Sick O/B hen

07 Sep 2010, 22:50

try some moxidectin plus. treats for a wide range of things, including air sac mite, and has no ill effects on young, eggs, fertility or anything like that. just be sure to mix it up fresh and leave it in for 2 days, rather than the recommended one day, as finches can easily go a day without drinking if they sense something is different with their water!! cheeky buggers. have done this with my birds and my gouldians looked markedly healthier afterwards (they had the beginnings of air sac mite infections, no idea to this day where it came from) and not a single bird had any ill effects.

if you (flab or Redwing, or both lol) dont want to buy a whole bottle (you only need 5 mL for every litre you mix up from memory) i have a bottle i probably wont go through before it reaches the expiry date, would be happy to meet up and give you some if you'd like.

07 Sep 2010, 23:11

Sorry Spanna didn't see your post when I answered the others.Thanks so much for your offer and you've answered my question. Am happy to collect or meet or whatever suits you. Just had to side track for a minute while I looked up Henley Brook!

07 Sep 2010, 23:22

have sent you a PM redwing.

08 Sep 2010, 09:34

Hi Spanna, thanks for the offer. We have already asked our vet to get us some Scatt (or equivalent - has different name but not sure what yet) so it is too late for us to back out of that as they have ordered it. Once we get it, if we find that there is a lot relative to what we need, you guys are also welcome to have some. From what i understand it is specific to air sac mites, From what we gather gouldians are susceptible and it flares up under stress. We will probably treat all our birds as a one off, and then do ?yearly treatment as the vet suggested. We will also need to spray the cages, perches etc that the birds have been in.
Redwing, hope your O/B recover quickly. They are my favourite finch!

08 Sep 2010, 11:24

As a preventative I like to use natural perching. Branches from the mulberry tree and cape lilac. Which I replace at regular intervals and burn the old ones. No risk of cross infection from beak wiping this way.
LML

08 Sep 2010, 20:41

Big thanks to Spanna who dropped some Moxidectin off for my O/B hen on his way home and also checked out my aviary and gave some advice on some nesting site improvements. Was so good to have someone with experience have a look.

08 Sep 2010, 23:10

How often do you change your perches finchbreeder?

08 Sep 2010, 23:36

Thanks Redwing, I was going to ask the same thing!

09 Sep 2010, 09:46

How is your OB hen Redwing? she should pick up soon with the meds. We hope to get ours today, so we can start treating the birds. They are looking better and not fluffed up but obvioulsy still not well.

09 Sep 2010, 10:21

To be perfectly honest. When I get round to it.

So can be anything from 8 weekly to 4 monthly. Go on the apearance of the perches and the behaviour of the finches. If they look poopy, change. If the finches seem to be be beak wiping, change. If it's time to prune the trees, change. Better too often than not often enough is my philosophy.
LML