Too late to hand-feed?

[Egret]

I have a pair of Societies who have a single chick, three and a half weeks old. The chick is fledged, left the nest for the first time on 4-17. It has seemed timid, fearful, and stressed since fledging, although it is always fed and feels to be in good flesh. The first-time parents have been diligent feeders (this chick outgrew the ones that hatched the same day in another clutch of 7 babies), but these parents mostly feed seed. They've fed greens off and on, better lately, but will not touch the chitted seed or eggfood. The get KD in their water once weekly, and DufoPlus with Ioford 2 days a week.

The chick is able to fly, pecks at millet (seems to be eating it), perches fine, but does not explore, and stays puffed up a good part of the day. Droppings look normal. No clicking sounds or discharge. The parents are the picture of health, other than their lousy eating habits.

Seems like I have 4 options here:
1. Do nothing/wait-and-see. Of course I risk it dying.
2. Foster the chick to either the other clutch or a bachelor-pair I have who might take care of it; they eat very well. Then I put the other birds at risk if there is something contagious going on.
3. Medicate. Which medication? Considering Trimeth/Sulfa, Ronivet-S 12%, or Doxyvet.
4. Pull the chick and hand-feed it. Addresses nutritional deficiency and could medicate as well, but is the chick too old to pull and hand-feed? The stress might kill it, as it is very fearful of me.

Any advice? What would you do? I'm home most of the time, so hand-feeding is do-able. I haven't hand-fed a chick in about 15 years, but I have all the stuff needed on hand.
Thanks in advance for any insight you might have for me!

[Sally]

I wouldn't worry too much about what the parents are feeding, as long as the baby is filled out, not too thin or with a sharp breastbone. You say the baby is pecking at millet, is it also drinking any water?

1. Yes, you risk it dying if you do nothing, but sometimes it is better to wait and see. Have you tried putting a heat lamp on the cage, to see if it spends a lot of time in front of that?

2. You could try it, but often if birds aren't already primed to be fosters, they won't automatically start feeding a chick, especially an older one like this.

3. Personally, I don't medicate unless I know what is going on, as some antibiotics can do more harm than good if they aren't the right med.

4. It is very hard to hand feed an already-fledge chick. For whatever reason, as soon as they leave the nest, they see us as predators. They don't want to open their beaks, and force feeding them can result in aspiration.

[lovezebs]

Egret

Hello,

Sorry to hear that chickie is not happy.

At this stage, he will not accept handfeeding, from you or other birds. You did mention that parents are feeding him, so I don't think feeding is the problem. If he's also starting to eat on his own , then the feeding part is being covered.

Personally, I would place a lamp close to the perch where he likes to perch. A 60w bulb, should be fine. I have found that in many cases, birds that are feeling under the weather, enjoy and benefit from the light and the warmth.

I would not medicate, seeing as there is no diagnosis or signs of any actual illness.

Regarding the diet:
Personally, I stay away from all the fancy stuff.

I feed a good quality finch seed, with extra Canary seed added to it. I also offer spray millet on the side.
A variety of greens, veggies, and some fruit ( baby spring mix, kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, beet greens, broccoli, cucumber slices, grated carrot, red swiss chard, corn on the cob, parsley, apple, orange slices, sliced grapes, melons, blue berry, some cooked frozen mixed veggies(peas, beans, corn, carrots)).

I make my own eggfood, which contains peeled hard boiled eggs , put through a garlic press, mixed with crumbled Spray Millet, pulverized freeze dried meal worms, and some Tropimix store bought egg food mix. All of my birds eat this without fail (Finches, Waxbills, Canaries, Budgies, and now my baby Linnie ) and do very well on it.

I also offer cuttle bone, and my own mixture of grit, mixed with grated mineral block, crushed egg shells, grated iodine block, bird charcoal, and bird clay, which is offered in small amounts.

Good luck, and keep us updated.

[Egret]

Thanks, Sally and Elana.

Sounds like you are both confirming my own inclinations, which is to let the parents keep doing their thing, and provide heat. I have actually had a heat bulb on him for the last several days (since the day after he fledged), at one end of the cage so he can get closer to it or further from it. I use those ceramic heat emitters made for reptiles. He does seem to stay at the end with the heat most of the day. There's also a full-spectrum fluoresecent bulb above the cage which emits a little heat over the middle of the cage.

Sally, I saw him attempt to drink once, but he lost his footing on the edge of the water cup and then lost his nerve. I changed to different water cups that have a more grippy edge, and we'll see if he has better luck with that. Haven't seen him try again, but that doesn't mean he hasn't done it. I'm glad you mention it, though. I'll put a tube drinker at the cooler end of his favored perch this morning and see if he uses that.

I'm grateful to hear from both of you, because I felt it was very unlikely he'd take well to handfeeding at his age, and with his fearfulness, but it's been so long since I did any hand-feeding I wasn't sure I remembered correctly. My other clutch of Societies are so different. There are 2 flighty babies, and the other 5 are fine with my hands in the cage. In fact 2 of them will hop on my finger if I offer it. My clutch of RH Gouldians are still like little Aliens (they're 14 days old), but they seem pretty confident and are accustomed to my nest-peeks. But this little Society guy has always been different. I put it down on "only child syndrome," when it was just a temperament thing, but now I wonder if there is something off, healthwise, too. Guess time will tell. I'm not usually one to throw antibiotics at them willy-nilly, either.

Elana, I feed pretty much as you do (love the garlic press for eggs. I used to use a potato-ricer when I had a big aviary and did a dozen eggs at a time; it's just a giant garlic press!), but this birds parents don't touch what I offer, except for greens. It's odd, because when they were in a mixed flight with a "teacher bird" who'd eat anything (Red-throated Parrot Finch), they ate everything offered. When I moved them to their own cage because the RH Gouldians kept destroying their nest, that's when they stopped eating the goodies!

Will let you know how it plays out, and thanks again!

[lovezebs]

Egret

Hi Rebecca,

How is your baby doing ?

[Egret]

The good news is that the baby is actually seeming better! The day after I posted about him, I found 2 poops when changing the cage papers which had blood in them. So I decided to take a chance and treat them for Coccidiosis with Trimethaprim/Sulfa. They all seemed better within 48 hours. The parents weren't acting sick, but they had become nervous and flighty, which I chalked up to their being first-time parents. Baby is acting less timid and fearful, and Mom and Pop are back to their original well-adjusted personalities. They are also eating better. He isn't fluffed up all the time anymore, either, and is starting to explore around the cage.
The bad news is, this pair had been in one of my mixed flights prior to their going to nest, so now I am going to have to treat all those birds as well.
Guess it's better to know about the exposure, catch it early and treat now, rather than to find out after the birds are sick with it!

[lovezebs]

Egret

Thank goodness you caught it on time.

Glad to hear that baby is doing better.

[Egret]

Just an update on the baby Society. He and his parents came out of their quarantine, seeming to feel great and nice normal poops, great appetites. They graduated Monday to "the big cage" where the other babies and a few hens are housed, until the babies are ready to go into the flight in the other building (I like my babies in my house so I walk by them many times a day; that way I tend to notice changes more quickly than if they are in the other building).
So far, so good. They've been there 4 days now, and the baby is still eating and drinking, just acting like a normal fledgling, although he may not be quite as gregarious as those from the large clutch. I'm not quite ready to consider him a success, but it looks good for now!
Thanks so much for your suggestions and encouragement.