Aussie Finch Forum

Have lost two, just purchased orange breast females in 2 days & I'm at a loss as to why, one was in the aviary just a day & a half, plenty of food, water & places to hide among the plants, all birds have been treated with moxi including the two just purchased, has been cold but birds are protected from the weather, not egg bound as they've only been in there 2 days & no evidence of mice activity.
The aviary is 3mx3m with p/heads, o/breasts & st helena's.

yeah that stuff happens, although it only happened to me once - maybe stress or poor health (worms, cocci, etc) or a combination of both?

Better to keep them in a holding aviary for couple of weeks first so you can keep an I on them. .

Just the stress of moving can be enough

shnapper20 wrote: 08 Aug 2017, 08:49 Just the stress of moving can be enough

Possibly - I picked them up late in afternoon but released them early next morning so they would've had time to settle - surely.

putting finches of all ages into a new aviary this time of the year is a big no no to bloody cold. thats why i would like to see the ballarat sale moved to a later date around early september if possible to give the the new birds purchased a chance with warmer temperatures arriving in spring. if this happened it would be the biggest and successful sale in australia. cheers mick

You did the right thing time wise, but possibly they came from a better protected avairy?? and got too chilled?? PM me where you got orange breasted hens in WA I want to get one also.
LML

I've given up on orange breasted females.. Had two die in quick succession for unknown reasons. I'm starting to wonder if genetically weak strains are dominating the Melbourne market, because 'of the finches' orange breasts seem to be regarded as 'hardy' - not the case for me, that's for sure. It's a shame, too, because I love them.

You have to remember that OB's are our smallest foreign finch and become egg bound very easily in our cold Winters here in Melbourne Victoria when they want to breed or forced to breed by supplying all the goodies to do so. This applies to all foreign waxbills. Craig

Hi Nicko,
I have a double cabinet which is used to house all my new birds. The birds I bought home from the FSWA auction (including a pair of OB) on Sunday went in there that afternoon. I then use an anti stress solution in their water for 2 days. Then first worming. 2 weeks later then second worming. I have adapted Marcus Pollards (Clifton Aviaries website) quarantine program to suit my conditions and vary even that slightly depending if I know well the aviaries the new birds come from. New birds are at least 3 weeks quarantined before entering their new aviary. Can get frustrating but have found it worth it in the long run.
Hope this helps for the future.