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Finch sickness (1 Viewer)

Vulcanic

New member
I've recently seen 2 Bullfinches -1Male looking very puffed up and sick in our garden He wouldn't move going quite close. We feed them on sunflower hearts ,and the thought that this might be the cause brought me to this site so late in the day (28/7/16).
I will try normal sunflower seeds -if I can find them!
This thread was started in 2004 and I wondered if any solutions came out of it.
 
Hello Vulcanic and welcome to the forum on behalf of the staff and moderators. One thing that might help is to make sure your feeders stay clean and that the seed doesn't get moldy - you might already do this. I'm going to move this to another forum where you will get more help for your question, and I will subscribe you to this so you don't miss any replies.
 
I don't know about the UK issue, but can contribute some Ontario experiences with finch disease.

We have 'house finches' in North-Eastern North America that were introduced from out west into NY City, from where they spread pretty quickly. They are very gregarious at feeders and spend lengths of time on them, or on mine at least, which may explain why, when they picked up species-specific eye disease a few years ago, it spread through their population like wildfire. The disease would cause their eyes to swell shut and render them unable to feed themselves, so any that weren't picked up and rescued died and in fact they were wiped out in my area. After what I believe has been 3 years, they are only now making a comeback.
 
I've recently seen 2 Bullfinches -1Male looking very puffed up and sick in our garden He wouldn't move going quite close. We feed them on sunflower hearts ,and the thought that this might be the cause brought me to this site so late in the day (28/7/16).
I will try normal sunflower seeds -if I can find them!
This thread was started in 2004 and I wondered if any solutions came out of it.

There are a number of diseases it could be. Perhaps this BTO site can give you more info. https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/about/background/projects/garden-wildlife-health
 
Summer feeding is a source of so many hazards for birds that it should be a punishable offence. At least no bird lover should practice it.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 8 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

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