Spinning Gouldian

[Greg41]

I was asked to take a Gouldian from a lady who no longer wanted it.When I picked it up it was in a canary type cage in
the sun with the only shade being a half coconut shell which the bird was sitting in presumably for shade.
I was told she had it for 4yrs, took it home and placed it in a quarrantine cage and then it started hopping up off the perch
and doing a complete circle, landing again and then repeating and repeating the same movment.
It is a healthy looking bird, has it gone phyco from the sun or whatever?

[elferoz777]

He is done. I had some do that and they dont last long

[Lachlan1]

Stargazing... Sadly almost every time the bird doesn't make it.

[Spitfire]

Confined to a small space and the bird is gone bonkers.

[Diane]

When you say doing a complete circle, is it tilting its head back to the point of spinning uncontrollably on the floor then looking stressed and disoriented after the spinning has stopped? (Could this be the bird version of epilepsy?)
There are Youtube videos of birds with this distressing condition. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=yout ... stargazing
This symptom has several views among birdkeepers, some seem to think in can be cured with mediation, others say put the bird out of its misery.

If the bird you have is just moving around the cage in a deliberate, compulsive way from perch to floor it could be the same as when a large animal has been kept in a small cage for a long time, they take to pacing and rocking.
I would give it a little time to adjust and maybe even put another bird or two in with it once quarantine has passed just to see if the other birds can distract this poor thing enough to stop the compulsive behaviour.

Good luck and I would love to hear what happens.

[Greg41]

Update,He still jumps up off the perch and does one or two complete turns before landing again.
I put a hen in with him, she seems nervous and he is no different. The person whom I got it off [as a favour, she no longer could keep it]
told me she called it" Sparky" as it was alwys on the move,now I know why.
I am going to put it in an aviary with the other finches with various problems to live it's life out.

Cheers Greg.

[Craig52]

I must be sinnister or something,of all the birds that i have had that had that condition i culled.Why would you let it live its life out in that condition,that's more cruel than culling.
Cock gouldians are very cheap and easy to come by if you need to replace him. Craig

[KENTUCKY]

The Old Timers believed that this kind of condition is caused by too much electricity on the Brain
and being kind to that Bird was the only way to deal with it,I doubt if that Bird would settle down to breed, some time back I read an rather interesting article on this very subject where the Author stated that this
behavior is caused by Bacteria and can be totally cured with the right Medication,
I cant be certain but I thought the Article was published by Winnie McAlpine

[Myzomela]

There have been several reports of this in the veterinary literature and post mortem histopathology examinations have revealed a variety of protozoan parasites mostly responsible, with some being bacterial, fungal and even cancers. Because of the location in the brain treatment is rarely effective, although the condition settles in some individuals but they never return to be fully normal.

What you do with the bird depends on your assessment of its quality of life; If it appears distressed then euthanasia is the kindest option. If it otherwise appears happy- active, eating etc then it would be fine to let it live out its life in a retirement aviary if you're happy to do so.