Gouldians with 'sleepy eyes' and puffy chests... (Video)

30 Dec 2011, 20:00

Hi

What do you make of this please? All of my new Gouldians are, to varying degrees, showing this 'sleepy eyes' symptom and sitting with their chests puffed out. This is intermingled with normal behaviour - eating, singing, preening, bathing. They are not turning their heads to sleep in the classic fluffed up position of a seriously sick bird; they just keep closing their eyes and sitting with their beaks more up/out than usual and with their chest feathers pushed forward. The blue Gouldian cock in this video is by far the worst, though he's only doing it mildly here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5HOWx2EXwM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9C_YfBSkUo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Note that none of the other birds are affected at all. My new Waxbills, new Parrot Finches, baby Zebras and two older Gouldian hens are all fine. It's only the new Gouldians who are showing these symptoms.

All of the new birds went through a quarantine procedure before being released into the aviary. They have Virkon-S in their water. Seed is Avigrain, plus vegies and soft food supplements (if only I could get them all to eat that stuff). Nothing gets left out to sour. The weather's been ridiculously wet for weeks, up until the past few sunny days - but, as I said, all of the other birds appear very healthy.

Thoughts please? Recommendations?

Thanks

30 Dec 2011, 20:23

Why are you putting Virkon-S in their water,I would not do that.I would just add a little ACV
How long have you had the birds ?
When birds are moved they become stressed this can bring out coccidia,I would treat for coccidia as there has been alot of wet weather.
Are the birds skinny on the breast or vent wet?

30 Dec 2011, 20:30

Agree with Finchman1 I too would check for coccidia....Ask Jusdeb she knows all about it

30 Dec 2011, 21:18

Beautiful little birds you have there .
Please check for Cocci . I saw one of my birds drop dead with out any warning and 2 others were quite sick , broke my heart , cost me a small fortune at the vets and these were parrots , little finches I assume would go down much faster .

A fresh poop sample taken to the vets will tell you either way and if positive get you a script for baycox and antibiotics .

Apart from that they look to be light sensitive dont they ?

I would be catching them and checking the keel (breastbone ) as this is a good indicator of the bird losing weight , they go down hill fast if they arent getting enough nutrition .

Good luck with them , I hope they are all OK.

30 Dec 2011, 21:20

Do you know if your new Gouldians were cabinet bred or aviary bred ?

30 Dec 2011, 22:28

Hi Finchy,

I've just had a look at the youtube videos that show your aviary. I assume this to be the same aviary the new gouldians you are concerned about are in - if not then please ignore all my comments that follow.

Although your aviary looks terrific, in my opinion it is way too exposed for most finches to thrive, and hence I would be very surprised if you managed to keep blue gouldians alive for very long. I'd suggest a fully covered roof and sides is required. Perhaps a combination of colorbond and polycarbonate sheeting. In the mean time I'd say the gouldians need to be caught up and kept warm as soon as possible.

Sorry if my comments seem a bit harsh, but I've sold many gouldians to many people over the years only to have them perish and I then discover they were in similarly exposed aviaries (and I haven't got blues). I know a number of very experienced breeders with very sheltered aviaries who are yet to consistently keep blues going. Not sure about your blue gouldians but to my knowledge most blues are bred in very sheltered conditions and many with artificial heating - a very different environment to your aviary.

I'd hate to see you lose any of your birds.

Regards,
Sam

30 Dec 2011, 23:24

Thanks, I was wondering about Coccidia...although they were all clear of it when they went into the aviary about 10 days ago, and have no wet vents. They are exposed to wild birds though, and our horrible wet 'Summer'.

As for the exposure of the aviary itself, thanks for those thoughts. It's really hard to describe and doesn't show in the video, but the position of the aviary itself creates a 'shelter within a shelter'; it's entirely protected from Southerly and South-westerly air movement and has very little from other directions as well. It gets gentle sun from dawn until late afternoon, with extra in Winter as it shines right in. It's a very fortunate micro climate. I've had Gouldians in this position, in far less satisfying housing, for several years successfully, so I am willing to persist! In really bad weather I can provide additonal covering if necessary.

Though yes, the blue Gouldian does worry me; he's a soft cabinet bred bird that didn't even know that flying far was an option, or how to eat anything other than seed. Poor thing. He lacks the spunk and vitality of the others. I hope he makes it to the breeding season so I can breed some sturdier offspring from him.

The Virkon-S thing was intended as a problem preventative, as advocated by a couple of our most well known finch breeders in Aus. Over many years I have found ACV to be useless for keeping water (or bird guts) clean; it actually seems to promote slime in the watering system. Even though I do still periodically use it, I find it more psychologically beneficial to me (as everyone advises to use it) than of any actual health benefit to the birds. No harm in it if I can change the water every 48 hours, but usually I can't do that.

I will consider Coccidia and maybe get the Baycox out tomorrow...

31 Dec 2011, 06:45

Would it be possible for him to be in a cabinet within the aviary ? He may pick up if he feels secure and his young can then fledge out into the aviary from the cabinet and be hopefully a bit more robust than the father ....

As he is eventually the stress of aviary life is going to make him ill or worse .

31 Dec 2011, 08:19

Dang, the blue Gouldian does have some wasting around his keel bone. I wasn't planning to catch him but he was sitting within arms reach, closing his eyes, so I just plucked him off the perch! I can feel that he's lost some muscle each side. It's not severe, but certainly noticable and not good.

He's now indoors on his own in a cage with seed, supplements and Baycox. What else would you recommend? As I say, his vent is dry and clean, and his behaviour is quite normal between sleepy-eye phases. No clicking or nostil discharge. I notice that his wings tips are dropped slightly below the line of his body.

31 Dec 2011, 08:23

Hi Finchy,
I think the "sleepy eyes" condition is a classic symptom of having weak Blue genetics. In one of your earlier posts you spoke about using Ronizadol, if you are trying to breed with these birds maybe it would be best to use this before they attempt to breed.
Ideally you should get some faeces samples to a good avian vet and try to establish what exactly is the problem. Maybe Cochlasoma ?