Going, going.......gone

[nosaj76]

Hi everyone ..........well my worst fears have finally come true

I came home today and found my complete aviary wiped out except 2 gouldians. I have had a good look and it looks like "rodents" my seed was completely eaten and the egg and biscuit mix completely gone. I have taken my last remaining gouldians out of the aviary and into the warm house in a carry cage. I have completely gutted the aviary of all brush and nesting material and food and burnt all the brush. I have also set many traps
(bit late now) to catch the murderers. anyway I feel a bit dishearten over the whole thing it goes to show you that just when you think everything is going good one foul swoop and it can be all gone like that. I have decided to watch the remainder of my gouldians and if they are still good by the end of the week I will give them away to anyone who wants them (you will have to be local). I will not be going back to the hobby in the foreseeable future as it has taken me hundreds of dollars to get where I was and unfortunately don't have the funds to restock my aviary

But I will still stay an activate member and surf the forum in the background.


Cheers Jas

[Diane]

Oh that is awful, if it will help at all Im happy to take you gouldians on till you get your Mojo back. It will give you a break till you realise how you miss them.
Then you can have them all back.

[Buzzard-1]

Gee I feel for you, I know it's no consolation but it has happened to me and others I know as well. Very disheartening but the bird bug is strong so good luck for the future

[jusdeb]

Ive wanted to chuck it in a few times but always have a change of heart . Maybe a time out until you get your head around it all us what you need .

Anyhoo bad luck and I'm sorry it happened to you . Your doing the right thing giving whats left away to a good home , no use persevering if your hearts not it in at the moment.

Again sorry for your losses.

[Tintola]

Do you check the birds in the morning as I find it odd that you find these things in the afternoon when rats are only active at night.
How are you sure it is rats?
Are any of the bodies damaged or eaten?
If not, then it is not rats! And I would be looking elsewhere for the cause.
I do feel for you, as similar things have happened to all of us at one time or another.

[lyn2233]

Sorry to hear about your loss Jas. It is very heartbreaking to see that happen to your finches when it is your hobby. Hope after a break you may decide to get your aviary up and running again.●●●●●●●

[nosaj76]

Thanks guys for your well wishes.......I dont get to check my birds in the morning as it is very early that i am usually moving and on my way to work before any bird is flying about, I have tried to do the morning routine in the summer months but it is still to dark that it spooks them so the afternoons will have to do

A clue for all.....
1.Today i found one double bar on the ground along with a juvenile star finch
2. The breeding pair of stars found them in a wicker basket as if they had been stuffed in there
3. All my gouldians - 6 gouldian juveniles
1 white breasted r/h hen
1 r/h cock
All in the nesting box the juveniles fledged from like a mass grave (sorry for the descriptives)
when I was going through the aviary cleaning up the mess I pulled that particular box down and opened it my gouldian b/h hen that I thought was dead from the day before and one of her young flew out of the box they had been taking up refuge with the dead ones, funny thing is at the moment they are perfectly fine.....ohh i also found my female double bar tangled in the brush at the entrance to her nest and also there was a odd man out a lone male star finch still unaccounted for.

So work this one out it is starting to sound like a murder mystery

[Redwing]

So sorry to hear what's happened to your birds and know everyone's trying to help you work out what happened. Not discounting the rodent theory but wondering have you had a new batch of seed lately? Have heard of contaminated seed killing birds and sounds like yours have no signs of injury which you'd expect with rodents.

[nosaj76]

I bought some new seed about three weeks ago and they have been on it since then and a bottle of Good Health water disinfectant......????

[Diane]

nosaj76......
sent you a pm