Garden bird disease

We are fairly new at feeding and watching garden birds, having only moved to this location a year ago. A couple of weeks ago we spotted a very large chaffinch and thought he was adorable, taking lots of pictures but thought he'd been eaten after he disappeared in just a couple of days (lots of wild predators here too!). Two days ago we spotted a more adult 'fat chaffinch' but I thought something was odd when he was letting me walk right up and almost touch him. He could still move, and even fly but was huddled on our lawn not eating and just sleeping. As you all know, the weather here is turning icier at the moment and after 5 hours of being sat on our lawn, he then moved up and just huddled in to the border as dusk fell. We picked him up and put him in a nice big dark cardboard box, with some bedding and some water and put him in a nice quiet but fairly warm part of the house. Unfortunately, this daring rescue took place on a Sunday evening so no hope of ringing anyone for advice! After a few seconds of internet research I realised that he probably had Trichomonosis or 'fat finch' disease. Sure enough, when we checked on him just before bedtime, he was on his back with his feet in the air - brown bread. We get a spectacular number of birds in our garden, and with all of the tits and house sparrows it can be busy with around 50-60 at a time! The last thing we want is for any disease to spread. This disease is primarily spread through contact at feeding and drinking places as the suffering birds vomit up food containing parasites which other birds then pick up. My first action in the morning was to pull down all of my feeders, disinfect everything including all hard surfaces and put up new bird tables with easier to clean surfaces. We haven't seen any others, and we do take care to clean our feeders generally but this has worried us. I post this from the lovely village of Cwmgwrach in South Wales, hopefully to remind everyone about good hygiene in the garden and also to prompt any stories of other poorly birds or things we should look out for?
  • Morning Emma,   yes, sadly this disease is quite prevalent,  particularly in finches and we've also had chaffinches and greenfinches with the same problem of Trichomoniasis;   at least you are well aware of the situation and have done the right thing by cleaning and disinfecting feeders/ tables and to take away water dishes which is a prime area for passing the parasite on to other birds.  Because the finches tend to be flock birds they are more susceptible to it and it tends to rear its ugly head particular during Autumn/Winter months.    So far we haven't had a problem this season but I keep a keen eye out for fluffed up appearance, damp looking plumage and particularly if the bill has bits of food stuck to it and the bird is lethargic as you saw.    Sadly in smaller birds it is difficult to treat them as the medicine is too strong and usually by the time you see the bird and are able to pick it up it is too late to help it.   At least it died in the warmth.    According to guidelines if anyone sees this problem and there are two or more birds suffering the same disease then all food and water should be withdrawn for around 3 weeks in order to disperse the birds from the area.    

    Thanks for bringing this subject up Emma and I'm sorry your finch didn't survive but you did the right thing in its final hours.    I had to take one chaffinch to the vet the previous year and have her euthanized as sometimes this disease can last a few weeks and they die of starvation rather than the parasite itself as the lesions  block their gullet.    

  • Just added these helpful pages about bird disease should anyone want more information:

    Trichomonosis

    Colibacillosis 

    Salmonellosis