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.
_____________________________________
Regards, Hazel
It's a dreadful disease, Hazy. I've only seen one fluffed up chaffie this year but I know I've been lucky. I think the wet weather has a lot to of with it spreading amongst the birds - I'm always glad when it's a dry day.
I think everyone has to make their own decision about withdrawing food. I remember the year when it struck the greenfinches so badly and I kept finding dead birds. The numbers have only started to build up again this year.
I think it helps to focus on all the birds you've helped to survive and stay strong through the winter, ready to raise their young now. I have started to cut back on the feeds as I do every May, planning to stop ground feeding soon when my neighbours use their gardens and barbecues.
I don't have a large garden like you so I've learnt to tailor my feeding to suit my situation and respond to the weather. Now the last frost date is past here, I know the insects will multiply and provide the baby birds with protein. I see the sparrows on the monobloc part of the road, pecking at ants! No aphids on my roses yet but it can't be long.
I'm really sorry to hear your news Hazy, especially a Bullfinch. We had 2 Greenfinches affected, our first ever, so like you I cleaned everything & they seemed to have gone (I thought maybe next doors cat had killed them) & then on Friday they reappeared. Later in the day Ron saw our cat looking oddly at the bushes & found one under a shrub. He caught it & I took it to the garden shed so no birds could see me & I gently broke it's neck. It's horrible to do, but I do our chickens so I know it went quick. I then buried it in the garden. I wasn't sure if I should have put it on the fire to kill the disease, but I buried it deep.
I have since removed all food & water (except the pond). The next morning we had 5 young Great tits all perched around the feeder & 2 adults trying to find where I had hidden the seeds. It's horrible. Luckily its been a bright sunny week-end & I think they will find lots of nice insects to eat.
I sincerely hope that we've both seen the last of it, I think that the warm wet weather of the last few weeks has helped. Roll on a hot summer.
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Thank you Ann, GM and Hazel,
@ Ann, as you say it wouldn't matter what we clean or how often, a bird only has to forage natural food on the ground and spit it out to infect another bird who comes by shortly afterwards and eats the regurgitated food/saliva from the infected bird. I just help maintain clean feeding areas where possible and hopefully in a month I can start putting back a few feeders spread around the garden but not as many as before as it is proving just too big a chore to keep all in tip top condition which I try to do.
@ GrandmaM I agree that the damp weather conditions haven't helped or the mild winter so hope we get a warm summer and this disease lessens, fingers crossed
@ Hazel, I'm so sorry you also had to witness and deal with sick Greenfinches, its never easy but you know you are doing the best in the long term for the bird itself and other healthy birds. I too am seeing many birds coming to the empty feeding stations wondering where their food supply has gone but thankfully at this time of year there are plenty of insects and hopefully more to come as the weather warms up and remains dry; I think it is the actual progressive symptoms of the dreadful disease that grieves me the most when you know the bird is slowly starving to death as its throat blocks up and its breathing gets harder to maintain :( I will keep my eyes open for the poorly Bullinch in case I can catch her and hopefully no more birds are infected.
Thank you all for your very kind replies, it is much appreciated.
Message to the Mods; just an observation - your Trichomoniasis page (towards the bottom) has missing links to other web pages so the Techs may want to remove them on THIS PAGE