Essi's Concerned about her Gouldians

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:34 pm

Here's a posting that was sent to me privately and she said I could post this, which I would like to do in order to get everyones feedback. This is for Essi of Finland and she has a few serious concerns with her new Gouldians. Let's see if we can put our experiences together and give Essi some possibilities. Here's her situation -

From: kaija
To: L in Ontario (Online)
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:27 pm
Subject: Greetings From Finland ;)
I need some help and I don´t like to write in forum with my english skills

I hope you understand me and if you have broblems to understand, just ask and i try to do better work with it

I have 5 gouldians at the moment and i allready have some broblems wiith them... health boblems...

short story about me and my birds
I have had parrots 10 years now... at the moment we are living in "detached house" and our birds are living in their own floor... 2 pyrrhura frontalis females and one eclectus female (i use to have pair... female eliminated male while nesting... after 10 years living together and several times nestin was successful... i used different nest box and that was it )

I got these gouldians 6 months ago from finnish "breeder" 5 males... In first week one was dead (stress in new plase or something)and after one month there was second deth (with no reason at all... day before this bird was totally normal singin active boy and next day dead.... crop was ok and food was ok in it.. weight was normal and no signs of violence)... Soon after that i bought 2 "females" from other "birdceeper" and one of my friend carry them to me.... These 2 birds where over 1 year old and they still had their babyfeathers on...(I didn´t got any pictures bifore i bought them) So they where kind of brown birds and i dont´know still if they are males or females.... (they had moved these birds while these babys where starting to moult and that was the first reason... after 3 months tey where startin moult again and at that time they where transsferred to me and this mout was stopped with that)

Now we can start wit our broblems

You have eclectus and you know what is "toetapping" 2 of my gouldians got this toetappin I dont´know what to do! I haven´t found any help from internet... (magnesium of zinc or something missing??) And that is not our only problem... There is one differend male with bould cheeks and these two "females" do have massive moult and they can still fly short distances but if they get sceard they will drop in floor and they can not get up.... (every other wing "feather" is missing and they get only 1 meter of the ground...) My gouldians are living in 3m x 3m room with sand floor and small window... they have several full spectrum lights...

All these birds do have molt at the moment and that is also our broblem... They are not eatin anything else but seeds.... I make every morning eggfood with sprouts and carrot and other green food... they woun´t even taste it.... should i have some other finches in there??

I allready find 3 REAL females and i take them to us after tis moultin season...(these birds are eating well all kind of food) And next summer there is 10 more birds coming to us if i only can solve some broblems before that... Owner of these 10 gouldians suffers with same broblems... Boulding heads.... These bould heads are related and i heard that they can have bad genes??? Do you belive that theory?

Do you use kelp or spirulina? How much protein do you use? What kind of vitamins you are usin? Other stuff??? Do you have extra heat? Do you think that 22 celsius is not enough for these birds??

I´m really sorry about my language skills I know that you have some fun time when you are readin my typing errors!!

I do hope you can help me with this toe tapping and moult and eating broblems... You can use my questions in forum if you think it is necessary.

Thank you for your time
- Essi

(we don´t use these regards and other stuff at the end of our letters in Finland and I dont´t even know how to use them and when it is ok to say somethin... I hope you can understand it.... And our finnis language is not as polite as english... So i allready ask for forgiveness with that... it is not so easy to start using totally new unused words and sentences in differend language... i´m wery grateful if you ansver to us )
************************************************************
Hi Essi of Finland!!! Welcome to the Finch Forum!!! I loved your letter and your English if very very good - I have no problem understanding you at all. I do have a question or two to ask you also about your birds but I would very much like to post your story and questions on the forum. I have a few answers but I know others with more experience than me would love to help you too.

I do know about Eclectus and toe-tapping as mine did that for quite a while when I first got her. I'm very sorry to hear about your male Eclectus - that must have been very hard on you. When you talk about Gouldians doing the toe-tapping are you talking about their front toe or back toe. It's perfectly normal for finches back toe to move like that in rhythm with their breathing. I keep my birdroom at 19 or 20 Celcius and they all do fine with that - parrots, finches and babies.

Yes I use Spirulina and powdered Kelp and Liquid Kelp and Calcium and Vitamins and charcoal and Oyster Grit. The protein I give them is in the hardboiled egg (mashed including the shell) and mixed with soaked seed (for about 24 hours and rinsed very well) and can also mix in some minced brocolli flowerettes and minced carrot too. That is good for vitamin A which you know can be a cause of toe-tapping in Eclectus (deficiency of vitamin A). Balding may be caused by moulting or by lack of Iodine which can be given in the form of powdered kelp or liquid kelp.

I know lots of people would be very happy to offer you even more advice and experience. I will post your story and my answers on the forum and I hope you come there and introduce yourself in the Introductions then come find this posting under Health.

Talk to you real soon I hope and again WELCOME!!

Liz

PS - don't worry about Regards and all that - we are not formal here just very friendly and helpful.

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:05 pm

Essi
Welcome to the forum your English is fine,I think Liz gave you good advise gouldians are Finch's that need extra iodine in there diet.
I think your temperature is fine normaly,but if there going thru there moult mine seem to like more heat,I have two that are going thru a moult and they set right in front of a light most of the day .There are a lot of people here to give advice and help any way they can

Post by **Sally** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:01 pm

Essi, welcome to the forum! Your English is lots better than my Finnish

. This is a very relaxed, friendly forum, and we accept each other just as we are.

