I'm setting up a 40x14 cage for my grandma's 2 male zeb's. They are currently in a 30x18. There are 6 perches from the current cage I'll be moving to the new one. Anything I've done look dangerous? 😅

Bought canary’s as my first bird but I’m unsure if there canary’s or mules. To me they look like mules but I don’t know much about birds and you lot probably know much more than me

Posting this on behalf of a friend who is a first-time zebra finch owner. One of their finches has a bare patch around her vent. The bird is acting normally otherwise, cheeping, eating, and moving around, and her poops seem normal; the other two finches (also both female) don't have this problem. Would appreciate if anyone had any insight to share!

Common behavior of Young gouldian, stealing worms or chicory directly in the beak of a sibling 😂

The parents have rejected the nest after it falling so much and now I'm left with eggs that should hatch at around the end of the month (only one of them has veins inside); i dont have an incubator but i have ordered a heat mat that should come before they hatch, how should i set up home made brooder? Pictures would be helpful

(Picture is the hen caramel lol)

It's currently cold here in the UK, my finches get 50/50 mixed millet and canary grass seed. They live in an unheated outdoor shed. So I doubt it's fatty liver disease? But maybe it is.

They used to get vegetables, flowers, and herbs daily during spring and summer and would eat way more veg than seed by choice. During winter they will not touch it.

They have access to grit and cuttlefish bone, plus a bit of calcium carbonate on prehusked seeds every now and then. They aren't breeding birds and none are laying at the moment. They also get daily essentials 1 in their water daily.

I don't think it is scaley mites making their beaks weird. Most of my birds have totally normal beaks but one bird had a really long upper mandible tip. Others did too but to a lesser extent. It wasn't discoloured, brittle, or flakey. I sanded it down after a few minutes of trying.

Should I add some different seeds to their mix? I have wheat grain, kamut grain, spelt grain, rye grain, buckwheat, pot barley grain, pumpkin seed, safflower seed, hemp seed, chia seed, flax seed, niger seed, fennel seed, celery seed, dill seed, and sesame seed too because I feed my mice raw (I can crumble any of these if needed).

I can't use pellets because they don't keep on them in winter, they loose weight quicker than they put it on.

Father is sitting on the second clutch (5 or 6 eggs didnt quiet see well )

Next week end babies Will move to aviary

First hatch this morning! Ten more eggs to go.🤞🤞🤞
This is my second time doing this, and I don’t recall the proper time (amount of days) to put closed bands on my chicks. Can anyone help me out with this?

I bought 2 pairs of finches 2 days ago, 1 pair of zebra finches and 1 pair of bengalese ones...while I was leaving I spotted this black cheeked one sitting alone in a cage so I also bought it, Im planning on getting it a partner..

I noticed it has been eating and sleeping all day and also has no feathers around its vent.. the other ones are jumping around, singing and eating just fine...is this behaviour cuz of loneliness?

My boyfriend got this bird at the start of this year, he was sold as being a male Indian silverbill but now we're unsure as to if he is a society finch and we aren't even sure of his sex. We've put him in a cage with other zebras, including a female that he paired with, so we think he's male. He seems to be quite content and gets along with his zebras, his noises aren't really close to anything we've heard. He reacts to both Indian silverbill and society finch noises. I'm wondering if he is a hybrid, which would explain the lack of children between him and the female zebra (the one in the images). I don't have much knowledge on birds or finches of any kind so any info would be appreciated.

I’m a huge advocate for animal wellbeing. I don’t support the pet industry. I am disabled/don’t have a way to escape my living situation. My relative, who has absolutely no business owning animals, just bought a finch from a pet store. He was kept separate from the rest due to aggression. Would it make more sense for me to steal him and look for a rescue, or try to give him a decent life on my own? He’s a mannikin. I have owned a rescue parrot before and am willing to do my very best, but want the best for him.

I've given her boiled eggs + the shells and multiple water sources that have calcium drops! I've put the same calcium drops in their seed too (only some, there are other seed bowls w/o the calcium)

She's laid two or three eggs so far and her tail isn't as downturned, I've been keeping an eye on her as much as I can with work n whatnot. They don't seem to be bothering her, she flies around and such just fine.

I've also got a mini heater for when it gets too cold at night, it's not on the whole night but it's something.

Is there anything else I can do to help her with this?

She’s only had 3 baths in her entire life although she always has water available. For some reason she preffers bathing in my hair (?) rather that using water. I tried using a spray bottle but it scares her. I tried playing videos of birds bathing but she just doesn’t want to go into the water. Should I b concerned or is this the kind of thing that she will workout by herself? I worry about poor hygiene causing sickness. Maybe she wants a sand bath and that’s why she tries to bathe in my hair? Any advice is appreciated!!!

There are 3 recognized, harmless melanistic mutations (different loci) in Australian zebras: black face, black front, and black body. There are 2 other forms of melanism that mimic these in expression, but are harmful! Environmental melanism and genetic lethal melanism. I want to spread awareness as people dismiss the genetic factor of this disease, which is in my opinion incredibly irresponsible!

