3week yellow baby ringneck not feeding and lost feathers

[Dr66]

Hi I bought a 3 week old yellow ringneck, it was quite active but second day it's not feeding and I had to force a bit , also it has very few feathers and skin is visible and some feathers in the wing seems rotten .the shop keeper said it's just normal behaviour and feathers will grow, but I am bit worried

Please help and give advise any one

 

[SilverSage]

How warm is the formula?

How warm is the brooder?

How often are you feeding?

How much are you feeding at a time?

Please post pictures of the feathers


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[Dr66]

Thank you for you message, I am attaching pic of my new 3week ringneck ,it seems his feathers are rotting and skin is all exposed . I am feeding him 6 holy 10 ml baby bird formula warm ,with a syringe and keeping it wrapped in towel . It doesn't open its mouth when feed is near I have to force it a bit. It is active however and moves about.
Shopkeeper said it is all normal for a 3 weeks old but I am worried
Don't know how to send pic here ,if you can give me your email I will be grateful
Thank you

 

[itzjbean]

Where are you keeping the baby? The baby needs to be in a brooder. Do you have one? The temperature of the formula needs to be over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This needs to be measured with a thermometer. Do you have one? This is not normal for a 3 week old. At 3 weeks old it should not have rotting feathers/skin and should be growing quickly and being very active. Please get your baby to an avian vet to get the help it needs.

 

[EllenD]

Oh my, so many problems here, your baby bird is in distress and needs proper help from an avian vet...3 weeks old is way too young for a pet shop to sell you a baby bird!

We need pics desperately because at 3 weeks old your bird won't have a lot of feathers, only pin feathers. So this may be normal, it may not be, I don't know what you mean by "it's feathers on its wing are rotting" but obviously it's not good. But at 3 weeks old I'm not sure what we're looking at.

At 3 weeks old your baby should be feeding regularly and giving you an active feeding response, you shouldn't have to force feed it formula at all. It should regularly take a hand feeding 6+ times a day at this age, and it's crop should completely empty between feedings. So what I'm guessing is that your bird is not in a brooder so it's not nearly warm enough, and it cannot properly digest it's formula because of being too cold. Wrapping the baby in a towel is not nearly enough to keep his body temperature high enough. Without being kept inside a brooder at around 30 degrees Celsius your baby bird will not be warm enough, will not properly digest his formula, will probably not be emptying his crop, and will eventually become very sick. Is his crop empty when you are trying to feed him? As I said your baby bird should be anxiously begging for feedings from you at 3 weeks old, 5-6 times a day or every 3-4 hours, and his crop should be completely empty when it's time for his next feeding. He should have a strong feeding response, bobbing his head and swallowing as you feed him. If you have to force feed a 3 week old baby bird there is something very, very wrong and he needs a certified avian vet immediately. My guess is he's too cold, his crop is not emptying, and you're trying to force feed him while there is still formula in his crop. Without an avian vet he is going to either starve to death or die from a fungal infection in his crop, or from crop stasis, where the formula that is sitting in his crop basically rots and becomes like cement. An avian vet needs to flush his crop out, but to start you need to get him in a brooder immediately!!! He needs to be in one until he is completely covered with at least thick down all over his body. You're saying "his skin is exposed", how much down does he have? This is why we need photos...

Also, what temperature is the baby bird formula when you feed it to him? This is just as important as the brooder temperature, as you need to mix the formula with hot water (NEVER mix the formula with cold water and then microwave the formula, it will have an inconsistent temperature throughout with hot spots that will burn his crop). The temperature of the formula when you feed it to him should be between 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit, no colder and no hotter. If you are even one degree high you will burn his crop and he can die from infection, and if it's any colder it will contribute to the crop stasis he probably already has. Formula that is too cold will not interest a baby, they can reject it simply because it's below 105 degrees. It will also not be digested correctly if it's even one degree colder and will just sit in his crop.

