New "blue" dilute

[CandoAviary]

No he wasn't inbred. I had bred both of his parents in 2008. His mom was a BH PB/LB YB and Dad was a RH PB GB.
The grandparents had a common relation. The 2 grandfathers, on Slater's mother and father's side were brothers. But both grandmothers were outcrosses not related to each other or any other of my lines.
I wasn't planning on pairing my BH YB hen with a RH normal but they were in love through the bars...so I put them together...never imagining I would get a blue head.
I don't think that having grandfathers that were brothers would cause problems. I have kept a sister and a RH dilute brother of Slater's and they are fine. The sister is incubating now and I have not paired the RH dilute brother yet. But had planned on paring him with one of the blue head blue pastel chicks once they were older...like next year.
I am thinking that it happened over night that maybe he had a night fright and hit his head. I did notice a few feathers missing from the side of his head. His chest was full, no wasting away. Vent totally clear. Poop on the cage bottom normal. The hen and the one fledged chick are still in the same cage and thriving. The ones I am handfeeding are not doing as well. They are afraid of me and I am mostly force feeding. They are both yellows.
I have never seen the rhytmic twitching muscles. Just his left eye would pulsate wide open . then normal, steady every 3 seconds. The left foot opened then clenched in the same rhythum time. He leaned to the left.... his right side was not affected at all. That is why my husband thought stroke. The end of the second day he kept his left foot totally clenched and closed his eyes. He perished on the 3rd evening. So I am really leaning on either head injury or heart attack/stroke.

[Pukasand]

So sorry to hear you lost him, Candace. (((hugs))). He was a beautiful bird. I love those blue heads.

[nixity]

That is awful
I am sorry you lost him..
At the very least he gave you some progeny before he left.. hopefully they prove to carry or at least pass on the trait.

[annague]

Candace he was exceptionally beautiful.

I'm so sorry you lost him.

[CandoAviary]

Domenic,
I wasn't crazy for taking him outside. He was partially paralysed and didn't even try to fly. I kept him in an open plastic tub and would take him out to the sunshine several times during the day. He loved it and ate better in the warm sun. He loved the passion flower vine the most. He would sing to the flowers. in these pictures you can see his limited use of the foot. He leaned to the left. His last days were spent in the outdoors in the sun and with freedom from the cage..... a little taste of what he would have in Heaven
I felt it was the least I could do for him.

[mrshorn]

Candace- Oh my gosh, I didn't know you lost your little guy! I am so sorry! He was very beautiful! Those are some really great pictures too. It looks like he really loved his time out there. You are such a good finch mommy!

[L in Ontario]

That's so incredibly sad! He looks so beautiful there!

[annague]

What you did for him after his stroke was beautiful and kind, Candace. The pictures are very special as was your boy.

[Meagan83]

That made me want to cry.
Atleast he had a good mommy who took good care of him at the end.
Didn't you say he had babies? How are they doing?

[CandoAviary]

He had 3 chicks when he passed. One had just fledged and 2 still in the nest. Mom continued to feed the fledgling but not the 2 in the nest. I took them and handfed, one did not make it but one did. They are now in a group of juvies and are coloring out , one is a yellow hen and the other a dilute...hopefully just like Dad I have since placed a different male with the hen and they are in the process of nesting. No eggs but they are in and out of the nest


The 2 chicks are in the center fledgling cage, the yellow hen is on the feed cup in the center bottom, one of the dilutes is her brother (picture too small to make out the bands)..... there are 6 in there and 9 in the top cage....they are getting ready to be moved to the bigger flights next door to grow out flights. I always like to keep the young goulds in the same area as their parents until they are well independent. Usually I hold them in temporary grow out cages for about 3 to 4 weeks after seperating from the parents cage. I find moving them from the parent's cages to large flights a bit too extreme of a change so I do it in gradual steps. This way it's a smooth transition and they continue their molt without getting delayed. I will post pics once they start to color up

[MLaRue]

http://www.finchforum.com/gallery/displ ... p?pos=-662

I just noticed this picture - WOW - how beautiful with all that pretty blue on his head!

[CandoAviary]

That is a gorgeous really blue dilute. Best wishes with your future breeding of these bluies, Puppeteer