my finches are out

[jusdeb]

good plan

[shanny2]

yeah i am gonna be busy

[bleeding green]

When you have birds you are always busy.If I were you I'd do any modifications first. That way any saw dust or matel shavings will be properly washed away and there'd be no risk of the birds picking any foriegn objects up.

[shanny2]

i want to clean it first so that is out the way and it takes more time

[dano_68]

Yes in a perfect world Dano but Shanny is a student with limited funds and us rural folks dont have access to what we want when we want it .
Ive never used a commercial bird cleaner and have never lost birds from using bleach and or detergent , the key is to rinse properly and then again for safe measure .

Sorry Deb, I am not aware of Shanny's (or anyone else’s for that matter) socio-economic status. It is only my intention to offer the best advice I can. I have done a lot of trial and error over the years and if I can save just one person the heart ache of losing birds due to preventable problems I feel it is time well spent.

We only have a very limited gene pool of finches left in Australia and I feel strongly that the old attitude of "She'll be right, I'll just buy some more..." is no longer acceptable. In fact, the only reason we can enjoy many of the species we have left today is from the dedication of a small number of breeders that went the extra mile, made the sacrifices and developed best practise through hard work and diligence.

I don’t have a lot of money either but I feel a strong sense of responsibility to my birds as they are in my care. It was my choice to acquire them, so I feel I owe it to them, and the person that went to all the trouble of actually breeding them to give them the best care I can and sometimes that means staying home on a Saturday night or not buying take-away that week so I can afford a bottle of medication!

For the record, Vetafarm Avi Care 500ml is $14.75 (http://www.getprice.com.au/Vetafarm-Avi ... 513807.htm). Rudducks Bird Cage Cleaner available from most petshops / produce stores was less than $10.00 from memory.

Most people would spend more than this at McDonalds or on Pizza!!

The beauty of these products is you will get several years out of 1 bottle.

Avi Care 500ml concentrate $15.00 = 20ml per use, that gives you 25 units total - base that on using it 4 times a year you get about 6 years use which works out at around $2.40 per year!

I think any bird deserve $2.40 a year??

[jusdeb]

Is all good Dano as I said different strokes for different folks , myself am not going to change what works for me . Also my cage cleaning isnt a thing I do a few times a year as I hand raise companion birds its a bi - weekly and even daily chore all the other birds are in aviaries .
Just because I don't buy avicelanse doesn't mean I don't have a responsibility to my birds . Is all good to give advice that's what the forum is all about its not good to make people feel like inferior bird keepers because they don't use the same products as everyone else.

[shanny2]

over the years that i have had finches which is 2-3 i have not had a hen with egg binding and know the history of how many died the first time i got finches i got 7 and i lost 5 because they died on the way home it was a hot day, then i got more about 8 more then 2 died then they lived on and then i got 4 new ones then they died the day after i got them when they where breeding 1 baby died and 3 others died and then 1 more died in the big aviary this year and the others died a week later 20 that was a total of 24 and i want to learn from my mistakes and become better and i lost 11 quails 4 adults and 7 babies

[dano_68]

over the years that i have had finches which is 2-3 i have not had a hen with egg binding and know the history of how many died the first time i got finches i got 7 and i lost 5 because they died on the way home it was a hot day, then i got more about 8 more then 2 died then they lived on and then i got 4 new ones then they died the day after i got them when they where breeding 1 baby died and 3 others died and then 1 more died in the big aviary this year and the others died a week later 20 that was a total of 24 and i want to learn from my mistakes and become better and i lost 11 quails 4 adults and 7 babies

Hi Shanny,

That is really heart breaking to hear of your loses – I really do mean that. People may think my quarantine regime, regular medical treatments and hygiene practises are over kill, over the top or pretentious, but the fact is I have not lost a single finch to anything other than old age in over 5 years.
It comes down to how I select finches to buy, how I bring them home, house them, feed them and care for them. I learnt a long time ago from very successful breeders that prevention is better than cure.

So ever since I made this mental jump in the way I keep birds my breeding success has gone through the roof and my mortality rate is almost non existent. In fact, if one of my prime breeders was to suddenly die I would have it straight to an avian vet for an autopsy. This may seem extreme but I would need to know what killed it to potentially save the rest of the flock!

I learnt when I was 12 that you can have a lot of finches one day and a lot of dead finches a few days later! I had 98% of my flock wiped out (about 30 birds) in 1 week by a preventable disease – “coccidia”. This was way back in 1980 and Joe Average finch breeder didn’t know much about this type of thing. It was Russel Kingston that gave me some medication and advice that fix that issue.

Over the years, and more dead birds later I eventually learnt from each case what I needed to do. A lot of breeders still don’t do what I do, and that’s fine. But one thing I can promise them is they will continue to have birds die for no apparent reason. Of course some of the finches I keep now and intend on keeping in the future are very expensive, so replacing them is not that easy.

So if I can help you in any way I am happy to.

[dano_68]

Is all good to give advice that's what the forum is all about its not good to make people feel like inferior bird keepers because they don't use the same products as everyone else.

Oh Deb, it is NOT my intention to belittle other breeders! I am quite shocked that you would think that!!! I really don’t care if other breeders don’t use what I do. I am always on the look out for better products, techniques and practices. So when someone says to me “Give this a go” I don’t feel insulted or inferior??? I process the info and decide yes or no – life then goes on… ;)

[jusdeb]

Maybe not intended but thats how it comes across .... anyhoo moving on.