Finch health - prevention is better than cure

Finches are generally small, active and largely undomesticated compared to most other birds kept and bred in captivity. The implications of this are that they have very limited storage of energy in their body mass, a high rate of energy burn-up in everyday life, and a fear of other larger creatures including man which makes them very skilled at masking any obvious visual symptoms of illness or disease until such conditions are at a fairly advanced state. This makes treatment of detected illness very difficult in many cases as the window of opportunity for remediation by this stage is small and closing fast. Basic risk management principles therefore dictate that the key to effectively managing the health of a finch collection should primarily focus on developing appropriate preventative health strategies which address the major health risks to finches in our aviaries.

There are a vast array of available medications and treatments to address the many disease and infection risks that aviary birds face. I will try to simplify the issue by addressing the most common health problems faced by finches with easily applied preventative solutions.

The most important direct preventative measure a finch breeder can apply is a regular worming and coccidiosis treatment program. I worm my entire collection every three months and treat for coccidia immediately following any period of wet weather.

Each worming treatment involves drenching via drinking water at the recommended dose for the recommended period and then a follow-up drenching using a different wormer two weeks after the first. The two week follow-up is aimed at any intestinal parasites which may have been at the unhatched egg stage during the first dose. The alternating of different wormers is an attempt to minimise the chance of parasites developing resistance to certain wormer chemicals and also to more effectively clean up parasite species which may be more effectively controlled with a different chemical. Each wormer is generally most effective against a few species of worms. Some are more effective at killing tapeworm, for example, and others are more effective at killing gizzard worm. By having a range of wormers at your disposal you are more likely to control a wider range of internal parasite species. My stable of wormers includes Cydectin Plus oral sheep drench, Equimax liquid for horses, Avitrol plus bird wormer, and Ivomec sheep and goat wormer.

Each coccidia treatment is preceded by two days of using apple cider vinegar in the drinking water at 5ml/litre. Experimentation at stronger doses resulted in reduced palatability leading to low uptake. The aim with this is to acidify the birds' gut which purportedly enhances their natural resistance to a variety of possible bacterial and fungal infections. This is then immediately followed by treating for coccidia with Baycox at 3ml/litre for 2 days. I apply this treatment following any significant wet spells which may provide ideal conditions for build up of coccidia and other infectious possibilities. The apple cider vinegar is used regularly during extended periods of wet weather and high humidity, when bacterial contamination opportunities are maximised.

Another herbal treatment which I apply at various times is to use garlic juice in the drinking water. Garlic has excellent natural antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. Rather than use processed commercial garlic products, I simply crush a couple of cloves of fresh garlic and wash the entire crushed cloves and their juice into a jug with warm water. This jug is then poured trough a fine kitchen sieve into a watering can and topped up with cold water and given to the birds to drink. The hotter the water used for washing into the jug, the stronger the release of the garlic juice (and smell) and presumably the more beneficial it will be to the birds.

When recommencing the breeding season after an off-season austerity period, I regularly provide liquid calcium supplements to the drinking water of breeding aviaries to reduce the incidence of egg-binding in breeding hens. This is again carried out when the weather turns cool as these times are particular danger periods for egg-binding especially in young first season breeding hens.

Indirect but effective preventative measures to reduce the incidence of harmful infections and diseases revolve around certain elements of aviary design and construction, attention to hygienic feeding practices, and responsible stock management.

Aviary design issues which warrant particular attention include:

1. Overwhelming emphasis on providing a warm and dry aviary environment, particularly having a dry floor area without wet patches. Free-draining floor substrates, protective cladding to prevent torrential rain entering the aviary, positioning the aviary to best utilise the warmest most sunlit aspect for your location, not overplanting the aviary so that there is too much shade preventing any moisture drying up, providing raised water vessels to prevent a regular wet patch when bathing occurs will all help to achieve warmth and dryness.

2. Thoughtful design in separating perching, nesting and feeding areas to prevent fouling of food, and providing raised feeding stations or shelves so that most feeding activity occurs away from the aviary floor will help minimise infection possibilities.

3. Covering flight areas to prevent wild bird droppings contaminating the aviary also eliminates a possible access point for predatory birds or animals.

Maintaining a reasonable standard of hygiene in feeding your birds will significantly contribute to preventing possible sources of disease. Cleaning of food bowls especially where moist or perishable food items are provided is a necessity. When feeding green seedheads I always peg them up on the wire at head-height and remove and dispose of any which fall to the ground. Similarly, lebanese cucumber is located at the same area on small wire hooks. The old practice of throwing greens onto the floor of the aviary brings with it a high chance of bacterial, fungal, or parasitic worm infestation.

The most important element of stock management which relates to finch health is stocking rate. Apart from the enormous contribution to breeding results, a very lightly stocked aviary in which the number of breeding pairs are kept to an absolute minimum and where independent young are removed regularly is the ideal preventative health measure. The most obvious benefit is the drastically reduced incidence of food or water becoming fouled by droppings. The reduced incidence of aggression and direct competition between birds for all of life's necessities results in significantly lower stress levels and significantly better fed and more content birds. Such individuals are far less likely to succumb to infection than stressed out, "hen-pecked" birds which have to battle the masses for their fair share of half-eaten, fouled leftovers or for a gulp of dirty water containing various floaties.

To sum up, the most important measure you can undertake for the health of your finches is regular preventative worming and coccidia treatment. Other less direct measures are largely based on commonsense risk minimisation. If in doubt on any bird health issue the best port of call is an avian vet.

GRAHAM AND LEONIE BULL l COFFS HARBOUR, AUSTRALIA