New Pin-tailed Whydah and Gouldian!

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 5:02 am

I'll try to get some pictures of my aviary up here sometime. I don't have the best camera to get the close ups of my finches.... I have posted random pics of my finches though in many posts.... in fact, I'll post some now:

These are some of my many finches. I have more though since I've taken these and probably need to start taking more pictures. I absolutely adore my finches and I grow a very close bond to certain ones.

These are only a few of my birds though. I don't have pictures of them all!

I thought I'd add one of my little girl too... because aside from working, going to school, birds.... I'm also a mother!

H2015 · Post by **H2015** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:06 pm

The pictures are wonderful! Thanks a lot for posting them and your daughter looks adorable!

Your birds look very happy and I wish I could find a Star finch like that or an Owl, they're stunning! The zebras are very cute too, I really like the black cheeked pair.

Do you have a picture of the flight you had your Owl and Star in? Cause I'm looking for a large wired cage that is at least 60" wide to hold five or six birds and yours look pretty big and very neat!

RH/WB, you provide yours with a lot of space! I wish I could provide them that much, although my indoor aviary is around 5' in width but that's the max I could give! Now I'm trying to find space for a large flight cage cause the breeder I found may sell me a few Goulds and Stars if all goes well. Would be nice if you post pictures of what you're planning btw!

As for the bleach, today mine completely recovered but I'm still providing heat and the NV powder in water with vitamins, I stopped the anti-biotics though. I will try honey with water as well, thanks for the tip!

H2015 · Post by **H2015** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:42 am

Great news, yesterday I had a call from a pet shop that received a few Gouldians! The shop was 2 hours away but I didn't waste any time, I immediately went to pick them up. They were $120 each, I bought 2 males and 1 female. Will take pics very soon.

At the moment, a "teacher" zebra resides with the four gouldians trying to get them to accept egg food and veggies. I want them to get used to other food beside seeds for a healthier diet

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 5:13 am

Congrats on the new birds! Exciting! I have found that gouldians can be difficult in getting to accept new foods

My stars and societies are the most curious and usually accept new foods first our of all my other finches!

By the way, here is the link to a really great and big flight cage... very affordable, sturdy, and great. I have purchased two of them and they are as wide as what you're looking for. I think there are actually a couple members on here that have purchased this flight cage. Plus it's free shipping and fast shipping!

http://www.qualitydiscountcages.com/pro ... 421&cat=19

H2015 · Post by **H2015** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 4:22 am

Thanks a lot Emily for the link!! That one looks amazing and very much like I wanted but I'm starting to have second thoughts these days....I'm checking if there's a way for me to build a larger aviary, still not 100% sure yet cause space is an issue but I'm trying to figure it out.

And btw, I was thinking yesterday of what you said about Gouldians...you're totally right they're not easy to keep and can be frustrating, last night two of the new ones were going light and one was completely out of it, he was half asleep in the seed dish and didn't move. I transfered both to a heated hospital cage, added NV Powder and anti-biotics to the water and today the female got better but the male didn't show any significant change.

Luckily I received the meds from ladygouldianfinch.com and I realized that these birds are only for those prepared cause you may end up spending more time treating than actually enjoying them. I successfuly treated the first Gouldian so hopefully the same will happen with these two and things will settle soon

H2015 · Post by **H2015** » Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:01 pm

Update: The male gouldian responded *VERY* well to Ronex/Amoxitex in his drinking water along with NV powder. This morning he took a bath and no longer sits on the seeds, he's on the highest perch instead. He will remain in the hospital cage for a week just to be safe.

However, discovered airsac mites in my first yellow gouldian (clicking sound) and proceeded to treat all the birds using S76 (except for the one in the hospital cage, will treat him later).

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 5:14 am

Air sac mites! I hate those!!!! I had a gouldian infect my entire aviary once! I sold her, and treated everyone in my aviary, now everyone is fine. But I only own one gouldian male b/c gouldians are just to high maintance for me. It's kind of the same as me knowing I'm heterosexual, b/c I don't like high maintenance, and woman (most) are high maintenance.

My favorite finch is the society finch by far. I love animals that just get along with everyone, are good parents, are not to loud and just cuddle up! They are easy to breed, and there are so many variations. Like I said in a previous post, I just got a new pearl society and self fawn society, and they are gorgeous! I also have a chocolate self, a fawn pied, and a chocolate with white on just the tip of it's wings (this one is a baby from a previous clutch I had, I loved him to much to sell him).

I also really love the rosy rump. Mine lost his mate in August of this year, and has been sad ever since. But the societies allow him to preen them. I'm looking for another one, but they are hard to find here. Everyone has red ears, and I don't know if getting one red ear would be sufficient... I want him to have a cuddle buddy at night.