You need to microwave or heat water in a separate container or pan than you're using to hold the formula. Put just as much formula powder as you need for one feeding in a separate bowl (you absolutely CANNOT reheat formula that you made earlier, it is a magnet for bacteria, even if kept in the refrigerator, and you must make fresh each feeding). Mix the hot water into the formula powder, and at 3 weeks you need to make the formula thinner or runnier than for an older baby bird. As he gets older you can make it thicker, but for now make it more on the thin side. You must put a candy or cooking thermometer in the formula after you stir it VERY thoroughly. It will likely be hotter than 110 degrees Fahrenheit at first, so you must let the temperature come down. Since you're only feeding one baby it's much easier to keep the temperature of the formula between 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit, it should stay in that range for the entire time you're feeding him. So be ready with your syringe, towels, etc. and when it gets to 112 degrees get him out of his brooder (that you need to go buy or at the very least build yourself) and when the formula hits 110 fill your oral syringe. I don't know if the pet shop showed you how to hand feed properly, probably not based on their irresponsibility. So I'll go into that next, but pay attention. This is very important and attention to detail is a must. Hand feeding baby birds is not easy at all, it's difficult, a skill you learn over time, and one little mistake will kill your bird. Getting the formula temperature correct is the first very important detail. The second is not feeding him if his crop is still full or has not fully emptied from the last feeding. As I said, at 3 weeks he should be fed every 3-4 hours, so if his crop isn't emptying in 3-4 hours he needs an avian vet immediately because he has a crop infection or is in crop stasis. Also, if you don't have him in a brooder between 86-90 degrees feeding him will be difficult and he won't be digesting the formula. Again, wrapping him in a towel is not good enough, obviously, or you wouldn't be having the problems.

When you go to feed him the thin, properly mixed formula that is between 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit, you must enter his beak from his left side (your right side facing him). You go in the left side of his beak at a diagonal with the end of the syringe pointed at the back of his throat on his right side (your left facing him). Go overtop of his tongue with the syringe. The reason you have to do this is because the opening to his crop is at the back of his throat on the right side (his right). If you don't go in on his left beak, go overtop of his tongue, and aim the syringe at his right side you can very easily aspirate the formula into his lungs, which will kill him instantly. Now a normal, healthy, properly eating 3 week old baby bird will exhibit a very strong feeding response, begging for food, opening his mouth for you voluntarily without you doing a thing, and he will willingly accept the syringe in the left side of his beak and start head bobbing and swallowing as you push the formula into his mouth. Now normally I would tell you to push the formula into his beak very slowly, following the rhythm of his head bobbing. You would understand what I mean if your baby had a feeding response. This is why he needs an avian vet immediately, because "Force Feeding" a baby bird is not at all recommended, as you can so easily aspirate the formula into his lungs, it happens in an instant and he will die immediately. I'm not exaggerating at all, I saw it happen once and I will never, ever forget it. The baby was around 2+ weeks old, he had a yeast infection in his crop and was being treated by an avian vet for it, but the breeder did not want to "Tube Feed" him (this is the proper way to force feed a bird, but I'll explain later). So this very experienced breeder of decades was taking advantage of what little feeding response this baby had and was pushing too much formula into his mouth when he showed any type of feeding response. The baby suddenly jerked his head upwards, started violently shaking his head back and forth, and then fell over dead. All in about 5 seconds. It happens that quickly, and it happens to very experienced breeders all the time. So you trying to "Force Feed" a 3 week old baby bird is a horrible idea for two reasons, #1 because you can easily kill him, and #2 because you shouldn't have to force feed a 3 week old baby to begin with, he's sick and needs an avian vet.

What you need to do is #1 find a certified avian vet nearest to you, call them and tell them it's an emergency, explain that you have a 3 week old baby IRN that has no feeding response and has not been kept in a brooder at the proper temperature, and if you haven't been feeding the formula at the proper temperature either then tell them that too. That way they'll know what the problem is, that it's an emergency, and they'll know he needs a crop flushing, antifungals, etc. The certified avian vet can also show you how to properly mix his formula at the correct temperature, how to properly feed him safely, get you feeding him on a proper schedule (you should be feeding him overnight until he's close to 5 weeks, every 3-4 hours; at 4 and a half to 5 weeks he can then go 8 hours overnight without eating, but not until at least 4 and a half weeks).



"Dance like nobody's watching..."

 

[EllenD]

After you get him an emergency avian vet appointment you need to address the brooder problem. I don't know where in the world you live, but you can buy baby bird brooders at most farm or livestock supply stores like Tractor Supply, some bird specialty shops sell them, or you can get online and order one at a lot of places. You need it overnighted as your bird is critical, the improper temperature you're keeping him at is effecting his entire system right now and is the reason he's sick and not wanting to eat. I'm not trying to be harsh to you but if you were planning to buy a 3 week old baby parrot you should have already educated yourself on everything about hand-feeding and hand-raising a baby bird, and you should have purchased a brooder and all of the hand-feeding supplies you needed prior to buying the bird, like the formula, syringes or pipettes, a cooking thermometer, a digital cooking scale that measures in grams (you should be weighing him daily and recording the date, his weight in grams, and how many times you fed him that day, how much he ate at each feeding, etc.), and the brooder. The pet shop person is really to blame though, as there is no way he should have sold a 3 week old baby IRN to someone who had no experience or knowledge of hand-raising or hand-feeding one, and told you it was easy to do, and also neglected to tell you that you needed to keep him in a brooder until he has feathers and can regulate his own body temperature. Breeders and pet shops sell unweaned baby birds to people that have no idea what they are doing simply to save a little money. They don't have to spend any money or any time feeding the baby anymore...But to sell you a 3 week old baby bird is just horrible and the person that sold him to you should be ashamed of himself. Not only did he do it to save money but also to save himself from having to hand-feed it overnight. He should have just let the parents raise it if he didn't want to do it himself, either way he never should have done this to you.

