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Post by tiki on Dec 25, 2005 8:36:28 GMT 10
Merry Christmas! Like any good Mum, I am looking after the baby before presents. Last night, by midnight, his crop was down to about 20% so I gave him a top up of 10ml. It took him until 7:30 this morning to completely empty his crop. I weighed him first, with empty crop he weighed 100 grams. I gave him 14ml by crop needle and another 1ml by spoon so he could get a taste of it without making too much of a mess. After feeding he weighed 105 grams.
Ozquaker-so with the above stats, should I have given him more to bring his weight up to 110 grams after feeding? Because if 15ml put 5 grams on him, then it would take another 15ml to increase his weight by 10%. 30 ml seems like way too much, his crop is pretty full now. I could probably squeeze another 5ml but not another 15.
BTW I have a Quaker too-her name is Chaska and I got her at he QLd State Bird Fair last May. She is adorable but very jealous of my other birds-very attached to me!
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Post by tiki on Dec 25, 2005 15:42:15 GMT 10
Oops, I actually misread that little kitchen scale. He weighed 100 grams before feeding and 120 after, it goes up in 10 gram increments. His crop emptied by 3:30pm and I gave him same as before14ml and a bit on the spoon. He started at 105 grams and went up to 125 grams. By contrast my 3 month old blue Princess weighs 125 grams and is fully weaned-he nibbles throughout the day.
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Post by ozquaker on Dec 25, 2005 15:59:32 GMT 10
Hey Tiki,
I'm glad that it was a mis read of the kitchen scale as I was wondering how 15 mL of formula could weigh only 5 gms. Incidentally, 1 mL of formula should weigh about 1 gm. Do a little test and weigh your syringe when empty and then again after filling with a set amount of food. You should then be able to work out how much each mL weighs. That way (if and when you use the spoon) you can judge how many mLs of formula has been fed. I mentioned 10% (to12%) - that's just a general guide. If you can put more in without over extending the crop, then the approximately 20 mLs that you are getting into his crop should be fine - but take note to increase the crop size *gradually* - follow the instructions from luvmyringies as she's got way more experience than I have. Looks like your little baby is going to grow up totally lovingly spoilt rooten ;D
Quakers are really great aren't they? But as you say, very jealous of other birds. I've just been playing with my new lot of babies and they are starting to show their personalities - one is particularly fiesty and will grow up to be a bit of a bossy boots I reckon.
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Post by scottj on Dec 25, 2005 16:17:09 GMT 10
 how cute  |
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Post by kim1 on Dec 25, 2005 20:02:45 GMT 10
sounds like youve got it running smoothly now, he should be on 3 feeds now, say 7am 2pm and 9pm, if his crop is a bit full at the 9pm feeds I would start to reduce the 2pm feed so it is almost empty by the 9pm feed, as the morning and night feed increases you slowly decrease the middle feed, untill he is on two feeds a day, if hes haveing 20 mls thats a pretty good feed, just watch that the crop doesn't slow too quickly, but so far every thing sound great.
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Post by tiki on Dec 25, 2005 23:28:38 GMT 10
Nope, not up to 20 ml. I am afraid to stretch the crop that much. I am being really conservative because my AV (Adrian Gallagher) is closed until Wed so if anythng went wrong, I have no where to take him. I have a new bird check up booked for 29 Dec. I only gave him 10ml at the 11pm feeding. Today I did 8am-14ml, 3:30pm-14ml and 11pm-10ml with a little bit off the spoon after each crop feed. Tomorrow, I hope his crop empties by 7am so I can get him on 7am, 3pm, 11pm because I have to gradually get him to 7am 5pm, 11pm by Jan 3 when I go back to work. He is growing so fast, his little tail has double since bringing him home!
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Post by kim1 on Dec 26, 2005 7:20:59 GMT 10
I'm going to do a bit of asking around for you, re- max crop volumes etc it may be that you can start reducing that middle feed now as the morning and afternoon feeds increase, I'm not completely sure about princesses, but my ringnecks on 14 mls would be digesting much quiicker and on 4 feeds, so it may be that princesses have a lower crop capacity if that was the case than you would be able to start lowering the middle feed as the other feeds slowly increase, thus working towards dropping it which would be timely as you go back to work soon, once you begin drop that middle feed thats when I start to put in some rice bubbles and other soft foods to incourage picking, although its only playing at first, they are learning about eating.
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Post by kim1 on Dec 26, 2005 10:41:25 GMT 10
From what I've found out so far, princess parrots do indeed have a smaller maximum crop volume than ringnecks so I would be giveing perhaps 14mls morning 10 mls middle feed and 14 mls night, this should bring the night feed forward a bit, as a smaller volume fed in the middle of the day should see it digested about 9 or 10 pm,and that should also mean the crop will empty completely overnight easily, I'd be giving that a try.
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Post by tiki on Dec 26, 2005 12:33:32 GMT 10
Thanks, Kim! I already gave him 15ml at the 7am feeding. Right now, 12:30pm his crop is about 30% full. He is due again at 3pm if he empties so I will give him 10ml and see when he empties.
He weighed 110 grams this morning before feeding, about 128 grams after. I am just so worried he will get sour crop or something on a public holiday when I can't get any help for him. He is exactly 4 weeks old today, so he will be 5 weeks when I go back to work. His wings are nicely feathered now and he is stretching them a lot. Lots of pin feathers on his body but still some down. If I put him on the bed, he runs to me! I put some millet sprays in his box, so far he is ignoring them but his big brother, Tjinimin (12 week old blue Princess) was trying to steal it. I am hoping baby will copy big brother and learn to eat the millet.
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Post by kim1 on Dec 26, 2005 14:44:59 GMT 10
Don't worry to much the crop seems ok for now but I'll tell how to treat it incase, that way at least you can feel reasured that you know what to do if it happens
if the crop appears to be slowing a great deal never feed on food thats already in the crop, instead give only warm water with some probiotic (good bacteria) if you don't have that you can use a mixture of warm water and 25% fermented health drink such as yuckholt(sorry wrong spelling) or a little acidophillas yoghurt, when that digests you repeat it with only a tiny bit of formula added and as long as that digest you slowly increase the formula over 48 hrs. also add some electrolytes if you have it(just a pinch)
If the crop has slowed so much it hardly moves you need to suck the contents of the crop out useing a crop needle carefully so the needle doesn't stick on the wall of the crop, this probebly should be done with two people one holding the bird still and you useing the crop needle, after sucking it out squirt in some warm water to which a pinch of baking soda has been added (this neutralizes the sour crop) give the crop a bit of a massage and suck that out also, then start with the warm water probiotics and electrolytes mixture mentioned above.
You probebly won't ever need to use this but at least if you have to you know what to do.
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Post by tiki on Dec 28, 2005 10:30:02 GMT 10
Thanks, Kim! I hope I never have to do any of that, it sounds really scary! So far......so good!
Here's an update: He now weighs 115 grams first thing in the morning on an empty crop. I gave him 15ml of formula this morning, he is doing well on 3 feedings a day. He is now 30 days old and feathering out nicely-sooooo cute! I will put up pics later. When I put him on the bed, he runs straight to me-he is destined to be a velcro bird!
Tomorrow morning is the check up at Adrian's, I am sure he will have some useful weaning/feeding tips too.
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Post by tiki on Dec 29, 2005 22:56:42 GMT 10
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Post by petiel on Jan 6, 2006 14:09:26 GMT 10
Tiki, how is your baby princess going, he is probaly growning very fast by now?
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