911 Crop very full of air

[ScreamBuddies]

My cockatiel baby (5 days) is making clicking noises. I fed him a little extra because hes underweight and this happened. Im trying to massage the air out right now. Help, please!

 

[Zara]

Call your vet, tell them there is an emergency, if they won´t see you, ask for the number for another vet so they can remove the air.

It could be the food was fermenting in the crop, not surprising as you were feeding at 25C, and then at 36C even after being told 3 times the correct temperature.
Another possibility is hand feeding too slowly, causing the chick to swallow air.

If there´s no way to see a vet, go online, search to buy baby cockatiels, and contact a breeder - tell them you will pay them to remove the air if they have experience.

 

[ScreamBuddies]

@Zara Ive corrected my feeding temps and now feed him food thats 38-42°C, not less, not more.

The vet is a problem since it is midnight here. Can he still make it? Im freaking out.

 

[Zara]

Is there an emergency clinic option?

The air can be massaged out, but I have never done it, nor would I want to.

@Mockinbirdiva @Laurie @finchly

 

[ScreamBuddies]

@Zara sadly, theres no clinic. Me and my mom are trying to massage him but its not working at all.

 

[ScreamBuddies]

Ill wait 30 minutes to see what happens

Maybe itll pass on its own, i might be giving uo on this guy here but i dont thibk i wouldve been able to raise him. Thank you to everyone who helped. I dont think theres anything i can do in this situation, ive been rubbing at it for 20 minutes and its not changing. Farewell, little guy, ill miss you.

 

[Laurie]

If he simply swallowed the air then you don't really have an emergency or a big problem. You can hold him upright and extend his neck and gently massage the air out just be very gentle and allow him to expel the air. You want to try and work the air out with out making formula come up too. That is one reason to go slow, if he brings us up formula he will likely try and swallow it and be fine but it is better if it's just the air. It is basically the bird version of a burp.

If it happened while you were feeding he probably just gulped some air.

You have to be brave, hold up his head, let the formula settle to the bottom of the crop and apply gentle pressure just above the formula. Be brave and do it. GENTLY. You just need to hold his head up and so he can swallow any food that might accidentally come up with the air. You don't want his head down when you do it.

 

[ScreamBuddies]

@Laurie I tried doing that and nothing worked. The air was up there so much it was basically up his neck. It was horrible, but luckily, he got it out after half an hour. Theres just some formula left in his crop so ill let him empty it out and then feed him a light mixture of formula in a small quantity. Ill definitly go to a vet on Monday (Sunday is strictly work-free here in Poland) becayse there was definitely some damage done to his crop

 

[ScreamBuddies]

Heres a clearer picture. Please remember its old and he lived though it just fine on his own. I gave up on him but he didnt on himself, thats why if he dies itll be so much more impactful on me

 

[Laurie]

@Laurie I tried doing that and nothing worked. The air was up there so much it was basically up his neck. It was horrible, but luckily, he got it out after half an hour. Theres just some formula left in his crop so ill let him empty it out and then feed him a light mixture of formula in a small quantity. Ill definitly go to a vet on Monday (Sunday is strictly work-free here in Poland) becayse there was definitely some damage done to his crop

That is great that is it out. If he is digesting his food you should not cut back on the feeding. A proper feeding will produce a full crop but not tight. You can go ahead and feed him now, he needs a feeding and if his crop was full of air he did not get a full feeding last time. Young babies need a lot of nutrition and as long as they are digesting it they need to be filled up at each feeding. His crop should be almost as full as it looked with the air. Just not tight.

It may seem wrong but that is how they are made. A young chick should be constantly digesting food. A mama bird would fill the crop, and then the food moves into the stomach for digestion, as the crop empties the mama fills it again so the baby has an constant source of nutrients to use in building cells to grow. If underfed they will be smaller, mature more slowly and may have issues with stunting. I really can't stress enough how much constant nutrition they need. So many times I see baby birds with missing or poor feathers and when I am told how often they are fed it is way to little. It causes so many problems.