Environmental melanism and genetic lethal melanism look like the black face mutation. However, unlike any of the current harmless melanistic mutations, these hens will have black faces. Harmless melanistic females will have white, grey, or dark grey faces depending on the specific allele. Environmental and genetic lethal melanism can produce hens with black facial markings (not the cheek patch, the face, where the tear mark and bill base meet) ranging from a few spots to a fully black face.

Environmental melanism only needs a very short section. It is usually caused by deficiencies in the diet and a lack of sunlight exposure. Indoor birds usually need UVA and UVB lights for 6-12 hours a day, as a few hours outdoors daily isn't enough. UV cannot pass through most windows. Vitamin and mineral supplements can be given on the food, in water, or through a pelleted diet. Though many zebras live indoors with no UV or sunlight and no vegetables or supplements, and live long enough. That's a whole other debate.

I am dyslexic and struggle to efficiently get my thoughts into writing, so I will rely on images from now onwards.

This is a black body mutant cock. He will keep this colouration throughout his life, with any increase in melanin being very minor after maturity.

Another black face mutation cock of much poorer black face phenotype, but of better body type.

Here is a black face mutant hen. Notice how her face is grey-white, not black? Important detail.

Bendy, a young mature genetic lethal melanistic mutant cock I bought. He faded to the wildtype before dying from respiratory distress the same day as another melanistic cock of mine, related to him.

I will now show some images of my own melanistic stock from 2022, confirmed to be of genetic lethal type.

The points I want to make are as follows: Genetic melanism is likely polygenic but behaves dominantly or semidominantly in plumage and disease phenotype. The associated plumage phenotype is progressive rather than visible from hatching. The expression of melanistic markings ranges from unnoticeable freckles to show-quality black faces. Genetic melanism is not managed by correct UV exposure, or correct vitamin and mineral intake. Genetic melanism likely affects the respiratory system in some way, as the melanistic birds were very prone to respiratory distress and air sac mites but not avian gastric yeast or scaly mites. Genetic melanism can affect feather structure, and therefore flight.

Let's follow the phenotype of a chick I produced, Mittchel. She is a fawn split black breast (not related to her colouration other than increased pheomelanin expression on the tail) hen. Mittchel was one of five hens born to a low expression x low expression melanistic pair.

Here Mittchel is as a fledgling. Note the dark marking on her breast. Not caused by black breast mutation. This marking itself is common in many healthy, non-melanistic birds, but for Mittchel, it was a sign of the disease. Some important information. Mittchel's sire and dam were bought from the same pet shop and likely closely related. The parents were non-expressive for the first few months of my ownership, but later redeveloped these markings. More on 'redeveloped' later. Image date: 9th April, 2022.

You can see how the eumelanistic markings on the breast have extended, and how her face has eumelanistic markings. These developed very quickly, despite being outdoors with 24/7 access to the sun. Image date: 30th April, 2022.

Here, an image from the same date shows her full sister and clutch-mate Alastor (also a hen) who has noticeable eumelanistic markings on the face. The entire clutch (Alastor, Monty, Mittchel) were infected, with Monty being very low expression. Image date: 30th April, 2022.

An image taken on the same date of Monty (also a fawn mutant hen) for context. You can see mild eumelanistic freckles on her face - mild but signs of the disease all the same. In the background is her dam, who was non-expressive from the date of purchase to the date of mating. She later became expressive. Image date: 30th April, 2022.

Here you can see, a short while in the future, that the expression on all chicks has noticeably increased. Our subject Mittchel has a fully black face, comparable of that to a show-quality black face mutant cock! Alastor too has an equally expressive black face, and an even more expressive breast, but the piebald expression prevents placement of melanin on the feathers affected by piebalding. Even Monty, while low expression, has much more noticeable and clumped eumelanistic markings on the face. Image date: 11th June, 2022.

An image of Monty that shows the development of her dark breast marking. A eumelanistic freckle on the face is visible, clung to the bottom half of the tear mark. Image date: 23rd June, 2022. It is around this time that Mittchel's sire and dam have a second clutch of three: two hens, and 1 cock. Mittchel dies around here suddenly after an air sac mite infection despite treatment, so I want to shift my focus to this new clutch's cock: Big.

Big before he left the nest. He was large and low set, but in a disordered way rather than a 'cobby type' way. His breast bone was noticeably over-pronounced even at a good weight. His legs seemed strong and healthy despite how he sat. It was more related to his body type. And despite being from two small, pet-typed parents, he was huge. Image date: 25th July, 2022.

This image is important for two reasons: it shows Big's irregular type next to his normal, non-runted full sibling from the same clutch, and it shows the poor feather quality of the chick on the right, Connie. Connie's feathers aren't just ruffled, they're irregular! She never flew properly, despite having an aviary. Image date: 2nd August, 2022.

