disasterous parrotfinch/strawberry purchase.

[toothlessjaws]

so for about six months i have own a perfectly healthy, yet bald little strawberry finch. i was hoping that he would regrow his feathers when he moulted but he never moulted. he's remained a happy red with white spotted little vulture. he's an ugly little thing but he'd earned a girlfriend. i love strawberries so i decided to buy look for a trio, that way i'll end up with tow pairs. finally, i found a man who was more that happy to split pairs. in fact he had two pairs and a spare hen so he was happy for me to take a trio.

so i take a long, long drive out to see this guy and when i get there i see one of the hens is looking similar to my vulturine male. not wanting to make the same mistake again (assuming that a featherless finch will quickly regrow his feathers), i said not that one, and chose a good looking male and the other two hens. one pair went in my box and as the other female went in some doubt arose over "her" gender. in hindsight i should have scratched the deal right then and there and taken just the one hen, but i was stupidly convinced to take the otherwise healthy, "just a little pecked", female.

in addition i bought a pair of tri coloured parrotfinches.

i drove home very carefully and the box was nice and quiet bar the occasional chirp.

but when i got home i decided to quarantine the newbies in a box bar one strawberry hen, who i would risk introducing to the aviary to give the two strawberry pairs a chance to bond separately. so i took a spare cage into my aviary and decided to do the transfer in there, where i could safely catch back any escapees.

i put my hand in the box and got bitten by a parrotfinch, whilst the other one took off into the aviary. the next finch i tried to take out was another hen, meanwhile the male strawberry took off into the aviary. now admittedly, i'm yet to develop the delicate yet firm balance one needs to handle finches and the next bird out is a parrotfinch that escaped my hand whilst trying to administer some medication on the neck. i now have three birds loose in the aviary that shouldn't be there and two in the box that are both candidates for being loose.

i start trying to catch birds, but my aviary is too big to net birds in without the help of a "herdsman" and the parrotfinches go nuts and start flying into wire. the next thing i know, my prized looking parrots are bleeding from the head and scalping themselves.

i give up. i let the remaining two strawberry hens go into the aviary. i don't wanna stress them anymore.

and thats when things got really bad.

instantly, the bachelor cordons, who oddly had bonded with the lone vulturine strawberry, started somthing that looked suspiciously like they were trying to violently mate with the scrappy looking "pecked" strawberry hen. i see that she's suddenly looking very bad indeed and not even strong enough to escape. she sits there on the floor as i walk over, scoop her up, and place her in my quarantine cage. "damn!" i think, "i've bough a dud". but then i look at my other strawberry hen - she seems fine except for the fact that SHE CAN"T FLY!!!!!!!! instead she can only flutter around the floor. other than that and a lot of twitching she seems okay.

after not improving by nightfall - into the quarantine cage she goes as well. both hens aren't looking too good. one has a sticking up wing and the other clearly isn't gonna make the night. and sure enough, thats what happened. one died, the other has a damaged wing.

i let the surviving hen spend the day in the aviary again in the hope that she might improve but she didn't so she's now in a cage with the new strawberry male (who i managed to catch this evening).

i'm spewing.

so thats my disaster story. the parrotfinches should make it. but my strawberry breeding program is looking like its in tatters - after spending almost $200.

anyone got any advice?!!!

[Mickp]

I'd be getting in touch with the person you bought them from, tell him what has happened.

[jusdeb]

thats so sad I feel sorry for you , what can you do except leave them to settle down a bit and try to catch them again.
I bought a pair of bourkes , the male was the same and bashed in to the wire so much he ended up wings out and floppy on the ground.
I do swear by Dr Bachs rescue remedy to calm birds , a drop in the water will settle them somewhat , well it works for me . If you like you can research it in animal use on google , what can it hurt to look hey.
Anyway good luck with them , fingers crossed you get them sorted out.

[fincher]

sorry to hear about the strawberrys hope u finda a replacement soon

[cranberry]

I hate those types of stories. I just know how bad I would feel if it were me. Let the guy know what happened and if he has a conscience he might give you some credit on other birds or offer you a refund. If he is man enough...If not, tell him to go forth and multiply and let him know you will be telling others about him.

[toothlessjaws]

thanks for the advice guys.

i'm surprised to hear a number of you suggest that i contact the person i bought them off. i bought a sick bird a while back from a bloke who was just 15 mins up the road. that bird was clearly in bad shape the moment i got it home. like the strawberry finch, it didn't make it through one night.

i called him. and he instantly was defensive and rude. its as though by default they say "well it looked fine when i caught it"

sadly, its so hard to spot a sick finch when its fluttering away in a tiny cage with a billion other finches. if you stand close they move around to much, if you stand back, your too far away. in adddition there is nothing to say the birds don't injure themselves in the box on the way home - which is no way the sellers fault.

i'll contact the man - just to see.

do you have any advice re: the wing? i'm hoping that since its not drooping (shes holding it out and a little high) and can still flutter - its just a sprain. worse still it could have been like that already...

but i have to say, i have not yet had ONE bird purchase go smoothly.

1) the guy who sold me my first finches - two pairs of OB's charged me $120 a pair!!!!
he also charged $200 for a pair of masked doves. fortunately - i got my money back on those as one bird was lame and i took it back.

2) a very reputable breeder sold me 3 pair of gorgeous firefinches in perfect health. unfortunately he sent cinnamon mutants after i specified that i definitely didn't want mutation birds.

3) two pairs of cordons, one hen died within 24 hrs

3) the guy who sold me a "pair" of saints sold me two cocks

5) the strawberry/parrotfinch said disaster.

[gomer]

I would have rang him.I always check them thoroughly when purchessed.I once bought two pr of crimsons and three of masked finches from a guy.I met him in maccas car park.due to meeting him half way from home 3 hrs.And there was a bird with a dropped wing and another mask a bit bald.So i said to him they are no good to me like that.He said take them for free,so i did.And that pr have been the best breeders of the lot.And are still pretty average looking.

[finchbreeder]

So exactly who's black cat did you kick while walking under that ladder?
If the Saints you bought were young birds I might concede a genuine error there.
I bought a "pair" of young Saints off a guy some years back and we were both convinced they were a pair, but it turned out one was just slower maturing than the other. And they were both cocks.
Some people make genuine mistakes with young birds, and some people are crooks.
Stick with the suppliers who do the right thing and avoid the others.
BEST OF LUCK FOR your future finch buying enterprises.
LML
P.S. And if a bird turns out to be the wrong sex go back and ask for an exchange, if the supplier is genuine and has what you want they will oblige.

[toothlessjaws]

male parrotfinch dead this morning.

called the dealer - he only offered a half price sale of replacement strawberry (but he has no hens left anyway)

total DISASTER.

[Diane]

So sorry for your losses toothless