Sunny died

I'm full of anger and guilt and trying like heck not to break down again. He was 8 weeks old and still weaning. He pulled the silicone nipple off the syringe and swallowed it (read full story before judging please). I tried to make him spit it out but he swallowed it too quickly. I rushed him to the avain vet 50 miles away. The vet said since he could feel it, it would be simple to nick the crop and remove it, then stitch Sunny back up. I should have known when they were all like "Oh he's so small" that they normally only deal with very large birds and not small ones like Sun conures..but live and learn.

So thru my own fault and not knowing any better, I figured by feeding Sunny his full feed it would slow down the nipple from reaching his belly or intestines, knowing I had a long drive to the vet. So I guess in that respect it's my fault Sunny died. The vet didn't have intubation things for small birds like Sunny so he aspirated on the table when he was anestitized. I know it was either damned if you do or damned if you don't, the nipple could have made a blockage in the intestines if we had waited for the crop to empty, it could have been a complicated surgery by waiting. And I knew if we did nothing at all Sunny would die. The guilt is eating me, I chose to have the vet try to remove it even with the nearly full crop, not realizing he could drown in his own vomit.

When we bought sunny several weeks ago the breeder gave us the syringe and nipple and told us that's how he feeds his baby birds. We didn't know any better! I mean I had two babies and I never dropped or killed one of them, how hard could it be to take care of a baby bird for a few weeks? not complicated, right?! IF I ever do this again, and I probably will when I'm over this pain, I will use tubing over a syringe, NOT a nipple and I will never advocate anyone use a nipple. The internet is full of stories of this happening but yet breeders seem to still be using this as a way of rearing and teaching noobs like me to do it too.

Even though we had Sunny for such a short amount of time he will be greatly missed. I was his main caretaker and he chose me to bond with although he was meant to be my husbands bird. I am ate up with sorrow for my husband loosing his bird and devastated that sunny is no longer with us. I'm worried about skipper who took great care of sunny. The vets didn't think he was so young due to skippers great care of sunnys feathers. Sunny was flying around the house and searching out his human parents, he was growing into a wonderful bird. So very sad his young life is over far too early.

I'm so sorry I can't imagine the panic when you realized he pulled it off and to lose him even after you got him to a vet right away.

I used just a syringe when I was hand feeding my baby tiels. I could easily see how they could have pulled off anything attached to the syringe. I would not recommend hand feeding to someone with no experience (hypocritical I know). Next time why don't you get a weaned baby? Personally I believe anyone who sells unweaned babies is a horrible breeder especially when they are sold to the inexperienced.

The guy who we bought sunny from even tried to sell us nearly naked baby conures. We chose Sunny because he was 6 weeks old and starting to mouth pellets already. That probably does make him a very irresponsible breeder but we were totally new to this. I mean my husband has a friend who purchased a egg before so we learned a bit from him but as for experience we were noobs. I was just reading the sticky about purchasing unweaned babies. We didn't buy a baby on purpose because it was cheap, it was a carefully (we thought) decision but without facts we now know. Sunny was added to our family because my husband had a bird who was not right for us. She shrieked all day, bit hard for no reason (I have scars to prove it). We thought if we got a young bird, not a tiny baby but preferably weaned, we could influence what habits it had rather than try to break bad habits like screaming and biting. Sunny just happened to be closest to where we live and available at the right time in our lives and close to right time in his life, we knew which breed we wanted because we did research Sun conures.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I know how quickly I get attached to my feathered/furred/scaled babies. You guys are in my thoughts.

I am so sorry for your loss
I will be thinking of you.

I am very sorry for your loss and the sad experience at the vets office. Some breeders encourage customers to buy the babies and hand feed them for the bonding experience but the babies are fragile and it's a difficult task. Know that under the circumstances you did everything possible to save him and try not to beat yourself up.

I am so sorry this has happened to you.

