Constant beak open & close

[davlee]

Hi,
In an aviary I have a pair of black & white Mannikin finches and two male zebras.

The male Mannikin is constantly opening & closing it's beak. It is quite active and feeds & drinks regularly. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Thanks,
Dave

[E Orix]

Catch him up and if you hold him close to your ear you may here clicking and noisy breathing
sounds, if this is so your bird most likely is suffering from airsac mite infection.
It is quite treatable but do all the birds and clean the perches carefully.
You may notice the bird wiping it's beak on the perch quite often.
That is why you must clean the perches properly as they maybe carrying mites or eggs.

[FinchLover1999]

May i ask, how do you clean your perches?
Cheers, Brandon

[E Orix]

You can use Vircon S or similar or just Water and House Hold Bleach.
Bleach was used for years before the new chemicals became available.
It is so important to clean perches etc otherwise the birds just become infected again.
Dose the birds then if possible repeat the dose 10/14 days later.
The perches outside are not such a problem as the normal weather conditions sort out the mites.

[FinchLover1999]

I used to get new branches from the bush when my birds fell ill, but going to do this from now on. Thank you.

[matcho]

Davlee,

Easy way is to pull out and replace with fresh perches but that doesn't mean that the ASM is not there. Treat with moxyplus and baycox over a 2 week period. Spray with Coopex. Should be OK.

If you have one bird with it then all should be presumed to have it.

Ken.

[davlee]

May i ask, how do you clean your perches?
Cheers, Brandon

At the age of 65 I am a brand newby & have only just purchased my aviary, so I have a lot to learn. As my setup is so new, I haven't cleaned the perches as yet.
I have spent a lot of time around Broken Hill, where I fell in love with the sound of Zebra finches. I would have had only Zebras except that my wife wanted a pair of Mannikins.

Dave

[davlee]

Are Zebra finches just as susceptible to these issues? If I only had Zebras, would I be less likely to have mite issues?
As the aviary is only a few days old, I would have to presume the finch affected had the condition in the pet shop. Would this be likely?

Thanks,
Dave

[Craig52]

Are Zebra finches just as susceptible to these issues? If I only had Zebras, would I be less likely to have mite issues?
As the aviary is only a few days old, I would have to presume the finch affected had the condition in the pet shop. Would this be likely?

Thanks,
Dave

Yes Dave they are just as susceptible and yes the birds you bought are more susceptible due to probably over crowding and or were carrying the mites when the pet shop bought them.
It might sound a big deal but is very treatable as mentioned earlier but in the future,build a small cabinet cage to quarantine any new birds and treat them for 3 days with Moxidectin plus which will also treat for worms as well.
Now that an infected bird has been in your aviary you will need to treat them all and just spray down your perches with a pyrethrin based fly spray. Craig