Cockatiel Care - Sour Crop on Chicks

Sour crop is quite common to cockatiel chicks, and is one of the main casuses of death to handfed cockatiel chicks. The crop isa a bird's food storage, it provides them with constant supply of energy for long flights. Sour crop is when the contents of the crop is not able to push through the digestive system and gets stuck in the crop. There may be many causes of sour crop; bacterial, yeast infection and impaction being the most common.

Impaction can be caused by irregular sized foods causing blockage in the crop. Handfed chicks rarely encounter this. It still occurs on at timeswhen the chicks ingested its nesting material. Breeders usually try the following:

- Feed a more diluted formula followed by a light crop massage
- Provide mineral oil in the food to loosen the contents and slowly massage the crop
- Saline solution to the bird and massage.

The following procedures must be done by your vet.

- Flushing the crop. A last resort, involves extracting the contents of the crop forcibly in to the mouth of the chick. Survival rate is not guaranteed, the smaller the chick, the riskier the attempt.

- Operation. cutting up the outer skin in to the crop, emptying it and sewing them back on. Depending on the size and age of the chick this should absolutely be done by your veterinarian.

Sour crop due to bacterial infection can be easily cured by administering antibiotics but can backfire to the chicks health, antibiotics kills all the bacteria in its apth, including the good ones, probiotics are applied after medication to replenish the good bacteria. Laboratory culture is used to determine sour crop due to bacterial infection. Fungi will not react on rash antibiotic treatment causing only the good bacteria to be eradicated. Unless in an emergency situation, antibiotics should be administered only by your veterinarian.

Fungus is the most common cause of sour crop in handfed chicks, the candida sp. strain is a fast growing fungus that developes a clay-like indigestible ball in the crop. It grows each feeding and your best and probably only option is to cure it through medication. feeding Nystatin ( brand name mycostatine)solution will immediately eliminate the clay ball.

Chicks fed by their parents have lesser risk of acquiring sour crop. Prevention is still the best cure.

Charcoal - Cockatiel First Aid - Cure Against Toxins

One of the most frustrating thing a cockatiel owner might encounter is an ill bird. Diagnosis is extremely difficult as symptoms are at best hidden by the bird instinctively. Administering unnecessary medication might be even more detrimental to their health.

In cases of poisoning, ingestion of toxic chemicals, plants and the like, there is one safe and natural remedy that is a miracle cure, immediately available and extremely cheap. Charcoal. This organic fuel has long been used by mankind as fuel in heating and cooking. It is also used to aid in various ailments, most commonly stomach discomforts. So powerful it can clean up cyanide poisoning as long as the chemical is still in the digestive tract. For medicinal and cleansing purposes such as water filtration, a more powerful form of charcoal is created, dubbed as "activated" charcoal or carbon. It is more efficient but any household charcoal will do, considering its a first aid solution.

Always remember that charcoal is a cure for chemical poisoning and other toxins, e.g. those which some plants produce. Ailments caused by viruses and bacteria will not have any improvement upon charcoal consumption.

The procedure is quite simple, crush the charcoal and serve it mixed with a favorite dry dish like eggfood. Also leave a solid piece inside the cage as cockatiels have a habit of nibbling through it like Cuttlebone.

Next step. Contact your veterinarian.

Charcoal indeed is a life saver, it can save your pet in emergency situations and it can also be supplied in their daily diet as it is known to have no side effect to the birds' health. It is suggested to always leave a piece of charcoal for them to nibble on.

This article is made after an in-depth research that goes beyond cockatiel sites who have only one similar solution, 'bring the bird to the vet' which can be miles or days away to some frustrated pet lovers. We cannot argue with that, but in emergency situations like poisoning, your vet is not in the house, your charcoal is.

Egg Binding, A Breeder's Approach

Egg Binding is a serious problem attributed to the inability of a bird to lay or expel its egg/s from its body.
It is observed that smaller birds including cockatiels are more susceptible to egg binding.
The usual cause of such inability is an abnormality in the egg's structure. Either soft shelled or abnormally larger in size, the stuck egg may kill your bird within seconds.
Lovely, my first cockatiel to succumb to egg binding, was all playful and active minutes before egg binding struck and killed her immediately.
The following are major causes of egg binding:

Lack of Calcium. Eggs are made of calcium. Being depleted of this element will cause hens to produce soft shelled eggs that are hard to expel. This happens when there is little or no calcium source within their diet, and even if there is a source, too many clutches laid within a small period of time will be too much for any small bird.

Overbreeding. More than two clutches a year places your bird at a high risk to encounter egg binding. Calcium and nutrient intake will not be able to catch up with the fast depletion of these nutrients due to excessive egg production.

Lack of Essential vitamins. Producing and laying eggs are stressful activities and Calcium is but a small portion of what a hen needs. Lack of other vitamins will lead to abnormally shaped egg that the cloaca is not designed to handle.

Age. A young bird, in the case of a cockatiel, below a year old, have a higher risk of egg binding due to the underdeveloped reproductive systems.

Prevention.

Apparently, given the list of causes, a responsible breeder can take steps to minimize it. Cuttlebone is the best and most trusted calcium source as it is natural, it also supplies necessary amount of iodine and most importantly, your cockatiels are more than willing to take them. They should always be available even when not breeding. Two or three times a week, soluble vitamins can be added to their water source. It is said that adding drops of vegetable oil to their seed dish can lessen the risk dramatically. For the overzealous breeders, remove the nest box after the second clutch to discourage further breeding until the next season.

Cure

Unfortunately, your veterinary is the only possible cure for your bird. Operation may be necessary and you don't have the tools for it nor the knowledge. The bird may be injected with calcium for cloacal contraction helping to expel the egg. With all these possible solutions the risk of losing your bird is still very high.

Always remember that breeding and egg laying is always an emergency situation. Do your best to stop egg binding before it happens.

Nymphicus Hollandicus

KINGDOM  :  ANIMALIA
PHYLUM   :  CHORDATA
CLASS    :  AVES
ORDER    :  PSITTACIFORMES
FAMILY   :  CACATUIDAE
SUBFAMILY:  CALYPTORHYNCHINAE
GENUS    :  NYMPHICUS

SPECIES  :  NYMPHICUS HOLLANDICUS

Cockatiels are Parrots under the Cockatoo family, the smallest of these crested kind.