AFRICAN GREY PARROT. We bought a female, 6 weeks old which we had to feed with special food in a syringe.?

Question

After approx. 5 weeks she refused food, was very uncomfortable when lying down to sleep, so tried to sleep standing in the corner or her box, she developed a very husky croak, and her breathing was difficult. We took her to the vet who gave her an antibiotic and vitamin injection. Unfortunately she died during the night. Does anyone have any ideas of what the cause could have been. She did not have any discharge coming from her eyes or nose. Any advice/comments would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

the cause was someone taking on hand rearing when they are not experienced and an unscrupulous breeder seling an unweaned baby. People should NEVER buy unweaned parrots. It could have been crop statis, thrush, crop burn, food too cold, environment too cold. Did you have a proper heated brooder to keep her in? Hand rearing parrots is a lot more complicated than simply putting food into its beak.
I would contact the RSPCA and report the breeder for sellign an unweaned bird and also the parrot society although I doubt they are a member as I don't think any member would do this. It shows that the breeder is more interested in the money than the welfare of the bird!

Answer 2

I am very sorry about your baby Grey. Baby birds should NEVER be sold to prior to being weaned unless the buyer is experienced at handfeeding baby birds. Frankly, it was irresponsible of the seller to sell the baby to you. If you are going to buy another bird please find a reputable person and make sure the bird is weaned first. Greys wean at about four months of age for your future reference. It is a myth that you need to finish the handfeeding to get the bird to bond to you - don't fall for that line.

Handfeeding a baby bird is tricky. It takes a lot of experience to do it properly and guidance from someone who knows how. If the formula is too hot it will burn the baby's crop, sometimes burning a hole all the way through the skin of the neck. If the formula is too thin it will go through the baby's digestive system too fast and they won't gain weight. If the formula is too cold or too thick it will stay in the crop too long. This allows bacteria to grow in the crop and this is the likely cause of your baby's death, especially since you did not mention a crop burn and the vet gave antibiotics. It is also possible that using the syringe the food went into the airway instead of the esophagus.This would cause pneumonia which a vet would also try to treat with antibiotics. Most breeders use spoons instead of syringes nowadays not only to avoid this but to allow the baby to taste its food and experience the texture. Once again, I am so sorry for your loss.

Answer 3

Geez, I'm very sorry she died but that poor birdie should NEVER have been sold to you at so young an age. The seller was ONLY out for money and cared nothing about this baby. I have some choice adjectives to describe how I feel about the seller but I will try to contain my anger. It's very hard to guess but she possibly had a crop infection. If the temperature of the baby food is not exactly correct problems occur. To high a temp will cause crop burn. Too low and the birdie can't digest the food. Temp must be just right because if the weaning formula doesn't move just sits in the crop it will become septic. The resultant bacterial infection kills the bird. Might this have been the case?

Answer 4

From the little I know about handfeeding, I am really thinking that you aspirated her..which is why I would never buy a fully weaned bird...yes I know how to handfeed, but I would rather pay an extra hundred bucks to someone who does it more often than I. If she was given an antiviral which obviously didn't work, and she didn't have any discharge, it sounds to me that she either aspirated which is where food gets into their lungs, hence causing the laboring breathing.

OR
Because of the fact that you did get her so young, she might have regressed due to the fact that she was very young, and the move stressed her out too much!
Either way, I'm sorry for your loss, the best thing you could have done was to have a necropsy done on the Grey so that you would have known the exact reason of death, and maybe would have put your mind at ease a bit!

Answer 5

Where did you get her from and what where the conditions like? For a start if she was being fed through a syringe then she should never of been sold in the first place!!!! I have an african grey and she was 12 weeks old and had only been on normal food(seed) for a few weeks. It seems that your bird was too young to be taken from its parents. Birds do not lay down to sleep, they roost on a perch. Also what kind of vet did you take her to as vets today do not know enough about exotic birds and can easily overdose them on antibiotics which is why you should take them to an avian vet only!!!! Africans can also get stressed all to easily and I am sorry but you should of done your homework first before purchasing this parrot. It makes my blood boil when these sort of things happen as i am an animal lover and always do my homework before purchasing any pet. (sorry if that sounds harsh) I guess you should take it up with whoever you got the bird from as if it was from a reputable breeder then you should get some sort of help and maybe recompensated. (the breeder where i got mine from told us that if we had any problems within the first 6 months then to call and they would come out and check the bird over and correct any problems we had. Luckily for us we have had our parrot for two years and evrything is just fine and we have an avian vet just in case.

Answer 6

I think getting a bird at 6 weeks was too young. So many problems can be caused by taking a bird too young. If the person you bought the bird from often sells their birds at that age you should possibly report them to an animal shelter or other animal rescue group, as it could be leading to the deaths of many young birds just like your own.... I'm very sorry for your loss :(

Answer 7

I had a quaker parrot that the same thing happend to but she was about 9 months old.
The only answer I got from the vet was they may have prescibed the wrong antibiotic. I would like some help with this one also.

Answer 8

The answers you've gotten so far are harsh, but unfortunately true. I'm sorry you had to go through this.
Please see the people you bought the bird from. Tell them what happened. Maybe it'll keep them from selling unweaned birds again. If it's not too late have it necropsied to find the cause of death. If it was diseased, the sellers owe you a parrot.

Answer 9

Oh I am truly so sorry, first for the poor baby bird and second for the loss of would eventually have beena lifetime friend for you. Findlandsfoul had the right answer. You should be re-imbursed for the bird. If you every buy another, don't take the bird home until it is between 3 and 4 months old and eating on it's own.

Answer 10

a brilliant difficulty to feed your parrot isn't undemanding/runny boiled eggs (spoon feed). They’re super for nutrients and my African gray loves them. We beginning feeding him them from being 12 weeks previous. attempt to not feed your parrot egg too usually nonetheless, as quickly as each couple of weeks/months could be effective. additionally, i does not propose you feeding your parrot dairy products, or citrus culmination and something containing salt. I see an answer claims that dairy products are effective, yet i could state that each and each African gray i've got had grew to alter into sick after feeding them dairy products. it somewhat is why I switched to boiled eggs. additionally, as an take care of, i like to feed mine Pomegranates. they are my parrot's known nutrients.