Why? Why? Why?

[KarenB]

I've been out of town all weekend, and my SO is taking care of the flock. All was fine yesterday morning when they were fed, but by the evening feeding when they were checked on, one of my parrotfinches was dead on the bottom of the flight. There was no blood. This is exactly how I found my female Gouldian one morning, and discovered my owl finch hen with a broken leg a few days later. I thought it was night frights, but this incident apparently happened during the day. I don't know what to do. I don't know whether it was my male or female parrot finch yet, as I won't be home until this evening. I am heart sick. The juveniles of theirs have just weaned, and I think they may have started another clutch.

It feels that every time I have a success with a pair, something happens to one of them.

[delray]

Wow. I'm sorry. meow is having the same problem except she lost over half of her flock due to neglect by the person who was supposed to take care of them. I hope everything turns out good. Keep us posted. I'm in aruba, but we dropped Phineas and Ferb off at my aunt Ginene 's.

[KarenB]

Mine are in good hands as far as husbandry. I just am at a loss as to what keeps causing these birds to freak out. I mean, I'm guessing that's what happened. They all get along well with each other. I'm considering padding the bars of the flight!

[MariusStegmann]

KarenB Karen, I am intimately aware of that feeling. On friday I checked on of my parrotfinch nests, I knew that the chicks hatched a few days ago, and wanted to see how they were going along. My fingers encountered something cold and dead. I pulled it out of the nestbox. It was my seagreen hen. The chicks were dead as well. They had full crops. They must have died from the cold. As the hen died on top of the chicks, the cock could not warm them. I wish I checked a few days ago, and managed to find her before the chicks died. It make you feel really despondent. Now I have a surplus of cocks. Luckily I have another pair with 2 chicks and another seagreen pair that that laid their first egg today.

[KarenB]

MariusStegmann Sorry to hear that. Yes, despondent describes it well.

Best of luck with your two chicks, though!

[MariusStegmann]

It feel like 2 steps forward and 3 backwards. A few weeks ago I also lost my diamond sparrow cock with a damaged leg and wing. Loosing the PF hen and the chicks was a double blow for me. I purposefully didn't mention it on the forum when the hurt was still fresh because sympathy makes it worse, because I relive it. What is a SO?

[Ginene]

OMGosh...I am sorry for you both KarenB and MariusStegmann...It is so difficult when we lose our feathered babies. Hugs and prayers to you both...

[KarenB]

MariusStegmann SO is "significant other" a/k/a spouse.

So sorry to hear about your diamond sparrow. That really is a bad string of luck, then losing the PF, too.

[Colt]

Sorry Karen. I haven't had any unexplained losses since winter when I discovered my Florida Silver male Zebra on the floor of the cage missing entirely too many feathers and to weak to even run from me. He passed away that night and the next day the hen was covered in blood and missing toes... I finally decided it was a rat and since eliminating the issue best I could I haven't noticed any other problems.

I do know the 2 steps forward three steps back feeling though. After fighting with my first pair of Gouldians all spring I finally ended up with successful clutches and weaned chicks from two pairs. I left them in with the parents to color up while they started second clutches. A couple of weeks ago they started chasing their father and I decided to pull all of the juveniles into a cage to get them ready for the upcoming Mart and to let them finish coloring out. Went out to the birdroom the next day to check on everyone and they had dumped their food completely and every one of them was dead on the bottom of the cage. I wanted to just scream. It was my fault but which made it even worse.

[Sam007]

A couple of weeks ago they started chasing their father and I decided to pull all of the juveniles into a cage to get them ready for the upcoming Mart and to let them finish coloring out. Went out to the birdroom the next day to check on everyone and they had dumped their food completely and every one of them was dead on the bottom of the cage. I wanted to just scream. It was my fault but which made it even worse.

Sorry to hear about your loss.
Why they all died? What happened to them?

[Colt]

They had no food because they dumped their food bowl. I know the four juveniles that grew up on the opposite side of the bird room were "pacing" the front of the cage, specifically that corner closest to their old cage. I guess a bajillion trips through the seed cup tossing a few out each time slowly emptied it as there were seeds everywhere. I know they didn't eat them all because the Societies below them still had food and there were about 12 in each cage. The Gouldians still had plenty of water but I was astounded at the speed in which they died without food. It has been really hot up here so perhaps the temperature, coupled with higher activity levels and stress just took a lot out of them.

Since then I've gotten in the habit of checking everyone's food and water multiple times a day vs. once in the morning or evening.

[608duj]

I think it is a good idea to check critters at sunup and sundown EVERY DAY. That way if something unexpected has happened it has only been a half day and fixable before too much damage has occurred. I have heard of automatic waterers that got plugged and because they were not checked for functionality every day, a hundred birds were without water for two days and lost. One of the givens of successful husbandry is that they come first whether its a foal or a bird. I have not had a vacation, except for occasional overnights, in 25 years. Too much can go wrong and you lose years of accomplishment.

[Sam007]

Yes, that was too fast.

[lovezebs]

Good grief.
That's terrible folks. So sorry to hear about your losses.
So far I had only lost my one little Orange Cheek a while back. He was not well and never did recover. Aside from his loss, I have been lucky so far.

[KarenB]

So when I finally got home from my trip, I inspected the dead PF. It's the hen. There were no signs of illness or egg binding.

The male was in the nest when I first checked in on them, so I suspect he may be sitting on eggs. That's the only time you'll ever find him in there, otherwise he doesn't go into the nest at all. He came out when I came up to the flight. The Gouldians were business as usual.

But it appears one egg had been tossed. It was right below the PF nest. After the male PF came out, he started singing. I suspect he is looking for his mate. Made my heart sink deep. But then later tonight after lights out, I went in to check on them and he was perched up high with his three juveniles. They were sitting all in a row huddled tightly together. It would have made for a darling photo had the lights been on.

I'm now debating on whether I should get another hen, or keep one of the juveniles that I think is a male.