how to tell if bird is FAT or normal?

ac12 · Post by **ac12** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:27 pm

How can I figure out if they are FAT/obese or "normal?"
I did a search and could not come up with anything clear.

I ask this because my older birds (including my new juveniles) have more bulk than my 2 new ones (although it is hard to compare with their feathers not matted down). The new ones, one from the store and one inherited (this one was scraggly and not well cared for). Since then the scraggly one has bulked up similar in size/bulk to my old ones. So I don't know if it is normal, he was underfed before, or what?

I don't have room for a flight cage, so they don't get the exercise that they should. But in the stores, with even smaller cages, the finches are sleeker.

I read that one should not "starve" the finch, so I make sure that they have enough food (seed/pellet mix before, pellets now) all the time. If they want to eat, food is always available.

franny · Post by **franny** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:55 pm

How big a cage do you have? It doesn't have to be a huge flight cage, just 30 inches long can allow for some room to fly. Maybe if you just had fewer perches (just one at each end) they would get more flight time, or at least more hopping.

I would think that the ones in the store might be underweight, even in small cages, due to often a poor diet, and stress from overcrowding. I've read somewhere about yellow fatty deposits around the vent, somewhere on here I think. Will try to find it. But in all honesty I've never looked that close at my birds. When I do have to catch to move them, to another cage, I keep it brief, and handle them as little as possible. So have never really looked closely.

The woman who trimmed their nails said mine were very healthy and a good weight, but I don't know how she judged that. I feed as much as they want, but mine do have some room to fly as the cage is almost 3 ft long and 3 ft high.

Sorry I can't be more help, but I suggest a search on the site might help. I think I'd be more worried if they appeared underweight.

franny · Post by **franny** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:01 pm

Found the other thread about fat birds:

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4481&highlight=fat

ac12 · Post by **ac12** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:19 pm

Fran

I don't have 30 inches, maybe about 20 inches wide.
I have a few perches setup so they can fly on the diagonal to get more distance in the cage, and they do have to fly up (since they can't hop up).

I would like a 3'wide x 3'high cage

But first I gotta find the space and 2nd gotta get the wife to go along. They are HER birds, she liked the "cute" smaller cage cuz it had a rounded top over the plain wider rectangular one, guess who won...not me.

When I band them (soon as the bands arrive), I'll check around their vent to see what color their skin is. Its already hard to tell mom from daughters, I hope the sons keep their fawn underside or its goina be hard to tell father from sons.

emessis · Post by **emessis** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:33 pm

I don't think I saw it mentioned in the other thread and am not sure if this would be an accurate way to gauge proper weight in a bird as small as a finch, but does anyone know if feeling their keel bone works? We do that with our cockatiels and even did it with our house sparrow. If it was seeming too prominent, we made sure they got more to eat...and if it was difficult to feel, we cut back.

franny · Post by **franny** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:14 pm

ac12 wrote:I would like a 3'wide x 3'high cage
But first I gotta find the space and 2nd gotta get the wife to go along. They are HER birds, she liked the "cute" smaller cage cuz it had a rounded top over the plain wider rectangular one, guess who won...not me.

Show her my homemade cage. It's the one made of pine. I think it looks a lot nicer than the black store bought one beside it. (Click for larger image.)

Or Subersibo's cage - a larger cage can be a gorgeous piece of furniture:

http://www.finchforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=3&pos=10

ac12 · Post by **ac12** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:36 pm

Fran
That is a nice cage.
Did you make the cart also? Is the roll of paper in the cart for the poop tray? Great idea.
I'll have to sharpen up my woodworking skills again.

franny · Post by **franny** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:54 pm

ac12 wrote:Fran
That is a nice cage.
Did you make the cart also? Is the roll of paper in the cart for the poop tray? Great idea.
I'll have to sharpen up my woodworking skills again.

Thanks. Yes, the stand was "modified" from an Ivar shelving unit from Ikea. I made a paper roll holder, and the "cutter" is made from hacksaw blades screwed to a one by one piece of fir. The kraft paper is a roll of 24" paper from a pckaging company. It's about 1200 feet per roll, so with a 3 foot cage it will last for ages!

If you do decide to make one, here's the thread on how I made mine:

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=3356&highlight=built+flight+cage

ac12 · Post by **ac12** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:59 am

Fran
Having just gone thru the frustrating and exhausting effort for both me and the birds in my small cage, how do you catch your birds in a large flight cage?

gomer · Post by **gomer** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:44 am

you should be able to feel the breast bone on a bird.to fat and its hard to feel ,plus loose.to thin and its sharp,it has to be in between.

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:22 pm

When my birds are in a cage I use a net to catch them up with. I cannot reach all into the cage it is too big.

franny · Post by **franny** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:19 pm

ac12 wrote:Fran
Having just gone thru the frustrating and exhausting effort for both me and the birds in my small cage, how do you catch your birds in a large flight cage?

I also find it tiring, but this cage at 36" high, is just small enough that when I reach in I can reach from top to bottom of the cage. I have a door in the middle of the back of the cage, so from that door I can reach all the way to both ends. Trouble is, the birds like to fly to the left, when the left arm is in, and my elbow doesn't bend both ways!

This is why I wish I'd put a divider in.... Both times I've had to catch them to get their nails trimmed, there were 2 of us. I put my arm in a door at one end, and just shoo'd the birds back to the other end where the "catcher" could reach them. 4 or 5 times back and forth usually tired them out enough for her to grab them. The babies were easier to catch, but telling the girls from Mom was hard, when they were all fluttering from one end to the other!

I think maybe you could mist them so that they don't fly quite as well. Then they'd tire more easily. But we didn't have to resort to that.

I worried afterwards, that the stress of tiring them and catching them, then the trimming, would overheat them. So I left them alone and offered bath water after the nail trimming. They drank, and did later go in for a bath.

franny · Post by **franny** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:21 pm

dfcauley wrote:When my birds are in a cage I use a net to catch them up with. I cannot reach all into the cage it is too big.

How big a cage? You must have to remove the perches. I'd hate to have to bother with that, and so far I haven't had to remove them.

summert85 · Post by **summert85** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:35 pm

franny wrote:
ac12 wrote:I would like a 3'wide x 3'high cage
But first I gotta find the space and 2nd gotta get the wife to go along. They are HER birds, she liked the "cute" smaller cage cuz it had a rounded top over the plain wider rectangular one, guess who won...not me.
Show her my homemade cage. It's the one made of pine. I think it looks a lot nicer than the black store bought one beside it. (Click for larger image.)

Or Subersibo's cage - a larger cage can be a gorgeous piece of furniture:

http://www.finchforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=3&pos=10

wow! great work with the cage. LOOKS awesome. thanks for sharing.