European Goldfinch - Health/Questions (First post)

[lou]

I can't tell from those pics, 1- males have black mustaches, 2- red goes past the eyes or to the end
3 -wing butts are black on males and more time than not the black saddle is solid
hens,1- have brown mustaches 2- red doesn't go past the eyes 3- wing butts are brown on hens
and the black saddle is broken with white. There is also other methods to tell the difference to hard to explain. If the seller said that they were males and he breeds them, I would assume that he knows how to tell them apart.
Good luck
lou

[disasm]

Thanks lou. I am not able to respond to your private message for some reason, I got them from the following:

goldfinchparadise.com

Thanks!

[kyubi]

i dont own this finch, but from what i've know about this species that it can b aggressive with other finch ,however they r a flock birds.....they can b mix with their own...but just 2 male seem like aggression will occur...good luck and if you do go to the rolling meadow show.. there is a bunch of em..

[disasm]

Thank you for the reply. Update: Well I put them in the same cage 2 days ago. Yesterday they were fine, they were singing a little bit. However, at night, I started hearing funny noises, I checked on them, and sure enough, they were attacking each other. I knew it wasn't a good idea, but I thought it would be okay for a couple days til I get them to their final destination. I freaked out, bought a new cage, and transfered one of them to the new cage. Today they have been pretty good, but pretty inactive. One of them moves around then stops, the other one hasn't really moved outside of eating, and I am scared something wrong is going on It is not fluffy or anything, but it is only moving a little bit, unlike how it was when they were both in one cage. Is this a common case where they just need a few days to get comfy? Thanks all!!

[disasm]

It's either the bird is sick, or I am being paranoid

I am watching it all day on live camera. It just went to sleep. When I shut the lights off around 7pm, I come back to check on them, the active bird wakes up right away when I walk in, the other (sick?) bird doesn't. He seems to just sit there during the day. I dont believe he has sang at all, he gets a little puffed up. Also I just saw that he slept (during the day) for an hour or so, now back to eating. The other bird has been walking around all day and talking. Anything I can do to lighten this bird up, or am I just over-reacting?

[disasm]

I hope somebody can give their opinion.. Here are some pics, note how the bird in the white cage is standing up and looks normal. Do you think the bird in the black cage is sick? Thanks everyone!

http://postimg.org/gallery/adeyatyi/57829266/

[lou]

disasm, what type of feed are you giving your goldies?
lou

[disasm]

Well, the one bird passed away, and it made me very upset. I have lost 2 out of 3 birds that I have gotten in the past 2 weeks ; It started acting the same way as the first one was. Lou, I got the food from the seller, who is an expert in european goldfinches (some sort of mixed grains). Please note that the first bird that died was eating a different mix of seeds, so I see no pattern. Like the first one, it became fluffy, wouldnt move, kept "eating" (more like making a mess without actually eating) and sleeping during the day. I put a lamp right by the cage for extra heat (as I read online) which seemed to help the poor bird not be as cold/fluffy. However, I woke up today, and it had passed away. The other bird looks very happy, sings, eats, and is very active.

Any explanations anyone? I really hate to lose another bird

It's 75 in my house, I change food and water daily, and I clean the cage daily. I am considering buying another bird, yet I am literally terrified to have another one pass away. Are they too sensitive that they might get cold on the way from the vendor to my car? (10 seconds) or is this a matter of birds missing their environment and not adapting?

Thanks everyone!!

[lou]

It was 14 degrees here last night., and it didn't
effect my goldies. Ask the breeder what could have caused it, didn't he offer u a refund? did u put them on some sort of sulfa drug when got home ? ask the seller what he uses for cocci
and find another breeder.
lou

[disasm]

You are right. My father told me that he has dealt with Euro Goldfinches a lot before, and they are not very sensitive to the temperature. The first i bought was from somewhere in the west coast, and I assumed that the flight made him sick, he died. Then I found a new local breeder, bought the above shown 2 birds, one was with a female, and the other was by himself in a cage. The one that was by himself was older, and looked very healthy when I first saw him. 2 days later, he got sick and died. Unless I am very unlucky, I am beginning to think that these birds are just missing their old environment too much, unless the fighting that happened between the 2 birds made the one sick, before I separated them. Too many questions

[lou]

disasm, that is why I said to put them on a sulfa based drug, purchase it from a pigeon supply place, I'm taking it that you live in n.y ? if so, you're in the best area to obtain your gold finches more so than any other state. Something else to think about, cage/ aviary bred birds aren't as sensitive as the imported ones. I looked on his site and it looks like he has wild ones, I'll ask again, were any of them banded?

[disasm]

Lou, I apologize as I have no experience with bids, thats why I joined this site. I do live in Upstate New York, could you provide examples of "sulfa based drug"? Why do you believe that it might help? Also, I am not sure what you mean by banded, I am guessing you mean marked by a metal tag? If so then no, not that Im aware of.

Thank you.

[lou]

I use a product called sulmet (sulfamethazine sodium 12.5%) drinking water solution it is a antibacterial product. Put them on this until they settle down-- prob. a week. when they puff up it's
to late at least in my experience with them. This product keeps cocci at bay and that's what most
of these goldies die from and is brought about from stress. Like I mentioned earlier if these were cage bred chances are likely that this would not happened. If you go to that breeder again ask him if you can sit and watch the birds for awhile before making the purchase.

[disasm]

Lou, thanks for your help. I just got back home with 2 new ones. I drove 2 hours there and got stuck in the storm on the way back, which took 4 hours back. Anyway, I chose 2 males, sat infront of the cage with both of them in there for at least an hour, they look very healthy and active. I can post pictures. I bought them a pretty wide cage so that they can fly horizontally, and I hope that it will prevent them from fighting. If I see any fighting, I will separate them. What is the best way for them to sing, as far as cages goes? Have each male in a cage?

I will look into sulmet and purchase some. I am going to be paranoid for the next few days watching these birds and making sure none are puffing up.

Thanks again.

[lou]

Is there anyone that knows of a bird supply place that sells a a cocci meds close to where disasm
lives? U can try foys pigeon supplies, chas seigel and sons, just do a search on the net. I keep mine separate in small cages.
Hope this helps