Two health problems... advice please!

[steve56616]

Any advice on my Gouldians please

1. Can anyone recommend a good scaly leg mite treatment for a Gouldian finch that I have been given? (Bird is in quarantine!! )

2. One of my hen looks scruffy and fluffed up. She eats well and on a good varied diet. I have thought I would lose her twice in the past and thought she had impacted grit so stopped giving it. She has sort of gone the same way again, although not so bad this time. He head feathers have a few grey/brown ones that I thought would moult out but still after a year still the same.
Any advice much appreciated

[monotwine]

Mites can be treated with Scatt. Searching this forum for Scaly mite will bring plenty options to help you find a med or use the Finch Information Centre link on the left of the screen.

As to your hen if she is receiving all her dietary needs, does not have any internal or external parasites, and is not showing signs of illness I would consider resting her. When in doubt seek a vets help. Fluffed could be any number of things but it does indicate she is not 100%.

[debbie276]

I agree with monotwine, scatt is a good medicine for scaly mites.

It's very hard to tell what could be wrong if anything with your bird when the symptoms are just fluffing. A bit of extra heat via a ceramic heater or heat lamp and some hard boiled eggs for the extra protein would be helpful till you can sort things out.

Sounds like your gouldian is stuck in molt. She should color out with her next yearly molt.

best of luck

[steve56616]

Thanks for the replies. Today she is much better and laid an egg so I think that was the problem.
Do others offer grit? I have been told not to but I think I should, just be interested what you think?

I have been looking for Scatt but seems hard to get it in the UK so looking for something similar

[Sally]

As far as grit, it depends on what you mean by that term. I do not use gravel with my birds, but they all are offered oystershell grit free choice. It is a great source of calcium.

As far as SCATT in the UK, I have sent an email to the Vetafarm company in Australia, asking if they have distributors in the UK or in Europe. But I also found this listing on amazon.co.uk:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/vetafarm/s?ie=U ... 3AVetafarm

[steve56616]

Thanks for the replies. I did try and post yesterday but seems it failed. All is ok now with the hen and I have ordered some Beaphar spot on treatment as I cant find Scatt in the UK.

[Sally]

I'm not familiar with Beaphar spot on treatment, so I can't comment on that. I did hear back from Vetafarm, and they do not have distributors in the UK nor Europe, but they will ship, especially to the UK. They said it is more difficult to ship to Europe because of customs restrictions.

However, this link I provided is in the UK and lists some of the Vetafarm products, including SCATT.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vetafarm-Scatt- ... s=Vetafarm

[ac12]

I do not use grit for my finches.

My experience is that birds like pigeons need grit because they swallow the seeds whole, and need the grit to break/wear open the seeds in their crop.

Finches on the other hand shell their seeds with their beak, so there is no need to break the seeds open in the crop.

[steve56616]

Thanks very much for the link Sally