Baby Zebra Finches - Health Advice Please!

[finchlover24]

These two baby zebra finches were born at 7am and 5pm on 3/26. I have been keeping them in an incubator. Their parents would either abandon the eggs, throw them on the floor after hatching, or they would eat the eggs (I've given the parents egg shells and other sources of calcium so I dont see why this is happening either.) So, this time my father took the eggs when they were about to hatch and put them in an incubator. I'm feeding them Lafeber's hand feeding formula with pedialyte. They were fine the first few days, begging for food and moving around. Their poop also seems normal as of right now. Their development doesn't match up with some of the research that I've done. One seems to be breathing differently than the other. The smaller one takes a deep breath, stops for a few seconds, and does it again. Meanwhile, the other one appears normal. As of this morning, they aren't moving around much nor are they begging for food even though their crop is near empty. I'm new to this. What should I do? Are they sick?

[Sally]

It is not easy to hand feed, it is very easy to aspirate them, especially in the first few days or even the first week. What kind of tool are using to offer the hand feeding formula? The odd breathing can be a sign of aspiration, you'll just have to wait and see. Normally, babies will beg strongly when their crop is almost empty, so if they aren't wanting to beg, that may not be a good sign. Are you keeping them warm enough? Are you making sure the formula is the right temperature? Too hot and it will burn their crops, which is fatal, but too cold and the formula doesn't move through their systems, leading to crop stasis. Here is a link to an article on hand feeding, plus if you do a search in the Breeding section of this forum, you will find other articles on hand feeding.

http://www.finchinfo.com/breeding/handfeeding.php

[delray]

finchlover24 welcome to the forum! There is lots of information to read at www.finchinfo.com located at the left of your screen, where you can learn an read nany articles regarding your finches!! also, you can put your location in your profile for locale related purposes. Enjoy the forum! I hope your Finches get better.

[finchlover24]

First one died an hour after posting this (the one breathing correctly). Ive been keeping them at 92 to 94 degrees and using a syringe to feed them. I push the syringe a little and put the drop into their mouth for them to swallow. I also make sure the formula is warm to the touch but not hot. Can you mix pedialyte with Lafebers formula or does it have to be water? I fed them through the night and checked on them every hour to every 2 hours. Whats weird is every zebra finch couple i have lays eggs, incubates them, and then refuses to fed them and drops them to the bottom of the cage. Thats why i took these in. I dont think they are siblings and i cannot tell their age. But thank you!

[finchlover24]

Update: The second one has died as well. They were both refusing to eat. I don't understand what was wrong They were just fine yesterday although I did find that their development was a bit behind. They both died on the hour that they were born 3 days ago. Thank you for all of the advice. I hope to use it for the next clutch if there is one.

[debbie276]

Handfeeding is very difficult and time consuming even for the experts. So many things can go wrong and usually do. I've never used pedialyte in the formula just plain water, though I know some use the pedialyte a couple times to give them a boost.
I'm sure you did your best and gave them at least a chance.

Maybe you should post another thread to get advise from the zebra breeders on how to get them settled and not toss chicks. There may be little things you could offer or do for better success though not having zebra's I couldn't say what they are. Lots of times if you explain your set-up and problem forum members will jump in with some solutions and/or things to try. There are a TON of zebra breeders on here.

Best of luck, hope you can get it all sorted out

[lnlovesorange]

So sorry you lost your babies... but like Debbie said, at least you tried, and gave them more of a chance than they would have had on the cage floor... so at least give yourself that. Also, I don't know as I am not an expert, but I've heard that the first 4-5 days, just the tip of a toothpick is what you should use, as they can't take much more than 1-2 of those!! It's crazy but that's all!!! I know a lot of things I've read on hand feeding, they don't start using a syringe until the babies are 4-5 days old or even up to a week old, because they are just so small!!! Also, I would use a thermometer to measure the temps of the formula. The only people I know that do it by feel are people that have been handfeeding successfully for years... just IMO, I commend you on your efforts though. Like you said maybe next time with a little more info and research it will work out better! Good luck, and I'm so sorry for your loss