While Erythromycin is the drug of choice, if Erythromycin is not available, it is my understanding that both Tetracycline and Doxycycline can also be used to treat the Campylobacter. You would then medicate the Society Finches again during the next incubation go round, if they are to foster another clutch of Gouldian chicks. You will have to hope that the disease does not surface again until the chicks are weaned and independent (7 weeks). This drug can only be given to the Society Finches before the eggs hatch because the medication will have adverse effects on the growing chicks. The medication recommended to me many years ago to subdue Campylobacter is Erythromycin. So if you are intent to use foster Society Finches to raise your Gouldian chicks, I would have the droppings of all of your Society pairs tested by an avian vet to be sure that they are not infected with either Cochlosoma or Campylobacter before any breeding takes place. I realize that this may put you between a rock and a hard place, should your Gouldian parents reject their chicks, but do we want to save them at the expense of their overall health for a lifetime? Also, many of the chicks that do survive will become carriers themselves and will then pass on this condition or passively kill their own chicks when they breed in later years. This constant medication does not allow the chicks to develop their own strong immune system and, therefore, the chicks produced will always be weak. By constantly medicating the Society Finches, you are also medicating the chicks. I have found that while both diseases can be "kept in remi ssion" during a breeding season to allow infected Society Finches to foster Gouldian chicks, I would not recommend doing it. Your avian vet can perform tests to see if your Society Finches are carrying either of these diseases. Gouldian Finches fall into the category of a dry land species that will be negatively affected by Campylobacter and Cochlosoma. This is known as being a "carrier." The disease will just remain in their body, ready to infect any species that has not developed immunity against it. Let me say plainly here, that NOT ALL SOCIETY FINCHES ARE CARRIERS OF CAMPYLOBACTER AND COCHLOSOMA, but once a Society Finch has been exposed to and become infected with either of these diseases, they cannot be "cured". The 2 most common "wet" diseases which Society Finches can carry, that will affect Gouldian chicks are Campylobacter and Cochlosoma. While it is true that they have been bred over the years to be excellent parents, all Society Finches can become "carriers" of several diseases that will not affect them or their own offspring but could prove lethal to species of birds that have evolved in dry, arid conditions. However.…using Society Finches as foster parents for Gouldian chicks is not without problems. They have also been used to foster clutches for species when new mutations were being developed since many more offspring can be produced this way. In this article, I will relate my experiences with Society Finches and explain the pros and cons of using them.īengalese Finches have been used for centuries of bird keeping to foster the offspring of species of birds that were not adept at raising 1 st generation babies in captivity. In other articles throughout this website we will discuss ways to allow your Gouldian parents to raise their own babies. While it is true that Society Finches will most often solve this immediate problem because most of them will readily accept the Gouldian eggs or nestlings as their own, I would like to suggest that this is NOT the best solution to this problem. Whenever this subject comes up, it seems that the first solution offered is to keep Society Finches to foster the pitched babies or abandoned eggs. Nothing is more disheartening, especially to someone new to Gouldians than to lose nestlings from this behavior. The most frustrating behavior I have observed is when they throw the young babies from the nest. They will lay eggs but not sit or they will abandon the eggs after several days. Over the years that I have been breeding Gouldians, I have found that some young Gouldians can be undependable as parents.
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