Ruddy finch fluffed up (sometimes)

[Macca04]

Hi all,
I have a ruddy hen, who I found fluffed up in the corner of the breeding cage about 4 days ago. She appeared to be gravely ill but showing no visible symptoms. I since have had her in the hospital cage in the house in which most of the day she seems fine, but occasionally will fluff up, and sometimes not perching (sleeping on the ground fluffed up). I have been adding spak to her water and she is eating her live food and seed reasonably well. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do next?

Adam

[E Orix]

How old is the bird

[Myzomela]

Hi Macca

The symptoms you describe are typical of any sick finch and could be caused by a great variety of illnesses.
The heat in the hospital cage will help but if she still appears fluffed at times then there is definitely something wrong.
Is she thin or well muscled?
Was she nesting before she became ill? Is there an egg or swelling in her belly below the keel? If so she may be egg bound.
Are her droppings normal? Are there undigested seeds in her droppings?
When was she last wormed?
Does she wheeze when you hold her?

These are just some of the questions which may help to narrow down the range of possible causes.

Cheers

Myzo

[Macca04]

Hi Macca

The symptoms you describe are typical of any sick finch and could be caused by a great variety of illnesses.
The heat in the hospital cage will help but if she still appears fluffed at times then there is definitely something wrong.
Is she thin or well muscled?
Was she nesting before she became ill? Is there an egg or swelling in her belly below the keel? If so she may be egg bound.
Are her droppings normal? Are there undigested seeds in her droppings?
When was she last wormed?
Does she wheeze when you hold her?

These are just some of the questions which may help to narrow down the range of possible causes.

Cheers

Myzo

She's only a young hen probably around 6 months of age. I Had only had her for about 48hrs. When she fell ill. I had wormed her out the day before and then the following day introduced her to another male. I wasn't sure if it was stress related due to a long transport and the male possibly harassing her. I haven't noticed any Undigested food in the cage as yet. However, I'll check breathing and feel her abdomen for possible egg bound issues. I really only go and look at her for brief periods to reduce any stress, so I haven't had chance to pick her up and listen.

Adam

[BlackCobra]

Like it has been said before, there is so many different problems for a bird to fluff up, usually a bird will not fluff up when it first gets sick, they try & hide sickness to prevent predators going for them, but by the time they fluff up its often too late to save them, if you only had her a short time it could have been the handling & transporting that could have stressed her out, I find that often happens with painted finches, to me there just like fish they could have a underlying problem & once stressed it comes out, like fish they seem to carry white spot & finerot ect all the time but because there healthy it dosn't worry them, but once you transport them & temperature drops they ofter get stressed enough for these things to get hold of the fish, the same with birds, my son bought 4 princesses recently, the next day one looked poorly, my son thinks its because the guy used a very small net & chased the bird all over the place & knocked it about quite a bit, he still is not well, were still working to save it, theres so many things that stress will bring out, if there is an underlying problem it often goes into a secondary problem, like cocsidia, I once had cocklasoma & it turned into a secondary with cocsidia, same as my son with megabactor in his budgies, sorry if my spelling is wrong.
so as far as im concerned your done the right thing to give heat first & spark, I mainly try & get a little glucos & heat to start off.
I usually will try & take a feces sample & see if any big problem there, most of the big problems are pretty easy to see.
I hope you can work out the problem, good luck with it.