Possible illness

[Raleighwheels]

Yet again, I am a little concerned about my female zebra, Penelope. For the longest time, I haven't noticed her in the breeding mood. But, within the last week or so, I have noticed her acting like she is ready to lay at anytime. Recently, I have noticed that she occasionally shoots out poops of liquid, as well as the normal egg poops.

She is acting normally, aside from looking alittle more stressed, which I assume is because of the egg coming. She is eating and drinking fine, and is doing okay with her flying. I should also mention that her vent does not look stained or anything.

Aside from the normal diet, she is getting more eggfood than normal, since I suspect she is in condition, and I occasionally put a drop or two of liquid calcium in her water bottle.

I am kind of thinking that maybe she has eaten too many fruits and vegetables. I usually give them to the birds twice a week, but since my girlfriend was home from school for break, she has been giving them to the birds every other day.

Does anyone have any ideas on what is going on with her?

[Raleighwheels]

Today, I noticed Penelope sitting on the cage floor, getting ready for her egg to pass. I tried to leave her be as I did other bird stuff around the room, but I did accidently spook her at one point. She flew to the nearest perch and started acting very jittery. Then, she started trying to get at her tail area. She turned a bit, and I noticed something at her bottom. At first, I thought it was poop, but as I looked closer, it looked like a broken egg. She kept on doing the pooping motions, and I could hear stuff hitting the cage floor, but I couldn't see what it was. After a minute or so, I was able to get a look at her bottom, and it looked clean. She then went back to a little spot on the floor like she wanted to lay again or something.

I know it can be bad if the egg breaks inside them, but should I be worried about her now? I can't exactly check on her in the morning, since she is at my girlfriend's house, and I won't get over there until after work.

She is still acting pretty normal and is eating fine.

[debbie276]

Sounds like if it was an egg she passed it. I would make sure she has access to some form of calcium like oyster shell, egg shells or liquid calcium.
Good luck and keep us posted

[Raleighwheels]

Sounds like if it was an egg she passed it. I would make sure she has access to some form of calcium like oyster shell, egg shells or liquid calcium.
Good luck and keep us posted

Thanks for the reply! I put a few drops of liquid calcium in her water last night, and sprinkles some dried eggfood and egg shells in her food dish to try and help her out.

[debbie276]

Great!
Keep us posted

[Raleighwheels]

I just got back from doing the bird stuff today. I saw some more egg poops in the cage, but nothing else. Penelope is still doing her egg motions though. I gave the birds some warm water to bathe in, and saw that her vent area is sticking out, which I assume is because of the whole egg laying thing. She is still acting normal, and is even continuing to put the other birds in their place. I mixed up some dry egg food and a bit of water to make a sort of paste, and sprinkled in some egg shells. I also put a drop of calcium in the water bottle.

[burquechick]

When you say "egg poops" what do you mean exactly? Large and sort of yellowish and watery? I had a chicken do that from having caught infectious bronchitis which damages the shell gland and makes them lay fragile eggs or even shell-less eggs. I'm not really sure if finches can catch the same diseases (and I'm not suggesting yours has this problem either because I don't know enough). I will say that it did help for a time to give her more calcium than the others, but eventually she succumbed to the disease and had to be put down. But calcium works well even for those occasional problem eggs, so it sounds like you're doing all the right things. Hope she improves.

[Raleighwheels]

When you say "egg poops" what do you mean exactly? Large and sort of yellowish and watery? I had a chicken do that from having caught infectious bronchitis which damages the shell gland and makes them lay fragile eggs or even shell-less eggs. I'm not really sure if finches can catch the same diseases (and I'm not suggesting yours has this problem either because I don't know enough). I will say that it did help for a time to give her more calcium than the others, but eventually she succumbed to the disease and had to be put down. But calcium works well even for those occasional problem eggs, so it sounds like you're doing all the right things. Hope she improves.

Her egg poops are much larger than normal bird droppings. Her's aren't yellow, but occasionally they are kind of watery. I saw her drop another one this evening and it was a little darker than normal, but had no white to it. It is strange that I am just sitting by the cage waiting for her to poop haha.

I heard her sneeze a couple of times, but each time it was just after her fluffed up and shook her feathers, so I assume some feather dust got up her nose. Neither of her nostrils have anything discharging either. She is doing pretty much all the normal things that she does. She doesn't look ragged like a sick bird can sometimes get. She does look tired though. I put a lamp next to the cage to see if she would snuggle up under it, but she acted like it wasn't there. Last time she was ill, as soon as the heat lamp came on, she was sleeping under it.

