Cockatiel Egg and Chick Thread

[SnowyShiloh]

You guys are the best. It's nice to have support. I feel lucky! I have good news and bad news. Bad news is little Teddy is getting more dehydrated and his crop is not emptying I gave him fluids and he pooped a little, but I don't have high hopes for his survival. Of course I will be doing everything I can to make him live, but realistically, I don't know.

I am more optimistic about Neeja. I fed him .5 CC of slightly thicker formula and he had it out of his crop in 2 hours. Go baby go! Baby steps... I just fed him again, this time .75 CC. Next feeding I'm going to bump it up to 1.25. He should be able to eat 3 CCs of thicker formula than he's getting at every feeding, but I want to take small steps. I'd rather feed him more often and work our way up to where he should be. I'm more optimistic about him recovering. When empty, his crop actually looks like it should! It doesn't seem distended. So his crop emptying problems are improving and he's not dehydrated, but the yeast and bacterial infections that CAUSED the sour crop are still there, just under control from the medications he's on. Hopefully the medications will continue to work without damaging his tiny body or messing up his intestinal flora too much. They're so small that medication amounts (and even BeneBac amounts) are kind of guesses. For one of the medications, I don't even have real dosage amounts or anything because the amount they need is sooooo tiny- I have 1 little capsule of medicine that I broke in half and how I measure it out is by scooping the teeniest little amount up with my pinky fingernail (picking it up with my fingers would result in too high of a dose) and mixing it with 1 drop of water.

I haven't checked on Phoenix since I last posted, but Arthur is with him in the nest box.

 

[hartleybun]

ray:am also gripped by this thread. and as others have said, we are all with you in spririt, even tho' we would like to be there giving you guys a break.

i would like to echo what nela has said - remember to eat! your dedication and love to these lovely birds is to be commended. take care of yourselvesray:

 

[landi]

I have laughed and cried at this thread your doing a great job and fingers crossed that they all pull through its hard to say your not going to get attached to the little bundles of fluff cause you do but remember to take care of yourself.
We still have only the 1 from the second clutch which is now 5 days old not looking like the others are going to hatch which is sad but better that way than them hatching and going through losing any like you.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Yeah, Landi, I would have much preferred to be disappointed about none of them hatching than having them die after Or it would have even been "better" if they'd died within the first couple days. Now they're little bitty birdies with big round eyes who freak out when they see you (scream for food), can clumsily waddle around, itch themselves and try to preen their feathers (even though they don't really have feathers yet). We have to be really quiet so we don't wake them up when they're sleeping.

So, birdy update. Teddy's crop isn't really emptying, maybe just a little Neeja's took longer to empty after his last feed, but the food was also thicker and there was more of it so no real surprise there. I just fed him a few minutes ago and I made even thicker formula. It's still not as thick as a chick his age should get, but a little thicker than it was. He's been pooping mostly liquid with just a little bit of actual feces (which doesn't really mean he has diarrhea, bird poop contains the urine too), so he needs some more actual formula to have as nourishment. Good news is I'm pretty sure he's not dehydrated since he's been passing urine. Poor Teddy has pooped a couple times and it was almost completely urine. They ALL like to poop on me when I pick them up.

I don't know what the heck Arthur and Poppet are up to. I'm a little afraid Poppet is going to start laying more eggs. They're keeping Phoenix fed and are in the nest box about half the time (maybe a bit more, thank goodness for the heating pad!), but I'm not sure they're actually keeping him warm when they go in. I lifted the lid when just Poppet was in there with him because he needed his medicine, and she was sitting on the complete opposite side of the nest box in roosting position. Had to go in again to give him his other med and Arthur and Poppet were in there, neither actually sitting with him. Maybe the heating pad is just doing a good enough job of warming him and they don't want him to overheat? Also Arthur has been chewing on the entrance to the nest box. He hasn't done that since before they started laying eggs. Chewing the nest box like that is a very common thing they do to make it homey before having babies. I don't know WHAT I'll do if they lay more eggs right now! Sheesh!

Okay everyone should be good for a couple hours and Paul is going to babysit while I get a little sleep.

 

[irishbunny]

If they laid eggs, couldn't you just take them straight away? I hope they don't!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Grace, it's not as simple as that- if you take away their eggs, they'll lay more to replace them.

Teddy's crop still isn't emptying properly.

Neeja's is still emptying slowly (slower since I gave him thicker formula and went up to 1 CC for the most recent feeding) but it's better than not at all.

 

[irishbunny]

Oh really? We always do that with the chickens, they lay more and try and sit on them but after a while of taking them away they get over it. Pity it isn't that easy!

 

[landi]

have you seen them mating again our female didn't want to know at all till the chicks were older she kept knocking him off it was funny it wasn't till the chicks were about 5 weeks that she let him then it was us trying to seperate them lol but cant watch 24/7 and they must have sneaked a quickie while we were out

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Yeah, Poppet would just lay more... That isn't good for her health either because laying eggs takes a lot of her body's nutrients and resources. The calcium for the egg shells is actually drawn from the bones if the bird isn't ingesting enough calcium.

I had to empty Teddy's crop again. It was actually the "best" crop emptying so far, he didn't so much as splutter. Wish I didn't have to empty it ever though! Everyone's been medicated and I'm about to feed Teddy and Neeja.

