Finches have stopped eating and drinking

[fluff86]

I have a new problem...

Every morning I empty the food bowls bowls and water bowls and clean them and refill with fresh seed and water and all the birds will fly down to eat, its been a routine thing everyday. Over the last few days I had noticed the finches haven't been washing. The water bowls have remained full and no evidence that the finches have been in them. This morning none of the finches are eating there food, its been two hours since I put in the bird seed and they are all still up on the top branches chirping away. The canaries have been the only birds that have eaten so far.

There are two chicks in one of the nest boxes that will need feeding at some point. I'm getting concerned that something is wrong.

 

[Olliebirb]

Bump

 

[fluff86]

They started eating again, on that particular morning they didn't eat until a bit later.

Another finch fell ill, another ill finch today and two chicks dead. I give up after a while I'm exhausted and fed up with it all now.

 

[Pixiebeak]

Did you ever get a veterinarian consult after your previous flock die off?

What are cage sizes ? Can you share set up pictures?

If you have mites/coccidia/ bacterial or viral in your flock . It does take a lot of work, cleaning, veterinarian help to get sorted out. Then quarantine any new additions and have treated before adding be to flock .

Aviary, or cage on top on of cages set ups with multiple birds do take extra work and care.

 

[longyearwinds]

They started eating again, on that particular morning they didn't eat until a bit later.

Another finch fell ill, another ill finch today and two chicks dead. I give up after a while I'm exhausted and fed up with it all now.

chick mortality is frequent with coccidiosis or red mites. treat for 3-4 weeks (2 days a week) s76, then monthly afterwards. pick up starter mix by pantex for either this batch or next batch and give for the first week of life. to tide you over, try apple cider vinegar in the water, although it might simply not be strong enough for wet nest. you can maintain them after the starter mix with KD water cleanser twice a day every week. the mites also hate KD so you can try spraying/misting the cage with it to kill mites. to keep red mites off the cages, i use avian insect liquidator as well. everything after the s76 and starter mix is a suggestion, but try those two things either next batch or if you can get it early enough with this batch.

 

[fluff86]

Its definitely not mites. I did start some coccidiosis treatment previously with ACOX but the birds reacted very badly to it so I stopped it. Apple cider vinegar does nothing and neither does S76, although S76 might brighten them up a tiny bit, it has little to no effect on them. The only thing that has worked so far is a wormer I have that contains 10% Oxfendazole 10% Praziquantel and 2% Levamisole. They always recover after I given them that for 2 days then leave a 21 day gap which is what the instructions say. It seems like I'm just going to have to keep repeating it because the illness keeps returning and not going away. I'm not getting any chicks during that time, egg production drops and there would be 3 or 4 chicks born if I'm lucky but none will make it because the parents keep chucking them out of the nest. Its a cycle that continues. I have made a vet appointment for next week, maybe they can say whether its coccidiosis or not.

 

[fluff86]

It may just be a bad case of worms or other internal parasite that is hard to get rid off.

 

[fluff86]

Did you ever get a veterinarian consult after your previous flock die off?

What are cage sizes ? Can you share set up pictures?

If you have mites/coccidia/ bacterial or viral in your flock . It does take a lot of work, cleaning, veterinarian help to get sorted out. Then quarantine any new additions and have treated before adding be to flock .

Aviary, or cage on top on of cages set ups with multiple birds do take extra work and care.

They were diagnosed with a worm infection and also coccidiosis the kind that effects the liver not the intestinal type. It looks like its returned again and the earliest appointment is two weeks away. I have some MegaCox that will treat them but I don't know the dose. Its 100ml for 4.5 liters of water. I need a dose for 300ml of water. That should see them through until the vet appointment. I've lost every single chick. It was all going so well the chicks had feathers on them.

 

[longyearwinds]

They were diagnosed with a worm infection and also coccidiosis the kind that effects the liver not the intestinal type. It looks like its returned again and the earliest appointment is two weeks away. I have some MegaCox that will treat them but I don't know the dose. Its 100ml for 4.5 liters of water. I need a dose for 300ml of water. That should see them through until the vet appointment. I've lost every single chick. It was all going so well the chicks had feathers on them.

Wow ! That's rough, so sorry to hear that. I've had issues with illnesses lingering as well, and struggles with treatments. There's a couple different medications I've tried in the past for coccidiosis. I've found that tri-sulfa mixes were largely ineffectual for my last flock losses. Curious if it wasn't something similar such as a liver infection. I had never heard of that before. Hoping you're able to figure out an effective treatment.

Edit: maybe you could try other types of medication ? I checked what was in megacox and wasn't familiar with the medication ingredients. What wormer do you use typically ? I've never had issues beyond having to use s76, but there's also a worm out gel by veta farm