Trichomanas spotted. Sad.

[Cowgirl]

I looked out this morning & spotted a Blue Tit showing all the symptoms, fluffed up, beak open & wiping it, moving slowly etc. Poor thing. Tried to catch it, but it can still fly so it soon took off. I was going to put it out of its misery as I would have hated to see it suffer a long death from starvation (& I didn't want it infecting any other birds). Thinking about it though, I realised I don't really know much about the disease apart from to stop putting feed out for about three weeks then sterilise etc . Was I being premature, can they recover from it? What if I catch & isolate it & bung it some meds, I realise chances are it'll die from shock anyway, I just hate to feel helpless.

Is three weeks about right? Trouble is other houses will still be feeding the birds, is it worthwhile knocking on a few doors & asking people to stop feeding as there is disease in the area? It's small village, but I'm a bit on the outskirts so don't really get to know people. Has anyone tried this & what sort of response do people get? I'm not really good at the people thing.

Any ideas gratefully received.

It's typical that this weekend I was going to participate in the RSPB big garden survey, now no birds will be hanging around

[Kreacha]

Originally Posted by Cowgirl

It's typical that this weekend I was going to participate in the RSPB big garden survey, now no birds will be hanging around

Sorry to hear about your sick bluetit What about visiting some relatives or mates and recording the birds in their garden? I know its not the same as doing it at home but at least you could still be involved .

[Littlesparrow]

I would clean any bird baths and dishes and turn them upside down for a few weeks. We haven't seen Tricho here but telling the neighbors sound like a good idea or print a little info sheet to put through doors.

[Cowgirl]

Good ideas both. I was searching on-line & found these people

http://www.ufaw.org.uk/documents/GBH...heet_Sep06.pdf

I phoned them & they were quite interested to know about blue tits possibly getting trich. From the symptoms it did seem like trich although you can't confirm without a post mortem, as it could be other things, but if I were to find my blue tit dead I should send it to them to see if it was.

Meanwhile, I'm getting accusatory glares from my blackbirds & robins who were impatiently waiting outside my back door this morning.

It's for their own good, but boy do I feel guilty.

ps if you're looking up trich make sure you put the gallinae (spelling?) after trichomonas (spelling again) as you get all sorts of information about STD's that you really didn't want to know! Plus the funny looks from your work colleagues

[Deb London]

Originally Posted by Cowgirl

Good ideas both. I was searching on-line & found these people

http://www.ufaw.org.uk/documents/GBH...heet_Sep06.pdf

I phoned them & they were quite interested to know about blue tits possibly getting trich. From the symptoms it did seem like trich although you can't confirm without a post mortem, as it could be other things, but if I were to find my blue tit dead I should send it to them to see if it was.

Meanwhile, I'm getting accusatory glares from my blackbirds & robins who were impatiently waiting outside my back door this morning.

It's for their own good, but boy do I feel guilty.

ps if you're looking up trich make sure you put the gallinae (spelling?) after trichomonas (spelling again) as you get all sorts of information about STD's that you really didn't want to know! Plus the funny looks from your work colleagues

I did it without 'bird' and came up with an interesting new name which I'd never heard before. At least it was humorous and not too offensive.

I'm going to investigate growing plants that feed the birds this year. I do worry a lot about this disease.

[paulinemiller10]

I had sparrows with the same thing cowgirl, I did manage to catch one, I left it in a small cage with a small heater, it ate some food then sat on the heater, it was dead in the morning, but at least it was nice and warm.

I stopped putting food in the feeders, and sprinkled it on the concrete, that way they are spread out and not feeding all in the same place, and every night I disinfected and hosed it down, but it was a lot of work.

Even if you stop feeding, other people will still feed them and not notice the sick birds. Pauline.

[Cowgirl]

Oh yeah, Debbie, forgot to say put bird in as well, oops Oh well, they say you learn something new everyday so there was yours

I'm going to take littlesparrows advice & post a few leaflets through some letterboxes to tell people to keep an eye out for sick birds & put a website link on it for people to look further if they want to. Not very good at this sort of thing but if it's for my birds I'll do it.

Hubbie's disowning me, as he's too embarrased to be associated with me