Cockatiel Egg and Chick Thread

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I have another positive update! Youngest first: Phoenix is doing well in the nest box with his parents. I was a bit worried because his crop was really big and it felt kind of soft, but my breeder contact assured me his crop looked great and the softness was most likely from the medication he's getting (which is dissolved in water). Sure enough, I just checked him and his crop has gotten smaller (they don't get fed as much at night after a certain age) and it's firmer again. Good firm, not bad firm. Poppet spent the night keeping him warm in the nest box and Arthur went in a couple times too. They're both out of the box preening now, hopefully someone will go back in soon to keep him warm!

Neeja and Teddy ate like champs again. I'm still feeding them really watered down formula because it digests easier. Both chicks were super hungry but I only gave them a little since their crops are just starting to work again. Both little chickies are sleeping very soundly now instead of crying in hunger all the time. And my breeder friend took a look at pictures of them with empty crops and said their stretched out crops are not too bad and they shouldn't need crop bras (look here:). So that's great- sometimes babies with overstretched crops need crop bras that support their crops above the level where food drains into the stomach. Breeder friend also said neither appear to be dehydrated! Woohoo! So no more subcutaneous fluids for now. I'm sure they helped Teddy, but for now it's not necessary.

I'm still staying guardedly optimistic, but I feel like a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders. It's lovely. I really hope everyone continues to improve!
 
yeah - go Neeja and Teddy - we LOVE talking about poop on this forum since poop usually = healthy....we hope.
 
Isn't it funny how that goes, Peg? Normally it's impolite to discuss such things, but it's so important with pets :D Speaking of which, all 3 babies are pooping along! Phoenix poops very predictably whenever I pick him up out of the nest box. I've learned to have a paper towel handy. That little thing makes the biggest poops, like bigger than adult sized. Impressive!

Anyhoo, enough poop. Neeja and Teddy's crops are already empty of their feeding from 2 1/2 hours ago. Go babies go! They just got their medications and I got everything washed and disinfected. I'm about to go make up another batch of formula for them. I've finally developed a rhythm/routine and it makes things much quicker. For this feeding, I'm going to make the food a tiny bit thicker... It was essentially water with a bit of formula mixed in before. Enough to produce poop, but definitely not as thick as what they would normally be fed.
 
Teddy's crop isn't emptying again... come on, Teddy! Also I am exhausted... I slept for 3 hours broken up yesterday and that was over 24 hours ago. Paul went to bed late and I'm going to wake him up and ask him to keep an eye on them so I can sleep some.
 
Oh Shiloh, this is a roller coaster just reading about what you are going through, so I can't imagine what it's like for you! I was so pleased that their crops were emptying and theyt were pooping, but now Teddy is having problems again. :(

You must get some rest, and take care of yourself.

Keeping everything crossed for you

Jan
 
Jan, it's so hard :( I'm never going to breed any animal. Teddy's crop STILL has not emptied all the way and Neeja's is almost empty, but I fed him 5 hours ago. Better than nothing I guess. His last feed was thicker so it would make sense for it to take longer to digest. Any digestion is better than none, I know. Arthur and Poppet are leaving Phoenix alone in the nest box again. The brooder is having trouble staying the right temperature and is fluctuating, which stresses the chicks. I'm going to have to empty Teddy's crop again, which I don't like doing because there's always the risk of aspiration. If they aspirate, they can either die immediately or die a couple days later or even get an infection because of it and die months later.

I know I said I'd try to emotionally detach, but I'm literally making myself sick with worry. I tried to sleep a bit with Paul watching the brooder, and succeeded for about an hour, but then the brooder was having temperature swings. We got it stabilized but I couldn't go back to sleep because of worry. I can't leave the house with the chicks in the brooder because it's too unreliable, but I still have to do a ton of wedding things for our wedding in less than 1 months, prepare for our house guest who is arriving in a week and a half, sign the new lease for our apartment (I suddenly imagined them not letting us sign a new lease and making us move out on very short notice), I'm going to be out of town for 4 days in a mere 12 days and what if the chicks are still sick, I need to register for classes still... So many things. Sorry if I sound whiny! I know I'm quite a lucky person to have what I have and the people I have (Paul has been fantastic through all this), but it's still hard.
 
I have to admit.. I know nothing about birds... have no interest in having any.. but I have been riveted to this thread.

I cried like an idiot yesterday when I read about Kieran, I watched his video today..cried some more..

Thank you for sharing..

Your in my thoughts, and I am reading intently even if I don't post.


 
Zin, I'm glad to hear you've been reading along. I'm surprised and touched by how many people the chicks and Kieran have affected. Kieran was the little trail blazer. I miss him. I wish his illness had been caught sooner. Maybe we could have saved him and the others wouldn't have even gotten sick. I remember back when his crop was big and watery, and I thought it was supposed to be like that- his crop was like that when he first hatched (which is normal since the parents feed the chicks very runny food) and I just thought it was how it was supposed to be. Remember, I thought the others were all sick and he was fine? And it was the reverse. I wish the vet we saw on Thursday had been better and had NOT aspirated him (I've emptied the babies' crops about 8 times over the past couple days and none of them were anywhere near as traumatic as what the vet did to Kieran) and that the vet had prescribed medicine for them all then. She said we'd wait a couple days and see. You cannot just wait and see with tiny little baby birds. If we'd got meds on Thursday and the vet hadn't been so rough with him, maybe he would have recovered and the other chicks wouldn't have even gotten sick.

