Pediatrics
April Romagnano, PhD, DVM
Dipl. ABVP (Avian Practice)

Success in aviculture revolves around the ability to successfully raise a healthy psittacine. Factors such as environment, nutrition, genetics, and knowledge of hand-rearing techniques influence the health and growth from hatching to weaning. There are many common pediatric problems such as un-retracted yolk-sacs, stunting, leg and toe deformities, beak malformations, crop stasis, crop burns, abnormal regurgitation, foreign-body ingestion, and esophageal or pharyngeal punctures. Bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases may also occur, depending on the overall health status of the flock. Proper nursery management, close daily observation of each youngster, and immediate veterinary attention to problems will increase the level of success in hand-rearing psittacines.
The nursery environment must be kept clean as unsanitary conditions contribute to disease. Regular disinfection of the environment is a necessity. It is especially important to disinfect feeding utensils between feedings. Altricial birds (birds that need to be fed by their parents), such as psittacines, must be in a heated environment as they cannot regulate their body temperature. Recommended environmental temperatures range from 94 - 990| F at hatching. Temperature need decreases as the bird feathers out. Fluctuations in temperature may result in medical problems, such as crop stasis (too cold) or dehydration (too hot).
Nutrition may influences the growth of the youngster more than any other factor other than disease. Many commercial and homemade preparations are suitable. Contact your veterinarian or a successful breeder for recommendations on which formula has been found effective for the species you wish to raise. Follow weight and measure directions closely for formula dilution, temperature, amount and frequency of feedings, to ensure optimum growth rate. A healthy baby should have plump elbows, toes, and hips. Keel muscle-mass is not a reliable indicator of body condition in young psittacines as the normal musculature is not developed. The best method for monitoring growth is to weigh the bird daily prior to the first feeding. Every baby should gain weight every day. A normal baby will also empty its crop and have pink (in most birds), warm, supple skin.
Signs that indicate health problems in a psittacine baby include stress marks on the feathers, feather deformities, eye or nostril discharge, poor feeding response, failure of the crop to empty, poor weight gain, abnormally large head, or feathers that do not grow in the appropriate direction. Because psittacine babies are altricial they are sensitive to hypothermia and dehydration, and grow rapidly, health problem should be addressed immediately by an experience avian veterinarian.