female zebra finch's weird symptons?

HoangQuan · Post by **HoangQuan** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 5:46 am

I have a female zebra finch, and she's doing just fine eating, drinking, playing, and breeding as well. But now she has some very weird symtons: sleepy, puffy, inactive...I meant, those symtons aint weird, but she was very well this morning and the whole last 3 months but now she's looking like that. Yes I know that finches are very good at hiding their illness, but throught the months I coulndt find anything wrong with her and her mate(?).
This is not the first time she's looked like that, it is 2nd actually. some weeks ago she showed me exactly those symtons in the evening and then she was like perfectly normal the next morning(?!). I am starting to doub that, she did chew some plants in the aviary and that caused her sick! I am not sure about anything anymore, cuz every birds of mine always chew plants and there're nothing wrong with'em.(?) I have a bushy bamboo, some normal ferns, and Lantana camara plant in my aviary, I dont think they are poisoned plants.
Since this is not the first time, I am really confuse...If I just leave her alone in the aviary, will she get better the next morning( like the last time) or she will simply drop death? TT__TT
Have anyone stucked in the same situation? Can I have any advises?

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:53 am

There is no way to tell what will happen. The best thing you could do is offer her some extra heat. Do you have avaible to you NV powder? If not you can offer them gatorade to think to help build up their electrolytes.

What do her droppings look like? If she appears sick, I would seperate her from the other birds.

HoangQuan · Post by **HoangQuan** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:16 am

I caught her out of the aviary for cheking, she's kinda fat, and she cant fly so high( that was strange..). Her droppings was normal. So I let her in the aviary again.
when the evening got darker, she quickly got into the nest with her mate(?)
We'll see what'll happen the next morning...hmmm

Finch Fry · Post by **Finch Fry** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:04 am

Sounds like egg bound. If she is having flying issues and showing all of those symptoms.

I would suggest putting her in a tiny tiny cage and throwing a heat lamp on it and putting wet and warm towels around to increase humidity. Hopefully, if it is eggbinding, she passes the egg.

GL and keep us posted!!!

HoangQuan · Post by **HoangQuan** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:25 am

Finch fry, just like you, I think that those symtons may show the sign that she want to lay an egg, this is the first time this young zebra breeds, so I guess this is trouble with her very first eggs, and maybe things will get better tomorrow...My other Zebra always lay egg at night in the nest, so I wont notice if they have these symptons(I guess)
I am praying for her now, hope tomorrow I will see something excited, not miserable

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:33 am

If she is eggbound birds can easily die from this. Never had it happen to me, but have read about it many times on this forum. I would do as Chris suggested and get it some heat quickly.

franny · Post by **franny** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:49 pm

Do you have liquid calcium? My GB hen did appear a bit puffy a couple of nights, and was fine in the morning. I thought too, that it was the effort of getting ready to pass an egg. so the second evening when I noticed her puffy again, I gave her some liquid calcium. I doubled the usual dose in her waterer and watched for her to drink, then replaced the water with fresh, so as not to over do it. (I usually give only twice a week - but it appears that I should have maybe given a bit higher dose, so gave it to her as an extra dose.)

I didn't want to catch her and upset her. But shortly after she drank the water she did seem better, and it didn't happen again. My GBs do nibble at their eggfood, but I wouldn't say they go crazy over it. So while I will stick with the twice weekly dose, I will make it a bit higher dose than I have been.

Hope your hen is doing OK now.

HoangQuan · Post by **HoangQuan** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:33 am

Franny, I dont have liquid calcium, I used to use calcium boost powder, but Im out of it and my order will arrive by 5th April(!). I think you were right, calcium is the main cause of this. I've just realized that, unlike the cock, the hen hasnt even touched the cuttle bone for months, so the calcium boost I provide in the water may enough for her to live, but now she's about to laid an egg and I guess she need more.
This morning she appeard to be better but still puffy and sleepy, I have no choice but putting in the aviary a cup of traditional "mineral mixture" for her to eat, thanks God she loved that and she ate a lot.
Hope she'll be fine tomorrow.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:13 am

I agree with the others in that she's probably getting ready to lay an egg. I've had hens that get puffy in the evening and look better the next morning. If it goes on too long - I give them a drop of liquid calcium to their beak and add it to their water also (like Fran said).

Best wishes that she's okay until your supplies arrive.

Edit: If she's not touching the cuttlebone, you can scrape some of it on top of their seeds too.

ac12 · Post by **ac12** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:33 am

Since I have 2 female juveniles, I might run into this as well.
When are the F able to start laying/producing eggs?

They are in a community cage. I don't have my finches separated by sex.

I give them egg shells, since the F don't pick at the cuttlebone very often, and they do eat the egg shells.

Post by **Sally** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:50 am

Though we shouldn't let them breed at such an early age, Zebras can start as early as three months. I had juvenile Fire finch siblings that started breeding and laying eggs as soon as they had molted into their adult colors (of course, the eggs were tossed, and the brothers/sisters were separated after that!).

ac12 · Post by **ac12** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:59 am

OUCH.
Mine hatched beginning of Jan, so I'm nearing the 3 month mark.
Dang, I guess I have to build another cage this weekend for the females.

Thanks for the warning Sally.

Littlemissfinch · Post by **Littlemissfinch** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:56 pm

did she pass the eggs? its been long enough!

HoangQuan · Post by **HoangQuan** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 2:18 am

Yes she did!! She's ok now, my calciboost has arrived

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:33 am

Thats very good news glad she is improving

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female zebra finch's weird symptons?

female zebra finch's weird symptons?

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