Emergency

Polly is seriously malnurished and underweight. I am giving her pellets and fresh food, as much as she can eat. After her bath she finally began to preen her feathers but she hadn't removed the sheathing from at least half of her wing and tail feathers. I helped with some of them after she let me touch her but I don't know what else to do. Any ideas on supplements or vitamins to help her regain strength? I am afraid to give her a second bath so soon since her down feathers on her back end are gone. She doesn't seem to be a plucker, thank God, but her condition is awful! I'm afraid that a trip to the vet may overstress her already freaked out system but, on the other hand, it may be best for her. She has just been so neglected and she is so sweet i hate to scare her more. Any ideas? Suggestions? Prayers are appreciated

The only thing I can offer is to repeat something I read here. Maybe put her in a hospital cage with supplemental heat. I think I also read handfeeding formula for babies might help.

I agree ,keep them warm as possible till you can get to a vet . Get a syringe and baby formula [watch u tube videos].

Poor Polly. Considering her age and her long term diet of seeds and bread, I think I would schedule an appointment with an Avian Vet. I understand you don't want to cause undue stress but there may be other medical issues besides poor diet. You could discuss your concerns before taking her in, it's possible the office could schedule her visit at a less busy time of day and get her in and out quickly.

I think I would feed her vitamin rich foods rather than adding supplements to her food. If she willingly eats fresh food, you should start to see changes in her feather condition pretty quickly but not instantly. A slow steady weight gain is actually healthier for her.

She will probably appreciate frequent baths and it will do her skin and feathers a world of good.

Best of luck with your sweet girl, I know she'll thrive in her new home.

Where do I get baby bird formula? Polly is in a warm draft free environment where she can see us and i am spending a lot of time holding her and helping her preen her feathers. Her keelbone sticks out and i can feel her bones underneath her feathers. Her skin is warm and she is still talking and interacting with us. She has a sunlamp on her during the day light hours. She eats every hour or so. I thought about making her a little oatmeal. I have some steelcut oats here and i can mix in some applesauce

Sweet potato and pumpkin baked into a bread would probably make her happy

My Zilla loves oatmeal with apples raisins dried cranberries & cinnamon! I would think anything she willingly eats that is safe for her would be good to feed her for now at least. Maybe try some cooked brown rice, cooked beans, cooked pasta.

What about carrot or sweet potato baby food? Will she from a spoon? Maybe if you warm it a little, offer her the spoon while she is sitting on you. I bake a sweet potato and mush it up to spread on organic bread for my parrot (Paco's) breakfast and he loves it. It also taught me to do it for my senior dog who will not eat dog food anymore. For her I spread chicken baby food on toast. Wrong species but it worked for her and got her eating again.

We are talking about human baby food!

Ahh now I understand. I didn't know that. Mine came to me as older babies. I've used kitten and puppy formula so I assumed that there was a bird formula as well. Thanks for all the info

Understanding that there are several issues here - let me target the 'new' feather sheathing: This sheathing needs to remain in place until the feather is developed. 'When' the sheathing is ready to come off, it will turn hard and will easily break apart. This can take from a couple of days too a couple of weeks on the long side and is NORMAL.

Well, we still need to find out if the drop is weight is due to neglect or some sort of disease process.

Stress or no stress, a vet check is in order.

Usually if it's an amazon, and they're malnourished, a vitamin A shot will go a long way to perking them back up. And get as much Vitamin A foods in her as you can.

Just a FYI, orange foods are usually associated with higher vitamin A.

Carrots, squash, orange peppers, etc.

good luck

I take it your sunlamp is Avain UVA/B/C and not a reptile version or standard heat lamp?

Every year we rescue wild tree fallen baby birds and use a rich bird smoothy Ive put together myself to give the little ones a kick whilst getting fluid as they shouldnt drink until fully warmed up and are rested.

Its a pretty rich food with a lot packed in.You could add it just as an option and warm it up to make it a bit more satisfying.

I don't have a precise recipe but roughly it's -

2 Cups Large Organic Porridge Oats.
2 Pints Oat Milk.
1 Cup of Egg Food (I use EMP)
1 Cup Top Quality seed mix.
1 Cup Prepared Pulses and Beans (soaked and boiled drained)I use Versel Laga
1 Cup Quality Pellets Species Specific of course.
1 Well Steamed Carrot
1 Well steamed Sweet Potato.
1 Apple (cored)
1 Broccoli Stem (well steamed)

The veg should be steamed or microwaved to ensure vitamin retention.

Place all dry ingredients Oats,Seeds and Pellets in large bowl and add enough oat milk to cover.Leave to soak until softened.Then blend until everything is broken down to a puree.

As the seed is still in its shell,where most of its goodness is,when blended the nutrients from it are not thrown away leaving the fatty mineral free inner as our birds usually do with seeds.

Add the steamed chopped Carrot and Broccoli stem then the prepared Pulse/Bean mix along with the chopped apple and blend or just mix to a consistency ,smooth or chunky,that's suitable to your birds requirements adding a little water if needed.

As I use it for feeding young birds I blend it totally smooth for it to pass through a syringe and am yet to lose one that wasn't to far gone before being handed in.Watching them fledge fully is a proud moment for us.

It keeps well refrigerated and frozen and I serve it warmed like a chunky porridge to my Conures who enjoy it alot but your bird may hate it of course!!

I hope things work out well for you.

The feather sheathing was old and the feathers were fully developed but Polly hadn't broken and removed them. I wasn't even sure she COULD preen her feathers. Since she obviously hadn't in some time. It may have been the stuff he had been bathing her with (some yucky bird spray/feather conditioning stuff from wal mart) I wouldn't want it in my mouth either! About 35% of her feathers were still sheathed. I gently rolled the dry sheaths between my fingers and as they broke apart I smoothed the feather and moved to the next one. I am always careful not to get a blood feather or a tender one.
The man who gave me Polly was not a "bird" guy. His mother was the bird lover and she died about 4-5 years ago. He had been caring for Polly since then out of a since of obligation and duty to his mom, I believe. He said Polly is a double yellow headed amazon but she doesn't LOOK like one, she looks more like a yellow crowned amazon to me. But I could be wrong. Polly is eating better and seems to have a little more strength and energy tonight. She has been having a mix of fresh greens, radishes, hard boiled eggs, fresh raw green beans, carrots lightly steamed, cooked oats, and lots of fruit, mostly berries. Her first bath and the help preening her feathers started her preening herself and really helped her overall appearance. She has pellets mixed with a small amount of seeds available all day but her morning and evening warm mash are harder to give her since she attacks food given by hand. Food in the bowl she eats fine. Anything i give her by hand makes her bite me hard.