IRN Crop Feels Hard

[Raeyne]

Hello, everyone! I just brought home an 8 week old IRN who is still on one small (10cc) handfeeding per day and then eating pellets throughout the day. I have only had her two days, but noticed this evening that her crop feels hard on one side. It was not this way a few hours ago, but she is behaving fine. She appears to be pooping normally and I have seen her eat and drink. I am going to take her to an avian vet ASAP tomorrow, but what can I do for her in the meantime, if anything?

 

[MikeyTN]

It is never wise to purchase an unweaned parrot!!!! It may be food compacting or you have made the formula too dry. Always make sure crop sac is completely emptied before hand feeding again. You may feed him some water and gently massage the crop sac to loosen it up to him to digest or he may need to have his crop flushed! This needs to be done asap before you encounter any other potential issues....

 

[Raeyne]

Thank you for the reply, MikeyTN. She's not my first handfeeding experience - just the first where I had run into this particular issue. In my opinion, she is weaned (eats pellets like a champ), but the breeder wanted me to keep her on a small portion of handfeed for the first few days after coming home, so I did. That being said, a little bit of extra heat and warm water helped her finish digesting and she was given a 100% clean bill of health this morning from our Avian vet.

 

[MikeyTN]

Yes the heat matters too! I've handfed hundreds to know the issue....lol

I'm glad she's doing better now, if she's eating on her own, stop feeding the formula and see what she does.

 

[Raeyne]

Thanks, Mikey. We've had some crazy weather down here (hot, cold, hot, cold) - so programming the A/C has been a nightmare lately. I think the house got a little on the cooler side for her last night, but all is well now.

I'm definitely going to stick with the normal food - better for her, anyways!

 

[MikeyTN]

Have you thought about keep a heat lamp on her for the time being to keep her warm until she can learn to adapt after weaning for awhile?

 

[goalerjones]

When my crop feels hard I usually use milk of magnesia.

 

[GW.Joe]

Have you thought about keep a heat lamp on her for the time being to keep her warm until she can learn to adapt after weaning for awhile?

I use a Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Thermostat to control my heat lamp because it has memory that is not erased when the power goes out

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Joe