To those of you that know a lot about parrots and raise baby birds I have a story and a theory I'd like to get your view on. The last clutch of eclectus babies that I raised, when I pulled them from the parents one had an impacted crop. The blockage was small and squishy like. You could actually move it with your finger, I wondered if it was a piece of cotton or something from one of the toys. I nursed it back to health with some emeraid and lots of love and it passed the impaction about 2 weeks later, he's now a GORGEOUS baby boy that I just finished weaning along with his clutchmate. Well I just had another baby hatch on the 30th. I checked him 2 days ago like I do everyday and low and behold, a hard SOMETHING in the crop. I pulled it yesterday to handfeed and find out what in the wold was going on. After a few handfeedings yesterday, whatever it was passed. I'm wondering if the male isn't giving the female enough liquids during the regurgitation process. Thoughts?
2006-09-11 02:20:42 · 3 answers · asked by Jenn 3 in Pets ➔ Birds
Wanted to add..I know there aren't a lot of explentations on WHY birds get impacted crops. I had heard from my vet that its like 20% of fids for some reason and they have no scientific explenation really on why...it's just one of those things that happens sometimes. I was just curious to see if anyone else that raise parrots have experienced this and wanted to get your opinions on the matter. I think from now on I'm going to pull them earlier than I do. I usually pull them around 2 weeks but I think I'm going to take that down to about 5 days from now on. Because there has to be a reason for it.
2006-09-11 02:24:18 · update #1
Well they are on a diet of rices, beans, veggies, fruits, pastas..ect. That is why I'm so baffled about it. They rarely even get seeds. That's why I was wondering about the water issue. The male feeds the female in the box...and then the female feeds the babies. I'm wondering if between all that regurgitation, moisture isn't being lost and the baby is having a hard time breaking down the drier food. WHO KNOWS! LOL It's crazy
2006-09-11 02:56:22 · update #2
Well it's no longer there...the impaction. The first one I did take to the vet because it was losing weight. I got it putting on weight and it passed whatever was in there a couple weeks later. This baby that I have no is just fine. It passed what was in there 4 hours after I pulled it from the parents. All the cotton toys have been removed as of several months ago when the first baby had the squishy impaction. This one felt hard..but like i said..passed within hours. He/she's doing quite well..very active...good appitite, droppings normal. Everything is well.
2006-09-11 07:16:58 · update #3
I do not breed parrots, but I have hand fed baby parrots that have already been pulled from the nest and are experiencing problems...crop impaction, sour crop etc. Usually belonging to novice hand feeders.
I will tell you this, about 80% of the cases that I've seen of chicks being fed by their parents, but having crop impaction, is caused by the parents feeding the chick the nesting material. What kind of nesting material are you using in your breeder bird's nest boxes? Of course, as your vet said, there are likely other causes as well.
I would suggest that you join a group that has a lot of members who are successful breeders and get some feed back from them. Good luck with your chicks.
2006-09-11 03:56:39 · answer #1 · answered by Free Bird 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The first thing I would think of is the parents are not getting enough soft fresh foods to feed the babies. As you know, when hand feeding, the formula must be a certain consistency for the baby to processes it through the crop and into the proventriculous.
Other than the parents feeding the baby some sort of substrate in the nest or not enough fresh foods, I really don't know. Sorry. Hope someone with some more experience with breeding will jump in.
2006-09-11 09:50:41 · answer #2 · answered by sweetfeathers 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You answered your own question. It is most likely the cotton fragments from toys. Cotton rope is a bad idea. the lint can cause more than just crop impaction. Same thing for leather latigo (leather that has one smooth side and one fuzzy side). Get rid of the cotton toys and take the nestling to the vet (not necessarily in that order). If you can squish it and feel it, that needs to be removed, regardless of what it is.
2006-09-11 13:27:27 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