Abstract
Question #1: I am having problems with some of my Cockatiels. We have about 100 birds, of which about 65 are Cockatiels 15 lovebirds and two macaws and two grays. We have been breeding the 'tiels for five years and this year we tried to expand our breeding. We bought out a few breeders and all new birds were quarantined for 45 days with no problems and now as they breed, some of the chicks are starting to die. No adults have died yet. They were purchased about nine months ago. For a while I was buying two week old chicks from another breeder but I have since stopped. We handfeed the chicks, with pipettes. We never use a pipette for more than one feeding although we do feed all the chicks with the same pipette for that one feeding. All chicks are kept in brooders.
What ever they die from happens at about five weeks of age. The signs are: a redness to the skin (in the first stage), the crop slows, the bird refuses to eat, loss of appetite, in one bird I noticed that the eyes appeared to bulge like the skull had shrunk, vomiting, and labored breathing. I have noticed also that the tongue turns white and appears to swell. I think some of them have maybe had convulsions. They die after about 36 hours after the first signs are noticed.
I would like to get to the bottom of this. I can't decide who to test or when to test, and what tests need to be done. Should I test one of the parents of the last chick to die or wait to see of another chick dies and then do a necropsy at that time? We currently have three babies in the brooder. Please advise me.
ANSWER #1: The best place to start with a situation like this is to have a necropsy done on one of the chicks. As soon as the baby dies, it should be wet down with mild soapy water, placed in a plastic bag and refrigerated. DO NOT FREEZE the body as this causes ice crystals to form in the tissue and disrupts the cell structure. The pathologist is then unable to identify viral inclusion bodies and other vital information. Your avian veterinarian should be placed on alert as to your current situation. The necropsy should be done the same day the chick dies if at all possible, because the fresher the tissues, the more accurate the information from the necropsy. As a body decays, autolysis sets in and this disrupts cell structure so again the pathologist cannot identify vital information.
It is often useful to necropsy more than one, so I usually recommend two or three bodies be necropsied so we can see if the lesions are similar in all. Sometimes the disease process is more evident in one than in another. There is always more information in a necropsy than in any testing that can be done on a live bird. However, once the necropsy has been done, depending on the findings, further testing can be done on the parent birds. In your situation, there may be a bacterial, yeast, viral, chlamydia!, or parasitic problem that is causing the deaths in these chicks. Once the specific nature of the problem has been identified by histopathology then if, for example, it is a bacterial problem, the parents and the environment can be cultured to identify the specific bacteria. Once that is known, eliminating the contamination source would be the ultimate goal.
Rhoda Stevenson, DVM, ABVP-Avian Gainesville, Florida
ANSWER #2: The .best and most cost effective way to discover the cause of death in the Cockatiel babies, would be to have necropsies done on recently deceased babies. As one bird may not result in an answer, it would be advisable to submit several babies for examinations. Depending on the cause(s) that are uncovered, the action to be taken can be determined. One concern of course is with infection with the polyomavirus. Other causes can also be the culprit, hence the importance of the post mortem examination. Best wishes.
Amy B. Worell, DVM, ABVP-Avian