Pediatric Avian Medicine: Traumatic Conditions in the Psittacine Chick

Key Points

  • Careful, experienced hand feeding technique reduces the risk of many potential problems including crop burn, crop atony, aspiration pneumonia, and some beak malformations.
  • Crop burns are induced by feeding hot formula exceeding 110°F.
  • Overfeeding can lead to overstretching of the crop and subsequent crop stasis, malnutrition, stunting, and secondary bacterial and fungal infections.
  • Gastrointestinal foreign bodies and aspiration pneumonia are important diseases of birds of weaning age.

Feeding excessively hot formula (>110°F) causes crop burns. This problem is particularly common when formula is heated in a microwave without thorough mixing. Early signs of crop burn include . . .


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References

Clubb SL. Psittacine pediatric husbandry and medicine. In: Altman RB, Clubb SL, Dorrestein GM, Quesenberry K (eds). Avian Medicine and Surgery. WB Saunders; Philadelphia, PA. 1997. Pp. 73-95.

Clubb SL, Schubot R, Wolf S. Hematologic and serum biochemical reference intervals for juvenile macaws, cockatoos, and Eclectus parrots. In: Schubot RM, Clubb KJ, Clubb SL (eds). Psittacine Aviculture: Perspectives, Techniques, and Research. ABRC; Loxahatchee, Fl. 1992. Pp. 18.1-18.20.

Flammer K, Clubb SL. Neonatology. In: Ritchie BW, Harrison GJ, Harrison LR , (eds). Avian Medicine: Principles and Application. Wingers Publishing; Lake Worth, FL. 1994. Pp. 748-804.

Gregory CR, Latimer KS, Campagnoli RP, Ritchie BW. Histological evaluation of the crop for diagnosis of proventricular dilation syndrome in psittacine birds. J Vet Diag Invest 8:76-80, 1996.

To cite this page:

Rivera S. Pediatric avian medicine: Traumatic conditions in the psittacine chick. May 6, 2008. LafeberVet Web site.  https://lafeber.com/vet/pediatric-avian-medicine/