Here you can see Alastor (clutch 1) and Emma (dam). You can see the dark breast marking starting to show on Emma. This is the 'redeveloped' markings mentioned at the beginning. No matter what supplements or care you give, melanism colouration will come and go if it is genetic. It doesn't seem to correlate with their health status at all though. For example, Alastor has undeveloped her facial markings in this photo but was experiencing mild respiratory distress (confirmed to not be air sac mites) at the time. The sire (black cheek) had not redeveloped his markings yet. Image date: 14th August, 2022.

Here is Monty on that same day. You can see the melanistic freckle she had on the face in earlier photos has sort of 'combined' with the tear mark, and her breast marking has reduced. Image date: 14th August, 2022.

Here is Big again, once mature. There are several things of note. First is the obvious black facial markings, and how over pigmented his breast markings are for a non-black-breast individual. Also take note of his flank. It has no white dots on it. Again, a common phenotype associated with black face and with genetic melanism. Also note how he seems 'wide', and low. Despite again, his parents being small part types! I owned no show types at the time and have never owned show types ever. Image date: 25th October, 2022.

Remember I mentioned that feather deformity? Look at how the feathers come to a sudden stop then 'circle' at the bottom. This prevented flight and wasn't due to injury or deficiency. She was never clipped, plucked, or over-groomed. Image date: 25th October, 2022.

This is Albert, the third sibling from the second and final clutch. She has very, very tiny freckles on the middle right of her face. Image date: 25th October, 2022.

This is Connie, the bird with the feather deformity. She has developed intense melanistic markings on the face here. Image date: 18th November, 2022.

The same time that Connie's markings dramatically increased, Albert's freckles did too. Although they are still almost unnoticeable. Image date: 29th December, 2022.

I am at my image limit, so I will write the fates of all my melanistic birds below. Here is Monty. She experienced sudden feather loss. It wasn't related to deficiency, attack, or incorrect supplement/medication use. It was sudden, irregular, and fluid-like sores the size of my finger nail developed underneath the bare skin. She was euthanized the day this image was taken.

Alastor: The last to die. A highly territorial hen, 24/7 fighting with another hen weakened her body. She then began developing AGY-like symptoms. I have had an active AGY-like fungal disease in my flock, slowly and irregularly killing my birds, since the beginning. However because it was so slow and subtle, I didn't note it until years later. She experienced respiratory distress several times in her life but recovered on her own.

Monty: Second to last to die. She suddenly balded and grew clear fluid-filled sores on her body. She was euthanized before it progressed. No other birds had any similar balding or sores, or other illness. Monty was not attacked by other birds, injured, or given medication. She experienced mild respiratory distress just before that healed itself.

Mittchel: The first to die. She experienced a rapidly worsening air sac mite infection despite intensive treatment, and passed away. Whilst the rest of the flock was treated as recommended, no other birds had symptoms or clicking sounds when breathing.

Big: Had head tremors and weight loss. Pretty consistent with my 'AGY' infected birds who get a secondary infection. Also had respiratory distress. He was extremely lethargic and passed at roughly a year old?

Connie: She developed respiratory distress symptoms, that was not air sac mites, and eventually passed.

Albert: Sudden weakness consistent with the AGY-like illness and passed. She occasionally developed mild respiratory distress symptoms throughout her life.

Emma (dam): Emma lost her ability to fly a few months before passing despite still being young. She showed signs of mildly labored breathing (tail bobbing) and then passed from what seemed to be the AGY-like disease.

Fetch (sire): Fetch, as well, lost his ability to fly leading up to his death that wasn't too long (either before or after) Emma passed. This was due to feather abnormalities. He had severe respiratory distress throughout his life that healed itself, but eventually it didn't go away and he passed away from it.

Bendy (melanistic bird related to Fetch and Emma): Bendy had mild to severe respiratory distress during my time owning him. He passed away the same day and time as Fetch, cuddled up to him in the corner of the aviary, from severe respiratory distress.

Were your birds improperly cared for?
I was a kid at the time, so to a degree, yes. But they were fed a variety of vegetables, herbs, seeds, and other goodies for health. In the environment where 35 or so other birds thrived and raised plenty of young that I still own to this day, they suffered from mostly respiratory issues.

Did you have a chronic case of air sac mites or contagious respiratory infection in your flock?
I was very vigorous with the mites thing because as a younger teen it was horrific to imagine little bugs living inside and suffocating my pet birds. I treated and analyzed all of my birds. Only the melanistic birds showed reoccurring respiratory distress, sometimes caused by air sac mites and sometimes not. None of my non-melanistic birds ever did. I have not had a single case of respiratory infection or air sac mites since the last melanistic birds died.

Was it related to diet or sunlight exposure?
My birds lived outdoors with free choice access to exposed sunlight, and not through a window. They were fed a variety of veg, herbs, and fruits at the time but not any supplements. Come to your own conclusions.

Is this all not just related to the AGY-like disease?
Nope. As mentioned at the beginning, whilst melanistic birds were mor prone to respiratory diseases, they were not any more likely to show AGY-like symptoms or die of them. Emma survived for the longest after showing AGY-like symptoms of all my symptomatic birds to date (not counting Fizzarolli or the resistant strain).