STAR GAZING/TWIRLING, sound familiar? In the 16 years plus I have been breeding finches, I have encountered this devastating symptom several times with my birds & with other persons’ birds. Where does it come from? Why does one bird in a cage of many develop this symptom & not the rest? I have asked others and myself these questions without coming to any conclusion.

Some writings state it comes from poor vitamin distribution. In particular vitamin B & B Complex were lacking from their diet. I administrated vitamin B & B Complex to the eggfood without any improvement to the affected bird, as a matter of fact it seemed to progress into a more sorry state. So was there any logic to this? As time went on, even as much as two years, the ultimate result was a gradual wasting away and inability to perch. Even with the food & water placed on the floor of the cage, I kept hoping for the best, that the bird would get stronger & survive, but death was always the end result. Heartbreaking as it was, I felt that the birds misery had ended.

I do my own cultures on my birds & other breeders’ birds to see what if any bacteria the birds are carrying. If I see a weakness in a bird, I check it out & treat these common bacteria & yeast infections with the appropriate medication. Particularly regarding finches you don't have much time in turning the ill bird around.

I had a Gouldian with the stargazing/twirling symptoms. I did a stool culture, which revealed KLEBSIELLA PNEUMONIA. I treated the bird with CIPROFLOXACIN HCI, which is the drug of choice for Klebsiella infections. After the seven days of treatment it still had the exact symptoms as before. I then followed up with another culture revealing the Klebsiella was gone, YET the twirling was still present. After 62 days of isolation I had run out of cage space, I introduced another Gouldian, which had CANDIDA ALBICANS [A yeast infection], to the same cage with my twirler. I thought logically the twirler was clean now & the Gouldian with Candida had contracted the yeast infection after a heavy dose of antibiotics would not be a problem to each other.

So I treated the BIRDS with NYSTATIN 100,000 U SUSPENSION, 5 drops per 1 oz. water. Nystatin is usually administered directly into the bird’s beak at 1 drop twice daily, but I didn't want to stress out the bird by catching & handling him.

After two days on the first dose I went to change the medication for a new dose, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw BOTH birds on the perch standing full up, not even crouching on their stomachs. I continued the medication for an additional 6 days & stopped. Both birds were now even singing. I thought, was this a fluke? Or did I really find something here?

Sometime later I had another bird, a Society finch hen with a slight twirling of the neck, Stargazing would be a more accurate term, & put her on the NYSTATIN suspension, sure enough another success.

I had taken another bird, a Blue Bodied Gouldian hen from a friend that he had with the twirling symptom. This bird would mercifully flounder around the bottom of the cage when you approached it. He had also tried different medications to cure the bird in isolation, but to no use. Another note was this bird had suffered for 7-8 months.

I took her home with me & placed her in isolation in a small cage without any heat source, just seed & water with NYSTATIN on the floor of the cage. My friend came over 30 hours after he gave me the bird to pick up some supplies I had gotten for him. We both went to the basement to check out his bird. Well, there she was PERCHING! He was as ecstatic & amazed, as I was excited. We talked about all the birds he & I & all our friends had lost through the many years from the twirling disease.

I thought what a find I had here. This symptom cannot be Genetic, or coming from a poor vitamin source, as believed by some writings, particularly when I was giving all 400 plus birds the same foods. The Twirling cause seems to come out from birds previously stressed in some way, where as different types of bacteria affect the bird first, then secondary after antibiotic treatment, or the possibility of a fungus infection, the twirling exists.

In any event, so far I have had an overwhelming success rate, with no apparent side affects.

Article © Don Thorschmidt

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