them "clean" themselves off first before giving them to the birds... gut load them with nourishing foods before feeding to the birds.

[cindy]

Dampening the bird with steam... suggestion if you remove her from the steam allow her to warm up under a heat lamp.... people use the steam method for egg binding but once you move the bird from the steam and do not allow them to sit in a heated area to dry the bird becomes chilled and the muscle constrict not allowing the egg to pass... warm dry heat we found to work the best.

Understand about the dog, we just lost one of our cavaliers to MVD, the heart was so enlarged it filled the chest cavity... she functioned like a normal dog, had meds to control fluid build up... the cardiologist did not give her much past 2 months to live... she survived 6 months longer than expected.... her breathing the last day became very rapid when laying down, it happened fast, we had to say goodbye. She was doing normal dog things until the end. They do carve out special places in your heart.

[Makufye]

Mine died on my bed. Also a cavalier. Woke up and she was gone. We think she jumped on the bed and it was too much for her.

Good tips on the steam. I will be sure to do that. I buy meal worms in a dry substrate. Is there something else I should be doing with them?

[cindy]

remove them from the substrate they are in and let them clean off in clean bran flakes.

[Makufye]

Bran flakes like Raisin Bran (no raisins?)

That is amazing. Thank you for the tip.

She looks great tonight. She and her zebra friend are zipping around and eating and drinking and playing. Now I know. I also learned today that a friend of a friend is an avian vet. My kids were doing some childcare for my friend today and I told her our tale of woe. She said, oh, if you had called me lastnight, I would have called him!

Next time!

[cindy]

no raisin bran, that contains sugars... they make plain bran flakes.... you can find it in the baking aisle... one brand name is Hodge.

please keep in mind societies do not need live food to raise young... plain dried egg food or fresh egg food changed out every 2 hours during the day is enough protein, very complete for societies raising young or molting. Egg food is not required daily unless molting or feeding young

[Fraza]

Wait I do not think this is egg bound as my bengalease does this if I am in the room whilst she is near the eggs I have researched and it is just a defence