FINCHforum

I've been handfeeding my baby finch and she's almost 2 months and a week old. She's in the process of weaning (almost fully weaned) so I've been feeding her a couple of times a day as a backup in case she has trouble peeling seeds. This time, she begged for it as usual, and in the middle of giving her a spoon (banding tool) of formula, she decides she didn't want the formula, and tries spitting it out. She appeared to sneeze once or twice, and went back to normal.

My main concern right now is that she could have aspirated even a tiny bit of formula and might develop a respiratory infection. She seems normal for right now, and I don't hear any major clicking in her chest. I do have Baytril and Nystatin on hand but I don't want to run to medication right away. Is there anything that I can do to prevent a potential respiratory infection? Or should I just wait it out and keep an eye on her?

cindy

Sally

edit to previous post - she sneezed, but nothing came out of her nostrils that i could see.. it was like a cough/sneeze sort of thing, more of a spitting out that sounded like a sneeze?

finchlover24 Personally, I would wait it out. When I've had baby birds that aspirated, I lost them right away. I mean, within seconds. Since your baby seems normal, she may be OK. I don't like to administer any meds unless I know what I'm treating.

Ok, I didn't want to run right to meds without checking, especially since she's young & not showing any symptoms for now. Thank you

finchlover24

When they are close to weaning they spit and shake the formula and run away. It's normal. *pat pat*. Going as planned.finchlover24

Sally cindy Update: She eats, drinks, poops, and then goes back to this state of being puffed, head over her wing, and tail bobbing. Could this be a respiratory infection as a result of the potential aspiration? Or something completely different? I have attached a picture of her most recent poop just in case it might help. She's 2 months & 1 week old, maybe it could be stress from molting?

Can I ask why you are handfeeding her? Did the parents reject her?


You can not give Baytril to young baby birds, it interferes with cartilage growth. Tri-sulfa is often used safely on very young babies.

Can you look at her belly tell me if you see any white clouding... sometimes when hand feeding the formula is mostly carbs it can cause yeast. Yeast will start from the bottom and work it's way up.

Lately in some cases it has been recommended to give babies you are handfeeding medistatin or nystatin to the beak.

Once mixed Nystatin or medistatin needs to be stored in a dark or covered bottle in a dark cabinet.

I would give her a heat source, heat lamp to warm her.

I agree with Sally, usually aspiration the baby or bird expires almost right away.

cindy I took her in because the parents dropped her on the floor like the rest. We gave the parents a break for a while and tried breeding again, and they finally raised 4 babies after dropping her. She finally made it to 2 months & a week old on Monday, and she was fine yesterday.

She hasn't been on formula since Saturday. She's been officially weaned, drinking and eating on her own. I have given her NV powder and she does get Avigold 3x a week for vitamins in her water.

She has been preening her feathers for a while, I'm hoping its just molting and not her actually being sick. She was just fine yesterday and this is all of a sudden.

This is her yesterday:



Edit: Yeah, I knew that about a total aspiration but I wasn't sure if she could've gotten even a little in her lungs to cause an infection or something.

cindy Tried sending the pic but its stuck in my outbox.

Heres the message:

The dropping picture is on my topic. That's her most recent one. I'll try for a belly pic right now, she's a very squirmy little thing

She has a little bit of redness on her right side from what I can see.

cindy I just turned the heat lamp on. She's eating at the moment. I hope she goes under it soon.

not sure why but the pictures can not be open

No, the photos aren't coming through.

Im gonna try google links:

cindy cindy Sally

https://goo.gl/photos/Vo7taNBSinbK4fY7A

https://goo.gl/photos/1nxvS9hvMZS9gp9Y9

https://goo.gl/photos/JRu6JDMZ3dMvfL1t6

https://goo.gl/photos/fjXYDUdyi2J4tKqk8


https://goo.gl/photos/2eFcQ19p6amUKXXF9

its a google chrome thing. they dont seem to open in edge or firefox but they work fine in chrome. hope the links work.