She is sticking really close to her mate, Pep-Pep, and the two are grooming each other and eating together. She was acting a little jumpy before lights out, so I am hoping she passes another egg. I did look at her vent, and all seemed to look normal.

Could it be possible that she is just really stressed out during this particular egg cycle? She hasn't laid anything in months, where as her daughters seemed to each be laying every few weeks or so.

[burquechick]

Yeah, it could be just stress. It sounds more like a mechanical issue than a disease issue, which I imagine is more common in finches than in chickens since their cloacas aren't used to passing eggs all the time. I'm sure this will pass then, but just keep an eye on her. Believe it or not, but the heat lamp should help her pass difficult eggs too. The warmth can help relax her muscles. In fact, I give my chickens warm baths when they have eggs they can't seem to pass. If she doesn't seem to want it right now, she might prefer it later. I would keep offering it if you can.

It's also possible that she might've torn something which might be making her insides swollen and inflammed and causing the poop to build up, like a fistula. In that case, she might benefit from some antibiotics, but then, you would really need to get a vet's opinion on that, or at least a bird specialist from your local pet store. Antibiotics could do more harm than good, and I'm not an expert.

[Raleighwheels]

Yeah, it could be just stress. It sounds more like a mechanical issue than a disease issue, which I imagine is more common in finches than in chickens since their cloacas aren't used to passing eggs all the time. I'm sure this will pass then, but just keep an eye on her. Believe it or not, but the heat lamp should help her pass difficult eggs too. The warmth can help relax her muscles. In fact, I give my chickens warm baths when they have eggs they can't seem to pass. If she doesn't seem to want it right now, she might prefer it later. I would keep offering it if you can.

It's also possible that she might've torn something which might be making her insides swollen and inflammed and causing the poop to build up, like a fistula. In that case, she might benefit from some antibiotics, but then, you would really need to get a vet's opinion on that, or at least a bird specialist from your local pet store. Antibiotics could do more harm than good, and I'm not an expert.

Thanks for the tips. I am going to offer her a warm bath again tonight, since she seemed to really enjoy it the other day. The only problem with the heat lamp is that the birds are all at my girlfriend's house. She is finishing up college right now, and I go over every day to take care of them. Her dad is kind of a stickler about wasted electricity, even though her brothers waste so much more. He comes into her room when I'm not there and turns stuff off all the time, like the heaters in the winter... Anyway, I'll turn on the light when I go over tonight after work, and see if she snuggles under it.

If she had inflammed insides, wouldn't she be showing some more signs of not feeling well?

Right now, I am sort of leaning towards her just being overly stressed about it, but as soon as I see her getting worse in any sort of way, I am going to pull her out and figure out my next step.

[burquechick]

I would watch and see too. I hope I don't sound callous here, but since she's not a particularly expensive or rare bird, I would use this opportunity as a learning experience and she if she doesn't just get fine on her own. And I bet she will.

As to outward signs of inflammation, there probably wouldn't be any. Birds are notorious for not showing how badly they can feel. And, it might not be all that bad to begin with. Perhaps it's just a tiny little tear that will heal fine on its own. And, inflammation doesn't necessarily mean infection. It's just the body's way of getting the right cells to the site for repair and cleanup.

[Raleighwheels]

I did my best to take some pictures of her today. I didn't get very good ones, because she didn't feel like cooperating. I noticed that her vent looks like it is missing some feathers from around it.







She is still acting pretty normal and is as feisty as usual. She is acting a little jittery though, so maybe there will be another egg soon?

It is sad that I am running around trying to get butt pictures haha.

[kenny]

hi
maybe she will be ok once she lays the full copliment of ages,the feathers are missing because it is irritating her and she is pecking at it,from the pictures you have provided i can see she has not got a prolapsed uterus which would be serious.it sounds like the broken egg she laid has maybe scratched,or cut her inside,i would keep up with the warm baths and heat lamp when you can,and give her any meds that you feel will make her feel better...from what i can see she is not fluffed up and her eyes are bright,not half closed like a stressed bird would look like.i am sure she will be fine once she has completed passing all the eggs that she has to lay

ken

[L in Ontario]

I agree, she doesn't look too bad at all in the pics. A heatlamp does wonders for birds that are feeling off. Good luck with her.

[lovemyfinch]

I concur She doesn't look all that ill. Feathers being tight is always a good sign. Good luck with her, she is a sweet looking little thing