FINCHforum

Hello, all!
I am a newbie to the forum. I just adopted a 7 week old finch named "Happy" from a friend. Her finches bred and abandoned their baby birds. Thus, she took her and hand-fed Happy.

Happy is 7 weeks old and still being hand-fed!
Although I do not want to force weaning her, I'm surprised that a finch is still taking formula when she is almost 2 months old and she is not much interested in hard food.

I brought her home yesterday, since I am also hand-feeding my parrotlet. She is really sweet and follows me around everywhere. She is more tame than my pet parrots.

Today, I had more time to observe her and I noticed that there is a scar for crop-burn. I have never seen the crop burn in real since I always measure the temperature with thermometer everytime I feed my birds, so I'm not 100% sure. It is a half size of sunflower seeds and it's brownish scar on the outside of her crop. My friend does not have much of hand-feeding experience, so I'm assuming that she gave Happy formula that is too hot? It seems like it's healed but left the scar. Should I be still worried and do something about it?

Also, I've noticed that Happy's crop is 1/4 full of air after I hand-fed her this afternoon. I use different size of syringe with my parrots, but my friend has been using a tweezer to feed Happy. She uses Lafarber's hand-feedig formula and mix it with crushed hard-boiled egg and warm water. With bigger parrots, I can gently massage the crop and lead them to burp out the air. However, I'm afraid that I would pop the crop since she is so tiny. I know air in the crop can be a symptom of yeast infection. However, she is eating like a little pig and quite playful. I've done some research and learned that people use Nyastatin to treat yeast infection. Where can I get it? If the air comes out next day, does that mean she is ok?

I've hand-fed many parrots, but this is my first-time hand-feeding a finch. Happy is so sweet and precious, and I really want to do my best to raise her healthy and happy. So I even named her "Happy."
I would appreciate to hear any advice! Thank you!

Hi,

I'm sorry I can't help with the air in the crop or the crop burn, but to help Happy wean you can add a millet spray to the cage and put a small dish of seeds and a dish of mashed hardboiled egg on the floor of the cage. You can try picking at them with your fingers so maybe Happy will get the idea.

Good luck!
-Julie

Hi,

I'm sorry I can't help with the air in the crop or the crop burn, but to help Happy wean you can add a millet spray to the cage and put a small dish of seeds and a dish of mashed hardboiled egg on the floor of the cage. You can try picking at them with your fingers so maybe Happy will get the idea.

Good luck!
-Julie

By the time I came home from work, the air was out and her crop was emptied. I just fed her again. The scar on her crop still bothers me since I'm not 100% sure if it's crop-burn and if it's completely healed. It seems so, since I don't see any formula leaking out of her crop. I will post the picture of her scar shortly.

Thank you for your advice!

I burned a baby's crop one time, and my understanding is that it is 100% fatal. This could be something else.

What is crop burn?

crop burn is when the bird is fed food that is to hot. Sally or someone who has hand raised a bird or more will be able to give you more detailed answer. I cant because I never hand feed my birds, mother nature rules my aviary.

We have had to hand feed finches over the years when we do not have societies available to foster, and I have never seen what you are describing. Typically if the crop is burned the chick doesn't survive. This could that rare exception, or it may be just a darker patch of skin. Post photos when you can it may help.

Sean

Crop burn is a terrible thing. As mickp said, it happens when you handfeed formula that is too hot, and everything I have read states that it is 100% fatal. That is why it is so important to check the temperature of the food--I wouldn't feed anything that is more than barely warm, after my experience. The baby with a burned crop cannot eat, so it slowly dies.