 

[LuvaBun]

You are doing such an awesome job, Shiloh. It's a pity you have to keep emptying Teddys' crop, but it sounds like you've got it down to a fine art.

If Poppet lays more eggs, could you replace them with artificial ones? They are doing that to control the geese population - they remove the eggs and put artificial ones in to stop them laying more

ray: for you all

Jan

 

[SnowyShiloh]

If she lays more eggs, I'm just going to shake them up. I'd have to buy fake eggs online and I don't know how long they'll take to get here. I would feel too guilty shaking up eggs that already had embryos growing in them, but if the embryo hadn't even started to develop yet I wouldn't feel as bad. Maybe I'll shake them up and then buy fake eggs, I don't know. My breeder friend thinks it sounds like they're going to lay again too but hopefully that's not the case.

I just gave everyone their medicine. Neeja was fed the full amount for his age and weight (3 CCs) as sort of a test of how well his crop is functioning. He had 6 hours to empty it and have it be in the normal range. 1 hour left to go and his crop is about half empty. Come on, little guy! Teddy was fed half as much as Neeja and his crop has barely emptied It's enough that he is pooping some though.

Here are pictures of the babies from right after they were fed. The breeder says they look great and you'd never guess they were seriously ill because they don't look dehydrated and their feather development is on target. They are quite a bit smaller than they should be though. They're very bright eyed and boisterous even though they're sick. I'm glad they at least seem to be feeling okay...

(Teddy is on the left and Neeja is on the right)

freaking out still because they think they're going to get more food.

You should hear how noisy they are! I should take a video of them. They're brutal and try to knock each other over and keep each other down by putting their wings over each other when feeding time arrives. This is normal baby bird behavior. Also you wouldn't know it, but when they're REALLY begging for food, they stand up on their back legs as tall as they can and stretch their necks about 3 inches long and screeeeeam. They're at least 6 inches tall when they do it!

Also, remember how earlier in the thread I talked about a girl on my cockatiel forum whose birds laid eggs on the same days as my birds and only 1 egg hatched? He died today at 10 days :cry1: His name was Meatball and he was a little white faced chick. He died because his owners were going out of town and they brought the parents, baby and nest box to the pet sitter's house and the parents abandoned him. She's feeling very guilty right now. Poor little Kieran and Meatball.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Okay, Teddy's crop only emptied about 1/3 of the way over the past 6 hours with the small amount of food I gave him. I'm going to walk to the feed store and buy Vet Wrap so I can make him a crop bra:

http://talkcockatiels.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5109&d=1278239871

Sexy, huh? Hopefully the brooder doesn't flip out and cook the babies. I should only be gone for about 30 minutes.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Only scroll down if you think you can handle the manliness that IS the crop bra.

Teddy sporting his stylish "light red" bra and demonstrating how very tall he can be:

Neeja showing off his "reddish blue" ultra sexy bra:

In all seriousness, I have high hopes that these bras will help them! I can't remember if I said before what they do, but they elevate a stretched out crop so that it's above the opening to the stomach. When a crop is stretched out and part of it hangs below the stomach opening, the food in the lowest part cannot enter the stomach and instead sours and ferments.

 

[landi]

Awwwwwwww bless em

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Okay, there's at least 1 good thing about the bras: it's a lot easier to judge how much their crops have emptied! It's been 2 1/2 hours since they were fed and I'm happy to say that both babies' crops have emptied visibly. It will be a great sign of their crops are completely empty in 3 1/2 more hours. Hope hope hope! I'm going to go get some sleep while Paul babysits them and hopefully they'll get some good rest during that time.

 

[Nela]

I right about died of laughter when I saw their bras. Hehehehehe. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay for good news though! Soooooo happy to hear that their crops are emptying some!

 

[hartleybun]

:roflmao:i shouldnt laugh but i just cant help it! i was enjoying the close up cute beak pics and then.......bird bra!!

glad to read some good news at last! thanks for the update!

 

[SnowyShiloh]

It is cute, isn't it? Good news is Neeja's crop has emptied a bit more. Teddy's seems roughly the same as it was. He has 3 more hours to get it emptied or I'm going to have to empty if for him AGAIN. I'm a bit worried about Phoenix because this round of medicine and the last his crop felt a little soft to me. Not watery per se, but soft. I don't know what to do if he gets sour crop. He's already being medicated the same was the other babies. He's actually at an advantage since he's being fed by his parents, and they get immunities and good enzymes from the parents. The only advantage that pulling him from the nest box would have is that I could time his feedings and make sure he was empty before being fed again since any sour food in the crop contaminates the new food. He's reaching the same age the others all were when they developed sour crop.

 

[irishbunny]

Hope things start to go well! Is it because of their parents that they are all ill? Or was it just bad luck?

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Grace, I don't really know. Wish I did.

It's been a very disappointing morning so far. I think I got too hopeful about the crop bras. Their crops seemed to empty at about the same rate as they did before. I had to flush out and empty Teddy's crop again a few minutes ago Even aside from the actual infections they have, what are the chances Teddy won't flat out aspirate and die in my hands one of these times, or (possibly worse I think and also more likely), simply get aspiration pneumonia from breathing in a little bit of liquid and dying a few days later? I'm feeling a little more optimistic about Neeja's prognosis since I've only had to empty him once (though it led to him having fluid come out his nostrils, which is quite bad!) and his crop is emptying better than Teddy's.

I'm going to go feed them.