Liz has already given you good advice, and I don't have as much experience with Gouldians, but one of our members always adds garlic powder to his eggfood and the Gouldians seem to eat it better. Just a little, a pinch. Gouldians don't always eat vegetables, so I would give them the eggfood by itself, with vegetables in another dish. The protein in eggfood will help grow feathers.

I don't know what products are available to you, but the Bird Care Co. is based in England, so you may be able to get their products. A vitamin supplement for feathers and molting would be good.

When you feel comfortable, post in the Introduction section and tell everyone a little about yourself.

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:56 am

Welcome Essi!

You came to a great place for help! I think Liz has given you some excellent advice. I wish for your birds a great recovery!

I would also give them more iodine. Be sure not to mix anymore birds with them until they are all well.

Good luck,

Donna

kaija · Post by **kaija** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:25 am

Hello!

I´m Essi From Finland... ;)

25 years old and living with my birds and boyfriend. (23 days until our weddings... Yes!! I do have some kind of stress

)

This "toetapping" is gone (at the moment)... This one bird was tapping first with only back toe and after couple days with all toes (one leg only) and some days after that whole leg was "kicking" This other bird was tappin with only this one back toe. They are totally ok now...

I started to add more "FeatherUp" in their eggfood and i also put that powder in water (i don´t like to mix anything with water) I do use some kind of garlic powder in their food sometimes... Was it "bioplus" from PCC...?

I can´t get any spirulina or kelp powder from here... After 25 days we are going to Costa Rica and we will spend some days in NY in our trip... Do you know any great petshops there? Can I get spirulina and Kelp from there? Do you hawe any witamin brands that i should buy from tehere? I have some hours between ouf filghts in Miami as well....

I have been in CostaRica before for 3 monts... I was valentearing there in one macaw projekt....

One more question about hmmm.... i hate this language broblem....

This liquid medicin that you put on birds skin to get mites out...

Some are using this "stronghold" (selamektiini) and more often nowdays they are using (ivermektiini) products like Ivomec or some other brands... These are finnish names and products and i can´t find other words or names... sorry

(are they selamectin and ivermectin... is this so simple !!! Wihiiiii!!! use just "finnish" words and put some c-letters in)

What kind of dose you are using? We can´t trust our vets here... They don´t know anything about birds...

I hope you understand me

:D:D

- Essi

kaija · Post by **kaija** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:29 am

I had some broblems with previous post... After 30 minutes i read this text "you can not post links in your first post" or something...

So here you have 2 links.... related to that post....

If you like to see some of our birds... And if you like to spend some time to learn my language

http://forum.papukaijat.net/index.php?topic=20613.0

And if you like to see that Costa Rica project just visit www.hatchedtoflyfree.org

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:35 am

Beautiful gouldians!!! Do you have that big bird in with your gouldians?

Will it not hurt them?

You should be able to find any of the meds you need when you getto New York. I am not familiar with any pet shops, but I am sure someone can help you there.

Congrats on your wedding!

kaija · Post by **kaija** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:22 am

I had 2 eclectus in there.... This male loved our gouldians... He was carefull with every step for not scear them... He just loved to watch them.

This female don´t care of them... She just live with them...

Gouldians are so fast moving birds that our eclectus female can´t get them. We didn´t have broblems even when this eclectus pair was nesting....

Do you have any brands to recommend?

kaija · Post by **kaija** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:22 am

I had 2 eclectus in there.... This male loved our gouldians... He was carefull with every step for not scear them... He just loved to watch them.

This female don´t care of them... She just live with them...

Gouldians are so fast moving birds that our eclectus female can´t get them. We didn´t have broblems even when this eclectus pair was nesting....

Do you have any brands to recommend?

kaija · Post by **kaija** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:35 pm

worst case

same bird...

Allmost alive

ok:D

Our 1year and 4 moths old "babys"...Yes I do need your help with these...

- Essi

Post by **Sally** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 6:30 pm

Essi - I'm not very experienced with Gouldians, but that sure looks like balding from a lack of iodine. I looked on the Bird Care site, but they don't seem to have an iodine product, or kelp either. I checked out Nekton, since they are in Europe, but couldn't find either product. Hopefully, Paul (poohbear) will be on soon and can direct you to the right product in Europe.

kaija · Post by **kaija** » Sun May 31, 2009 4:31 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSD9aZuYqu4

My birds after 4 weeks... These two females are those 2 "kids" from pictures above.... And this male is also in "horror pictures" Wihii...... Im so glad!!

This bould case is totally ok as well!

kaija · Post by **kaija** » Sun May 31, 2009 4:32 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSD9aZuYqu4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXojV5Wn7Xo

My birds after 4 weeks... These two females are those 2 "kids" from pictures above.... And this male is also in "horror pictures" Wihii...... Im so glad!!

This bould case is totally ok as well!

lovemyfinch · Post by **lovemyfinch** » Sun May 31, 2009 5:17 pm

Looking absolutely georgeous.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Sun May 31, 2009 5:34 pm

The Gouldians look GREAT now. What are they pecking at - what is the ceiling of the aviary made of?

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Essi's Concerned about her Gouldians

Essi's Concerned about her Gouldians

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