Rehabbing my (first ever) Blue Gouldians!!

[GouldieFledge]

Hi all,

So for the first time in my going to my local bird store, I saw they had blues in, 3 of them. 2 M, 1 F. They were in pretty rough shape, especially the female. She was missing tons of head feathers, lethargic and mopey, had her eyes closed most of the time. The boys weren't in great shape either, kind of meek. Definitely not as peppy as other males in the cage. Bought my millet and left...

And here I am, two weeks later, owning 2 of said 3 blues.

I'm hoping to get them into shape and feeling happy/healthy. I think the girl was getting picked on; after taking them home, I noticed that anytime the male came close to her, she'd always close her eye(s), as if she were cowering in anticipation of being pecked. They came from a packed cage and all the girls were a little rough looking, the woman indicated that the boys may be ready for mating while the girls are not, and this is why they're looking kind of shoddy.

It's been a few days now, 4 or 5, and the boy is already looking better. Gaining confidence. The girl I feel like I have a 50/50 chance with. The first few days she would sit with her eyes closed, puffed out, and like I said earlier, she always seemed to cower when the boy got too close. I also noticed that she sits kinda bow-legged on perches; don't know if that's just a genetic defect, as the blues are usually weaker when it comes to genes. She isn't the greatest flyer, either, but I am hoping that's just because she's not in tip-top shape. Like...sometimes I'd have my arm in the cage changing things out, and she'd end up landing on my arm and just sitting there.

Anyway, I discussed with the store owner their condition, and I have a 2-week warranty on these guys. I don't want to have to use it! I asked their ages and she said they'd had them in for about 3-4 weeks, and that they were probably no older than 7 months. I'm not sure if this is true.

I'm going to post updates on their progress (or lack thereof), but if anyone has some tips for me, I'd greatly appreciate them! I've only been working with gouldians for about 2 years now, and these are my first blues. Let's hope for the best!

2nd post coming with more details, I think this one is long enough as it is

[finchman]

If it were me I would treat for coccidiosis, followed by ASM, and worm them. Just to be safe.

[GouldieFledge]

This is what I've done for this pair since bringing them home on Tuesday:

Tuesday night I added some NV powder to their water to give them a boost. They wouldn't touch it. They were very quiet and would occasionally peck at their millet, boy ate a little bit of Miracle Meal, but didn't really go for the regular seed or any water. Also put a bowl of Herb Salad in for them, untouched.

Wednesday I nixed the NV idea since they seemed really averse to it. Gave them some fresh, plain water instead and just tried to keep the area quiet and also nice and warm for the girl.

Thursday since they still weren't great eaters, I figured I'd give some fresh eggfood a try (mixed with some Thrive in place of the NV powder they didn't want). To my surprise, they went for this immediately and ate a good amount, so that was great to see. I finally started getting some vocalization from both at this point; the boy making a "squee" sound, and the girl cheeping here and there. Progress! I also decided to introduce my S76 routine to them later in the afternoon. The boy drank a little, girl did not. Added a 2nd dish with some orchard grass, since my other goulds like to chew/play with it, and a cuttle bone.

Friday they had some more homemade eggfood and a fresh batch of S76 water. Boy took a drink immediately; girl did not. Since I hadn't seen her drink AT ALL since bringing them home, and because she was looking a little puffier/sicker than normal, I decided to kinda force-water her. Grabbed her and held the tip of her beak to the water a few times, and each time she did take some in (saw her swallowing once tipped back upright). I also gave them some FVite, Bloomford and crushed eggshell for calcium/minerals. I also spritzed some Avian Insect Liquidator in the cage and on them to nix any potential, external parasites.

And now we are at Saturday. I made one more batch of S76 water, since the 1st evening I don't think they really drank much. But the lady seems to be improving! She's been chirping a lot and I finally saw her drink from the water dish! I was wondering if her bow-leggedness was making it difficult for her to stand on the water bowl, but she did fine. At the bird store her nails were super overgrown; could this cause her bow-legged stance? And the boy has been cruising around, chirping too. No singing yet, though. She looks like she has a FEW pin feathers coming in on the head, but that one side is still looking pretty rough.

Once again, I'll take any tips and suggestions!!

[GouldieFledge]

finchman

Thanks for the suggestions! The ASM treatment is in progress and I am planning on worming them, too. I do have coccidiosis medication on hand that I could also use if needed. I did notice the female's vent is a little dirty, nothing extreme. Could these two go hand-in-hand?

[GouldieFledge]

Pictures from 2nd day. You can see what I mean with the female closing her eye(s) when the male comes too close to her.

ALSO, for whatever reason, I cannot get my images to upload in the correct orientation, they always come out sideways. Sorry. Seems to be since I upgraded to Windows 10 this keeps happening when trying to post images on the Forum.

[GouldieFledge]

And the female:

[Shannylee]

GouldieFledge...aww, poor girl! She does look rough. Looks like she will be a beauty when she is fully rehabbed though!

