Sick Gouldian - Uncoloured Juvenile

[craig]

Hi people.

Just recently found this forum and have found it very informative and was wondering if someone could help me out.
48 hours ago I woke up to find one of my juvenile birds sitting on the floor not looking very healthy in my outdoor aviary.
I picked him up, wrapped him up then after a while put him in a hospital cage. The little bird has been given electrolytes, kept in a warm
cage ~28 - 30 degrees. The bird is still eating put hasn't improved. My first guess it hasn't been feeling to good from all the cold weather
we have had in Perth these past few weeks, but I presumed after a day or 2 you would see a big improvement being inside in the warmth.

His vent is pretty clean, all feathers in tact. I'm relatively new to keeping birds/gouldians so was wondering if there is something else i may be missing or could do to give the little guy a hand.

Only other symptoms i have noticed is he is breathing heavy and slow, eyes closed and head always tilted up.

Thanks

Craig

[craig]

Sorry guys he didnt make it.

[Diane]

Sorry about the loss.

[gomer]

sounds like you have kept birds for years.
Some causes could be airsac mites,gapeworm or a bacterial infection to name a few.
the first two sound probable from your diagnoses.and are basicly treated the same.I would suggest you treat all remaining birds with moxidectin or moxidectin plus.as a precaution,and monitor existing birds.

[craig]

lol thanks gomer, but I have just read a lot. I do have moxydectin at home and i will be treating them all.
Thanks for the replies, much appreciated !

[Page0044]

Hi Craig and welcome to the forum, sorry to hear that you lost him and hope that the rest are ok. I would follow what Gomer has said just incase

[Pete Sara]

hey craig . what sort of cage you keeping your goulds in. the buggers can be hard sometimes to keep .. the hardest part for a gouldian is its first moult it can take alot out of them just give them the best you can food wise and a draft free environment and they should breed like flies....pete

[craig]

Thanks Pete,

They are in an outdoor aviary located next to my patio, but it is fully enclosed.
The only real issue i have with the aviary is it doesnt have a good enclosed area
(the aviary came with the house) so im still thinking of ideas to help keep them warm.
The other juvenile is doing well, and hopefully later on, the rest of the goulds will
start breeding like flies =)

I do try and mix their food up the best i can with mealworms seed etc, but they are
fussy buggers and it is hard to get them to try new foods.

[Pete Sara]

try some codliver oil about 5 to 6 drops in 1kg of seed it may help a bit to...pete

[Mickp]

gouldians dont seem to eat much in the way of livefood. they do go nuts over green seeds though