Bird care in the lab

As long as you have bird(s) in the lab or recording room, you are the one responsible for their care. This includes checking on your birds twice daily for general signs of good health, and making sure the birds have ad libitum access to food, water, grit, cuttle bone and the cage is clean and has a perch. Also check the temperature, humidity and lights (try to notice if the lights are on or off at a weird hour; they should be on between 7.30 am and 9.30 pm). If the birds don't need any specific care (such as post-operative), you can ask Dawit if he and/or the aviary personnel can check on your birds in the weekends and holidays. Upon your return to the lab, always double-check what they wrote when they signed off your health charts, and communicate well about when you need them to take over your bird care.

Cage implements and food:

Each cage is provided with cuttlebone, grit and perches. The perches are positioned so the birds’ tail feathers do not rub against the cage when the bird is sitting on the perch. Perches are not to be positioned above seed or grit cups.
For all birds, water and finch seed (mixed tropical seeds) in unlimited supply will be provided. Seeds are replaced at least once a week. Replace cuttlebones as needed.

Water bottles: Water bottles should be filled all the way, to ensure a proper seal. Some water bottles include plastic floaters to make water level more visible.

Seed: Zebra finches de-husk their seeds, and the husk often fall back in the seed cup. Therefore, a cup might look full to you, but there might be nothing to eat for the bird and it might starve. Therefore, once every ~1-3 days (depending on the seed cup size & number of birds in the cage) blow over the cup above a trash can to remove husks, or throw away the top ~1 cm of seeds.

Signs of Illness:

General signs to look for are puffed-up feathers, closed eyes or eyes are pinched, lethargic, not paying attention to your presence, moving slowly (very easy to catch). First things to check when you see this are air flow (cold in cage?), water bottle (sipper not clogged?), food available.

Also, always pay attention to:

• The beak: normal shape and color, clean?
• Legs/feet: distributing weight well over both feet, no discolouring or blood (if there's blood, it's usually also on the perch), leg ring is not too tight, thumb-toe is not caught in leg ring
• Feces: not too wet, normal amount (no feces means obstipation, a lot is often one of the signs of diarrhoea)

If you have any doubts: ask Dawit or an experienced lab member for advice.

Duration of housing:

In studies involving long term tracking of song development, or long term electrophysiology, the birds will be kept for periods of up to 5 months in sound-proof chambers. If your bird does not need to be in the lab, it is preferred to house it socially in the aviary.

Health checks:

Birds need to be checked twice daily (preferably once in the morning and once in the afternoon). Sign of on a health chart with initials (not check marks).

Every room that contains birds includes a health check chart. Initials of the lab member on the health check chart indicates that a visual check of the health status of all birds in the room was made. Birds with health problems are flagged for additional attention with a “health alert” cage tag. Any behavioral indications of ongoing pain or distress results in euthanasia of the animal. Any birds showing general signs of illness will be euthanized, for the sake of the colony. The exceptions to this rule include birds that have been pecked, or physically injured in their cages, egg binding, and mild signs of possible diarrhea (without other general signs of illness.) Cages that are dirtied by excessively liquid droppings indicate a definite health concern, and birds will be euthanized. If any bird subjected to this treatment shows signs of deterioration in its condition, minimal improvement over 2-5 days or the possibility of being plagued by a more serious malady, they will be subjected to euthanasia. Any bird exhibiting signs of contagious disease, extreme discomfort or illness, or is afflicted by a chronic problem such as broken limbs, paralysis, as well as any birds showing signs of poor health, weakness and lethargy will be euthanized via pento-barbitol injection. There is a lab member on site every day, including weekends and holidays (can be a work study student, but need to be communicated so that all birds are checked).

Socializing Birds:

Birds should be given social exposure to conspecifics by opening chamber doors 5 times weekly for a minimum of one hour each time. Records of social exposure times should be maintained nearby each sound isolation chamber.

Cleaning:

• Cage paper/diapers should be changed twice per week
• Cage contents changed every month, or when visibly dirty
• Water sippers should be sterilized weekly (put on dirty rack in aviary)
• The cage itself is washed and sterilized every 22 weeks, or as soon as it becomes visibly dirty, whichever comes first (put on dirty rack in aviary). At the time of cage sterilization, sound-proof foam should be removed, vacuumed and sprayed with quatricide and left to dry, or replaced if it is visibly dirty. The interior plastic walls of the sound chamber itself should be washed with quatricide.
• If Quatricide PV is used to clean implements, staff must make sure that they are well rinsed (3 rinses), as we assume that trace amounts of Quatricide PV could be harmful to the birds.