Cockatiel Chick Problems?

[Raptor40]

Hello,

I am relatively new to cockatiel chick raising and currently have three chicks who are at least 1 week old. I previously had 5, but 2 had unfortunately passed away in the nest. I didn't know at the time that it was important to clean out the nest, as I was under the impression that you should never touch a bird's nest or the chicks until they leave the nest naturally. When I took the deceased chicks out, I decided to clean the nest anyway, as there were maggots and a lot of faeces and I didn't want to make them all ill. I now know that it's sensible to clean the next every few days.

In the meantime, I noticed there was one chick who was a lot weaker than the others and decided to take him for hand raising, as I had a feeling he might have passed away if I left him. He's now been inside for the past week and he weighs 30 grams, is opening his eyes and starting to grow pinfeathers. I did have a mishap with the formula, as I realised it was much thinner than it needed to be and he wasn't getting enough food, but ever since I've fixed that up he's been rapidly gaining weight and growing well. Although I still notice he's not as lively as the other two chicks.

The chicks, however, did have some faeces attached to their feet and areas near their tails (tails havent grown yet), so I've been spending the last few days using some warm water to get it off them. I've only now just been able to completely remove it all. Because it was on their feet, I have a feeling it was definitely affecting their ability to walk. One of the chicks - the middle chick - appears to have splayed feet and I'm not sure what I can do to help this. This chick also still has its eyes closed and one eye in particular doesn't look like it's opening at all (both eyes had food or faeces on them and I had wiped it away, but there's still some little marks of something on the one that looks faulty.

The hand-reared chick also has a ball of faeces on his feet which I tried to remove, but he started screaming and I realised his toe had started to bleed. I'm not sure whether I should keep trying to remove it or whether there's something else I'm meant to be doing.

The eldest chick is 40 grams, the middle chick 27 grams and the youngest hand-reared chick is 30 grams. Not sure if the middle-chick is too thin or my chick is just fat, as he does like his food.

I've attached some photos of each of the chicks for reference. I'd also just like to know if they look healthy or not.
The pinker one with eyes with some formula stuck to him (trying to get it off but he doesn't like being wiped much) is the hand reared one. The eldest is the one with the most advanced pinfeathers and spikey head and the middle-child is the splayed-foot one.

Thank you so much for reading through the long message and the help!

 

[LaManuka]

Sorry I’m not an expert on hand rearing, but just bumping your post back up to the top so maybe someone who can help you may see it!

 

[BrookeB]

Ok so first, no more pulling or cleaning of the poop on the babies. If anything take a warm Wet paper towel and “soak” the affected area letting the poop loosen. Do this at every feeding but be sure not to chill you babies and it will come off completely when ready. What is MOST important is your ambient temperature in your brooder and the temperature of your formula when you feed. Unfortunately you took the babies early. Most Breeders wait until they are two weeks before they pull for hand feeding. I understand this was an emergency but it definitely factors in. As for the eyes they shouldn’t be opened until 7-10 days so that could still clear up on its own. In the pictures it looks as if their crops might not be emptying completely, hopefully that is not the case. But I do not see any signs of splayed legs, they look really off when they are babies and wobble around which is normal. Honestly if you can find a experienced hand feeder in your area you might want to ask them to look at your set up or even take the babies if you are in desperate need. When I started breeding I used a website called cockatiel cottage.net like a bible. Please have a look it’s really helpful. Honestly I don’t have much information on your set up which is really what I need to help you.

 

[Scott]

I don't have expertise but recommend reading the top three "sticky" threads atop the Breeding Forum. Hopefully our more knowledgeable members will stop by and give helpful advice. Good luck, hope the survivors thrive!

 

[Inger]

This thread might help. And you might want to consider learning more about raising chicks before you allow your birds to breed again.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/to...read.php?t=74363&share_type=t&link_source=app


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Raptor40]

Hey! Thanks for all the replies on here they’ve been incredibly helpful!
Unfortunately one of the chicks had to be put down due to crop issues. I had taken him to 5 separate vet appointments - 2 avian vets, 2 local vets and an emergency vet - and unfortunately it was too late by the time they’d been able to work out the issue and he hadn’t been able to digest any of his food any longer. I’d done everything I possibly could to try and help, but unfortunately it had just gone too far by that point. I’ve at least learnt a lesson as to what I need to look out for in terms of illness in chicks, and how important it is to keep a strict eye on their food intake.
The chick with his legs pointed inwards (Dora) had to get one of his toes bandaged and this fixed the problem in only a day and the eldest chick (Coby) turned out to be completely fine. They’re now 2 beautiful pearls who love getting up to trouble around the house. They’re still having one feed of formula at night, but for the most part are eating seeds and vegetables like bok Choi.

