We are seeing yet another case of what appears to be Trichomoniasis after last weeks sick Greenfinch which I had euthanised at our local veterinary surgery. This time I am afraid to say it is a female Bullfinch who looks like she has contracted this terrible disease/parasite and I am totally gutted. After all the care and cleaning of feeders, areas and trying to minimise the chances of this disease it seems it has reared its ugly head again and no doubt the Bullfinch had been in contact with food regurgitated by the sick Greenfinch last week so too late to do anything. I have now taken the decision to remove every single feeder in the garden ( I have always thought by putting out a lot of different feeders and spreading them around different areas of the garden that this reduces the risk of contamination and disease) . I just cannot take the chance of another bird getting sick so have yet again dismantled the feeders which are being rigorously cleaned/disinfected/rinsed (even steam cleaned) and they will be stored away for a few weeks before being refreshed with new seeds. I have tried keeping seeds fresh, areas cleaned and perches wiped reguarly but this has been to no avail so I don't know what else to do except withdraw all food .........except floating duck food for the Mallards and live mealworms which I only put out for the Robins and Blackbirds when I am sitting outside watching them. It is absolutely heart-breaking but I am determined to make sure this Trich is out of the garden within weeks. Don't know what else to say, I am just so upset.
Here are photos taken today of the female Bullfinch; I think you would agree that it does look like the Trichomonas, especially after the sick Greenfinch from last week .
I think this first photo has confirmed my worst fears :(
Question: I was going to suspend all feeding for over a month to be sure but any advice would be much appreciated.
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Regards, Hazel
Sad for you aitch, presume you have googled what to do for the best?
No other useful advice to offer only that you probably cannot single-handedly eradicate this awful condition as they could easily be picking it up from elsewhere & bringing it into your garden ... maybe best to ignore single cases & keep as vigilant as you already are with cleaning/sterilising & only take extreme measures if it starts to get out of hand! See what other more experienced birders think!!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that, Hazy. One of your gorgeous Bullies too. I think I've been lucky as I've only ever seen one bird with the disease.
Other than what you are doing I can't offer any advice. There's information on the RSPB website about the disease but I'm not sure it says anything we don't already know.
www.rspb.org.uk/.../disease-garden-birds.aspx
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Thanks Wendy, TJ and Alan, I guess with so many birds in our large garden the law of averages say that I am going to see this disease and I think having lots of Wood pigeons also doesn't help as we had sick ones of those a year or so ago. Up until now the Bullfinches seem to have remained resilient to this in our garden and have always looked so very healthy, it was terribly sad to see this little female this morning and I just hope she doesn't have eggs in a nest yet. As she gets sicker I will try to capture her, if only to get her out of the garden asap and to save her from starving and having a miserable death but as I think the Bullinches keep the same partner I am fearing for the male too if he hasn't already contracted the parasite. Even without bird food in the garden they will still forage on the ground for insects or at other garden feeders, etc., and this disease may still linger as they regurgitate the food and another bird pics it up. How I hate this terrible disease. Thank you for your replies, I'm hoping that after one month I will be able to get a limited number of feeders back in time for the first BT fledglings. The floating duck food is the only food going out for the next few weeks and that is on the water so I think it is safe enough. The only saving grace is that there should be enough natural food available for the birds to survive well.
Hello Hazy,
I don't know what I could tell you to make you feel better, except that is spring and that the birds will not starve even if you have to stop feeding for a while (and you have already told it yourself). So please stop worrying about things that you can't change all alone. You have certainly done all that was possible for one single person.
Keep your head up!
Regards, Bente
Hello Bente and thank you for your kind words, I guess its just that helpless feeling you get when you can't do anything more when you see such terrible illness affecting the birds. I almost hear myself saying, if only I had spotted the sick Greefinch earlier, if only I had given the feeders a cleaning more often than I do now (although they were almost spotless when I removed them today), if only I ..... etc., I suppose you always feel you could have done more but in reality I know that was nigh on impossible without wiping the perches every time a bird landed on them. Its a terrible fact of life that trichomoniasis is around and we have to bear the consequences by witnessing poorly birds on occasion but it is not pleasant to see when you know they are suffering a miserable and slow death :( I was just grateful I could catch the Greenfinch last week and at least have it put to sleep and I will do the same for the Bullfinch if she allows a gentle capture. Thanks again for your kind reply.
Sorry to read about the loss of your little bird and the other sick one Hazy. It is sad when we see that happen. You did what any of us would do which was the kindest for the bird. Sad as it is, it is part of the bird cycle I suppose and just think about the other ones that come to give you so much pleasure. Don't blame yourself for not seeing things earlier. We all love our little friends and feed and care for them as best we can. Catlady
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Thanks Catlady, I feel lucky to have so many birds visit the garden and its only expected that a few may get sick, it was just such a surprise when the Bullinches had looked so very well only a week or so ago.
Very sad to hear your news Hazy, this horrible disease just seems to keep appearing despite birds building up an immunity to it. You have always been so good with looking after your feeders and cleaning everywhere so you can't blame yourself, I do hope you have no other birds showing signs of illness and can avoid any more upset. It is a good thing that there is plenty of food around at the moment and our garden for instance is pretty quiet as the mating season proceeds, so give it a while and then try again, feel for you, keep your pecker up.
Lot to learn
Evening Gaynor and thank you, I have now (with Mike's huge help) dismantled completely and recleaned all the feeders and now got them air drying by the Aga before storing them back in the shed for a while; these feeders were only done 4 days ago but with poor Bully I had to make sure nothing was lingering. Poor birds are wondering where their feeders/food went :(
I did give the Robins, Tits and Blackbirds a few live mealworms whilst I was sitting outside and to make sure the sick finches didn't come near the bowl which I removed again before I came back inside the house. There are no seeds anywhere now and even the ducks were looking a bit miffed ! but better to err on the side of caution.
Hazel, So sorry to hear about your little Bullfinch. It is heart breaking to watch any birds becoming ill, but like everyone else has said, you have done your best and should not blame yourself. You could not have cleaned every branch and blade of grass in your garden even though you have been diligent about cleaning the feeders. My fingers are crossed for you and hope all is well soon. We have been lucky so far and have not seen trich, but I live in fear. (We did have to stop feeding several years ago for about 6 months because we had an invasion of 4-footed critters, but none now, thank goodness! It was amazing to see them climbing the feeder poles 'hand over hand', gorging on sunflower hearts, then dropping to the ground and scampering off when we went out into the garden!)
Kind regards, Ann