Urgent health issue with our owl fledgling

[a_gouldian]

Late yesterday when being fed our hand fed fledgling (31 days old) seemed a little weak on his feet. And fell over during feeding, but then seemed to bounce back and did a little flying when we put him down and called. This morning it has happened again and now he seems a little wobbly on his feet and not his active self and when we tried to feed him he didn't want food. Don't know what we should do. It is coinciding with feeding him a little less attempting to wean him.

Update: We got him to drink some Pedialyte by putting it on his beak using a q-tip and that revived him. We will attempt to feed him next which I expect will go well because he is chirping once again. This seems to be connected to cutting down on the formula (which we do put a little pedialyte in). I guess we will go back to feedings every three hours at least for the next day. We were going to put him up in his cage next to the owl finch cage in the bird room, but maybe it would be better to bring the female down and put her with him, since he wasn't doing well today. He was so weak we thought we might lose him. Hopefully, Pedialyte will have him up and running again and he will be fine. Keeping our fingers crossed.

[Babs _Owner]

a_gouldian

Is he puffed up? Regurgitating? Feeding less formula would not cause him to refuse to feed.

[a_gouldian]

a_gouldian

Is he puffed up? Regurgitating? Feeding less formula would not cause him to refuse to feed.

Neither. He is eating now, chirping away, and has come back to life

I don't think he is ready to be weaned. When we feed him three hours later his crop is empty. I think he was dehydrated because after swallowing a bit of Pedialyte he perked right up.

We will continue to put spray millet, miracle meal, and sprouted seed in his cage and offer in our hand when we have him out. Tomorrow we will put the adult female owl finch in with him and see how that goes. We were in the process of moving him up to the bird room but because of this scare will hold off on that.

He still is a bit wobbly so we will just have to see how he is later and tomorrow. At least he is chirping non-stop again, which is a good sign.

[Babs _Owner]

LOL Alrighty then.

[Sally]

Sounds like he might have been dehydrated. How about putting the pair of Owls in with him? That way, the two adults won't be calling back and forth.

[cindy]

this is one of the reasons I do not remove/withhold a feeding, even if they eat something from you every 4 hours and then trying seed and dry egg food at least you know they are staying hydrated....

As I mentioned prior dehydration is a big concern since kidneys and organs can start to shut down. yeast and fungals can start.... Keep offering an every 4 hour feeding even if he does not take but a little, I do not let them beg/cry for food very long.....you can try adding the pair like Sally suggested....he needs to be with his own kind instead of a gouldian.

Eventually he will wean for you....it takes longer with owls.

[a_gouldian]

Sounds like he might have been dehydrated. How about putting the pair of Owls in with him? That way, the two adults won't be calling back and forth.

Sally, We were wondering about that. The female is just finishing laying eggs and last egg, if there is a 6th egg, should be laid tomorrow morning. (we are having our Societies foster this clutch because they started laying eggs at the same time and the owls are young and haven't shown an interest after there previous 2 clutches were laid)

We were concerned that with the two adults in with the fledging that the adult male may get a little aggressive with the fledgling because the two adults are so bonded. We have no experience with this, except when they are laying eggs or sitting on eggs that the male will chase off other birds (different species) in the cage that get too close to their nest basket.

[Babs _Owner]

a_gouldian

Why no water in the cage?

[cindy]

you may want to consider not breeding your owls in a mixed aviary but in a separate breeding cage.... if the pair are constantly chasing other birds away they are not focused 100% on parenting.... they do better in a colony of their own or in a single pair cage when breeding. Owls make great parents if given the right conditions.

If you give the eggs to the societies watch the societies, some do not feed owls to weaning because they wing beg and it can put the fosters off. Societies and zebras wean faster than owl chicks do and some foster feel they are done before the owls wean. What you will hear if this happens is constant begging becoming less and less, it is not because they are weaning but weakening.... they young will retreat to the nest or corner of the cage... you will need to step in and finish weaning them.

I found mixed species cages does not work well with some species.

[cindy]

a_gouldian

Why no water in the cage?

a small dish or lid of water should be placed in next to the food you want the baby to wean off onto. You can also add a water tube if using one.

[a_gouldian]

a_gouldian

Why no water in the cage?

There is water. He just isn't interested in it. It's a shallow rectangular plastic bath dish for birds. I put him in it once and he didn't like getting his tail and underside feathers wet. One of these days I suppose it will dawn on him that water is good to drink!

[a_gouldian]

you may want to consider not breeding your owls in a mixed aviary but in a separate breeding cage.... if the pair are constantly chasing other birds away they are not focused 100% on parenting.... they do better in a colony of their own or in a single pair cage when breeding. Owls make great parents if given the right conditions.

If you give the eggs to the societies watch the societies, some do not feed owls to weaning because they wing beg and it can put the fosters off. Societies and zebras wean faster than owl chicks do and some foster feel they are done before the owls wean. What you will hear if this happens is constant begging becoming less and less, it is not because they are weaning but weakening.... they young will retreat to the nest or corner of the cage... you will need to step in and finish weaning them.

I found mixed species cages does not work well with some species.

We will try that in the future. We are limited in the number of dedicated breeding cages we have, because we have 3 large double flight cages. We have 3 Prevue F70 breeding cages that have the split divider. The Societies are in one, the fledgling is in the other, and the new one that arrived today is for a Red-headed Gouldian pair that is being shipped to us on Sept. 12. Right now the 2 Owls are sharing the a large double flight cage with a very gentle male Gouldian that minds his own business and stays on the other side of the cage so he can be closer to his female mate that is in another cage right now.

[Babs _Owner]

cindy

It is coinciding with feeding him a little less attempting to wean him.

She's going back to 3 hour feedings.

[a_gouldian]

Well, our little Puff seems to be back in shape. Eager to eat, trying to fly into the formula mixing bowl because he is so excited, and chirping away like he is starving with all the carrying on. Things ae back to "normal" (at least for today)

We also are going to make the formula a little thicker because his crop seems to be empty after 2 hours. We fill the crop up to about what looks like 70 - 80% when viewing it from the side. We had the formula thick, but thin enough so it would still fall from a spoon when the spoon was tilted. We are thinking if it is like thick pudding, maybe he won't get as hungry so fast.

[Shannylee]

a_gouldian, that's great news!