Aussie Finch Forum

hi, i bought a half coloured male crimson finch last week and have had him inside in a quarantine flight cage since getting him.there seems to be something wrong in that he has stayed puffy since getting him.he eats,drinks,makes sounds but is less active.seems to be getting worse as in more puffy.he came from very nice clean aviary from very experienced breeder.could someone tell me what could be possibly wrong with such a young bird any ideas ? he has been in a quiet draft free room away from window and by himself.any comments are welcomed
thanks

Treat him for coxi with baycox at 3ml per lt hope this might help

oh never thought of that !! thanks so much i will try to get some asap,thanks

Birds with fluffed up feathers are unwell. It can be anything from a cold draught to a bacterial infection. If the bird is in a cold room this can cause it.

Increase the room temperature to 30-36C. Keep the room warm for a couple of weeks and then slowly lower the temperature.
Have a couple of shallow water containers in the cage.

Put some white paper on the bottom of the cage and find a bird vet or add some medication from a bird shop.

thanks rod,the bird died 2 days ago so i have a new now that is younger so hopefully this one will be ok,i will keep the room warm though

It's a good idea to get birds necropsied by a bird vet if they die. That way you can find out exactly what happened and hopefully prevent others from dying. If another one gets sick, take it to a bird vet straight away and get it checked. There could be a virus or bacterial infection running through the cage/ aviary.

Well my second one also fluffed up quickly and died quickly I couldn’t believe it ! So I bought 2 star finches from different places and within 2 days one of them started looking a bit puffy all of a sudden !! But I’m now thinking I have had a finch crumble/powder mix in their cages and all birds hoed into it,it is a new product by peckish from Petbarn.the main ingredient is wheat so maybe it’s blocking them up as the latest one had a slight impacted vent upon death.ive since got rid of that product could that be the cause ? Too much wheat ? It’s got mealworm crushed in it that’s what I got it for in the first place I thought it looked alright. Cheers !

I think you have a really serious problem at the moment, and no finch should be blocked up with wheat from a finch food
Take your current birds to the vet ASAP, it will save you a lo of $$ from more birds dying, and get them all fully tested

Put stress into the equation .Newly acquired birds need extra care.
Put a little spark in the water and leave them ALONE.
Why dose them, were they ill when you got them, most likely not.
You take the bird home and suddenly it is ill.
Generally stressed to the eyeballs and you want to catch it up and medicate it.
Newly acquired birds need quiet and to be left alone,give them space

Each bird has been kept inside in quite roomy flight cages and have never mixed with any of my other birds and have been left alone in a quiet room with door closed when I’m not home so I can’t imagine where stress would be coming from but since taking that food away the star looks less fluffed I suppose finches never have wheat in their mixes or milo which is 2nd ingredient.i think if this bird thrives then it must be that food.thanks for advice,my closest avian vet is hopeless And rude too,I’ll see how they go now