Hen sleeps all day, vet gave her clean bill of health.
Posted: 12 Apr 2023, 05:10
Long story: I have a Gouldian hen, she is ~4 years old since I got her. I got her from a place online so unfortunately I am not 110% certain of her age :\
She lives in an indoor aviary with other gouldian finches, a forbes finch, and a crested canary. I am not in Australia but I always read here first when I need help with my Gouldians.
She sleeps ALL the time with her head tucked in. This did not start suddenly like today, or this week, or this month. She has always been my 'sleepy susan' but over the past several months and since the last time she had coccidia, she has slept most of the day ever since.
We have fought coccidia 2 times in the aviary over the past 2 years. Humidity is tightly controlled and the aviary stays very clean. We have had the vet over to inspect our aviary for causes. She suspects the forbes finch is a carrier of coccidia and she sheds the oocytes under stress so we have removed her from the aviary just to be sure.
Anyway, we took the hen to the vet and had them run some labs as well as gram positive and gram negative stains on her fecal sample. I got the results back and they do not detect any bacteria that is 'outside of the normal amount'. Her potassium and other vitamins look good. Her fecal samples visually look good and tight to me when compared to our other birds. They are, however, inconsistent because she sleeps a lot instead of eating at a normal pace.
She is not losing weight. We measured her 2 weeks ago at 20.9 grams and again today at 21.8 grams.
We use Dr Rob Marshall's supplements for our birds, the ingredients tend to line up with other products by Nekton and Morning Bird, so I think they are OK. We have them on a pellet / seed mix with plenty of crushed eggshell and millet provided as well.
Does anyone have any suggestions about what to check next? We've been giving her some Quik Gel (Like Thrive, an ER formula) every few days as needed which definitely seems to improve her sleepiness but it does not last that long.
She lives in an indoor aviary with other gouldian finches, a forbes finch, and a crested canary. I am not in Australia but I always read here first when I need help with my Gouldians.
She sleeps ALL the time with her head tucked in. This did not start suddenly like today, or this week, or this month. She has always been my 'sleepy susan' but over the past several months and since the last time she had coccidia, she has slept most of the day ever since.
We have fought coccidia 2 times in the aviary over the past 2 years. Humidity is tightly controlled and the aviary stays very clean. We have had the vet over to inspect our aviary for causes. She suspects the forbes finch is a carrier of coccidia and she sheds the oocytes under stress so we have removed her from the aviary just to be sure.
Anyway, we took the hen to the vet and had them run some labs as well as gram positive and gram negative stains on her fecal sample. I got the results back and they do not detect any bacteria that is 'outside of the normal amount'. Her potassium and other vitamins look good. Her fecal samples visually look good and tight to me when compared to our other birds. They are, however, inconsistent because she sleeps a lot instead of eating at a normal pace.
She is not losing weight. We measured her 2 weeks ago at 20.9 grams and again today at 21.8 grams.
We use Dr Rob Marshall's supplements for our birds, the ingredients tend to line up with other products by Nekton and Morning Bird, so I think they are OK. We have them on a pellet / seed mix with plenty of crushed eggshell and millet provided as well.
Does anyone have any suggestions about what to check next? We've been giving her some Quik Gel (Like Thrive, an ER formula) every few days as needed which definitely seems to improve her sleepiness but it does not last that long.