Zebra Finch Wounded:(

[M1chaelP]

Hey guys. this is the current pic of her. shes perched high and trying to get a nap. ive to start back to office. Sally and corkysgirl, im very glad that people care about birds so much.. unfortunately some birds are given into the hands of other cruel people like the owner of the petstore..

[Sally]

Is there any way you can put a heat lamp on her? A small desk lamp with a 60w bulb will do. I've found that one of the best medicines for a bird that is not well is some heat. They use so much energy trying to get well that they don't keep themselves warm enough.

[M1chaelP]

Ok. That I will try tonight. But how exactly does it need to be put. If I just hang a60W bulb is it ok?? Or do I need to put more??? The flight cage I've put her in is almost 3.5ft wide and 6ft high with a separation. So please suggest

[Corkysgirl]

Yes, you can just hang it. If you hang it on one side of the cage so she can get away from it if she gets too hot. Does she have some lower perches you can put her on? Can you lower that one? If it is a break in her foot, (Is she still lifting it?) then any time she jumps down, she might injure it more. The closer it is to the bottom of the cage, the better. At least until she's healed.

[M1chaelP]

there are other perches which are lower to the floor. but she prefers to choose the ones that try to cover her anyways im going to try out that light bulb thing and will let you know about it. i should turn it on during the nights also????

[MiaCarter]

I would keep it on during the nights too so it's a constant heat source.

It's terrible the treatment birds and other animals receive at the hands of pet stores. Not all are like that; some pet shop owners love, love, love the animals in their care. But others worry about the bottom line only.

When I lived in the Boston area, I was part of a volunteer task force that monitored the conditions of animals in pet shops and reported bad conditions to MSPCA law enforcement.
I was HORRIFIED at the prevalence of animal mistreatment, neglect and ignorance. About 50% of the dozen pet shops in my "patrol" area were guilty of mistreatment or neglect in some form. And I'm not talking dirty or over-crowded cages. I'm talking multiple dead, rotting animals in a single small cage with a dozen or more sick and dying animals without fresh, clean water and without sufficient/appropriate food. (And even worse conditions in the "back room.")

The lack of knowledge was woeful. It was rare to encounter a pet shop employee who actually knew anything about the animals in their care. And it showed in their treatment. e.g. giving large seed mixes to finches (who were dying of starvation because they could only eat a small portion of the seeds in the bowl) or failing to provide hedgehogs with a heat source. Without that, they go into hibernation which looks a lot like a coma/death. Then, they'd throw them out, still alive....and couldn't figure out why the hedgehogs came in healthy and went into a coma within 3 days of arrival. This wasn't before the days of Google. They just didn't care enough to research it. Money was the bottom line.

[M1chaelP]

Back here in India. The place I stay also has approximately the se situation. When initially I purchased my finches they were so adorable that within a span of 5 weeks I decided to get a flight cage customized. Since customization requires a lot of expertise I tried to give the order to the same pet store people. That was the time when I realised how irresponsible those people were. I had to visit them each and every day to remind them about the same and when I drove all the way 6.5miles to remind those people daily I only witnessed some unhygienic treatment and other very seriously mishandled animals. The pet store owner is always just bothered about money and will just charge extra than what initially was committed for. Finally when the day of dispatch came I had to wait for 4 hours to collect the cage and it happened to be one of the most tiresome birthday of mine. Even at that moment the pet shop owner was arguing for more money I gave him whatever he asked for around 90$ and left the place. Because I wasn't able to see the dead birds. The unhygienic maintainance and the bad condition of the shop. I doubt one day there might be a solution for that but immediately it's not to be found. The next day I went to give back some nonfunctional accessory and to buy some finches, as now I'm kinda loving finches. the shop owner somehow managed to make it work and while I was still there I asked for 2 pairs of finches. So that was the time I witnessed another very disturbing act where a small boy who has no experience in handling birds tried to handle them. And he happened to injure a zebra hens wings. So I tried to advice him to be calm and handle things carefully. All I wanted to do was to leave that place at once with my birds. At last the boy managed to pull apart 4 birds one was literally having a wound on the foot. Id read this forum and replies sufficient times to decipher the physical appearance of the birds and decided to have a change. They agreed on my point and changed the bird. But the second bird which they offered is indeed the same zebra hen which has a problem. It looked perfectly normal, which now I understand because of stress but once I got it home I understood the whole scenario. Anyways. Now I'm very scared to return her back to the store, I know for sure she'll be a goner there. So I want to save her. I'll surely follow your advice of keeping a heat source.

