Baby owl sick

[Sally]

Don't get discouraged, cindy. It is always hard when you lose a little one. We forget sometimes that our sweet little fids are still ruled by Mother Nature, and in the wild, survival of the fittest is how it works. It guarantees that the strongest and the best will be continuing the species, the weak are weeded out. It seems cruel, and we try to save them all, but we cannot. We just do the best we can.

[cindy]

Thank you for the encouragement Sally....this was so unexpeced and so sad. But to look back, her beggging was not as strong as the other baby, she was quieter and was not as energetic as he is...he is non-stop flitting and eating!

He has been on the bottom of the flight playing and moving coco fiber and hay for the last 20 minutes...

[annague]

Cindy, I wanted to let you know that I've now -- very quickly and unexpectedly -- lost 2 of my 5 babies to the same thing you are describing. And, I just moved a third baby into a brooder for sick care.

I have been wracking my brain all day because they all seem fine one day and the next day are having labored breathing (open-mouth gasping) and puffy. By the time I see the symptoms it seems too late to save them! So, I've been searching on the internet and the only thing I can come up with:

Symptom --> respiratory distress

Probable Causes --> ASM, mycoplasmosis, and probably some
other triggers that I am too inexperienced to think of

Exacerbating Circumstances --> Stress

Possible Treatments --> broad spectrum antibiotic, potentially
Baycox??, Ivermectin (for mites), Neem tea

After losing two I am pulling out all the stops and trying to save
baby owl number 3 with some of these treatments.

I am not sure the little owl will make it to morning but I am hoping. I have to hope.

My thoughts are that all newly weaned birds are under stress and owls may be more fragile than most. I had moved them into a Juvie cage which they were sharing with some newly weaned Stars, 5 newly weaned Soc's and 3 adult Societies. The adult Soc's were doing some bullying of the other juvies (besides their own) and the space was new, etc.

It does have additional heating lamps, etc. so I'm not sure what I could have done different... I just wanted you to know you are not alone and maybe we can put our heads together and work to prevent such tragedies in the future -- our owl babies are precious! I don't want to lose any more!

[cindy]

Anna, I am so sorry for your losses.

I think owls are fragile take longer to wean and adjust to their surroundings, they are very dependant on their parents and even when weaned would call to them and hop on the divider between the parents' cage and theirs.

I looked up a few symptoms...one site recommended Ronivet but all the parents were treated prior to this clutch...the parents were dewormed and deparasited.

I am going to be cautious about removing the next clutch from the parents even if the babies appear weaned. The father wanted them out so they could nest again...(I think I heard babies from the box).

I had one woman who knew that I had owls contacting me several times a week even before they are weaned wanting to buy them as soon as the weaned. I told her that the owls were staying put with me and that they take longer to wean. They are definately not like zebras. I also think this has something to do with the age of the parents, they are just a year.

Also malnutrition not on the breeders part but due to begging manner and parents feeding an aggressive chick over a more passive chick might cause the passive chick to get enough of what it needs to have organs and it system to mature properly.

As a precaution I may treat the owls water with Ronivent S for a week. Not sure if this is correct to do since I did this when I got the owls not long ago.

[annague]

I used Ronivet-S on the owl parents prior to weaning... I have read that it is safe to use often because canker becomes rampant during breeding season so perhaps young Owls are more susceptible to canker than other young?

So, maybe during weaning and after removal from parents Ronivet should be used along with a coccidiosis preventative and it should be continued until their immune systems toughen up...?

I'll try it with the next clutch and see how it goes -- I'll keep the FF informed on the results.

[cindy]

I am going to retreat the parents with Ronivet S tomorrow and hopefully this will help.

[annague]

Let us know how it goes!

[cindy]

good articles to read up on:

http://www.finchniche.com/a-protozoa.php

http://www.finchniche.com/a-failurethrive.php

[cindy]

I also might try probiotics in the water when the young are being fed by the parents and they are weaning, drinking. It is a stressfull time for young and parents...

http://finchfiles.com/FinchFiles/Health ... andida.htm

[6finchfriends]

I'm so sorry Cindy and Anna We all put our hearts into our precious charges. I hope the other chicks do well and grow strong. I hope you can find out what the problems was. Some day I would love to have a pair of Owls.

[cindy]

Thank you Trish...right now the remaining little owl has been adopted by an older male owl in the flight, they snuggle at night in one of the nests. He is fitting right in...it might be a female, the older feamle was chasing it a little but things have settled down and they all hang out together.

Since placing the little owl in with the older owls, I have decided to retreat all my owls with ronivetS and then Probiotics. The little owls parents have eggs and quiet possibly baibes so (egg food is going fast, no peeping yet). So hopefully all will go better this time.

[star]

So sorry you lost the little one. Very Sad:(

[CandoAviary]

Just getting caught up on some post... how terrible for the losses ladies... Yes, it does happen but it still sucks. Been there too.
I think many times the parents stop feeding a little too early...or they cut back way too much and the little ones just can't handle eating on their own yet. Owls do seem to be bad about this....
Whenever I notice fledglings on the cage floor that are too young to fly back up to the nest it is usually a sign of a problem. I usually will suppliment feed them and try and put them back in the nest if possible. If not I check them periodically and make sure they have food in their crops from the parents feeding. If not I will suppliment them again. Most times this will get them through the critical starvation/dehydration stage and soon they will be able to fly and eat their own eggfood/millet. I know this is hard with some flighty parents and you may risk upsetting the next clutch but I know if I don't intervene the chicks will surely perish.
Hopefully the next clutch will go better

[cindy]

Star, thank you.

Candace the young were overdue to fledge, still begged for better than two weeks and were weaned for quiet a while and eating well on their own. When still dependent on the parents the young were always chased back to the nest to feed rarely were they seen in the open feeding. None of them ever fledged early or were on the bottom of the cage early before ready to fledge. There was on rare chance I saw and video taped it begging on the bottom, but the young were a bit older, flew well, still begged but were trying food out themselves. When weaned both were eating well.

One was a very aggressive begger with strong wing blocking. In all the cages they had millet, dried egg and ground pellet, seed, water...even boiled egg. This was offered in their own cage after the father chased them out. I never pull young from the parents unless well weaned and usually keep them with the parents probably a bit longer than I should just to be sure. I am not sure what really happened but this time, the parents now are in larger nesting quarters. I do not nest check or disturb the owls, I do not want to risk them abandoning eggs or chicks.

Hopefully all will go better next time, the owls seem more clingy to the parents then most finches and when removed they seemed to pine and call to them. They are very delicate it seems, but once weaned the dad was clear he wanted them out.

[annague]

Just to add my voice to Cindy's... ditto with my owl babies from my last clutch. They were all late fledgers and had been eating well on their own for a week before I removed them and they developed symptoms described and then perished -- these were not young nestlings or fledgers that had not learned to eat on their own.

But... I had treated the parents with Ronivet and of course the standard preventatives prior to breeding as well. All of my other fledglings did (and are doing) fine.... it is very puzzling.

I, too, am going back with the Ronivet S and treating the whole flight again.