Aussie Finch Forum

Hello All,

Still rather frustrated with my gouldians....

Lost a cock bird two weeks ago, bird was wheezing etc, so understandably, I thought it was air sac mite....I gave it & the flock two weeks (three days a week) treatment of S76....and the little bugger still died....the rest of the flock looked well.....I was cleaning out the cages last Saturday, when I noticed a hen wheezing.....the thing that amazes me is that it and the dead one were (and is) really almost hyper-active...
Anyway, I went and saw Dr Rob Marshall on Tuesday, where the bird dropping and the crop was swabbed and examined....Good news...birds were clean of worms,air-sac mite and the dropping showed that the birds like the environment and that it is clean....Bad news!!!!....Got the results back today....the crop swab showed a fungal infection (hence the wheezing) and a staph infection....(how this bird contracted staph is beyond me!) Anyway starting a seven day treatment for the whole flock tomorrow...
Hopefully after the birds get over these primary & secondary infections, they may build up strength to start breeding.

My thoughts are that, because, I started this flock from scratch, you don't really know what each bird is carrying or what it is exposed too, and then bringing all different birds together.....After all the treatments & I will be going on to Dr Rob's Gouldian management plan, I will have strong healthy birds...I am looking towards to medium to long term & maybe in a couple of years or so, I will have some cracking birds, which will be free of any diseases and good breeders....

Every cloud has a silver lining! I have learnt a hell of a lot over the last three days, which will benefit me & my birds in the future....Good news!!!

Cheers
Ripley

Hey that's great Ripley thanks for sharing.
Wondering if you could start a new thread in 'health' and copy that post and describe what you actually saw in your Gouldians, more description on the infections and what treated them along with a possible how could they catch those infections and we could discuss preventative measures. I'm sure many would benefit.
Cheers
Mac

Hi Mac,

I sure will, I'll do it over the next day or so...I want to get it all down on paper in my journal & what medication and treatments I use. It will just allow me to logically think about the problems and how to aviod them in the future...
But, I am more than willing to share, my trials and tribulations..and i'll put something on the forum in the next day or so.

Cheers
Ripley

My breeding season is going very well this year so far i have a fair few chicks
that have fleged and a lot more in the nests what has helped is the green seed
that i got from goul/paul they seem to feed the young a lot more which is good news
hope it contine this way ,hope everybody is doing as well.
cheers flavio

**Finally** got my first chicks, a nest of 3 hatched in last 24 hours. Have another pair on 7 eggs.
5 Weeks in cages for 4 pairs, lost 1 pair and gave up on remaining 3, released them in to a spare flight today, they can choose for themselves .

I'm only 500m as the crow flies from Flavio so that's adding to my frustration .

I've had one pair rear their young until about a week from fledging. The young perished soon after (I think maybe due to the heat). The next 2 pairs abandoned their nests very close to hatching!!(As I was inspecting their nests way too often, I think) And lastly I have 4 healthy chicks in a nest which are 7-10 days from fledging. What I have learnt, is nest inspections can make or break the chances of success, and I have now pulled right back on candling eggs, disturbing nests, and leaving the birds alone until I hear the chirping of newly hatched young.

We have all made mistakes before we live and learn.
cheers flavio

Well my season is shaping up ok at the moment, have fledged 2 got a nest again with 2
from same parents, have a nest of 5 from first years, lost a hen with broken neck just after curing her from worms. And I have another pair on eggs while 3 pair are still getting into breeding condition. Now this is a question that's driving me nuts, have had a pair of gouldians fledge maybe about 6-8 weeks ago and one is starting to colour up, GB PC RH hen, its amazing that these colours are starting to show now never ever have i had a young colour so quick I'm usually waiting to around Christmas time before i see any colours, they actually have beaten my stars and painteds to colour up, does this happen often.

We also hope that on a forum such as this, that the breeders who have "Lived and learned" step forward with advice so that the beginners to this lovely hobby lose less and less birds and in turn experience less and less heartache along the way to the successful breeding of their favourite finches early on and into the future

Hi Nathan,

I think the level of nest inspections is a personal choice....I inspect my boxes twice a week....however I know other breeders who inspect far more than this with no issues (complaints from the birds )...experience and time with your birds will tell you how much is appropriate for you and your birds....generally I back off on inspecting first year birds...sometimes I find they are more nervous and less tolerable to nest inspections....having said that I haven't lost too many nests from inspections, but maybe I've been lucky.

The number of inspections are up to you...but so long as you are doing it often enough to know if eggs are fertile (or not) or to remove dead chicks quickly enough from the box then that is fine....it's balancing this with avoiding the possibility of unsettling the birds.

I also try to inspect my boxes first thing in the morning....(I wake my birds up at 4:30AM and I am normally feeding them at 5AM)...so if I do my inspection at 5AM i find that the hen is normally out of the box having her first feed anyway....if i time it right there is less distrurbance...but I don't stress if this doesn't occur.

Cheers,
Paul