H2015 · Post by **H2015** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 12:02 am

Yes air sac mites are scary, today the treatment should end for this week and I used it on everyone. The yellow Gould still doesn't seem too well though and I heard the clicking sound again. Hope by the 3rd treatment he'll recover!

EmilyHurd wrote:It's kind of the same as me knowing I'm heterosexual, b/c I don't like high maintenance, and woman (most) are high maintenance.

LOL! This comparison is hilarious and true!

EmilyHurd wrote:My favorite finch is the society finch by far. I love animals that just get along with everyone, are good parents, are not to loud and just cuddle up! They are easy to breed, and there are so many variations. Like I said in a previous post, I just got a new pearl society and self fawn society, and they are gorgeous! I also have a chocolate self, a fawn pied, and a chocolate with white on just the tip of it's wings (this one is a baby from a previous clutch I had, I loved him to much to sell him).

I know! They're adorable, a friend of mine had some and initially that's what I wanted when I first started but I only found Zebras at the time and the Indian silverbills which are quite similar to societies and they're definitely the most peaceful birds I've ever owned! I recently added a small mirror into my small aviary and you should see how much they love staring at themselves LOL

EmilyHurd wrote:I also really love the rosy rump. Mine lost his mate in August of this year, and has been sad ever since. But the societies allow him to preen them. I'm looking for another one, but they are hard to find here. Everyone has red ears, and I don't know if getting one red ear would be sufficient... I want him to have a cuddle buddy at night.

That's sad, yours look beautiful in the picture. What about getting him a mate by ordering online? I never tried but I think that would work easier wouldn't it?

Post by **Hilary** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 12:59 am

I had been using S76 as a preventative for my gouldians, and to my horror still had an outbreak and lost about 6 of my birds. In my experience, it does not work. I would really recommend waiting 3 weeks, then treating them one more time with Scatt just to make sure that everybody's clear. Ivermectine is also a good choice if you want to treat a group of birds - it's expensive, but also works well. Hope your yellow one is doing better!

Post by **Sally** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 2:09 am

Hilary, I have been using the S76 as well, just was so much easier to treat in the water than individual birds, but if it doesn't work, then that is a waste of time and money. Does the ivermectin go in the water, like S76, or do you have to treat each bird? I've never had air sac mites (only have 5 Gouldians), but I've been treating all the birds with the S76.

H2015 · Post by **H2015** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:57 am

Thanks Hilary for the response, the Gouldian is doing a tad bit better but I'm not sure if it's because of the egg food (which I didn't provide yesterday) or if the treatment is kicking in, the others never showed symptoms so they're still the same.

I have Ivermectin (1ml/10mg solution) but I have no idea how much I need to add to 500ml of water and I read that a small mistake in dosing can be fatal.

Sally, did you notice any difference in the birds before and after S76?

Post by **Sally** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:35 am

H2015, I didn't notice any difference in the birds after using the S76, but I didn't have air sac mites, I was just treating as a preventative. I'm going to look into the ivermectin, if it can be added to the water. Even if it is more expensive, better than stressing 40+ birds catching them one by one.

Well, I just did a quick search for the ivermectin--the main ingredient of S76 IS ivermectin. Since I have only 5 Gouldians, I could just treat them individually with SCATT, and use the rest of the S76 on the rest of the flock (other species).

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:47 pm

When my entire aviary got infected with air sac mites, I treated each individually with SCATT, and I did it three times. After the first treatment, I waited about a week and a half, and then about two weeks after that. Everyone is clear now.

H2015 - I thought about ordering a rosy rump online, but it's so expensive! I was thinking I could get him a red ear (b/c there are a lot around right now) to see if they'd bond.... I don't know though. My aviary is pretty full right now, especially since I just bought two new societies at the bird show.

H2015 · Post by **H2015** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 12:44 am

Emily, I'm sure I once read that the red-eared and rosy rump waxbills both have the same exact needs and live peacefully together which makes me assume that they'll get along fine if you decide to buy one. Perhaps even if they do not bond as expected your rosy rump waxbill will feel less lonely with the presence of another similar bird

BTW, about the mites, I'm worried over the whole they could suffocate and die anywhere between 2 to 7 days after treatment. It's like living in The Ring or something. Last night I also noticed one of the other birds was asleep with its mouth open, is that a sign of a secondary infection?

tursiopschic · Post by **tursiopschic** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 7:12 pm

I have heard that S76 (which is a water-soluble derivative of Ivermectin) may not work because Ivermectin has been used so often in the past as a treatment for air sac mites, that some of them have developed an immunity. Whereas Moxidectin is newer and mites haven't built up an immunity to it yet.