Society Finch Chick - Distended Abdomen

[finchlover24]

I have been raising a society chick abandoned by its parents for about a week. It's abdomen has become distended and it looks like its filling with some yellow fluid. Has anyone had experience with this before? It is eating every 2 hours and pooping normally so there's nothing wrong with its crop.

Diet: Lafeber's Nutristart Formula with Avitech Formula One for right now since it was so tiny when I got it.

cindy lnlovesorange ac12
Sally

[ac12]

Sorry, no experience with that. But gut feeling is that it isn't good. Keep an eye on him, and hope someone who knows what might be happening will comment.

[finchlover24]

ac12 That's okay, thank you for answering though. It definitely doesn't look good to me but I've never dealt with it so I have no idea what to do.

[OAvila1986]

finchlover24 an abandoned society finch? That's strange....
I've never had to hand feed any babies and It doesn't look good. I don't know what that could mean and it looks way to big is that the finch's rear bottom? I have a week olD SF in the nest may be I can see and compare ....

[finchlover24]

OAvila1986 I know.. they also tossed 2 other babies as well. Maybe they sensed that they were sick?

That's the finch's belly and bottom. I believe he is at least 2 weeks old and his growth doesn't match up with the growth of my zebra finch (not sure if they grow at the same time, but not even any pin feathers has me worried.) He is pooping and eating on schedule though, and is able to beg with squeaking noises.

The only thing that I can think of is yolk sac poisoning, but even then I waited until day 3 to feed him. That's the only thing that makes sense for yellow fluid in the abdomen. I didn't wait longer than day 3 since I was afraid he would die. He was born with a black spot on his abdomen as well, maybe that has something to do with it? I've handled him the same way that I've handled my other babies that are now a year old so I have no idea what's going on :/

[Sally]

finchlover24 That definitely doesn't look good, the abdomen should not be distended like that, and at two weeks of age, there should be more development, some pin feathers starting in at the very least. Hand fed babies are often behind in development, but not this far behind. Sorry I can't help you with what is wrong, but I have had a few hand fed babies that simply didn't develop as they should, and unfortunately, I lost them.

[finchlover24]

Sally I know, something is definitely up. Here are pics I just took now:

He was also very tiny when I got him, almost too small to even eat from a toothpick. I have been feeding every 2 hours through the day and night since I got him to try and help with development and so far I feel like he looks the same other than he got a little bigger.

[Sally]

finchlover24 It looks like he has some sort of infection going on, but no way to know if it is bacterial or fungal unless you could test the poop. Does his poop look normal for a hand fed?

[finchlover24]

Sally it does, actually. He poops right on schedule with no problem, eats with no problem. Just really really slow development and the fluid in his belly. No diarrhea, no weird colors, nothing. Ill try and take a picture when he poops again.

For now, I have pictures from Tuesday. His poop looks very similar to that which also looks like the poop from my other babies during this time.

[Sally]

finchlover24 Yes, poop looks normal, I was expecting more abnormal poop. I remember you mentioning that you feed every 2 hours and through the night. Personally, at this age, you shouldn't have to feed through the night. Last feed at midnight, first feed at 6, or even last at 11pm and first at 7am (8 hours) should be sufficient.

[finchlover24]

Sally I know, last night I did 12:30am, 4:30am, and 8:30am. I'm just afraid of waking up, making the food, and finding him dead :/ Slowly, I have been spacing it out to match my other baby at every 3 hours. Waking up every hour is exhausting Problem is, he digests the food every 2 hours exactly, so I'm afraid of leaving him 8 hours without food, especially with the fluid thing going on.

I thought he'd have abnormal poop too, or slow crop, I don't know - something to go on with this fluid. Some sort of symptoms, you know? But nothing other than really slow growth.

[Sally]

Omigosh, waking up every hour?! That would kill me! Even when I do every 2 hours, it quickly wears me out and I usually wind up sleeping through the alarm.

[finchlover24]

Sally I have 3 alarms just in case I fall back asleep. It was every hour more or less since the baby was every hour and the older zebra baby was every 2. Sometimes their feeding times would fall on the same time, other times it was different. Now the zebra is every 3 during the day, every 4 at night (so one night feeding, i know i shouldnt have to but I accidentally wake the older one up when feeding the society so he looks at me like "you have food, right?" lol!) Now I'm trying to spread the society to every 3-4 at night and every 3 during the day to try and match it up.

Do you think there's a chance, with some medistatin or other meds, that his body could resolve the fluid issue since he doesn't have any other physical symptoms other than slow growth?

I have the following on hand:

Medistatin
NV Powder
Guardian Angel
Tri Sulfa
Ronex
Megabac
Avibios Probiotic

[finchlover24]

Sally he just pooped. Here it is.

[finchlover24]

Sally I think I overestimated his age. My dad said he brought the baby to me sometime last week. Definitely not before the 24th. So he's anywhere between 1 week 4 days and 1 week 1 day(ish). I'll ask him when he gets home so we can get an exact age. I don't record birthdays the day that I get them because I'm afraid of getting too attached and something goes wrong. I usually wait until 4-7 days have passed so I know that they have somewhat of a chance.

He has definitely grown from when I've gotten him considering his mouth was too small for a toothpick when he was born. Now he eats on his two feet, flapping his wings I think I just expected him to grow as fast as his neighbor (zebra finch, a little over 2 weeks old and already trying to hop out! )