I am not familiar with a nipple on the end of a syringe, I just use a syringe.

this always concerns me greatly when a breeder leads a customer into believing that it is EASY to feed a chick. not only is that deceptive, and not moral, they are risking the lives of those babies to customers who are not aware of the risks.

perhaps a weaned chick is the safer approach, I hope you find what you are looking for when you are ready.

You know, we can wrack ourselves with guilt quite easily. But think about all you did for him? Taking him to the vet and all the treatment. You clearly loved him.

Accidents do happen and sometimes result in tragedies. Even to us humans. They are no less painful nor is there any easy answer, or one at all for that matter.

I will say this, if there is any fault in this at all, it's with the breeder. I'm sorry, I know some people here breed birds and I respect that. I'm sure the ones here are responsible ones. But a caring and professional breeder doesn't let the birds leave the nest before they are ready.

I prefer to buy birds that are 8mo-1 yrs old for that very reason.

I got lucky with Skittles. He had just turned a year old and the pet store gave me the breeders contact number and I am always providing the breeder with updates.

I offer you my heartfelt condolences and as short as Sunny's life may have been - he was clearly in the hands of someone who cared very deeply.

Very sorry for your loss How upsetting for you to lose Sunny so soon.

Terribly sorry to hear of the loss of your baby. It's really amazing how quickly these feathered cuties can steal our hearts.
It's not your fault, you didn't know any better, like you said, you thought you had done the best research you could.
You did everything you could for your little fellow, and I'm sure when the right time comes, you'll happily let another baby into your heart. Even if that baby comes from a shelter and has a few years behind him already.
Sending happy thoughts your way.

Dear S -- I can feel how broken hearted you are and I wish I could make it go away. I think only seeing Sunny again could do that. As part of the human condition you are bound to feel angry and guilty, but I can tell you were a good Mom. Even experience isn't always failsafe. After having my little one for 25 years, I allowed something harmful into her environment unknowingly and she died from it. I think, more than memories, now we are supposed to maintain the feeling of oneness with them and know there is a spiritual link we will understand someday. And we will see them again. Peace, my dear. Sincerely, Sheryl

Deeply saddened to hear of your loss. Handfeeding baby birds is a difficult procedure-even the most experienced handfeeders have done the same thing.

So sorry for your loss poor little sunny

I am just seeing this thread now. I am so sorry for what happened to you with Sunny.
RIP to Sunny and i hope you find peace too. It was an accident and you did anything in your power to try to save him.
Next bird, go for a little older, weaned baby and you won't even have to remind yourself of this experience.

Baby birds are fragile, and have a high mortality rate.

50% of the wild birds don't make it.

Don't beat yourself up. Learn from it. Move on.

Virtual hugs sent your way. I'm so sorry to see this and what you have been through. I know that was a long and tough ordeal. OK sending more virtual hugs to you. Thanks for sharing this. I hope you are doing OK with this unexpected tragedy, but not holding back from future possibilities.

Thank you all for your kind words. It's been a week and a really tough week at that! We not only missed Sunny badly but Skipper did too. He's been calling for sunny off and on all week and I swear he's lost some weight. It is heartbreaking. It was unbelievable how depressed we have been all week even though we have had a high point (seeing our son for the first time in 6 months, he's a marine).

We were going to give it more time before finding another Sun conure but we found the perfect breeder, one who doesn't let their babies go before being weaned. So we will be getting a new baby soon, as soon as it's weaned and we are thrilled and really excited, looking forward to seeing her. She will not replace Sunny in our hearts, we will always miss the little guy but we have room to love her just as much. Hopefully Skipper can cope until then. He only had Sunny for a few weeks but he really got used to talking to and grooming the little guy.

I'm really glad you've got something to look forward to in your new "bird-child". You're right, you will have room to love a new "baby" just as much as you loved Sunny. I hope Skipper and your new bird like each other and get to be buddies for a long, long time.