My Sick Gouldian

12/7/12
My RH gouldian hen was sitting on the bottom of the cage on Monday afternoon and i am not sure how long she had been sitting there because I was not home that morning. My husband said he heard some fluttering in her cage when he got up during the night but couldn't see anything.

I watched her for a while to see what she was doing and it looked like she couldn't fly, she would try but couldn't get up to the perch.

I put her in my "sick" cage and put a clip on light and put napkins on the bottom so it would be soft for her. I also save plastic lids which I used today for her seed and egg food. I put a water tube at at the bottom so she could reach it.

I still couldn't tell exactly what was wrong. I didn't know if it was her foot or her wing that would keep her from perching.

The next morning she was not to much different and I gave her more boiled egg and crushed up egg shells. She started eating like she was starving and I even filled her plastice lid again with eggs and shells. I was thinking that maybe she wasn't eating in her cage because she couldn't perch and that is why she was so hungry and glad that I caught her when I did, but she was still sitting on the bottom of the cage.

About a hour later I saw her perching and went over to see if I could look at her feet and saw a egg on the bottom of the cage. That was her problem!! She couldn't pass the egg but with the heat from the lamp and the extra calcium from the egg shells plus how much she ate, helped her to pass the egg.

I was so relieved to see that egg. Another thing I need to keep on hand is liquid calcium and I could of put a drop in her beak which I have read really helps.

If you see your hen sitting on the bottom of the cage try what I did before you start to give any meds thinking she has an illness, because she could be egg bound and not need
anything more than calcium.

I did not put her back in with the male because I don't want her to lay anymore eggs for a few months.

2/7/13
It has been 2 months and she is doing fine. She keeps calling to her mate since they are in a divided cage. I will wait until I see if she is in breeding condition before I put them together again.

2/18/2013
I took the divider out of the cage so the male and female RH's can be together again. The male is going thru a molt and he is the only gouldian going thru one. I am not sure why the others are not molting since they are all in the same room, just different cages.