stressed gouldian...input please

[dayhiker]

purchased sirius (black) and orion (orange) today from a bird show. my first gouldians, and they are big!! brought them home in a critter cage and i'm all excited. i was informed they are split to blue ( i would like to have blue babies if i can find split to blue hens). is this correct? had containers with water/birdfood on the trip back which was about 2 hours. air conditioning in the car at 75F.



i noticed them eating and drinking some while in the cage. arrived home and noticed that orion was a little fluffed up and not really flying as much as sirius has been. transferred her to this temporary cage.



she is on the ledge, occ taking some millet seed. I have the cage covered in 2 sides and the top, have a table lamp shining on them. i put some vitamins in the water. he's not on the floor yet but i'm worried especially since i wont be home for the next 24 hrs.

anything else i need to do or can do? thanks so much!!

[Sally]

It is always good to keep something on hand like NV powder or Thrive, supplements that are meant to give birds a little boost when stressed. I especially like NV powder for this, you put it in their water, I give this to all new birds. You could try the homemade electrolyte mixture that is posted here if you don't have anything else:

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18044


Keeping them quiet with a lamp on one end of the cage for some extra warmth is good. Marts are hard on finches. I'd also add some spray millet to the cage, as most birds enjoy this. Be sure to provide water in a bowl if you use tube waterers, as not all birds know to get water from them.

[dayhiker]

thanks Sally,

done and done. last night she would drink some water i offered her while on the perch. she did off her water with some vitamins several times before i went to bed. also noted that she would nibble the millet spray.

i noticed her poop was watery.

this morning she is still on the perch, and i did make some electrolyte mix which she did take too. her watery poop was dried but it did have some solid in it. still watery though.

thanks for the help.

[debbie276]

Congratulations, pretty birds! They look to be both Single Factor Yellow males to me. There is no way to be sure they are split to Blue visually but if they are and you breed them with a split to Blue hen you could get Blue chicks.
They do look a bit fluffed, a little extra heat would be good till they settle in. Hard boiled eggs added to their menu would also be a good idea. You might want to skip the vitamins in the water for now just in case they are not drinking the water because of the vitamin taste, for now fresh clean water is best.
good luck, keep us posted

[dayhiker]

debbie276
Debbie,

Thanks. Offering electrolyte water and another bowl of fresh water for both. Sirius seems happier. Orion, still has his moments. While I at work, I've asked the wife and kids to prepare hard boiled eggs for them. I've also asked to offer water while he is on the perch. He will sip if he wants it, he not he shoots away. He looks at you intently seeming to appreciate the care given. So sweet.

[wilkifam]

Beautiful birds. Both look male to me too.

[dayhiker]

just an update, kids offered water/electrolyte water to orion. As debbie276 predicted, and jacob told me, orion preferred just the plain water. he would try to eat some eggfood but prefers the millet.

when i got home this morning, i changed the water, and the millet spray and the eggfood too. he drank 3 times already, then goes to pick on the hanging millet spray. droppings still have some water in it.

continuing to baby this little one. sirius is too proud to take some water from me and continues to ignore me. sigh...

[atarasi]

Sounds like your birds will make a full recovery. Sally is so right....birdmarts are so hard on finches. I try to only purchase birds from people I know or people who have recommended to me, which I feel is a great idea. A lot of "middle man" vendors drive for hours and the birds spend a lot of time in small cages and so they are already stressed out before they get there. The last time I bought Gouldians at a birdmart, I bought 2 from a someone I didn't know and 1 from a friend..
Within a few weeks, the 2 gouldians died. The 1 from my friend is still alive and doing well.

[dayhiker]

Forgot to go give you guys an update. Orion did make a full recovery. He is flying singing and eating well. I came home for ma road trip to find him moulting!

I was initially worried but aside from uneven colors first the head and now the chest and back, he is doing fine. I guess the stress of his stress/ illness triggered this.

I noticed that they both Sirius and Orion are beginning to bully my owls they share the flight cage with, guarding and hogging the food tray and some of the perches. Is this common? Should I be getting them mates already? Will that settle them down?

So much more to learn...

Thanks again.

[debbie276]

So glad they are doing well.
At this point they should be settled so maybe the cage is just not big enough for the gouldians and owl to share. If it gets to the point where the owls can't get to the food and water or feathers being plucked and possible injury, I think you will have to move the owls out to their own cage.
good luck

[finchandlovebird]

Glad to hear your Goulds are doing fine. Sirius especially caught my eye with that black face (and the red fusion line on his breast). Love it

[ac12]

When they are molting, give them a lot of egg food.

[dayhiker]

Thanks! I started giving that 2 weeks ago and also sprinkling millet on it. They don't seem to like it as much...

[finchmix22]

I find the eggfood needs to be crumbled in texture and not too wet or too dry. I add some powdered handfeeding formula to my eggs, which I pulse in the food processor about five times. I usually cook about 12 eggs, cool them, and chop in the processor and add the handfeeding formula and sometimes add Le Feber pellets. They love it, but if I sprinkle eggfood with anything else, they ignore the eggfood.

[Sally]

You can also add dry commercial eggfood to your hardboiled eggs to dry them out a bit. In a pinch, you can even use yellow cornmeal, but I like the commercial eggfood better for the nutritional value it adds.