New zebra finches - one still looks stressed...

[Hypnotoad72]

Hiya. I bought 4 zebras over the weekend - on Friday: 3 pieds (2m 1f) and one normal female.

The normal female: Her eyes are rarely wide-eyed. She will preen and sing, but her eyes - it looks like she's tired. Also, her feathers also seem to stand up a bit while her cagemates are as wide-eyed as ever.

I bought all 4 at once.

None of them looked sick at the store and the clerk, who seemed intricately knowledgeable on birds (which WAS a plus), said they were all in good health.

Could this female, who is a couple months older than the pieds, just be more stressed? (In the 32x18x36" cage, she can be the recipient or the aggressor of territory squabbles. But other times they all get along or it's a pied who's on the other side of the cage.)

I've not noted anything getting worse the last day, but I should expect her to be more at home by now?

Could she be ill; the stress of transition helping bring the illness to the forefront? Should I isolate her or wait?

Thx!

[rainefeather19128]

she may just be acting her age,younger birds are more flighty than older ones. my 11 yr old is not as flighty as my 5 month olds or my 1 yr olds.if she is acting normal and doesn't look like a puffballand such, she is just being an old hen.
it could also be her temperment.
is she eating or drinking?does she have poo around her tailfeathers?

[Hypnotoad72]

Originally Posted by rainefeather19128

she may just be acting her age,younger birds are more flighty than older ones. my 11 yr old is not as flighty as my 5 month olds or my 1 yr olds.if she is acting normal and doesn't look like a puffballand such, she is just being an old hen.
it could also be her temperment.
is she eating or drinking?does she have poo around her tailfeathers?

No poo. :)

Sometimes she looks like a partial pine cone, but her feathers aren't all the way puffed out, and apart from her eyes she seems quite normal. This AM, she still had the same eye expression, but I have seen her eat and drink.

I do know she is older than the other three zebras, but I can't reckon she's older than 2 years - not that I have any proof of actual age.

[rainefeather19128]

hard to say but she is worrying me though:( a vet might help.
how many days has she been puff balled like that?
I know they live for about 8 yrs or so (give or take)...so age isn't it.

[Hypnotoad72]

Originally Posted by rainefeather19128

hard to say but she is worrying me though:( a vet might help.
how many days has she been puff balled like that?
I know they live for about 8 yrs or so (give or take)...so age isn't it.

Actually, she had made a full recovery - assuming she just wasn't stressed from the move. I'm still keeping an eye on them, but not one so close that they all spaz out; stress would exacerbate any illnesses...