# Hand fed tiels - Mortality Rate?



## Roy & Tipsy (Sep 18, 2011)

Hi,

My baby tiel died today. We had him for 3 weeks and all was going well. This morning, he only had 3 mls of formula on an empty crop for breakfast. (usually he takes about 10 mls), and he seemed less eager than usual. I tried to feed him later and he seemed back to normal whilst feeding. He eagerly took about 5 mls and he was bobbing up and down as usual, but then he just keeled over and died; we tried all sorts of things to revive him but nothing worked.

I have been following all the right advise about feeding by hand and was using Kaytee Exact at the right temperature, consistency, etc, but still he died.

Question: There must be many people on this site that have hand reared tiels; do many die, or have I just been unlucky?

Roy


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

he may have been ill. where did you get him from?


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## Roy & Tipsy (Sep 18, 2011)

Hi, from a large pet store.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

I would say, just from what I've read, it seems surprisingly common. I handfed my Sunny--by myself--when I was five years old, and now that I'm old enough to read about the risks, I'm shocked that I didn't kill him. 

I think, without having a necropsy done, it's hard to truly answer your question. As Dally suggested, he may have had an underlying illness, or he may have aspirated. As I understand it, it's possible to do everything right and still have a chick aspirate. In fact, I have even read cases of adult birds that have aspirated and died while eating seed. It's a scary reality of bird ownership.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

ok... well have you handfed before (silly question, but im curious)?

how old was he when you got him? did his crop seem abnormal? was his skin red? large head, eyes or feet in comparison in the body compared to normal chicks?


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## Roy & Tipsy (Sep 18, 2011)

Thanks for your replies


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## Roy & Tipsy (Sep 18, 2011)

Hi,

No, I have not hand-fed before. Regarding what he was like physically, apart from being bald-headed apart from his crest, he seemed OK. His crop filled as you would expect and by the time of his next feed, it was empty. He ate with the typical head bobbing and was very excited at mealtimes. His poop was a healthy green with a small amount of white and everything seemed OK until today. I should add that when we first got him 3 weeks ago, he took a couple of days to get into the swing of being hand fed, but after that he was fine. He had started to fly a few days ago and generally seemed to be doing well.

* I have just been told by my wife that he felt cold this morning just before his feed.  We live in southern Spain and our lounge temperature is in the high 70's - 80's most of the day. So maybe he was ill and we did not realise.

Roy


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

there is a chance there was something wrong with him, he could have been sick, or theres a chance something happened with handfeeding. without a necropsy, you may not know


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

How old was he when you got him? Birds tend to slow down on the feedings right before they start flying to lose weight then pick up again after they have taken their first flight. It sounds like he was doing that but aspirated while feeding, which is more common than it could be at that age. Also never feed a chilled bird, this could cause it to get a crop infection very easily.


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## morla (Aug 15, 2011)

Im sorry. I wonder why he died!


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## Roy & Tipsy (Sep 18, 2011)

Thanks for your replies.

Roy


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Honestly, if you have been hand feeding him for 3 weeks, you must have been doing it right. The little guy would have perished before now. Aspiration is a possibility, as unfortunately it can happen at any point. Had you been weighing him? Do you know if he was losing any weight? I vote for the possibility of illness in him. You said you got him from a large pet store and had him for 3 weeks.. but you never said how old he was..? I'm confused as to why the pet store would sell a chick still hand feeding to someone who didn't have experience with it.


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## DesertDweller (Oct 8, 2011)

It sounds like he aspirated the last feeding. A bird that's enthusiastically bobbing his head for food will not just immediately keel over dead unless he aspirated. I'm so sorry for your loss.


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