Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:44 am Post subject: Lethargic and Shivering- help please
Hi, we moved six of the birds into a new aviary last weekend. They had been outside in another small aviary.
The temperature has dropped a bit recently and is between say 2 to 11 Deg C. A few days ago the cover blew of the side of the aviary and its possible the birds got rained on, we put it back in the evening after work. The aviary is enclosed around 3 1/2 of the four sides (with bubble-wrap), to keep the wind and rain out, it has a roof.
Now today (i haven't seen them myself yet, my wife emailed to let me know), two of the birds are very lethargic and appear to be shivering. This morning they looked ok as I checked before going to work but buy lunchtime they had gone downhill. I think my wife has now brought them inside to keep them warm.
Ok, i'm guessing they got wet and caught a chill/pneumonia?
Could it be anything else? I don't think there are any poisonous plants in the aviary (budlia and so other), any suggestions.
I didn't think it would be too cold for them yet but I guess if they got chilled by the rain (two days ago) that could be it? (The rain could have blown in from the side but there is a proper roof on it).
Kakariki are very hardy.....those temps are not an issue
Wind and rain and getting wet ..not an issue
But if they have gone from very warm to dramatically wet and cold that may effect, espec if have been in circumstances they have not acclimatised or built natural resistances...But that doent seem to be the case
The bubble wrap....can they chew on that? why bubble wrap?
new aviary last weekend.?
All potentually damgerous stuff been removed..dags on the mesh any welding slag etc?
are very
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lethargic and appear to be shivering.
Get them inside in a warm hospital cage
And check with a vet...it could be anything from crop worms to egg binding. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Thanks for the fast reply, greatly appreciated. Have just been out poking about in the dark to remove any sharp bits. Good news about the weather as were leaving them out over the winter.
We used bubble wrap as it will keep the wind out but let the light in. It's at least an inch away from the bird wire.
One of the two that was looking ill perked up again and seems ok, and started pestering the really sick one so he went back outside and now seems fine.
The sick one is still in the house and sleeping, not shivering now, just sleeping.
You may be spot on about sharp bits in the aviary as the sick bird seems to have blood on one side. So either a rat, or sharp wire maybe.
Come the weekend (and daylight, days are very short here now) I'll have another look for anything sharp. Really hope it's not rats, they can be a real nuisance around here.
At least on the plus side they seem to appreciate the slightly larger aviary and are much calmer and friendlier in the larger space.
Vermin maintaince is very important, as important , at the end of the day as to feeding your birds....not doing so results in the same thing.
Vermin maintain is not just a avary maintance thing, it is also a household /house/dwelling thing.....espec towards the end of summer when creatures are looking for dry warm dwellings and fresh food suppliies.
The dags I refered to are galvanised dags hanging off wire.
If u want shelter...elcheapo sun shade or wind break stapled up.
We covered the front of our avaries about 5 yrs ago when a huge almost hurrican stom came thru....but since then, had huge storms, frosts, rain wind not an issue.
The reason for the wind break was not for the birds, but rather stop the wind pressure in side the avary lifting and turning it over...because the whole front is open
you see the sun filter has been ripped down from the top....and left hanging...it puts the water trays in the shade and they dont go green as fast....If need be, can just fold up to the top and quickly staple with the electric stapler in a couple minutes
The end peice is there to give the ?Kings a bit of privacy cause there is a car park right next to the avary ......
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_________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Vermin are a pain in the rear end, now that I finally got rid of most of mice, I have a problem with cats and don't really know how to get rid of them, other than using a dog, but I can't keep a dog over there.
Steps, are those cloth pieces made of rafia or what material?
Cheers / Pablo _________________ AD ASTRA PER ASPERA
Our kaks have always been out side i was very worried about them earlier this year when we had all that snow. During the last few days we have had to put some more protection up mainly because the wind has changed direction. Mainly it blows up the garden ( that side is well protected). It is now blowing down the garden and driving the rain into all of my avaries, so much so that the pebbles on the floor are always damp. Sadly the only birds that are suffering are my zebbies i have lost 5 birds in the last 2 days age ranging from a fledgling to a few years old. Im glad your birds are picking up Manders.
I think we found the culprit, a euonymus shrub was within reach of the aviary, managed to I'd it off the Internet and then found it on a list of poisonous plants for birds. Seems to fit as two birds were illl. One is now back to to normal. The second is still in the house, but has now finally eaten a few seeds and drank some water, still very sleepy though, so maybe she ate a lot more of the plant. Maybe tomorrow will tell if shell be ok or not.
Just put two more rat bait traps down, we do have rat problem here, there is a canal not so far away, but I keep rat poison out all the time. Even though we have a brick wall with a foundation running around the whole estate they just dig down under it!
For vermin we get commercial blocks, the cut into 8 peices...these are postioned at critical places around avaries and the section....
If one put aout full blocks, they eat a bit, then take them back to the nest for storage....a few days later they die and all the blocks go to waste.
By putting iut a little often, one uses far less, and one can see iff anything has eaten or distrubed.....replacing every few days till no longer distrubed _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Although last night she perked up and ate and drank quite a lot, this morning she was dead. Pretty sure it was euonymous poisoning, the shaking and lethargy is one of the symptoms...
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