Here I go again...Yeast?

[carmena]

3 babies are taking way too long to empty their crops. I suspect that yeast is raising its ugly head. The brooder is at about 97. I am using bottled water with megamix (citric acid) and a touch of applesauce.
Last night it was 3 hours since the last feeding and I could see foamy bubbles in their crops. I irrigated with water last night and this AM (7am) they were empty so I fed with the applesauce & Exact formula. I fed 2 at 915am but one still had food in the crop so I waited more.
I fed all at 1145 again still using the megamix, applesauce.
But they are taking soo long to empty that I am afraid that the yeast is just getting more out of hand. I do not have any medistatin and calling around here, no one has it.
Other than ordering it online and waiting a week to get it, what else can I do? I am being religious about handwashing and cleaning but it seems that by the end of the day they are going 5 hour stretches between feedings.

[nixity]

How old are they?
When you say it's taking their crops a long time to empty, how long is it taking? When I hand fed, I never waited for them to empty before I fed them, so I would have never known.. what I would look for is crops that do not empty over night.

The only thing I know of with certainty that will effectively treat the yeast (and treat it fast) is medistatin.
I have a ton, I'd be more than happy to pop some in the mail to you if you PM me your address - cheaper than buying it and will probably get there by Monday..?

[cindy]

Medistatin followed up with Probiotics is what helped get my owl finch better. Tiffany was such a big help in getting me and the little guy through it.

Thanks Tiffany.

Hope your chicks get better soon.

[carmena]

They are 7 days old.
For example, I fed at 3pm today and then just now I fed the one at 8pm. Crop still has that foam inside it. Has not looked less than 1/3 full in 2 days now. Same thing in the morning.
The other two seem to not be "as bad" but still seems like a long time....or is that normal?
I will PM you nixity, thanks!

Should I keep irrigating the crop? Does that help at all? Or am I hurting? The crop contents seemed really thick and sticky.
Will that buy time until I can treat it properly.

[carmena]

here is a pic of the bubbles, They don't show very well in pics but are more obvious in person.

Oh, and I am crop/tube feeding

[carmena]

and here is a pic of the crop still with food after 4 hours. Babies in this photo are 8 days old.
Is this normal???

[albert]

I really feel for the poor chick, hope she can get through it,
I know how you feel since I lost a clutch with that same symtoms couple months ago.

Now I have gotten medistatin in case I need it in the future, but I think I should bring this up for everybody to know the treatment procedure:

Should I treat my foster as a prevention before the chicks hatch? if yes, how? the label says mix it with soft food, but I do not provide my bird with soft food everyday.

Albert

[nixity]

I see what you mean about the bubbles, but I don't know for sure this is yeast. I haven't really dealt with enough to know that's what it looks like and that that is abnormal.
Do they move around? To me it looks almost like it's on the skin, in which case, maybe it is clusters of yeast forming on the inside of the crop wall? Very strange :\
I hope the medistatin gets there soon.. the idiots from the PO never take my mail unless I leave it literally hanging out of the box for them to see, but when it is raining (as it seems to do EVERY Saturday lately), that is obviously not possible - and they did not take the letter, so it will not go out until Monday..

I am having a hard time seeing the photo of the crop, it's really dark and I can't blow it up larger.. I really don't know how fast it should empty to be honest, I never allowed my babies' to empty completely except over night... I can't say I ever saw it completely empty during the day.. I always just fed them when it was time or they were whining :\

[CandoAviary]

This looks extremely datk to me. I have seen some foam type bubbles in crops before but it is usually when I am slow to feed and the chicks beg longer. They inhale air that causes some bubbles.
Since you are crop feeding and not letting them lick from a banding tool make sure that the formula is of the right temperature. Too warn and it can burn/scar the crop making the elasticity poor. Don't know enough about yeast... haven't had to much of a problem with it before.

[carmena]

The bubbles move but only slightly. It seems to be not getting worse but I am putting the megamix and applesauce with every feeding.
If I do not put the applesauce by the next feeding it seems worse and empties slower.

I darkened the pic trying to make it easier to see the bubbles.

I am letting the formula cool to about 95-97 to feed but by the time I draw it up and get the baby who knows what temp it is.

[Sally]

It is hard to tell about the bubbles from the photo. I do not crop feed, I use the leg banding tool and let the babies lick the formula off. Sometimes they get bubbles in their crop from air they take in, so it is difficult to tell whether bubbles are normal or yeast. My indication for yeast is that they get diahrrea, usually pretty white-colored, and it gets smeared on their butts, so very easy to spot.

I'm like the others, I don't always wait till the crop is completely empty. It should empty overnight, so when I do first feeding in the morning, the crop is empty, but after that, I just try to feed on a time schedule--normally it would be every 2-3 hours. One cause of a crop not emptying is that the food is not warm enough. I can't honestly tell you what temp I am feeding, I just do it by checking with my finger. I keep the dish of formula sitting in a small bowl of water which sits on one of those candle-warmers, and check every bite I offer them to make sure it is still warm but not getting too hot.