air in crop, labored breathing, mucus bubbles- 1wk old

[redbeak]

i have been trying to find info on my own, it seems like the question has been asked a million times about air in the crop...

My chick is blowing bubbles thru his bill, and gasping for breath...

I held it upside down and it spit up tons of clearish mucusy liquid and about half its last meal.

I am worried, this is my first FF chick!

I have tried to get a pic, but my phone is just way too slow to capture the bubbles...
Its 2 siblings seem fine.

[lovezebs]

redbeak
Oh dear, that does not sound good. At least he got some of it up. Does he seem better after all that stuff came out? I'm concerned that he might have gotten some of it into his lungs, in which case there is really not much you can do.
Is he being fed by parents, or hand fed?

I hope one of our more experienced folks offer some helpful advice.
Poor little baby.

~Elana~

[afinch]

I'm sorry, but sounds like he's aspirated and possibly also suffering from crop stasis. It's near impossible to go back at this point, and odds are he won't make it. The really bad part is that he might suffer for a while before he dies. There's little you can do at this point other than take him to a vet (who may not be able to help either). You can only keep him as warm and comfortable as possible. I'm very sorry.

[Sally]

I agree, it sounds like he has aspirated. Is this a handfed? The only other thing I can think of is a yeast infection, in which case you could add some organic baby applesauce to the handfeeding formula. With aspiration, they can die immediately, or they can linger for a while, but there is never a good outcome. So sorry.

[monotwine]

I agree with Sally, either its aspirated or likely a yeast infection.
If the yeast infection is that noticeable you will have to give it Nystatin/Medistatin for min of 5 days in its food / soft food.
So sorry your bird is like this. Terrible when they get ill and are young.

[lovezebs]

redbeak

Any news of your little one?

~Elana~

[redbeak]

Sadly, the little one did not make it thru the night...
It held on tho, was alive when i finally went to bed last night...

These are parent-reared chicks, I have learned to not fuss with my finch chicks unless absolutely necessary...

What causes this aspiration?
Why arent the other 2 chicks affected, or will they be?

And, Thankyou all for your info, advice, and support

[Sally]

Sorry you lost this little one. I've only had babies aspirate that were handfed, but then I don't see my parent-raised babies, so I really don't know what is going on in the nest.

[redbeak]

is it something like I left the eggfood in too long and it spoiled, is it that kind of an issue?
I would think if spoiled food was an issue it would affect all the birds even the parents.

Most things I found about air in the crop says its due to the chicks eating too fast.... and thats also usually during hand-feeding

This is the 2nd clutch in 6months for these parents, and it is also their first "successful" clutch, as in the parents finally seemed to have gotten the hang of feeding their chicks(the first go-round was a complete failure for them )

[afinch]

Air bubbles are rare when parents are feeding, certainly with the magnitude described here. This sounds like a yeast infection (also rare with parent reared chicks), which I assumed lead to fluid build up (possibly after crop stasis), and these fluids got aspirated into the lungs causing the difficulty in breathing.