New born Love Bird looks bloated?

[iamakel]

Hi guys,

This is my first time here because I’m worried about my new born love birds.
The parents, who are about 5 years old (first time parents) are taking good care of the babies, but two of them look bloated (and swollen?) when I tried to clean their house. Also there’s poop on them that looks caked and I’ve never seen this in 1,5 weeks since their birth. I see that Emma cleans them when she’s hiding them under her, but now they’re not clean.

I wonder if there’s anything I can do or this is the normal look of the babies.

I clean their house once in 2 days, I clean the poop around the nest and put new straw substrate around the nest.

 

[Shezbug]

@Zara

Can you possibly (without stressing out your birds) post pics of your nest set up, all the chicks that hatched, give more details about what food you’re feeding the parents and how many chicks hatched?

Been a big long day for me and my brain is not functioning as well as it should do I’m sorry, I can’t think just now who else to tag for you.
I’ll be back as soon as I can yo tag some other members who should be able to offer some advice incase Zara isn’t around- it could be a little early for her.

 

[Shezbug]

@BrianB @finchly @Mockinbirdiva

 

[Zara]

Hello Alexandru,

Have you raised lovebirds before? It´s hard to see 100% clearly on pics so I´m wonderfing if you mean, the birds seem like that part of them is larger than usual, or in general they look large as you have no reference to compare to? (I hope that makes sense?) They look ok to me, going off the pictures. That lower end of the bird can look quite bulbous in chicks.

I don´t use straw. I don´t know about using for bedding, if it´s safe or not. Aspen shavings are the best thing to use. If you can´t find them, then coarse pine shavings work. They are easier to spot clean. (Never use cedar, or fine pine)

If the foloor space in the nest is large enough the chicks should shuffle backwards to poop away from the huddle. So being dirty would be a sign of the bedding needing changed. But you say you are changing it, so I´m unsure. Do you clean the walls down too in there?
You can use a damp q-tip to clean up the chicks to remove any poop from them.

 

[iamakel]

Hi,
I have the parents since they were about one year old as someone couldn’t take care of them so I adopted them, but I haven’t experienced baby chicks until now. My bad, it’s actually dried hay that I used for their nest.
I’m not at home right now to take a photo of the entire enclosure but I will soon.

As for food, I feed them a mix of seeds that I bought from the pet store but I mix it with carrots and apples. If it requires any changes, I’m willing to do it.

As for the part I’m worrying about is their abdomen looking like it’s about to explode and seems bruised I think?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Zara]

it’s actually dried hay that I used for their nest.

It would be a good idea to switch over to shavings.

I feed them a mix of seeds that I bought from the pet store but I mix it with carrots and apples.

Quite inadequate for breeding birds.
Ideally you would feed a pellet. If those aren´t available in your country, then a seed mix with lots of vegetables, and access to daily unfiltered sunlight.
Switch the apples for leafy greens like green carrot tops, bok choy, a little chard, peppers (any colour and heat), broccoli things like that.
A little apple for the adults is fine a couple of days a week, but with chicks in the nest, I would avoid it just now and there´s little nutrition and lots of sugar.
If you can´t get pellets, I would also look at having supplements on hand. You can speak with your vet if you need a good recommendation, they might even sell them there.

Which formula have you chosen?
Do you know how to handfeed?
Sounds like the parents are doing well so far, which is great. What is your preferred plan raising the chicks?

As for the part I’m worrying about is their abdomen looking like it’s about to explode and seems bruised I think?

Do you have more pics from the side?

 

[finchly]

I think the bellies look normal, and they will resolve over time.

I feed a dry egg food mix (to the parents) which they use a LOT when they're feeding babies. If you can't get it where you live - an alternative is to boil an egg and mix it with dry bread crumbs - but then it can spoil, so you have to remove it after a few hours and replace with fresh. That's why I like the commercial dry egg food.

If you can't do egg... maybe something like cooked quinoa?

I have never used straw either, I'm thinking it's not comfortable for babies. Wood shavings or shredded paper would work.

 

[BrianB]

I've never bred lovebirds, but a lot of baby parrots all look like that the first two weeks or so after hatching. Their bottoms are bigger than the upper part of their body, but they even out as they grow. The first few weeks are about getting as much nutrition as they can so they all look bottom-heavy.

 

[Ripshod]

The first few weeks are about getting as much nutrition as they can so they all look bottom-heavy.