Greeting (Crop Burn??)

[MzSpeedDiva]

I am a new member, and I look forward to the great advise I can possibly get here. Although, I hope I am not too late,,,,(Sigh) I have had 3 types of birds and now I just recently last month purchased a Umbrella Cockatoo, and today I found that she has CROP BURN..... I feel really bad about this and I don't know what to do? I went to a VET but he seemed to relaxed about it as if.......?

[Courtzrocks]

Moving this to bird health and safety...welcome though.

[my-africangrey-echo]

Are you hand feeding your cockatoo? If so you must know the exact temp of the feeding with a digital thermometer. As far as the crop burn I don't have any help for you but others with lots more experience in hand feeding will be along soon..

[Tombstone]

The proper procedure is to flush the crop with cool, sterile saline as soon as crop burn is detected. However, if you do not know how to flush the crop using a tube and hollow syringe, please do not attempt it. You can literally drown your bird. Crop burn can be fatal and is quite hard to treat effectively. It can be prevented by keeping a close eye on the temperature of the formula that is being fed to baby birds. A generally agreed on safe temperature is 105 degrees fahrenheit. Here's more info. I found for you:

Crop Burn

Here is why it is vital to know how to hand feed baby chicks properly; many people that don't really know about the proper temperature of the formula and by feeding the chick too hot of a formula can result in Crop Burn. This can kill the chick. There are always reports about Crop Burn in young chicks and this is real sad when it could have been prevented. It actually burns a hole in the crop. The burning of the lining of the crop is caused by excessively hot food. Most crop burns are not apparent immediately but will slowly develop over a period of one or two days after the incident. The external color and texture of the crop changes to a rough yellowish-brown scar that develops from inside of the crop. This looks very similar to a black and blue bruise. The scar can become a scab and eventually rupture to the outside, causing formula to leak from the crop. In severe cases where the entire crop lining is effected, the chick will usually die before this happens. If the burn is slight or the scab develops and the chick lives, surgical removal of the scab and repair of the crop is possible. Chicks that have ingested hot formula will often exhibit erratic behavior when approached for feeding thereafter. They may roll over or resist food of any kind. In minor cases there is often vomiting of formula or thick clear mucous after feeding. If you feel you might have caused Crop Burn , then flush the crop with cool water immediately. Then seek out an avian vet as soon as possible so chick can be looked at.

If the chick falls into the hands of an inexperienced hand feeder this is what can happen along with other things such as improper feeding can lead to aspiration, this is where the formula ends up going into the lungs instead of the crop. Babies must be fed on their left side of the mouth.

Please don't buy an unweaned baby and breeders should not sell unweaned babies especially to to someone who is inexperienced at the knowledge of hand feeding. I have heard it repeatedly said that there is nothing to hand feeding and that's true if you know exactly what you are doing, but if you don't then you and the chick are at possible risk. Bottom line is don't buy an unweaned baby, let the breeder finish to a complete wean. The chick will be less stressed if he doesn't change hand feeders. I hope I have discouraged people who want to buy just one bird to hand feed. It's not worth the risk of hand feeding it, this is not always true when you hear it said that you will bond better if you hand feed the bird. Don't forget other things are important on raising a chick, you have to keep the chick warm and proper temperature. If it is not kept warm food can not digest and can cause problems. Another problem that arises in young chicks is Slow Crop where the food digests real slow, it can take hours for the crop to empty out and when this happens this has to be watched carefully. Don't feed more formula when this happens, give a couple of drops of pediatric electrolyte every so often. A lot of times chicks stop digesting and then they die. It almost can't be prevented when the chick has this problem.
Please read our tips or suggestions and do not buy unweaned babies.

[catschair]