I might have a sick bird

[Kamoodle]

For a few days, my bird, Ducky, hasn't been looking too well and I think she may be suffering the same illness that one of my previous birds had for several months before she died. From what I've noticed, she's been having a bulge on her rear; I kept suspecting she's just very pregnant until I noticed her not looking well this morning. She even has a bit of trouble moving around and passing droppings.

What are the recommendations for this? I don't want to have a second bird die from this.

[Sally]

Whenever a hen is acting sick, I always suspect eggbinding first. Is she puffed up, with droopy wings, squinty eyes, wanting to sit on the bottom of the cage? The best thing for an eggbound hen is a drop of liquid calcium directly to the beak, a heat lamp, and humidity (drape a wrung-out wet towel over part of the cage, away from the heat lamp). If it is not eggbinding, this treatment will not hurt the hen at all.

BTW, birds do not become pregnant. They form an egg in about a 24-hour period, the egg is fertilized during this process by sperm that is being held in reserve by the hen, and then the egg is laid. The egg is not held in the body, it is being formed and processed during this 24-hour period. Here is a good explanation of the process. Scroll down to Fertile Eggs: from Formation to Hatching.

http://www.finchinfo.com/breeding/eggs.php

[Kamoodle]

I don't have liquid calcium but would it be a good alternative to mix in tiny crumbles from a calcium tablet with water? Also, would that require me to grab her to apply the calcium on the beak? I do have a heat lamp so I can try that and I heard humidifiers are good, too.

EDIT: Oh, and yes, this morning she has been pretty puffed up as well as squinty eyes and she did want to hang around at the bottom of the cage.

I can tell I used the wrong term for my bird. I do understand they don't get pregnant.

[lyzzyjayne]

I'll bet she is egg bound. Please let us know how she is.

[Sally]

I don't know where you are located, so I'm not sure what is available to you. It helps if you put your location in your profile. If you can get human-grade liquid calcium at the pharmacy, that will work in an emergency. There is a lot of discussion about using human-grade liquid calcium in this thread. Look for the posts by kenny66 starting on page 3.

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... m&start=30

[Kamoodle]

I usually don't add my location on the internet to be safe but I've done it. If a typical place like Walgreens has the liquid calcium, then I'll get it.

I'll go ahead and give this all a try today, since I am going to be gone most of the day today and I don't want to worry about her throughout. My dad already got a humidifier going and I'm setting up a lamp. Unfortunately, I can't separate her from Lucky since the other cages are full.

[Nerien]

If the lamp shines on one part of the cage, she will go there for the warmth if she wants it, so that will be fine. You should be able to get the liquid calcium at a pharmacy, ask the pharmacist if you don't see it on a shelf. You generally do have to catch and hold the bird to get the drop of calcium into it. Most of the time they do not cooperate, so you put the drop on the edge of the beak where it would open, and watch to see that she swallows some, you can see the little tongue moving if/when some gets into her mouth.

As for location, you can always just put a region--eastern Texas, instead of something more specific. It just helps to know what country, for starters, and what region, as available suppliers and stores can vary so much.

[Kamoodle]

I hope a 40-watt at a few inches away is good enough for her.

Well, I think there is a bit of good news. When I checked on her again a little while ago after I got back, she's somewhat regained her usual vitality and I did notice an egg on the bottom of the cage. However, I think she may still be egg bound, so all I've done is the heat and humidifier for now. I don't have time today to buy some liquid calcium though.

I think the sun might've helped. I place my birds near a window that always gets the morning sun and I think that heat might've helped Ducky to release an egg.

[Nerien]

It's great that she passed the egg. Having difficulty doing so means that she's probably in need of some calcium, or the problem will keep reoccurring until one day, she's not so lucky. So do get the calcium as soon as you can, whether human kind or bird kind.

As long as the lamp makes a warm spot that she can go into if she wants, it's good.

[debbie276]

If she seems to be out of danger you could supply a mineral mix with a variety of calcium sources such as oyster shells, cuttlebone and egg shells. Adding hard boiled egg to her diet will give her the vitamin D she will need to absorb the calcium.
Glad she seems better, best of luck

[DanteD716]

If she passed the egg, I think your headed in a better direction extra cuttlebone or a calcium & mineral supplement (i use ABBA mineral grit mixed with eggshells) will help her and prevent it in the future, getting the human grade calcium is not a bad idea though. Keep the heatlamp on her until she is out of the redzone

[Sally]

Since she has now passed an egg, it seems likely that was her problem. But watch for a recurrence if she has another egg to pass. Calcium formulated for birds is always best, so it would be good to order some--Morning Bird's Calcium Plus is a good one, and you can find it many places online. Several of our members carry this as well, you can find them in the Avian Business Listings section of the forum.

And you don't have to be specific on your location. Texas is enough, or even USA--it just helps to know what might be available to you. We are such an international forum, and it doesn't do any good to tell a member to go to Walgreen's if they are in Pakistan.

[Kamoodle]

Ducki definitely does seem like herself again, which I am happy for.

I do give them a dish of mixed oyster shells and bird gravel as well as egg shells I crumble up for them frequently. From this experience though, I will have to buy that liquid calcium supplement, too.

[lyzzyjayne]

YAYYY! Great news!