The Good Days & the bad :(

It's been such a miserable, sad day today so it's taken me a while to work up enthusiasm to put up pics from a trip to Deeside yesterday (which I will do at some stage) and also a few of the garden birds which I may post later but may be tomorrow;  

We have had a sick female Chaffinch in the garden for a few days who appeared to have the dreaded Trichomonas disease plus leg problems and it has taken me since Thursday to be able to catch her and separate her from the other garden birds, hence I haven't had any feeders of any sort out since I saw her and also for a period of time following a female Siskin which appeared to have the disease three weeks ago.     The only time I could put food out was if I was sitting outside close by and watching to ensure the Chaffinch was able to be captured and that no other bird would be picking up food she regurgitated in case it contained the Trich. parasite.    The two main feeding stations were dismantled a few days ago and stored away.  

 Can't tell you how many hours it has taken with large pond net in hand, angled down ready for the chaffinch to step close enough before I finally succeeded today and thus had the awful task of taking her to be euthanised.     She was clearly sick with fluffed up appearance, difficulty swallowing, food stuck to the beak and regurgitating food followed by frequent trips to the pond to drink,   but it' amazing how much energy she still had.   

  I had to take her to two vets in the end as the first place we visited told us the Vet was out, not due back for a while and the 2nd Vet was also out when we got there so we waited 25 mins for his return;  it was so hot inside the surgery that we decided to take the bird (in it's plastic box with air-holes and some soft sheeting as a base)  outside and sit in our car with her whilst we waited for the Vet to turn up.   I took the plastic cap of a small bottle of spring water and poured a thimble full in so she could drink - which she did four times and gave her a tiny berry suet pellet which she managed to eat slowly.     It was such an emotional wait with her and although I knew we were doing the right thing, it is never easy to carry out these final moments.    The Vet was kind asking me into the consulting room with the bird, listening to the reason I was asking for her to be euthanised and as he inspected her gently he saw she also had scaly leg mite problems;    he took her into another room whilst I waited;  I had asked for her back as the BTO will more than likely carry out a PM on her to ascertain the precise disease and I promised to forward the report to the Vet as he also wanted to see the findings on her.    

It's not easy to put photos up of her knowing we had to have her put to sleep so she did not suffer a long period before she would eventually starve to death due to the parasites blocking the passage in the throat and her being unable to swallow.  

   I think it is important for the folk who don't know what Trichomonas symptoms look like to see what the signs are with the fluffed up appearance, bits of food stuck to beak, difficulty swallowing, regurgitating food and drinking water frequently,  they may have damp head feathers too     etc.,     

 

  • Hi Hazy, I'm so sorry to hear your news. After everything you do for them it's a horrible thing to happen. I hope you get your birds back soon.

    I'm just cutting down on feeding now, half measures this week & then nothing next week. The weather has improved so it has to be done.

  • Hi Hazel,  I think more and more I am coming to the conclusion that we shouldn't put feeders out 24/7/365 days as a lot of other forum members already believe.   Despite wiping perches every single day and cleaning feeders by totally dismantling them every 2-4 weeks max, we still see birds turning up with Trichomonas and Avian Pox.    There are lots of reasons I had for having feeders out as I used at least 8 so birds were not all congregating on one feeder and knowing the feeders were cleaner than possibly others in the vicinity I also thought our avian friends were better using our feeders.  

    To be honest, I think it's hard to eradicate these diseases unless the whole country takes feeders down for maybe 6 months so as to disperse the flocks of birds back into the countryside.   We don't use bird baths or water dishes with having a large pond but I think anything damp helps the trichomonas gallinae parasite in its existence although it can't survive long without a host.    This wet winter has probably increased the prevalence  of Trich.     I really hope the scientists can come up with some sort of preventative medicine by adding something to seeds maybe which I honestly think would be difficult or more likely a treatment which could help smaller birds recover.   Having said that, a bird would really have to be very sick and beyond help to be caught most likely unless a mist net was used.     Tricky one but at least all the data we send in to the BTO and London Zoological Society does help to keep a more up to date picture on these diseases.  

  • It would be nice to think that in the end nature will give a hand & a few birds will survive & get immunity & pass it on to future generations. It really is a horrible thing & I feal for you, especially as you have made so much effort to stop the transmission of the disease.

    I agree that all year round feeding isn't ideal & maybe the RSPB could do a campaign to highlight the problem. Where we are there is a lot of naturel food & the early flowers are going to seed, there are catkins around & lots of insects so it's difficult for me to justify continuing, but I'll miss my birds as they'll all disappear. I need to try & plant more natural food supplies in the garden. The robins have been appreciating our recent gardening efforts, giving them an easy supply of grubs & worms. 

  • I have grown Teasel plants which will eventually be transplanted around the garden;    I think the message needs to get out to the public to keep feeders/feeding areas spotless as all too often I see green bacteria on so many other feeders around;   it would be far better for folk not to feed birds at all if they don't want to clean feeders frequently and that requires dismantling completely  at least every month if they get a build up with the messy finch eaters.     I don't use water dishes with having the pond but they are even more prone to bacteria if they are not disinfected every couple of weeks or so and refreshed daily with water.   I think most people mean no harm, they are just not aware of the importance;   they think they are doing the right thing by putting feeders out but even on wildlife/bird reserves I  have raised my eyebrows at the sight of some of the feeders which are not kept as clean as they should be.     If Mr. Packham wasn't aware about feeder hygiene then what chance have "joe public" got    !!    

  • Looking forward to hearing better news about the poor birdy. I'm sure that he'll do well with you caring for him in this time. And better that it's you. I don't think I would be able to spot these symptoms on my own just by looking at a bird in the garden so good on you that you know better!