• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here
  • This forum is for advice about initial treatment given to your injured/sick bird until a qualified avian veterinarian is available.
    THIS IS NOT MEANT TO REPLACE VET CARE

Urgent What is going on with my babies?

SamanthaAV

Strolling the yard
Avenue Veteran
Joined
9/22/16
Messages
119
I originally posted this is the breeder section but realized I should post it here...

So I am familiar with hand raising parrots, I have handfed many birds but this is only my second clutch of Parrotlets without a mentor.

I was anticipating to remove them from the nestbox at about 2 weeks of age as I have always done in the past but my baby, their mother past away suddenly, god rest her soul. We are currently awaiting necropsy results from the vet but because of her sudden loss I had to take over when two of the babies were only 5 days old. The same day she past away a new baby had hatched and I have never before taken care of babies so young.

I have noticed some symptoms of aspiration in two of the birds, the youngest and the second youngest. The youngest one, now 5 days old was incredibly difficult to feed from the start and remains difficult. On it's first day it showed no feeding response what so ever. I had to gently force it to eat. Now it has a feeding response but it stops to gasp during feedings even though I'm not trying to feed it too quickly and the syringe stays at the edge of its beak. I noticed that it has a light clicking sound in it's chest.

The second youngest I have also seen gasping but not just during feedings. It has a great feeding response but it does seem to open it's beak for air all throughout the day. I checked to see if it also has the clicking sound and it does.

The oldest has not shown any signs of aspiration, it has an amazing feeding response and does not gasp for air at any time during the day but I checked and this one also had the clicking sound.

So I began to wonder, if it's aspiration pmnemonia or is it just a normal parrotlet noise? And perhaps there is something else wrong with the younger two. So I went to listen to the chest of my adult male parrotlet. I confirmed with my husband, the same noise but far less frequent. It seemed to be coming from his nostrils and not his chest however.

So my question is I guess... What is the clicking noise? And what's wrong with my 2 younger babies?

I have already contacted my avian vet and told them my concerns of possible pnemonia and made an appointment. Unfortunately the appointment is uncomfortably far away and they couldn't offer me much advice over the phone. So please if any fellow breeders or parrotlet owners could help me determine what's going on it would mean so much.

Also I am running on little to no sleep so maybe I'm just paranoid.. Please offer your opinions! Thank you.
 

Nikomania

Rollerblading along the road
Vendor
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Joined
8/9/13
Messages
4,015
Location
San Diego
Clicking likely means aspiration. Since this is an emergency, can't they squeeze you in any sooner? I'd insist.
 

SamanthaAV

Strolling the yard
Avenue Veteran
Joined
9/22/16
Messages
119
Clicking likely means aspiration. Since this is an emergency, can't they squeeze you in any sooner? I'd insist.
She wanted to schedule me for Oct 15th and I insisted that it was too far out. So she scheduled me for Oct 1st andI again insisted sooner would be better. She then said the earliest they could get me in is Sep 30th and I took it. I could take them to emergency but its an emergency fee of $150 per patient and we are not in the greatest financial state.
 

rocky'smom

Joyriding the Neighborhood
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
4/14/14
Messages
17,442
Location
minnesota
Real Name
laurie
Get to emergency vet asap please. They can't wait for oct 15 , they need to be seen now
 

Shezbug

ASK ME FOR PICTURES OF MY MACAW!
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
4/28/18
Messages
25,823
Location
Vic, Australia
Real Name
Shez
How did the emergency vet appointment go? Any updates on how your babies are?
 

SamanthaAV

Strolling the yard
Avenue Veteran
Joined
9/22/16
Messages
119
How did the emergency vet appointment go? Any updates on how your babies are?
Update: I just arrived home. The vet is pretty far from my house but we made it work with a portable generator for the brooder. Aspiration Pneumonia wasn't completely ruled out but looks highly unlikely considering the chest x-rays were clear and all of the birds are breathing normally. The vet didn't think it was likely they have a respiratory infection either since the older ones are acting perfectly healthy otherwise but we are doing antibiotics just in case to see what happens. If it's not a respiratory infection the vet believes that it could very well be genetic. It's possible that there dad has a malformed naval which he passed on to all three babies. It wouldn't be surprising since in his first ever clutch one of the babies had a visible beak malformation. I had thought it was just because first clutches don't always turn out so well and maybe he wasn't getting enough nutrients because the parents didn't know what they were doing yet but it's clear now that there dad has bad genes and will not be bred again. As for the littlest one and his lethargy, we have come to the conclusion that it's possible it was from the egg growing too cold. When there mother past away I was not fully prepared and expecting to pull them, I had my brooder ready but it was a few hours before I was able to tweek the temperature to what it needed to be. She believes if that is the cause of his slow start it could very well mean that the other fertile eggs, if they hatch, will have the same sickness. It's possible they will improve with tlc, or they may always be special needs birds. They are going to call me tomorrow to make an appointment for a full assessment of the x-rays. Thank you, everyone for your support.
 
Top