Fledgeling puffing up and starving itself

[Sheather]

I had a clutch of 4 societies, which became three after one caught its neck in the nest basket after fledging and hung itself. That was sad enough, but now a second baby has stopped begging for food, gotten very puffed and sleepy and stopped flying.

His brothers are very active, beginning to drink water and eating millet and also still begging from the parents. He started to puff and sleep more than usual yesterday morning and today will only wake up if I poke at him, otherwise he falls asleep wherever he is and can't seem to fly. The parents are ignoring him, because he doesn't beg.

I expect to lose this chick, but I'm curious what the reason for its decline would be. The droppings are entirely white, because it's not eating, but they don't look overly watery, greasy, or otherwise diseased. I have never lost a fledgeling like this before - this bird was fine 2 day ago.

[Fraza]

Sheather have u not tried giving it abit of egg yourself

[Babs _Owner]

Sheather

Dylan, Im sorry this is happening Have you bred this pair before and were those kids all healthy?

Anyway to handle the little guy and get some water into him? Im sure he's really dehydrated. Better yet, some formula for hydration and nutrients?

[Sheather]

Babs this pair had four healthy, happy chicks in the spring.
The father has had an additional ten or twelve babies with other females over the past three years.

Sadly, this one didn't make it. I tried to feed him a little boiled egg moistened slightly with water. He either couldn't or wouldn't swallow, and passed away within the hour.

I know this happens, but I'd been very fortunate so far and never lost a fledgeling. I lost two of this brood so far.

The remaining babies are lively, starting to eat and drink and flying like champs but now I am going to be worrying until they're fully weaned because this came on so quickly. Today he would just sit and peep quietly. The parents mostly ignored him, which was strange, but even when I set him in the nest with the others, he never begged, just slept.

[lovezebs]

Sheather

Hi Dylan,

Sorry about losing your two babies...

Lets hope the rest will be okay.

[Babs _Owner]

Sheather

I'm sorry you lost the little guy. Seems he went pretty fast and didn't linger long. That is a relief.

It wouldnt hurt to put a few drops of ACV in the water for a few days for the remaining family.

[cindy]

droppings that are entirely white and puffy (sometimes called popcorn poo) can be a sign of internal parasites such as protozoa, giardia, not mites) and the bird will go light. Do any of the other birds show signs of undigested seed in their droppings? Parent birds will not feed ill or defected chicks.

Watch for signs in the other birds...

[Sheather]

cindy the droppings weren't puffy, they were just small and contained only urates, no feces. The other birds are doing well and their droppings are healthy.

[cindy]

no feces because the bird likely was not being nourished. I would just keep an eye on the others, could be an isolated bird or not.

[cindy]

Baby birds that are ill should not be given boiled egg if you have to hand feed, if GI issues the boiled egg is harder to digest.... formula is better. Never give plain water to hydrate but make a broth like mix with formula (water or electrolytes) and give drops to the side of the closed beak so not to aspirate.

Hand feeding formula contains a lot of carbs, we found that giving a drop of medistatin on an empty crop twice a day heads off issues with yeast/fungals. If a chick is chilled, warm the chick, hydrate with electrolytes or a thin broth of formula. Chilled babies (chilled for some time) systems start to slow/shut down...kidneys shut down... yeast can take over. If ill yeast can also be a secondary issue.

Medistatin/nystatin works better on yeast and fungal than ACV