How to feed hurt bird

[MariusStegmann]

I accidentally hurt a RTPF cock while I were catching birds. I took him out of the aviary last night, when I saw that he had not recovered, and have him in a cage with a reptile heating pad under it. He is still alive - barely. He has not eaten since yesterday morning and I suppose that I must feed him with a syringe. How do I do it? I don't want to get the food into it lungs.

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann

I don't know about feeding an adult bird with a syringe. .... Can you open his beak and feed him some hand rearing formula, with a little spoon or something like that? Is he drinking water? Maybe get some electrolite solution into him, by getting it in to the corner of his beak.

How is he injured, do you know? Broken bones, internal injuries?

~Elana~

[steve]

MariusStegmann, how's the bird doing?

Steve

[steve]

and have him in a cage with a reptile heating pad under it.

@MariusStegmann, does this work?

Steve

[MariusStegmann]

No, the bird is not going to make it. Darn and it is a beautiful pied cock. That net is got to go. It have used it twice and killed 2 birds with it, if you include this bird. The other net I had for years and never hurt a single bird.

[MariusStegmann]

steve A bit of heat often pulls a sick bird through. If you put it under a lamp, or on a heating pad, you can actually see the difference when the bird perks up.

[steve]

MariusStegmann, I use the lamp in my Hospital Cage, I was just wondering about the heat pad, do you cover it with anything?

Steve

[MiaCarter]

Aw, darn. What a shame. I'm sorry to hear that.

For future reference....

Often, you can start by putting a bit of honey on the side of the beak, where the upper and lower mandibles meet. Do this a few times and you'll see them sort of smacking their lips and licking it up a bit.

Sometimes, the extra blood sugar is enough to get them to start eating again.

You can do the same with some electrolyte solution to help combat dehydration. But personally, I prefer do to subcutaneous injections with Ringer's solution (plain saline can work too). I use a tiny insulin syringe.

If you couldn't get him eating/drinking on his own with those tricks, you could have crop tubed him. It's hard if you've never done it on a baby. The babies basically do all the work for you. You just aim the tube toward the bird's right side. You do the same with adults. Once it hits the back of their mouth, they'll swallow it. Then you just inject the handfeeding formula into the crop. If you didn't have handfeeding formula, you could use honey and electrolyte solution for the first feeding and baby food for the subsequent feedings.
When done right, there's no risk of aspiration since you're essentially bypassing the swallowing phase and putting it straight into the crop (assuming you don't over-stuff the crop, of course. That can cause regurgitation.)
But if you'd never done it before, it would be tough to know if you're doing it right on an adult. (Babies are easy since there's no feathers, the skin is translucent, and all they do is beg, so it's much easier to learn on a little one.)

Hope that helps for the future. I'm sorry this guy didn't make it.
I always get so nervous netting them, but sometimes, you don't have a choice.


Steve - reptile heating pads come in a few styles. I have one that sticks to the underside of a plastic cage bottom (or in the case of a reptile, the bottom of a glass tank). I used it for my hedgehog. You would just line the plastic cage bottom with a paper towel or similar and it would warm the plastic.
You could also theoretically place it inside the cage with the bird, but it would have an exposed wire that you'd need to cover somehow. And it would need a few layers of covering as they get very hot.

They also come as little faux stones that you could leave as-is or cover with something.

Most of the adhesive ones get very hot (hot enough to melt through the thinner plastic cage bottoms) so you'd definitely want to cover them with some paper towels or even some tight-weave fabric of some sort.

[steve]

MiaCarter, my Daughter has been bugging me for a Hedgehog for about 3 weeks now, I will PM you soon about this for advice.

Steve

[MiaCarter]

steve - Yes! PM me!
I can tell you all about them! They are the cutest little creatures ever, but not the right pet for everyone.

[Rox]

So sorry

[MariusStegmann]

steve I put a few layers of papertowel over the heating pad.
@MiaCarter Mia, I think I will give it a miss on the tube feeding.

The bird died in any case. I will remove the handle of my net before I catch any more birds.

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann

So sorry to hear that, Marius.
Poor little guy...

~Elana~