sick female finch

Question
QUESTION: I am in desperate need for some help with a sick female finch about 3 years old.  She has been sick for almost a week now and spends all her time on the bottom of the hospital cage with her head facing rearwards.  I noticed her puffed up with a dischevaled look and knew something was wrong.  She shivers as if she is cold, but it is not cold here and she does not seem to respond to coming close to a warm lamp.  I thought she was egg bound as it appeared the she had here tail up and might be trying to push out an egg. She is still eating, though not as much as usual.  I took her to petssmart bannfield animal hospital and the vet examined her.  They are not avian vets and there is not one near to me as I live in an equestrian area.  The vet said you can feel if there was an egg and rubbed her near her but and said there was nothing there.  No external parisites found.  They did not do an internal parisite test. I have 8 finches and none of the others are sick.  Her poop was very watery for a few days and at one point it seemed that she was only pooping water.  Her poop does seem more normal white at this time.  The vet said there was no way of doing any diagnostic testing as the bird was so small.  They gave me some antibiotics to add to the water and 4 days later she is not any better or worse that I can tell.  She is crying at me for help and It is killing me.  Do you have any idea what could be ailing her or can you tell me how to inspect the bird for egg binding as I think the vet could be wrong?  The only other things I can think of is I got busy on the weekend and was not able to clean the cages and they got a little dirtier than usual.  The other thing is I put some veggies in a treat cup and the next morning there was some light mold growing on them.  I am in Ocala florida and the birds are kept in a screen lanai during the day and brought in at night.  Do you have any information or inspection procedures that can help me get this bird better?  $100 later and alot of online research and the bird is still suffering.  Best Regards, Dave

ANSWER: If it looks like she's trying to pass an egg, it could be a wind egg. A wind egg is an egg with very little or no outer shell. This happens when the female isn't getting enough calcium in her diet to form a normal egg she can pass with ease.
How often does she poop? What size is her poop? A bird that is egg bound will often have larger than normal poop.
There are somethings you can try at home (your vet has proven to be useless) that may work if she does have a wind egg or is egg bound.
You can try giving her energy supplements such as adding a little bit of sugar, or a small amount of gatorade to the drinking water. Make sure the cage temperature is around 85-90F and try and get her cage nice and humid (80% humidity).
Something that may also help is putting her and her cage into the bathroom right after someone has had a nice hot shower (I like to put them in during but to each their own). The heat and humidity of the shower will relax her muscles enough to hopefully expel the egg.
Unfortunately, if this is a wind egg or being egg bound, her chances of survival are low. I'll give you a website that has all sorts of supplements you add to the bird's water and food to make sure they have enough nutrients to prevent something like this from happening twice.
www.ladygouldian.com or www.ladygouldianfinch.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the help response!  I can not comment on the frequency of her poop cycle, but I can say that her poop is not larger than usual.  I have had other finches that were raising young and have sat in the nest for extended periods of time, and when they came out of the nest, they had larger than normal poop.  I can not see any droppings in the hospital cage that indicates any poop size inconsistencies from what I normally see.  I did change the birds diet 3-4 months back to Walmart brand small universal bird seed @ $3 for 2 pound bag verses the Nutriphase Gold seed I was feeding them @ $7 for 1.75 pound bag.  The Walmart food bag states that it has a minimum of .01% of calcium and a max of .51% of calcium in the formula.  Nutriphase gold does not state the calcium content.  Bird cages have always have been equipped with fresh cuttle bones that need to be replaced every 6 weeks.  Is that enough calcium?  The seed is not from China.  Should I take her on a 100 mile round trip to an avain specialist and if I specify that I want an x ray, would that confirm an egg related issue?  I was not offered an x ray option at Banfield.  I will take the cage to the shower tomorrow for some humidity but I want some clarification.  I have a huge glass shower stall in my master bedroom.  Can the bird get wet or should I keep it outside of the stall door?  It is depressing when a pet gets sick and you are desperate to find an answer, and despite your best effords, It still suffers.  There is a black cloud of depression over my entire household due to sick finch.   Dave

Answer
If you really want to give your bird every chance it has at survival, I would take it to a specialist. The bird still may not live but sometimes it's worth the money just to know that you did everything you could.
I find that cuttlebones aren't enough. From what I remember about cuttlebones, not a lot of the calcium goes into the bird and bird food rarely comes with enough for a female laying eggs.
Normally I don't trust bird seed from places like Walmart and only buy my food from places like Pjs Pets and Petsmart but again, your decision. Just make sure that somewhere on the bag it says that the food was fortified with nutrients (or something like that). That way you know that the food has what your birds need. If the bag doesn't say that nutrients were added to it, you need to add your own or simply buy food with the nutrients already added. Buying nutrient supplements that is added to food isn't hard at all. I know both Pjs and Petsmart carries the powdered supplements that is added to the food. You may get lucky and all this is is a nutrient deficiency of some sort (but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you).
I do not recommend getting the bird wet. The water will make your bird colder so it's best if it stays as dry as possible. It's one thing for a parrot to go in the shower with you but it's quite another for a finch. Best just keep it outside the shower but as close as it can get. It's best if the shower is in a small area (such a regular bathroom. Master bedrooms seem to be quite spacious there is no way to keep the steam in the area). You can still use the one in the master bedroom but I recommend using one in a regular bathroom if you can.