Zebra hen trouble flying

[Albireo]

Hi guys... I'm relatively new to the finch keeping world and I'm quite worried about one of my girls. But first, back story!

I got two zebra hens at a bird store from a guy who claimed to know a lot about the birds (he apparently has a phd in avian nutrition). Well, he was full of crap. Claimed they were male and that the cramped cage they were in was what they preferred. One of the birds was puffed up and he claimed it was stress from being in a new environment. I waited a while and she didn't seem to get better. Eventually she started having trouble flying and I informed the bird guy that she was seek and I wanted her to be looked at. He said she was fine and shortly after she passed away. Needless to say, I was pretty upset. Partly that my bird had passed away, partly that he was so negligent to her health. I have since gotten more finches to keep the other girl company, but shes now appearing in poor health (with the same symptoms as her sister).

Her symptoms are:
- some poor feather quality
- puffed up
- weakness (resulting in inability to fly long distances/trouble making it between perches)
- lethargy

Heres her diet (I'm hoping its nutrition so I can fix it easily):
- roudybush maintenance nibbles
- seed
- millet
- homemade egg food (egg, feather fast, hearty bird)
- kale, spinach, red pepper (whatever we have handy... I need to give them veggies more often... and me for that matter)

Someone noted that she may be low in iodine, so I've given her an iodine block, but she wasn't interested in it. So, I've scraped a bit into her egg food, and shes currently eating it.

If anyone has any ideas of food, vitamins, nutrients, antibiotics, etc I can try - I'm all ears. I don't want her to die like her sister did. And I hope its not contagious, because I don't want to go through this for all of them.

[Vargur]

I am so sorry to hear about your bird.

But Keep the other one warm.
You are doing everything right.

I am guessing she was on a bad quality diet when you got her,
Because of the condition of her feathers..
Maybe in not so good enviroment eather..
Because she is sick/having cold..
In a small cage...
Beacuse she cannot fly particually well..
And maybe because she is maybe too skinny?

I hope she will get better.

[Ria]

Hi! Welcome to the forum, sorry it's under such circumstances!

Vargur is right about your hen - the most important thing you can do for her is to keep her warm. The best thing would be to separate her from your other birds in a small cage; this may help reduce chance of contagion to the others as well as give her peace and quiet to recover. Place a small lamp near the cage, with a perch or platform for her to rest on and warm up under. Cover the other end of the cage to give her shade in case she gets too warm, and it will also provide her some privacy/security. Your diet sounds like a good one.

Hopefully your girl recovers soon!

[Albireo]

She and her mate have been separated out into a small cage and they've been there for about a week. I had to put him in because he was crying and trying to fly through the aviary mesh otherwise. More info, that I think I forgot to mention, I don't think shes egg-bound because she has had plenty of liquid calcium in her water recently. Also its just been too darn long for that to be the issue.

One of the other hens has a piece of something black on her beak (I couldn't get it off, and shes had it for over a week)... I read in another post somewhere that someone had a lethargic puffed bird with a dirty beak, and it turned out to be some sort of fungal infection. Do you think it could be something like this? If I take one of them to the vet, should it be the puffed lethargic one or the one with possibly visible fungus?