Please post photos of him!



"Dance like nobody's watching..."

 

[EllenD]

Also, if you cannot find a brooder (depending on where you live) you can build a temporary one until you can find one...THIS IS NOT A PERMANENT SOLUTION, IT IS NOT ACCURATE AT ALL AS FAR AS TEMPERATURE AND IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR A PROPER BROODER, BUT IT'S BETTER THAN WHAT YOU ARE DOING NOW, WHICH IS NOTHING.

You need to find an appropriate sized cardboard box or better yet a plastic tub. It doesn't need to be very large since you only have one baby bird, but it can't be a tiny little container. One of those plastic cages with the different colored lids you can buy at most pet stores (Walmart even sells one size of these now in the pet department, and the size they sell would work well). You'll also need a large heating pad with a controllable heat level, a thermometer to either attach to the inside of the tank or hang in the tank, like one for a fish aquarium, a bird safe bedding to help keep him warm and to absorb his droppings, must be the paper bedding like CareFresh brand or something similar, NO WOOD CHIPS OR WOOD BEDDING OF ANY KIND! You'll need to change out his paper bedding twice a day to keep him clean and dry and to prevent a bacterial infection! You also need a thick blanket or very very large, thick towel. You'll want to put half of the plastic tank or tub on top of the heating pad, resulting in one half on and one half off, so he can go to the cooler area if he wants to. You'll need to place the thermometer inside the container on the hot side over the heating pad. Put a good, thick layer of paper bedding on the entire bottom of the plastic tub. You'll need to completely cover 3 sides of the plastic tank with a thick blanket or very thick towel, leaving one side uncovered (preferably one of the small sides so that both of the long sides are completely covered). Try to wrap the blanket or towel securely around the plastic tank to hold in the heat. Once it's all set up in a safe place that you can also feed him from (the less you move him and the warmer you keep him right before and right after feeding him the better), turn on the heating pad on. Do not put the bird inside it until you find the proper heat setting on the heating pad, your goal is to get the thermometer to read 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit while the tank is completely covered with the blanket on 3 sides, with an inch or two of paper bedding, and in the position it will normally sit and stay in. I'd start on the second heat setting to start, give it 15-20 minutes to heat up and check the thermometer. This is why the plastic tank or tub cannot be too large, but large enough that he can also have a cooler side that is not on top of the heating pad. Once you get the temp between 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit and it stays there for a good 30 minutes, put him inside in the back of the tank on the hot side (I forgot, please keep the hot side that's on top of the heating pad completely covered with the blanket and have the side that is not covered and that you can see in be on the cool side that is not on the heating pad.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

 

[SilverSage]

Well Ellen said everything I would have said, and she is COMPLETELY CORRECT. If you do not take ALL the steps she has laid out your baby is going to die.


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[EllenD]

Thanks SilverSage, I was hoping for an update from the OP but haven't gotten one yet. I'm really concerned about this one...

What is going on with all of these people buying baby birds that are only weeks old, unweaned, and unfeathered, when they have absolutely zero experience hand-feeding or hand-raising a baby? None of them own a brooder (keeping their babies in a towel or in a cardboard box with wood shavings), none of them have proper hand-feeding supplies, and yet they have no problem going out and buying a 3 week old bird that doesn't even have all it's down yet? Why are all of these breeders and pet/bird shops selling very young, unweaned babies to anyone and everyone? It just seems rampant lately...

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

 

[SilverSage]

The sellers are evil. It basically comes down to that. I literally have had dozens of personal conversations (not on forums or Facebook pages) this year with people who are convinced it helps the bonding process.

These so-called breeders are just in it for the money and giving the rest of us a bad name. There is a local "breeder" here with a pair of blue and gold Macaws. He gets them to pump out 3 clutches a year and they give 4 babies a clutch. He pulls them super early and sells them unfeathered. He can't explain hand feeding because he doesn't even know how himself!


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