Sad Day

Well for the last few days iv been trying to find the time to update the Blog with all the good news about how the Conure chicks are doing and then yesterday bad stuff kicked off again.  Firstly i went out to the Bird House to discover Gilbert sitting on the bottom of the cage... not that strange, he had been behaving a bit different over the last week by spending a lot of time in the nest box with Big who is sitting on 5 eggs.  I had thought that was because her last clutch hadnt been that successful losing 2 of her 4 chicks she hatched, and thought he was keeping an eye on her.... or that it has been really cold over the last week and he was helping her brood. Gilbert is normally a timid bird, well he doesnt like humans much but we have a mutual understanding .... he knows when im going to put something in the cage and moves out of the way and i speak to him respectfully (he is the Don of the bird house) but not try too hard to get him on side, and all was good.  His favorite place to sit looking all buff n hardcore was at the top of the cage quietly looking out checking every thing out.  So... on the floor? and not checking out his minions...? when i approached his penthouse he did nothing.... not complying to our mutual understanding.... I opened the big door and talking to him reached in expecting him to fly up .....but he didnt!  I picked him up and he didnt even bite..... now Gilbert has a good bite.... and as he doesnt like humans he lets you know... every time i have had to handle him he has managed to draw blood..... but this time ... nothing..... Realising something was badly wrong i wrapped him up in a bit of fleece i keep in the bird house for emergencies or covering nest boxes for extra warmth, and set up the travel cage one-handed... popped him in on a layer of fleece and whisked him off to the house.... moved the mountain of washing from the top of the dryer and snuggled him next to the radiator for warmth with water and some warm eggfood (his fav). 

So.... what was i doing? oh yeah i was going to clean out Big n Gilbert n Dave n Little's cages.... Back out to the bird house and when little comes out of the nest box to say hi, im really not very happy about how she looks.....Her abdomen is very red and very swollen to me obviously not right... she chats to me quietly n pops back into the nest box... Im worried ... so i go and check out a couple of books and look online reading about egg binding and start to worry even more .... to me it looked like 3 lumps... surly she couldnt have 3 eggs stuck inside ? I decide to bring her in check her out more closely and make her safe in the small pet pod... this is not good.... we decide to take her up to the Avian Vet call and get an appointment in a couple of hours time.... The Vet is lovely and takes a look at her and then starts to explain whats wrong..... its Acute Egg Peritonitis.... i wasnt sure what it was but it sounded bad..... as he explains it slowly sinks in that this is really bad and i start to anticipate that hes going to advise me to have her put to sleep... Basically she had an egg blocking her egg duct which had then filled up with partially formed eggs...and then still producing eggs her abdomen had filled up with what he described as scrambled egg... Little had nibbled a bit of cream cheese before we left and was chatting back to the phone in the waiting room... she was nibbling my finger through the holes in the pet pod and although she was obviously ill she seemed her normal self... so the decision to have her put to sleep was hard... she and her sister Big were my 1st ever chicks and Little had always been cheeky and tame..... but i had to do it... She would get worse and suffer and couldnt get better.  The Vet said he would giver her some gas before the injection and she wouldnt feel anything he brought her back wrapped in tissue and we buried her in the garden under a hibiscus bush.... Sad...

Little After A Bath

Little Being a bit nosey and checking out my camera

Little Trying her first call

Little such a character

Little was my only bird not to take off her plastic split leg ring.  She loved jewelry and nail varnish.