A pink booger, a black spot

[lovezebs]

MisterGribs

Good grief, one shouldn't look at things without one's glasses, lol.
I am so sorry about that 'OOPS' .

It's just that it's such an unnatural position for chicks, that I didn't even remotely oxpect it.

I have a couple of pictures of chicks on their backs, when I was doing baby races and baby exercises to strengthen the legs of chicks that were somewhat splay legged. They had to race across the place mat on the table into the cave of my hand, then flip over on their own from being placed on their backs, to being right side up . Sounds crazy, but it worked.

Anyway, here are 2 chicks on their bacs, and one in the process of flipping over.

[MisterGribs]

Baby races!! Haha.

Well, Jyvä sometimes flips onto her back for a few moments, which is how I noticed it. One of her feet is crippled from Hiro's attack, so she's a bit wobbly.

[MisterGribs]

Jyvä is still with us! Some of her little down feathers have come back. Her poor little head still looks awful, but she's strong and has gained the ability to cling onto my fingers, and even climb into my hand!

[MisterGribs]

Pics from today. She's looking a bit dehydrated, so I upped my humidity and gave her a drink.

I also noticed she was starting to get the first signs of splayed legs from being on too flat of a surface. Since she's so tiny, she might get tangled into the faux fur I have in there, so I made her a tighter nest.

[lovezebs]

MisterGribs

Another day under the belt

Be extremely cautious with offering any clear liquids to a chickie this young, as the chances of aspirating are extremely high.

She sould be getting her fluids with her formula., which can be upped today (being day 3).

Regarding the splaying legs...
When you have her sitting, make sure you fold her legs under her in the proper position, and hold them in place with two fingers while she eats. As she gets older, make her walk on a non smooth suface, (but that's still in the future).

With the injury om her foot, is it an open wound?

[MisterGribs]

lovezebs Our little kernel got her voice today! She skipped clicking and went straight to tiny squeaks.

Yes, the fluid is mixed with food so it's not too thin! A paintbrush really helps with that too- if you need to feed thin food, the paintbrush sort of holds it in place until it's in the throat instead of having a dangling drop, and the bab kind of wrings the liquid out from the bristles when it swallows. The paintbrush also helps less air get trapped in the crop, since it's so soft and flexible, there's no room for a gap for air to get sucked through..

The only thing you have to worry about with using a paintbrush instead is that it gets cold almost the instant It touches the air. I keep the formula in a metal measuring cup floating in a larger cup of hot water. I have to hold the paintbrush in the warm formula until the instant she opens her mouth and then QUICKLY aim and slip that baby down her throat before it can cool too much. Testing the exact same method against my eyelid skin (For temperature sensitivity lol), it's BARELY 98 or 99 degrees, if that. So I hope she gets a bit bigger, and I can switch back to using the tiny syringe. Syringes scare me, with how fast they dispense the food, and how suddenly, until the baby is large enough to swallow the entire nib.

[lovezebs]

MisterGribs

Well now, so now she speaks,

Have you considered a tiny eye dropper for feeding?

It gives you much better control, than a syringe.
Something like this below, with which you can do one tiny drop at a time.
It will also handle thicker formula, and are very easy to clean.

[MisterGribs]

I have considered now that its too late to order some, but before I'd actually got some real teensy-weensy experience with these babies, I hadn't.

I have always been confident with a syringe.

Unfortunately, my experience with birds has been with wild rehabs, precocious chicks like ducklings and pullets, and a few day-1 psittacines. Until now, the smallest baby I've had to feed was a half feathered sparrow nestling, and I was more worried about losing a fingertip to an overeager owlet or getting my eye plucked out by an angry, yeasty seagull than aspirating a lung the size of a grain of rice.

Finessing a fragile finch takes so much more bravery and daring than wrangling wild beasts.

[MisterGribs]

And before I forget to mention (Again) The hard, bubblewrap-looking ventriculus is NOT normal! It's a sign of difficulty passing the contents of the gizzard due to not enough moisture in the food (i suspect) which can lead to impending impaction or possibly stasis, and it looks like that because it's straining hard than usual to send the food through. It shouldn't be popping out like that, and it should be lighter.

After giving a few drops of electrolytes mixed with the food and massaging the ventriculus itself with a warm, wet paintbrush between hot compresses, and the contents of my poor little impacted bird came right out all at once. Needless to say, I was relieved but not as much as Jyvä was I'll wager. I increased the humidity in the brooder to stop her getting dehydrated, and it hasn't happened since.

The electrolytes I used were 1 liter of boiled water, a heaping tablespoon of white sugar, and 1/4 tsp of table salt.

I don't want to wake her unless I have to, but I'll post a side-by-side before and after picture for others during one of her next feeds.

[lovezebs]

MisterGribs

Glad to hear that the poor little niblette manages a honking big poop .

Regarding these little eye droppers, they can usually be picked up at any pharmacy around here, and I would imagine they are available over there as well.

I just find them much easier to work with and to control than a syringe (which I find tends to spurt out more than you want it to).

[MisterGribs]

Yes, it does at that. D: Or nothing at all.

Jyvä currently has a balloon for a crop due to me not being able to feed fast enough, there's no happy medium here.

[lovezebs]

MisterGribs

Just keep at it with due diligence.

Keep her on your stomach as you watch tv, and poke a bit of food into her whenever that beak pops open... = food = happy baby = sleepy baby, and hopefully some for both of you.

[MisterGribs]

She seems to be doing well! Still has that massive, unsightly bruise but is very strong and increasingly mobile. I'd like to stretch her crop a bit more, but I can't seem to get her interested anymore once the one side and back of her neck is full.