Sick OB

[flap]

I am not sure what it is with our birds the last few days, we have a sick gouldian probably with ASM, slowly recovering in hospital cage. Then had a second one to an overnight stint and back in aviary next day. Now we have one very sick OB girl. All from same aviary. Also noticed a couple of other fluffed up gouldians, again from same aviary.
The OB has been nesting so I wonder if it is egg binding, she cannot fly well (did a crash landing in the aviary yesterday so it was clear something wasn't right. Her tail is bobbing, her wings not close to her body, she is on the floor of the hospital cage. she appears to be panting. She has been pecking at seed. We are keeping her warm, gave her paraffin oil yesterday, and again just now. is there anything else we can do? as she hasn't passed an egg I am assuming either it isn't that or the egg is broken or lodged somewhere. or maybe it is something else. Do OBs get ASM? should we give her moxydectin or sulfa 3 just in case? Thank you for any advice.

ETA - she has passed a squashed egg shell,stil tail bobbing and her vent/abdomen are moving a lot so guessing she is still not in the clear yet.

[djb78]

FlaP how is your little OB going has she passed all her eggs. Did the paraffin oil and heat work? I'm use to using codliver or olive oil

[flap]

She is still not great. she has not passed any more eggs, but still tail flicking and panting. I haven't given her any more oil as don't want to give her diarrhea and she is drenched in the oil... At times she seems stronger, sitting on the perch etc, and other times she is sitting low on the floor of the cage. She seems to like the heat. Have just put some sulfa3 in the water to see if that helps. We are thinking of taking her to a vet but no avian vets nearby and worried that the car trip might just cause her more stress... So hard to know the right thing to do. thank you for asking about her.

[finchbreeder]

If she passed a soft shelled egg then she is short on for calcium. Do you have cuttlefish in the avairy?
LML

[flap]

Thanks FB. Yes they have cuttlebone in the aviary, as well as a mix of shell grit, egg shell and charcoal. We have put the mix in the hospital cage for her as well, except for the cuttlebone. But maybe she doesn't eat it. The egg she passed definetely had a soft shell as it was mishapen. She was heartily eating seed earlier on, but still not looking well at all....

[flap]

Well we ended up taking her to the vets, got antibiotics twice a day for the next 10 days, and it will be a couple of weeks before she can go back to the aviary. $170 later... hope she makes it. She and the sick gouldian are both in the hospital cage, sunbaking through a north facing window.

[djb78]

Well I hope you have a good ending.

[flap]

Hope so too djb. She is certainly looking happier and much more active, eating etc. Her other half is calling away, and she can hear him where she is so hopefully that is an incentive for her....
Of course we don't know whether all this has had any impact on her ability to breed but this pair was one of our original stock so not willing to part with them.

[desertbirds]

If this bird was from your original stock do you know how old the bird is ?