FINCHforum

The chick is 5 days old, he has been eating like a champ for the whole 5 days, never a problem with him, until just an hour and half ago, I came to feed the 2, and his crop has emptied and became red in colour. He doesn't beg no matter what I do. He also isn't moving much. Does anyone know what is happening? I feed them every 1h and he was eating just fine an hour before.

Here's a picture of him with his 4 day old sibling for reference.

To add to this, I prepare fresh formula for them every time I feed them, and make sure it's not too hot or too cold before feeding them. I really doubt that this is a burn.

I've also listened for clicking sounds coming from him when he breathes just in case, and nothing.

The brooder is kept at around 32-34 degrees celcius, but mostly stays at a 33, which should be just right.

I really don't know what I did wrong, and this is the second time I'm hand feeding, after the first time when it caught me completely by surprise after my finches abandoned 2 hatchlings.

Update:
The little guy didn't make it, but his younger sibling seems to be doing alright. Please, if you have seen this happen before, information would be very appreciated, as I want to prevent this from happening to the other chick, and the future chicks to come.

I'm sorry that you lost the little guy. It was probably something you couldn't do anything about. I don't raise birds, so can't help you. Hopefully, someone who does will answer your post.

OliwiaMoriarti

So sorry you lost the baby, but it probably was nothing you did wrong. It is very difficult to hand feed, and chances are that not all hand fed babies will make it. Most of the time, we don't know what caused them to die. Red crop sometimes means the formula was too hot, but you were checking for that. I lost my first hand fed because the formula was too hot and burned the crop. It could have been an infection, no way to really know.

Glad to hear the other one is doing well, and good luck with it. Please keep us posted on its progress.

Sally wrote: OliwiaMoriarti

So sorry you lost the baby, but it probably was nothing you did wrong. It is very difficult to hand feed, and chances are that not all hand fed babies will make it. Most of the time, we don't know what caused them to die. Red crop sometimes means the formula was too hot, but you were checking for that. I lost my first hand fed because the formula was too hot and burned the crop. It could have been an infection, no way to really know.

Glad to hear the other one is doing well, and good luck with it. Please keep us posted on its progress.

Thanks for the encouragement. The second chick is currently on day 7, but he hasn't been doing the best. He hasn't pooped since last night, except for when I tried to massage him gently and he pooped a very liquid poop. I'm not sure if he'll make it, as his crop can't empty very well since his intestines can't get rid of the poop. I'm giving him electrolytes, and feeding him very very little whenever there is any space in his crop, I'm pretty lost to be honest.
I'm probably just worrying about a chick that hasn't got a chance at this point, but I think I'd feel worse if I gave up on him.
He is begging though, although not as much as when his crop isn't full, even has started to make his first beeps occasionally, and can move around when woken up just fine, so I'm getting a lot of mixed messages.

where is the thermometer for your brooder compared to the chick? I found that I had a hard time maintaining temperaturea lot of times and I now use a chemical hand warmer under some cotton balls under the chick to keep them warm. They can get hot, but are somewhat self limiting in temperature.

My best guess is that they have impacted/slow crops...I used to get this a lot because either the food or chick would chill while feeding, and the times to recover can be quite long. I now feed on the hotter side (formula is loaded into the syringe at 105-110f and dropped into a cup of water at the same temperature).

If you have some food coloring, mix a drop into the next batch so you can see whether or not food is passing. If is not, then you adjust temperature up to start movement. If they smell sour at all it might mean the food is starting to ferment (yeast infection), at which point I would as a few drops of apple cider vinegar to change the pH in the crop.

keijikage wrote: where is the thermometer for your brooder compared to the chick? I found that I had a hard time maintaining temperaturea lot of times and I now use a chemical hand warmer under some cotton balls under the chick to keep them warm. They can get hot, but are somewhat self limiting in temperature.

My best guess is that they have impacted/slow crops...I used to get this a lot because either the food or chick would chill while feeding, and the times to recover can be quite long. I now feed on the hotter side (formula is loaded into the syringe at 105-110f and dropped into a cup of water at the same temperature).

If you have some food coloring, mix a drop into the next batch so you can see whether or not food is passing. If is not, then you adjust temperature up to start movement. If they smell sour at all it might mean the food is starting to ferment (yeast infection), at which point I would as a few drops of apple cider vinegar to change the pH in the crop.

I keep the thermometer almost close enough that it touches the chick when he shifts in his nest, so it should be quite accurate. I think you might be onto something, I might be feeding the formula too chilled, I'll definitely try to go more on the warm side next time just to see.

I've been switching around between mixing his formula with apple sauce, and mixing a more diluted formula with homemade pedialyte. So far, it seems that it has started working a bit. He finally poops, but he's shifting a lot in his nest when he's trying to let it out, and his poops are pretty big. I'll wait and see if he can now manage to empty his crop, and once that happens, he should be all back to normal.

I must say though, for a little guy with so many issues, he definitely is strong. He latches onto the syringe and doesn't want to let go, and even got louder at feeding time, even though he's barely 8 days old.

I've heard that they're only supposed to make noise at around day 10, so this really caught me by surprise.

Update:
The second chick stopped begging, and hasn't been able to empty his crop since last night. I predict he'll be dead by noon. But this aside, I think I figured out just what's wrong with the chicks; after reviewing all my notes on my birds' previous attempts at breeding, and the causes of death of the chicks they tried raising, I have come to the conclusion that this is most likely the fault of weak genetics. I haven't noticed it until not too long ago, but the last chick only has 3 toes on each foot, and that alone can be a sign of weak genes, which is apparently something that a "stillborn" chick from last year had too. Not to mention that none of my pair's chicks have ever made it past 8 days.

I originally thought they might just not be too experienced and needed some time,but I'll have to simply not breed this pair. Maybe one day I'll try with a different pair of birds once I get a much larger cage, or I'll buy/adopt some slightly older chicks from a friend.
Thanks to all for the encouragement and help, I have learned tons through this experience.