My cockatiel hen will not stop laying soft shelled
eggs. She has access to cuttlebone and I feed a diet of pellets,
seed, cornbread, veggies and oyster shell (mixed into the
veggies). I separated her from the male when she was finished
laying her eggs, about two weeks ago, and now she has started
laying soft shelled eggs again. What should I do ?
There are several areas that need to be discussed.
Laying soft-shelled eggs means the female bird is either
deficient in calcium and cannot lay a hard shell, or the egg is
moving too quickly through the uterus as seen with uterine
infection and sometimes internal infections.
A calcium deficient diet will lead to low blood
calcium, but also calcium levels in the diet can be normal but
will not be absorbed into the blood if there is too much
phosphorous, deficient levels of vitamin D or conditions of
maladsorption due to intestinal disease. A seed diet has too much
phosphorous, not enough calcium or vitamin D. Cuttlebone has too
much phosphorous and is not a good source of usable calcium when
a bird is deficient in calcium. Cuttlebone, something you have
always used, should be replaced with a 2:1 (calcium:Phosphorous)
powdered supplement during deficiencies.
Remember, the egg is a container filled with energy
(vitamins, minerals, fat and carbohydrates) for the developing
embryo. But, the female bird has to use her energy storage to
fill the egg. If she does this too often (15 eggs per year), then
she becomes deficient in energy and she gets sick or starts
having egg problems or both. We must feed good balanced diets to
make sure she doesnt become deficient. Vegetables, fruits,
healthy table foods and pellets will help. For breeding birds, I
recommend that the diet not consist of more than 50% of the diet
as seed. You must have more than just fruits and vegetables
supplementing the remaining 50% or you will experience
deficiencies.
Excessive egg layers can be controlled by removing the
mate, removing the nest box, eliminating the nesting area,
removing the object or person the bird is attached of displaying
to. One can also move the cage and change the perches and place
different objects in and around the cage. You can decrease the
number of light hours down to 8 or 10. If environmental and
behavior manipulation are not successful, then hormone therapy
can be used by a veterinarian. Hysterectomy can be performed as a
last resort.
What are the early warning signs of sour crop and how
do you prevent this from happening ??
Sour Crop means different things to different people.
To some it means a yeast or candida infection of the crop. To
others it means a bacterial infection of the crop. For some, sour
crop is given to those birds with a hard impacted crop and for
others it applies to a soft, doughy crop with foul smelling crop
contents. Usually this term applies to baby birds. To me, sour
crop means the crop size or the crop contents are abnormal and
the emptying time for the crop is abnormally slow. There may or
may not be vomiting and the chick may or may not act sick. The
droppings may or may not be normal. The crop can be soft or hard.
The first point to make is that the above problem
occurs because:
1. There are problems in the crop itself.
2. There are problems somewhere else in the body affecting the
hydration of the baby.
It is easy to understand the first statement. If there
is a bacterial or yeast infection in the crop, it can cause
abnormal changes in the crop. If there is a piece of corn cob in
the crop, the same thing will happen. The second cause is a
little harder to explain.
First, remember the digestive system is a 12 inch
pipe. There is a beginning and an end. Mouth at 1 inch , crop at
3 inch, stomach at 5 inch, intestine at 6 to 11 inches, and
rectum at 12 inches. If you have an infection and a blockage in
the intestine, then the food and water wont move through
properly and eventually you have a "plugged-up-sink" in
the crop. The crop is affected without the crop having the
infection and thus a test on the crop may be normal despite an
infection in the intestine. Lets complicate this system
further. The liver can have an infection which causes
dehydration, but the 12 inch pipe (digestive system) needs fluid
or water to move the food. If the baby is dehydrated, then the
food cant move down the pipe so things back up into the
crop. Again, you get sour crop without a crop infection. The
infection is elsewhere in the liver, but it affects the crop. Any
illness which can cause dehydration will cause sour crop
,Pneumonia, kidney infection, air sacculitis).
To complicate the babys illness, crops swollen
with food in sour crop will draw water out of the blood stream
and lead to further dehydration, which further slows down the
movement of food down the pipe, which backs up more food into the
crop which leads to further dehydration. If we do not break this
vicious cycle, then the baby will die.
Treatment involves emptying the crop with a tube so
that the food will not sit in the crop and draw water out of the
blood stream. Put antibiotics and antiyeast medicine into the
crop. Give fluids under the skin to correct the dehydration and
give small amounts of fluids into the crop. Injectable medicines
are necessary when the infection is severe and when the medicine
only sits in the crop (because it cant move), but the
infection is elsewhere (not in the crop). The purpose of
treatment is treat the cause, correct the dehydration, empty the
crop and then hopefully fluid then will flow down the pipe.
To diagnose the cause, smears are made from the crop
and droppings for gram stains and parasite checks. Feeling the
crop checks for corn cob and other foreign objects. Blood work
checks for infections in other parts of the body. X-ray looks for
foreign objects below the crop and other sites of infections
(Pneumonia). Cultures are done to find out exactly what infection
is present.
The sooner you notice a problem and start treatment,
the better. If all movement of food out of the crop has stopped
then it is harder to get it going again. If the crop is emptying
half as fast as normal, then you have more time to get things
moving before it stops all together. Remember we are working with
babies and the more stress the weaker their chance for recovery.
Early signs to look for include vomiting, dryer
droppings (dehydration), red skin instead of pink skin. Notice if
the crop is taking longer to empty. If you feed a bedtime but in
the morning half the food is still in the crop, then this baby is
already dehydrated and has an infection. A change in appetite,
activity or weight gain are all important.
If you notice one change, then you have caught it
early. If you wait until you have identified four changes, then
you have waited too long and the baby will die.
Prevention is strong, healthy parents which will not
pass on infection; a clean nest box and good hygiene for the
person feeding and caring for the baby.
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