Thanks for all the links too! One I wasn’t able to click on but I did find a few similar sites such as ‘AskNoodles’, which had a lot of good visuals relating to common problems, and lived religiously off the Australian Bird Keeper publications ‘A guide to cockatiels and their mutations as pet and aviary birds’ and ‘A guide to Incubation and Handraising Parrots‘, both which go over the staples of feeding, housing/brooders and other general duties.

Thanks again! I’ve attached some photos of Coby and Dora below. Haven’t got the best pictures though, as they like wrecking my phone case too much for me to take good photos.

 

[itzjbean]

Glad to see a couple chicks survived. As you've learned now, it can be a tragic process that none should attempt unless you well, know exactly what you're doing. I understand everyone starts somewhere, but many times its a breeder's negligence and lack of experience that kills chicks, which may ultimately be what happened here. ..

In the future, please continue to do research breeding. As a breeder myself I make a commitment every time I set up a nestsing box to be diligent in cleaning, examining the chicks daily to see if there are any issues, weighing them to see if they're gaining, etc. Cleaning the nest weekly is important to ensure they don't get sick from bacteria, get poop all over their feet which can get stuck and as seen here, can make it difficult for them to thrive.

Where ever you heard this information about not touching the babies until they leave the nests, is a bunch of bull-honkey! I clean my nests out at least once a week after the babies have hatched. They start pooping it up pretty bad so what I do is I wait until parents are out foraging, cover the hole of the inside of the nestbox with a paper plate (in case parents try to get back in) and remove the chicks to put into a small bowl with some clean bedding (wood shavings). Babies are watched by someone (usually my husband) while I use rubber gloves to clean out the entire nest. I take out ALL the bedding and replace it with completely new stuff. I don't wipe it down or anything until the babies are no longer sleeping in the box, for me, usually around 5-6 weeks and they refuse to sleep in the box but stand to sleep on perchces with their parents at that point.

It's important to keep things clean for them, so they don't get sick. They can certainly be handled (and should be) from the moment they open their eyes (around 2 weeks old) to weaning. It helps tremendously with their comfortability with humans as they age and learn to see humans as friends.

 

[Raptor40]

Hey! Just a quick update on Dora and Kobe for anybody interested!

Both Dora and Kobe and doing very well and are now about 9 months old. Dora has post most of his pearls and become nearly fully normal grey like his dad and is a very avid and noisy singer, and Kobe is our only female and still has her gorgeous pearls, and is very cuddly and sweet. Both have not had any more issues, which is fantastic, and they are now both living indoors with their little brother Chikka, born to a following clutch.

Unfortunately, we had another bout of deaths in the following clutch - though 3 of the 5 survived this time - and Chikka had a range of issues that included severe stunting and constant hunger. Luckily, the hunger and crying stopped after weaning, but a few months later he became very ill again and we took him to an avian vet for testing. He was treated for Chlamydia and also given vitamin A injections and did manage to get back to normal, but we were later told by the vets that there were no abnormalities in any of his test results (took about 5 different types of tests and tested for just about everything) except for an influx of gram-positive bacteria (normal bacteria, but just more than usual) in the gut, which they said was to be expected for an ill chick. Vets have told us that the likely problem with Chikka, as well as the reason for the illness and death of the other chicks in this and the previous clutch, was a genetic condition caused by the unfortunate combination of their cockatiel parents’ genes and passed on to about 50% of each clutch. This can be somewhat tested for (not sure if the exact condition itself can be diagnosed, or simply what it effects can be identified) but due to Chikka getting better, we were encouraged to leave it for the moment and come back to the issue if he continues to get ill again later on.
I am no longer breeding this pair, as I don’t want any more sick chicks, but am instead enjoying life with my 4 aviary birds (another pair (both female) of which one was given to me from a person who didn’t want her anymore and another I adopted as a friend for her) and my 3 hand raised babies.

It was very difficult to find out, as it may impact Chikka later in life and possibly Dora and Kobe, since we don’t know the exact nature of the condition, but I am very glad to know that it wasn’t something I’d done to make them ill, as I had previously thought. Although I don’t breed anymore, I still do a lot of research and talking to experienced breeders, and am currently writing a series of website pages assisting others in the same situation as I was to raise healthy and happy cockatiel chicks.

Thank you for all the help with Dora, Squeak and Kobe!

 

[Laurasea]

If any of your birds have Chlamydia, the ehole flock must be treated.

 

[Raptor40]

Yes that was why the vet was so avid that Chikka be tested for it, but apparently they found no sign of Chlamydia in any of the test results. They said that sometimes the tests can come back negative if the virus isn't currently 'shedding', so decided to continue the doxycylin and vitamin A injections, but they eventually stopped that treatment as Chikka was doing well and concluded that it wasn't Chlamydia and was likely something genetic (hence the weird chick symptoms and the fact only half the chicks were effected).
They definitely did look into Chlamydia though, especially since I also had 2 family members who'd just been through surgery/cancer treatment, but it just didn't check the boxes according to them. Lucky, as we actually have 7 tiels altogether and it would have been a lot of tests and treatments.