How long does it take for the crop to empty of a full feeding? My guess is you should be feeding every 4 hours around the clock. If he has been underfed for the last few days it may be that he needs more often then that. Let me know if this makes sense.

 

[Laurie]

You might like this site. It will give you a lot of information on what to do and what can go wrong or not.

I have not read everything but over the years I have visited the several time and the info seems sound.

Cockatiel Cottage, Cockatiels, basic care and general information on the cockatiel, cockatiel information, cockatiels basic care, diet, nutrition, pellet diets, health, illness, behavior, taming, behavior problems, biting, sickness, symptoms of a sick cockatiel, breeding,handfeeding, how to stop females from laying eggs, egg laying and single cockatiels, egg binding, broken blood feathers, blood feathers, baths and bathing, how to disinfect and clean a bird cage, symptoms of sick birds, screaming, feather plucking, normal and abnormal droppings, watery droppings, polyuria, molting, preening, bacterial infections, how to tell if your cockatiel is a male or female birds, gender determination of cockatiels, medical emergencies, bacterial infections, photographs of cockatiels, baby cockatiels, cockatiel pictures, cockatiel health problems, toxic plants, safe plants, safe woods for perches, household hazards, safety, emergencies, first aid, recipes, cockatiel message board, lost and found bird classified ads, bird puzzles, pet names, Eleanor McCaffrey, Eleonore McCaffrey

Cockatiel Cottage, Cockatiels, information on cockatiels, cockatiel basic care, nutrition, diet, health, taming, behavioral problems, biting, screaming, feather plucking, bacterial infections, preening, molting, pellet diets, seed diets, feather loss, broken blood feathers, droppings, baths...

www.cockatielcottage.net

 

[ScreamBuddies]

@Laurie the air has made his crop exactly that- tight. It looked like a really sad and fleshy balloon.

Ill feed him a little for now and when he goes though that ill give him a full dose, i feel that making him (almost) full after getting his crop so stretched could shock the tissue if that makes sense?

I always feed him the same with differing breaks between feeding- i look if hes gotten though the food. Its always 1.5-3 hours.


Ill update you in the morning if he made it

 

[Laurie]

Sounds good, I look forward to hearing from you.

It definitely sounds like you are feeding him often enough. How much do you feed? Do you know his weight?

 

[ScreamBuddies]

@Laurie he weights 5 grams at 5 days which is more than concerning. Thats why i fed him a little more, when i did that his crop inflated. Should i give him more, or keep his amounts the same?

As for amounts...I sadly have to say im horrible at math and havent yet counted how much exactly he needs. I usually eyeball it and know when hes full. Its also when he stops chirping at me

 

[finchly]

Does the crop inflate immediately or does it happen over time afterward?

 

[Laurie]

I am not sure what the average weight is but the key is that he should be gaining weight. If the air is a one time thing then I wouldn't worry about it. How much a crop can hold depends on how much it has stretched, yep crops are made to stretch.When babies are very young you should fill the crop and slowly increase the amount each time until you are up to about 10 percent of the body weight so .5 cc for 5 grams, 1 cc for 10 grams and so on.

Is the baby in a brooder to keep it warm?

 

[ScreamBuddies]

@finchly its hard to tell actually. I remember feeding him and then checking on him before going to bed and he was like that, so i guess it happened slowly

@Laurie yep, warmth is one thing i care about most with him. Hes in a shoe box with a heating mat and sone paper towels. Hes in this shirt that i made into a ring to make a nest so he isnt crawling all over

 

[finchly]

Here’s what I want you to do. Add a little applesauce to each feeding. Not much, a tiny bit. This may help with the crop.

I never expel the air myself.

 

[ScreamBuddies]

@finchly like one from these baby food jars?


Also, here he is. Yes, he is alive in the picture

 

[Zara]

Hey @ScreamBuddies How is the little one?