Aussie Finch Forum

TheFinchMan101 wrote: i did notice all the babies that died had dirty vents but im still unsure as to what caused it.....

Is there dampness in the aviary?

No the avaries are completely dry, if so all the other babies in other nests would be the same and the ones that died right??
There was a large build up of poo in the nest if that may have contributed?

Have the parents gone to nest again.
If this happens the chicks don't get any where near the feeds they require.
When this happens it forces them to start feeding themselves earlier than normal so they will pick up anything to try it.
You may have a plant in the aviary which is not touched by adults but nibbled on by inexperienced young ones and it could be toxic.
There is great pressure on chicks when they fledge and losses are reasonably common. There will be a reason but it may be difficult to find it.
I doubt if it is from what the parents are feeding them though.

vettepilot_6 wrote:

natamambo wrote:Cold, night fright, weak mutation, list is endless really. I didn't have a single bird die in 7 months up to Christmas, lost at least half a dozen in past 3 months across all finch species, sometimes it's like that.

Tend to disagree with that natamambo...loosing birds there is always a reason for it...when I was at peak breeding 70 or more pairs of different varieties.. if I lost more then 2 to 3 young over the whole season I had autopsies done to find the reason why...

I didn't say for no reason, just the opposite - that sometimes "it" happens and there are many reasons. To expect reasonable answers requires more information at the outset from the OP. In my case I've lost several birds to night fright with possums moving in, a couple with no apparent reason (clean vents, not underweight, no worms or mites, just dead), a Gouldian with twirling who was put out of her misery, young who fledged to soon (Painteds!), no need for paid autopsies as it wasn't a spate of similarly unexplained deaths.

FM, rather than have us guess try and post as many things as you can think of that are "different" about those birds and sometimes knowing exactly what's different comes only by experience. Have a look through the health threads to get a few ideas of what to look for and describe, there's some great info in some of them.

natamambo wrote: sometimes it's like that.

Your right natamambo but I was referring to your last 4 words

I would agree with vettepilot. If it is important to you get a vet to do autopsy. I had 2 birds appear to die for no apparent reason in 2 days had an autopsy performed and found I had a virus born illness carried and spread by mozzies. Glad I got a diagnosis I'm sure it has saved a large number of my birds.