I had to empty Teddy's crop again this afternoon :( I hate doing it. He coughed a little bit but was begging for food again within 10 seconds. I hate taking their lives into my hands by emptying their crops, but if you let the food sit there and it's not being digested, it just goes bad. You can smell the sourness.

After emptying his crop, Teddy got his medicine and then he and Neeja both got formula. So far Phoenix's crop is looking good and he's being fed well, but Arthur and Poppet don't seem to get that they're supposed to keep him warm (they'll sit with him for 3 hours and then leave him alone for longer than is safe for him), so I rigged up a heating pad on the outside of the nest box. It's just on low, but it will give him a little extra warmth I hope.

Even though I had to empty Teddy again, the fact that his crop emptied earlier is a good sign I think. Better than the vomiting he was doing on Friday night! Hopefully both their crops will empty well. I'm going to go take a nap because there's nothing that needs to be done with the chicks until 8 when it's medicine time again. I'll probably check Teddy and Neeja once before then, but it's best not to check them too much because they need to get as much sleep as possible. Paul is going to monitor the temperature in the brooder for me. I'm so paranoid that I have 3 thermometers in there but I still worry.
 
Shiloh- we're all very proud of you and we know you're doing your very best. This is a great time for you & Paul to see how you can handle stress together as a married couple (which you will be soon) and while I know that sucks....it sounds like you're both supporting each other through this.

I have to admit - I'm devastated that you lost Kiernan - I was really looking forward to watching him grow up. It sounds like you're doing all you can for the others and that they're doing well with your diligent efforts to care for them.

Bless you all - this is always the first thread I check when I log on.
 
*hugs* Not much I can say. I know the worry that you are feeling been there a lot as of late. Off to the vet with Montana as reply. Was there with Connor yesterday. I'm with you and those angels.
 
*hugs* Not much I can say. I know the worry that you are feeling been there a lot as of late. Off to the vet with Montana as reply. Was there with Connor yesterday. I'm with you and those angels.
 
Thanks, Peg and Ali. Loving sick pets is so hard, but how can you possibly refuse them? I'm so glad I have Paul. He's a great guy. He's gone to the store 3 times a day to buy random things for the babies and didn't even flinch at the $130 medicine bill (still need to get that figured out but they were closed today), which he paid. I'm generally very laid back, but yesterday and the day before I was a little testy- not yelling or anything, just stressed and testy, and he was great. I think we communicate well. He's given me lots of hugs and made us dinner the other night (usually that's my thing).

I got a bit of sleep. Paul birdysat while I took a very nice 1 1/2 hour nap. I was afraid to check the chicks when I came back down. It had been 3 1/2 hours since they'd last been fed and I kept telling myself both their crops would be full. Neeja's is actually completely empty- his crop is hardly even overstretched anymore. Thank goodness! I'm still very weary- I got too excited this morning, which only led to me being even more worried when it took him longer to digest the next time- but it is a step in the right direction. Sweet Teddy's crop looks like it has only emptied a little bit :( I'm going to give him his medicine and then massage his crop some. A double whammy is that the medicine is not absorbed as well when the crop has food in it, so he isn't getting as much of the meds he needs this way... I'm reluctant to empty his crop for him yet though.

I'm going to give everyone their medicine and then feed Neeja. It occurred to me that I haven't eaten anything yet today so going to do that too.
 
Another update. Hope you guys don't mind me updating all the time. I'm going to give Teddy sub q fluids here in a few minutes. I hate doing it, but providing I don't accidentally stab him with the needle when he moves around, it will be good for him.

Neeja ate his food and I'm hoping his crop will empty quickly. I'm going to boost the amount of food a little when it empties. For a bird his weight, he should be eating 3 CCs every meal, but I've only been giving him .5 CC because I don't want to overload the crop. If it's emptying a little slowly, the food has a chance to go bad, but if I instead feed him really frequently, that won't happen.

Speaking of weights, Phoenix is a little porker. I hope there's nothing wrong with him. Dude weighs 38 grams! He is a solid little guy. In comparison, the perfectly healthy baby tiel in the "Watch Me Grow" article weighs 40 grams at 7 days. Phoenix outweighs both of his older brothers at 7 days old. He only weighed 13 grams on Thursday if it gives you any idea of his weight gain. His crop has a good feel to it and his parents are keeping him well fed. He's pooping so much!
 
We're all sitting here, watching this thread in anticipation. You may not have noticed, but we've made a series of 'cheer gear' and we're all sitting here in our t-shirts that say 'Go Shiloh you can do it!' and 'Go birdies Go, keeeeeep poopin'!' :pWe've all grown attached to them through you, and we go through ups and downs ourselves as well as you post updates. Seriously though, I'm thinking of you and the little ones. I keep opening this thread with my eyes closes and then slowly opening an eye and then finally opening them fully when I realize they're alive and fighting. Make sure you eat properlywhen you can.
 
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