laurab
05-27-2005, 07:59 PM
It seems highly likely that I may have unwittingly poisoned a pair of Rosa Bourkes!
My husband built a new aviary earlier this year and without thinking we used a lower grade wire on the back of the aviary.
Some nest boxes were fitted to the wire and the Bourkes liked to sit on top of them and used to nibble wire and drink the rain water off of it.
The cock bird fell ill, at first i thought he had banged his head, he seemed very disorientated and had problems gaining height when flying. I removed him from the aviary and took him to the vet.
The vet was as much in the dark as I was and a certain diagnosis could be made but we had a go with Baytrill.
Approx. 3 days later my hen was suffering from the same symptoms! In discussion with a friend of mine he said he thought it was some sort of poisoning as he had seen something similar in one of his birds years ago. He contacted the vet for me and explained to him the symptoms and from what he was telling him he agreed it was likely to be poisoning from the low grade wire.
Unfortunately he did not have any any antidote in stock but advised that Ifeed peanut butter to the birds in the meantime!
I mixed the peanut butter up with a little hot water and added it to their bird seed; surprising ly they ate it!
I now have the antidote, but I think there is an improvement with the cock just from having the peanut butter.
I really don't know if the birds are going to pull through to be fully recovered, the good news is they have never gone off their food or water.
I hope by posting this no one else will make this mistake, to be quite honest I never realised birds could be poisoned in this way.
By the way, the Bourkes were housed in the aviary with Golden Song Sparrows, Jacarini Finches plus Hecks and Parson Finches; none of these birds have suffered the same fate this is why we believe it is poisoning from the wire as parakeets like to nibble.
Needless to say, the offending wire has now been removed.
My husband built a new aviary earlier this year and without thinking we used a lower grade wire on the back of the aviary.
Some nest boxes were fitted to the wire and the Bourkes liked to sit on top of them and used to nibble wire and drink the rain water off of it.
The cock bird fell ill, at first i thought he had banged his head, he seemed very disorientated and had problems gaining height when flying. I removed him from the aviary and took him to the vet.
The vet was as much in the dark as I was and a certain diagnosis could be made but we had a go with Baytrill.
Approx. 3 days later my hen was suffering from the same symptoms! In discussion with a friend of mine he said he thought it was some sort of poisoning as he had seen something similar in one of his birds years ago. He contacted the vet for me and explained to him the symptoms and from what he was telling him he agreed it was likely to be poisoning from the low grade wire.
Unfortunately he did not have any any antidote in stock but advised that Ifeed peanut butter to the birds in the meantime!
I mixed the peanut butter up with a little hot water and added it to their bird seed; surprising ly they ate it!
I now have the antidote, but I think there is an improvement with the cock just from having the peanut butter.
I really don't know if the birds are going to pull through to be fully recovered, the good news is they have never gone off their food or water.
I hope by posting this no one else will make this mistake, to be quite honest I never realised birds could be poisoned in this way.
By the way, the Bourkes were housed in the aviary with Golden Song Sparrows, Jacarini Finches plus Hecks and Parson Finches; none of these birds have suffered the same fate this is why we believe it is poisoning from the wire as parakeets like to nibble.
Needless to say, the offending wire has now been removed.