Aussie Finch Forum

I lost a Cordon blue hen this morning. Upon inspection of the corpse there appeared to be some sort of growth. Does anybody know what this is or what caused it, or is it common?? I will try to attach photo

Could it be an infected preening gland? If right at the base of the tail this is a possibility. But photo would sure help to determine this.
LML

Yes, you are correct, at base of tail feathers. I'll try photo tonight.

so if it is an infected preening gland, how do you treat?

benjjs08 wrote:so if it is an infected preening gland, how do you treat?

Bit late now mate it's dead but i would doubt you would ever know it had the problem as the gland is covered by feathers,was the bird sick before it died? Craig

Yeah mate she dead alright! But yes you would be correct, I noticed she couldn't fly properly one afternoon and caught get out and she was fine the next morning, released her back into aviary but the next morning she died in aviary.

That is the preening gland, but does not look unusual to my eye. So maybe something else was wrong.
LML

Photo wasn't the best, but it was quite protruding, more than I would expect. I do think you right that the gland was infected. Something to watch out for in future. Thanks for the replies.

Cheers
Ben