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

Is your finch sick or not well? Find out why.
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jusdeb
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Protein to get the weight back on ie. boiled eggs but as you say he is a fussy eater ...cant hurt to try .
High oil seeds perhaps . Im not a Goudian breeder Im just advising on experience with parrots so its a general reply and I may be wrong ...doesnt hurt to just throw it in there and see what others think anyways .

Really think the poop sample will either give you an answer or at least peace of mind and eliminates overloading a already stressed body by giving the wrong meds

Just being able to pick it up like you did suggests a problem .

Really hope he is OK he is a beautiful little bird .
Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.
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SamDavis
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Hi Finchy,

Have you got the cage warmed? Needs to be warmed to at least 30 degrees. This usually solves the fluffed/lethargic symptoms rapidly, but obviously doesn't treat the underlying cause. A desk lamp can work if you don't have a hospital cage. I tend not to use medications initially, rather I just add spark to the water and observe them in the hospital cage for a day or so (particularly their poops). If the vent is dry and poops not yellow and watery then I'd suggest Coccidia is unlikely or at least not the main issue. I do still feel your exposed aviary may well be the real underlying cause - particularly given the recent unseasonally wet weather.

Hopefully one of the vets will chime in soon with more definitive advice, but given the cost of blues (and you mentioned others are affected) maybe a call to your local avian vet would be wise.

Sam
Misso
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agree with sam, give him a heat source asap.

good luck.
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Simba
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In the video the bird stands up like he's trying to clear his throat and he does try to sing (which is good) but is irritated by something this could be because he's unwell but it could also be an airsac mite invection, If you have any moxidectin I would put a drop of this on the back of his neck, I bought a gouldian that was showing simular problems to this about a week after I got him and once I put the moxi on him he was fine in about 24hrs.
Breeder of Gouldian Finches
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Finchy
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Thanks for that suggestion. He has been treated with Moxidectin twice in the space of three weeks, as it just worked out that way with the timing of my and the original breeder's worming schedule, so it's very unlikely to be airsac mite. I'm reluctant to dose him a third time unnecessarily as Moxidectin has a long half-life (at least in dogs) and slows Gouldians down a lot.

That is a very interesting observation though. I will watch the videos again to see what you mean...
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Finchy
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Being in a cage I can see that his poos look quite good. There are a suprising number of them for just a couple of hours, but they look well formed and the right colour. Strange...
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Finchman1
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I am with Sam.Give the bird some spark and keep it around 30 degress.
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Finchy
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I've given up on my Blue - not something I do lightly. Neither Baycox nor Ronivet caused any kind of pick up and in fact seemed to make things worse, changing his droppings and causing more definitive fluffing. If I fuss and stress him even more I believe I will just hasten his demise. I can't improve his nutrition significantly because he just won't eat anything that's not dry seed! He barely touches egg or sprouted seed, ignores cucumber, ignores vitamin powders and ignores mineral blocks. He doesn't show much mental spark compared with most birds - he seems a bit dumb! :( I don't know how the breeder raised this bird to moulting age.

So I have put him back in the aviary, after covering the easterly side with clear polurethane sheet for now 100% breeze protection from the East, South East and South West, and a nice warming effect in the morning sun. The weather forecast is dry, sunny and hot :thumbup:. He has all of the same medications, foods and vitamins available to him by the free choice method. So now its up to him and Mother Nature.

Anyway, I have learned my expensive lesson - never, ever again will I be tempted to buy a cabinet-bred Blue Gouldian, who may have been raised under Societies and was definitely filled full of antibiotics at any sign of trouble, dooming him over the long run. That's just a money-making enterprise with no real care for the wellbeing of the birds or the feelings and wallets of purchasers. A bad, bad idea. Never again.

Aviary bred blues?! No problem!!! I'd rather have 1 healthy blue than 6 dead ones, any day.

:|
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iaos
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I would at least be taking a fecal sample to an avian vet (if not taking the bird if your willing to fork out some more $$). the fecal sample should cost less than 30 bucks. The least you can try to do from this situation is try and learn from it.

You seem to have had some bad luck buy dud seed and a dud? bird (hopefully he'll come good).

I'm sure you have tried it, but you didn't mention trying green seed. I would put in a variety of seeding grasses. If he doesn't go for that maybe he does have rocks in his head.

Good luck
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SamDavis
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I'm a little unclear just how sick he is. If you've put him back in the aviary I assume he's managing to fly around - up to perches, down to seed, etc? If so then I'd say your being a bit premature as you've got a good chance of saving him. If he's sitting on the ground fluffed up in the corner, head under wing then maybe too late. In either case I'd keep the heat up to him and give it a go.

And as iaos says, I'd get a vet involved - costs nothing to make a phone call and see what they reckon.

finchy wrote:He has all of the same medications, foods and vitamins available to him by the free choice method
Maybe we can start another thread to have a good argument about this strategy!
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