My only concern is birds will require sleep at night right ??? If I keep the light bulb on it'll be active all through the night. It's a bit confusing please clear me on this.
I'm sorry guys. I poured out completely, I became very disturbed that my birds health is not well.

[MiaCarter]

Hi Pratheek.

I'm sorry to hear you've witnessed bad things at the pet shop. It's horrible to witness that sort of thing. Do they have animal cruelty laws in India?
Here in the US, we have some very stringent animal cruelty laws in most areas, and even organizations with law enforcement officers who are dedicated to only investigating animal abuse. Even so, it's still a big problem.

I'm glad you're committed to helping your hen. She's lucky to have found you!

As for the light, it shouldn't be too bothersome for sleeping, since it will only be focused in one area of the cage (usually near the bottom), so the upper portions will be dark.
Plus, it's just a temporary measure. If it was long term, I might be worried, but it should only be for a few days, so I wouldn't be too concerned.

[Corkysgirl]

You can try keeping it on for a few nights until you see she turns the corner and starts improving. The most important thing is that she stays warm. It's in the low 90's during the day there but only around 70 degrees at night, it's not warm enough for her to conserve her body heat enough to heal. She'll sleep even with the light on if she's tired. And yes, she'll go to an area that's not as bright if it really bothers her. It's such a shame about how the birds are taken care of! It's sad that money means more to people than animals...and also more than people. The birds are lucky you rescued them. Keep up the good care!

[M1chaelP]

Hey guys. Luckily she's recovering very quickly as far as I can see. But the only thing which is a bit abnormal which I'm noticing is her body to perch distance. She's like maintaining herself so low on the perch. Whereas the other finches maintain a gap between their body and the perch. But thankfully she's lots better than the first time Id brought her.

[Corkysgirl]

That's good news! It might just be her pelvis that is hurt. I know what you mean. She's not pushing herself up on her feet. But is she standing on her foot now? My bird did that for a long time but she got stronger.

[M1chaelP]

Oh that's great. I was worried sick seeing that she's using her leg proper but shes lowering her body on the perch. Anyways hope she gets way better soon. She keeps flying around hopping around and she shouts (chirps) a way bit less than the other birds. But I hope she's as strong as them. Now I'm feeling a bit relaxed.

[Corkysgirl]

As long as she's eating, not fluffed up. Keep the heat on her still. Give her another week or so. She may start to push up. My bird did that and I was surprised when she finally did. I though there was something wrong...she was deformed or something. She was a fledgling so I thought she was born with something wrong with her, but I later exercised her and she got better. I wouldn't do anything like that with her. Not for a week or more. You want to make sure if she got injured she's completely healed.

[MiaCarter]

Sitting low on the perch is just another way in which finches tell you they're not feeling 100% -- just like fluffing up, tail bobbing, tucking their head under their wing, etc.

It's good that she's even perched at all. Many birds sit on the floor of the cage when they're unwell.

It could be that she's still a bit sore and stiff since that injury is right around her leg.
It could also be that sitting low on the perch lowers her center of gravity, making it less difficult to balance and she will exert less energy to stand.

When they're unwell, virtually everything they do is designed to exert less energy, so more energy is diverted to healing the injury or illness. Fluffing their feathers creates little pockets of warm air around their body, so they use less energy on heating. They want to sleep more. They're less active. They sit low on the perch for reasons mentioned above. Energy conservation is even why they eat/drink less (or not at all) while they're sick or injured, as digestion takes a LOT of energy -- energy that could be used for healing.

[Corkysgirl]

Yes, it could be what MiaCarter said also which would be much better than an injury to the pelvis.