Aussie Finch Forum

Hi,

I noticed to-day my male orange painted finch is breathing very fast. He flys and feeds but when on the perch I noticed how fast he is breathing. He and his mate have 2 babies fledged a couple of weeks ago and I noticed one of the babies is puffed up. I thought maybe the dad has made the baby sick as he is still feeding it. I have put the two of them in a cage and keeping them warm. Any thoughts on the fast breathing???

Thanks for any feed back.

how hot has it been where you live?

Hi Lyn,

Sounds like a respiratory infection to me.
The question is: What is causing it?
Could be bacterial, fungal, air sac mite or even protozoa.
Is there excess moisture on the aviary floor or in the nest?
Any mouldy areas?
Unfortunately each of these causes requires a different treatment.

You could try some antibiotics like TripleC or Avicycline but I fear that if the birds are already breathing fast that time is running out.

Keeping them warm is a great start. Good luck with them.

Thanks for the replies.... my aviary is 10mtrs long with 2 mtrs that can get wet where I have planted grasses etc. I have been away for 2 weeks and I know the first week was wet here so he may have picked something up. I have some psittavet (Doxycycline) which was prescribed for a budgie. I am going to give it some of that as it says for treatment bacterial diseases. Not sure what else to do. Keep you posted.

Doxycycline is even better than TripleC/Avicycline. good luck with them.