Female Zebra Finch Has Blood Near Beak

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chappie
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Female Zebra Finch Has Blood Near Beak

Post by chappie » Sat Sep 09, 2017 11:44 am

Hi everyone, my female zebra finch has been having a spot near her beak that is bald. It's not entirely bald, but there's some loss of feather around that area. Sometimes the feather grew back but that area remained trouble for weeks. She doesn't show any sign of illness. She eats, flies and jumps around, and poops normally. I kept thinking maybe it's from the stress of fighting with another female. Or she gets injured from fighting. This morning I woke up to find some blood in that spot (not bleeding now), and she's irritated (flies around the room), especially whenever I get near her. She eats normally though. I wonder if anyone has similar experience with their bird? I don't see mites anywhere nor the other bird experiences similar issues. They fight a lot these days though, could it be the reason?

I might go to the vet today, but I always wait and see if the situation persists since seeing a vet always causes tremendous stress in her, and it's really hard to find a good vet in the area (I often had experiences with vets who were too rough with my birds.)

Thanks!

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Re: Female Zebra Finch Has Blood Near Beak

Post by lovezebs » Sat Sep 09, 2017 5:03 pm

chappie

If your birds are fighting, that could definitely cause an injury to one or both.

The little spot, could be from being plucked by the other bird, or from rubbing her face against something.

I would clean it with a weak peroxide/ water solution, and dab the spot with a bit of antibiotic cream like polysporin.

Are these two birds sharing a cage? Are they two females?
~Elana~

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Re: Female Zebra Finch Has Blood Near Beak

Post by chappie » Sun Sep 10, 2017 6:16 pm

Hi Elana,

Thanks a lot for your reply and advice. She's much, much better today. She cleaned herself of the blood by taking several baths yesterday :) And today she is a lot less irritated, and the spot seems to be looking better. I kept changing the water all day yesterday as I was afraid the area would be infected with unclean water.

To answer your question, yes, they are both female and live in the same cage but I let them out daily for at least 10+ hours, and at night they go back into their cage for rest. The incident happened before I let them out so I assume they were fighting inside their cage in the morning. Most of the time though, they don't fight. They usually fight several days after they lay eggs. It happens every time. I heard that if there are 3 of them, they don't fight, do you know if that's true?

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Re: Female Zebra Finch Has Blood Near Beak

Post by Icearstorm » Sun Sep 10, 2017 6:43 pm

chappie

It's probably pairs you're thinking of; three pairs usually don't fight as much, but three zebra finches might tear each other apart.

Do they have nests? If so, take them away and it should reduce egg-laying and aggression. They will get used to sleeping on a perch.

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Re: Female Zebra Finch Has Blood Near Beak

Post by lovezebs » Sun Sep 10, 2017 9:01 pm

chappie

Zebras, will find something to fight about no matter what you do, lol.

If you add a third to the group, the two older ones may gang up on the newcomer and beat it up.

The only thing I can think of is offering each one a cage of her own, which may cut down on the territorial instinct to protect their own nest and eggs.

As Icearstorm mentioned, if they have nests, you could simply take them out, which may resolve the problem.

Let us know how things go on.
~Elana~

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Re: Female Zebra Finch Has Blood Near Beak

Post by chappie » Mon Sep 11, 2017 5:34 pm

Thank you both for your replies! Unfortunately they grew very attached to their nests (a mistake that I made when I first got them and thought it's better for them to have a nest) and would not go sleep or they would keep yelling until I give them back their nests. Also, they don't lay eggs in their nests; they find a spot outside of the cage and lay their eggs (I know it's so weird lol). So sometimes they just refuse to go back to the cage at night because they think they need to keep sitting on them. But most of the time, it's like they have a 9-5 job - they go sit on their eggs and go home when it's late. I don't know how to prevent them from laying so many eggs. Apparently moving their cage once in a while prevents them from laying eggs, but only for so long, and during that time they would be so restless (flying around). I got my first female when she was still a juvenile, and I thought she was a male because of her black cheeks. And after a few weeks she grew into a female. Then I thought I should get another bird so that she has a friend. But I knew if I get a male they will keep mating and breeding. So I got her a female, and now they fight...

I'd hate to see them get hurt again. But I don't know what else to do :-( Thanks for reading!

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Re: Female Zebra Finch Has Blood Near Beak

Post by chappie » Mon Sep 11, 2017 5:40 pm

I should also add that the young one doesn't enjoy having her personal anything (like nest, food dish, spot to lay her eggs). Like if the other bird gets to the food dish, she would immediately go there and try to take it from her. She's possessive I guess... it happens every time. It makes it so hard to prevent them from fighting. Sometimes it's quite cute though, the younger one often follows the other one around, doing whatever she's doing.

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Re: Female Zebra Finch Has Blood Near Beak

Post by lovezebs » Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:28 pm

chappie

I would offer two cages, or at the least two food dishes and two water dishes, two swings, two nests, two of everything, to cut back on the competiton.

That way, I think you'll see a little less fighting.
~Elana~

Linnies~ Canaries ~ Zebras ~ Societies ~ Gouldians ~ Orange Cheeks ~ Shaft Tails ~ Strawberries ~ Red Cheek Cordon Bleu ~ Goldbreasts ~ Red Brows ~ Owls ~ Budgies ~ Diamond Firetails ~ Javas ~ Forbes Parrot Finches ~

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