Balloon Baby: Defect? Illness? Help?

[bugaboo5]

I just made some egg food for my birds and decided to do a nest check on a zebra finch pair since the babies were at the one week+ mark. I am horrified to find a chick whose body is swollen with air. Has anyone seen anything like this before? In my 20+ years of keeping birds, I have never ever seen anything even remotely similar to this. The baby is still being fed by its parents, but I want to know what is wrong with him/her and if it's detrimental to its life? More than half the baby is inflated with air -- for those who have hand-fed before, it's like getting air into the crops but in this case, throughout it's body. Ugh, my stomach is turning just writing about it. Can someone provide some advice or solutions to this? I refuse to euthanize the poor little thing, so please don't tell me that's my only option. I could never do such a thing. I feel so helpless and upset right now. Help?

[debbie276]

The only thing I could find was:
Ballooning of skin or (air under the skin) is called Subcutaneous emphysema . The causes are:
Ruptured air sac.
Air-gulping.
Fermentation of food in the crop producing gas.

Your chicks doesn't look like it's being fed, the crop is empty in the pictures. If the parents suspect something is wrong they may stop feeding so keep an eye out for that.
Best of luck, keep us posted.

[bugaboo5]

Thank you so much for your response. It's not visible, but on the other side of the air crop (the side that isn't balloon-ish), there are indeed seeds in the crop. I researched Subcutaneous emphysema and it appears I may have to poke into the "balloon" without puncturing a vein or artery, and physically deflate the air in my chick?! Ugh, again, my stomach is churning just thinking about it. I will most definitely keep my eyes on this nest to make sure "balloon baby" is getting properly fed. Thank you again.

[debbie276]

Your very welcome and wish you all the best. I wish I could say for sure just what it is other then that looked like the closest thing I could find to that condition. Maybe others have a better suggestion.

[FeatherHarp]

Oh gosh...the poor chick! I hope you can find a treatment for it soon. We had a beef cow that got the Bloat and there were treatments that could be administered to reduce it depending on what kind of bloat it was. The cow suffocated and collapsed before we could treat her. In hindsight we should have punctured the stomach to let the gas out...it would have saved her.

If you have to do a puncture to let the gas out don't wait too long. The pressure building up could suffocate the little chick. Good Luck!

[cindy]

When I looked at the picture I thought bloat right away, so I looked it up...read this I know the parents are feeding and the article talks about handfeeding but it tells a little about what to do.

http://books.google.com/books?id=bhQmuC ... at&f=false

I would try to handfeed the baby and keep it warm, there is not much you can do but give supportive care. Perhaps there is something underlying going on and I agree , the parents know that. I personally would handfeed and watch to see if the crops fill and how long it takes to empty.

[G8love4finches]

Poor little thing!.....best of luck with him.....

[PrettyBird]

omg ive never seen anything like that. poor thing. I hope he recovers are you going to pop it? I would hate to see it suffer

[cindy]

You can't pop it, it may be an obstruction of some sort. Have you tried to feed it?

[debbie276]

Ballooning of skin or (air under the skin) is called Subcutaneous emphysema.
If it is emphysema you need to release the air with a sterile needle. I would recommend taking it to a vet or having a diagnoses confirmed before I treated for anything, problem is doing nothing could be fatal.

[6finchfriends]

I know this is far from a bird but when I lived on a farm our calves would get bloat once in a while and we'd have to pierce the area with a sterile knife to let the air out. Oh I'm praying your little one makes it! That is so painful looking!

[CandoAviary]

I have seen this before in canaries. You can release the air with a needle (much like drawing the blood off a hematoma on a dogs ear)
But many times the sac will refill. You put a drain in when there is a blood pocket, a stint when an air pocket.
You could always try and release the air and hope it does not refill, if it does see your vet for a valve/stint implant.
Sending prayers

http://www.mcallister.com/avian.html

Possible good news... sometimes the issue resolves on it's own within a few days read the following
http://www.avianmedicine.net/ampa/42.pdf

[cindy]

Candace you have made referrence to a book I have mentioned and recommended many times espcially the section on reproduction (Chapter 29) and general health (chapter 43). The Chapter you mentioned is in regards to bones, breaks, etc. Do you have a page to refer to for quicker referrence?

[CandoAviary]

The Chapter you mentioned is in regards to bones, breaks, etc. Do you have a page to refer to for quicker referrence?

Page 1137... first/cover page Chapter 42..... the link I posted

[bugaboo5]

I am sad to report that balloon baby has passed. Thank you everyone for the information, advice, and kind words. I've just never seen anything like this before? Even in death, balloon baby was still full of air. I felt terrible burying him in the garden on this very cold winter night. It never gets easy to lose a bird....a life. Thanks again to all who responded.