Hello everyone..... I have just joined and really need some advice regarding the terrible evnts taking place in my garden, well lots of sick and dying birds.....help

Hello kleopatra, that sounds terrible.

Do you have any more specifics you can offer us, such as the species of birds?

Welcome to Wildlife UK...

Kingfisher

Hi Kingfisher. Yes the species that are sick and dying are the Greenfinches. I have had a post motum done on 2 of them and the results in Salmonella. I have posted in the garden bird section in more detail.

Sorry ... i tried editing the above post with no luck. Basically i have noticed sick Greenfinches over the last 2-3 weeks. Now the numbers are growing daily and you vcan notice atleast 5 who are just sitting around on the ground. I had a post mortum carried out by an avian vet on 2 of these Greenfinces, the results being salmonella.
I am so destressed and find it so upsetting. I always keep the feeders clean and provide fresh water daily.
I have also noticed rats on my bird table and feeders in broad daylight, could they be the cause of this outbreak??

If you are keeping your feeders and table clean (are you disinfecting/bleaching them?), and disinfecting/bleaching the water providers, then the next step is to try to split up the numbers of birds at any one table or feeder. The congregation of many birds in a small space will certainly contribute to the salmonella being spread. Also, have you tried keeping the ground under the feeders/tables clean? Do you move the feeders, etc., to different spots around your garden? Removing the uneaten food under the feeders/tables will help , and would also discourage the rats.

I don't think the rats have anything to do with the salmonella, though.

Kingfisher

To be honest i have not used any disinfectant on the feeders, but having said that they are all very new. I only moved to the countryside late March and only began feeding in about May, and since then i have bought a few different feeders, some in the last month. I have been hanging the feeders in dence trees ( away from predetors)and therefore have no access to the floor beneath them, where i have seen many Greenfinches in particular congragating. I don't exactly have garden as i live in fiels and hang the feeders in trees around the field. When i lived in London it would take weeks for a large feeder to get emptied, but the number of birds here don't actually leave anything over. They go through kilo's of sunflower hearts and peanuts, which i incidently buy from a supplier who sells human grade seeds for parrots, so its all fresh and good quality.
I have now reduced the food and moved ot to several different spots in small amounts, but still see these fluffed up little darlings waiting to die. I keep alot of parrots of my own and i am forbidding myself from taking any into the house, even though some of them are so easy to pick up, but there is nothing i can do for them. The vet said caught in the early stages they could be cured with Baytril, but by the time i can pick them up they are too far gone. Yesterday i disinfected my spare bathroom, where i had kept these sick birds with F10 and have decided not to take the risk of bringing anymore in. Its really sad to watch and i think i have spotted a Chaffinch today who may be effected now. I have no neighbors and live in the middle of several acres of land and i am the only person feeding these birds and feel very guilty. I take the food source away and then see all these hungry birds looking for their food. I actually hose down the feeders and birdbath everyday and often use a jetwash too. I can safely say the feeders are kept clean, but the areas under the feeders i have no access to as its very overgrown and hard to get to with ditches and barbed wire.
Just to add i have spotted well over a 100 Greenfinches at one time, maybe 30 or so Chaffinches and possible 20-30 tits of mixed types, the odd black bird, one Robin and a couple of Starlings. Huge numbers of Greenfinches.

Forgot to add...hundreds of jackdaws and rooks, but i feed them seperately in another huge field. I also get a few Wood Pigeons and Magpies, 3 Doves and sometimes Pheasants and Partridges, just passing through.

Oh no.

I have seen two greenfinches in my garden, months apart. They let you get so close and then fly a little but away but its obvious they are ill. My neighbour found one dead in her garden. I have heard that there is a illness that finches are subsectable to, maybe its that?

Really hope the situation gets better too soon, don't fell guilty about it.

Unfortunately, it is a common problem with greenfinches and house sparrows. Keeping everything as clean as possible helps.

As rowena said, don't feel guilty about it, just do your best to keep everything clean.

Kingfisher

Well thank you for the advice and i suppose it helps to know its happening elsewhere too. Its just as Rowena explained, you walk right up to them and they fly a short distance. I am doing my best to prevent too much contact between the greenfinches by spreading the food far apart to hopefully prevent more of them being infected. Its just ashame i can't help them as i am unable to catch them in the early stages of the infection.
great to have found this forum and look forward to reading lots of interesting birdie stories. I have some great pictures of Starlings from when i lived in London. I used to feed them on my 6th floor little balcony. i will post some of the pictures when i figure out how to.

There's a disease here in the US which attacks House Finches--a type of conjunctivitis--which does not directly kill the bird, but rather, the birds starve to death because the disease causes them to be unable to see. It's spread through the same conditions as the disease which is killing your greenfinches (even though it's not at all the same disease).

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/hofi/recognizing.html

Very sad to see also.

We will look forward to seeing your Starling photos.

Kingfisher

http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbir...inches.asp

Maybe this can help?

Thank You Raven. I have actually spoken to the Garden Health lady and the RSPB. The 2 Greenfinches i had post mortumed, both had Salmonella, but most probably the Trichomonosis is also present. Its about a week i have take away all feeders and water source, but i am still noticing these sick birds, so they are still infecting one another in other ways or possible many were already infected and are only showing signs now. It breaks my heart to see them hungry and not feed them. Very upsetting for me, i was in tears when i collected the feeders off the trees.