[josh1810]

Your male in my opinion looks OK. He does have a few feathers on his head plucked. "Probably from another bird plucking ".

Your hen, is sitting really low to the perch and looks like her head is smashed into her neck some. I'd say also to the above comments, that they may need some bacteria, or protozoa medications. The S76 in the water is not going to fix what is going on with the hen. In my opinion. They both very well may have mites, but my guess is she is sick. Blues are genetically weak birds. They seem to always be sicker and not as healthy as greens. If their poop is bright yellow I would suggest getting some Ronex for a protozoa infection. Watery grayish or Nasty color may need some tetra tex for a bacterial infection. Could go ahead and spray for mites. They could perk up a bit with a bath.

Also them coming from a pet store, most of the time they have no freaking clue what to do with their birds. Give them a few more days. Offer them anything and everything they will eat. I take a bowl and just put a little of everything for new birds that I normally feed my others to get them to take anything.

Also a good molt will help bring those new feathers back in.

Maybe this will help. I'm not an expert by no means, but I own 40 gouldians myself.

[lem2bert]

Josh1810 I totally agree with you about pet stores. I have been in a few and they always overcrowd their birds. I have seen many of their birds with feathers missing and you can tell the birds are picking on each other. When I bring it to the attention of the store workers and managers they say they know they are picking on each other and have to separate them, but they never do. GouldieFledge hats of to you for rescuing those two little birds and I hope you are able to bring them back to health. Please update us on the condition of them

[Babs _Owner]

GouldieFledge

They look like they are molting. The female molting pretty hard. So lay on the boiled egg and egg shells.

To me the female looks like she has splayed legs so she is squatting to keep her legs together. On that slippery perch her legs will be slipping painfully outward to either side .

For the female's legs may I strongly suggest soapstone perches, or simply taking a knife and cutting gashes into the wood of your perches so she can grip and keep her legs together. Using smaller, rough irregular branches from outside can help too.

To encourage her to the bowls for food and water, cut tiny gashes into the lip of the plastic of the bowl so she can perch,grip it and eat/drink without her legs painfully sliding. If she is splayed-legged just these changes in the cage should bring out a great boost in her confidence. Hope this helps!

[GouldieFledge]

Yup, unfortunately they most definitely overcrowd their birds at this place. It's the only area I can get finches nearby, which is why I usually go there. I'm still sketched out by ordering online. And this particular place is more of a hookbill-focused shop, not so much finches...I'll give you an example: The first pair of gouldians I purchased (who I though maybe were a M/F pair), the owner could not sex for me. After a couple of weeks reading/researching, I was easily able to tell that they were BOTH females. They usually have goulds, javas, bc waxbills, and societies in 1 cage w/1 perch and 3 swings, occasionally owls too. So yeah, overcrowding is definitely an issue.

[GouldieFledge]

Shannylee, josh1810, lem2bert, Babs

Josh: Thanks so much for your reply. I don't think their poop looks abnormal, but that is something I'm definitely not experienced with. Someone also mentioned treating for coccidia. Maybe I'll put a paper towel down so I can get some images of the stool to upload, see if anyone can notice some red flags. I grilled them a little bit at the store for info and specifically stated that I know blues tend to be genetically weaker, and since these 2 weren't looking so great, I was looking for a warranty on them (which I did get). They have been eating the homemade eggfood very well, so that's promising. It surprisingly looks like they haven't touched the bowl of herb salad, which all my other birds love. That really perked my first pair up after bringing them home.

Babs: I added some natural irregular branches, one of which has a rougher texture, which has seemed to help. I also added one of those oyster shell perch covers that are normally for keeping nails trim to a segment on one of the standard perches, and she seems to be doing much better with these grippable options so far. Still sits kinda squatty though, but her movement and flight has definitely improved. I will look into the soapstone, too!

She also looks like she is sprouting a few pin feathers on her head, so I'm happy about that as well She's been peeping a lot, not cowering/shutting her eyes when the boy comes near. And the male is settling nicely, I heard him sing for the first time yesterday. Hoping to continue on this trail of improvement!

[Shannylee]

GouldieFledge, good news that she is starting to come around. She looked so sad in your pictures. You'll have to add more pix as she improves!

I got a bunch of canaries from a hobbiest who is moving out of state. They were all in tiny breeding cages with metal perches. They are SO happy in the outdoor aviary with lots of flight room, trees, natural branches, etc. Metal perches??? Needless to say, those went in the trash!

[Babs _Owner]

GouldieFledge

That is wonderful to hear they are doing better. I had one splayed leg female this season and she became very active when I made sure all the perches and bowls had traction for her to sit and land on. I gave her away to a delightful woman who made sure her cage accommodates her condition.

Let us know if they continue to improve.

[lem2bert]

GouldieFledge
so glad to hear she is doing better Hope to see more pictures as she improves....you're doing a great job