Emu Chick Mortality

[Grassman 52]

They get out everyday in the chick run - except when raining.

The bald patches seam to have been caused by the geese as you stated - Once I put the blue coat on them - it stopped. Geese have all been sold and now the Emus sleep with 6 baby ducks that all get along, but the ducks keep to them-self's - they geese would sleep in the same group as the Emu's - the ducks don't.

 

[yinepu]

did you do a necropsy on the dead chicks?

 

[Grassman 52]

No - I should have cut them open and looked for impaction and looked at the yoke sacks - thought about it after the bodies were disposed of.

 

[yinepu]

No - I should have cut them open and looked for impaction and looked at the yoke sacks - thought about it after the bodies were disposed of.

I always do a necropsy on a dead animal.. it can tell you a lot about why it died.. so then you can take action to help prevent the same thing from happening again

 

[Grassman 52]

Since losing my last chick I have been watching all the chicks nightly and I noticed the youngest not eating or drinking the same as the rest. She would run but not play and stand while others ate - she is half the size of the rest of them.

Today when I put them out in the run she looked weak and tired - I thought she may have an impaction so I went to the drug store and got an oral syringe and mineral oil then to the hardware store for tubing. I have never tried anything like this but I knew I had to do something or she would die.

My wife held the bird and I put the tube down her throat and gave her some mineral oil - I could see that the area where the tongue would be - looked like it had a wound on it. So I picked up a different bird opened its mouth and compared side by side - it was clear something was wrong looked like a growth around the opening.

With a pair of tweezers and pulled white material out little piece at a time until I got to something solid - pulled and to my surprise this is what I found:

This is a string from a feed bag - must have falling on the floor of the shed and I didn't see it.
It appears that this has been stuck in her throat for some time (poor girl).

I am just happy that I had read about impaction on this site and read up on it in the EFHB _ I never would have known what to do.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

It’s good to have a happy ending to one of these problems, Grassman. Well done!

My experience with birds in general is nil. So I have no idea if other breeds of birds have this fantastic habit of swallowing everything – but emus sure seem to have it. I recall the second after Greedy snatched the top of my pen. She juggled it several times in her beak. I thought, ‘Well, surely it doesn’t smell/taste good, so she won’t swallow it.’ But she did.

Sadly, the amount of emu-dangerous stuff lying around here is far beyond my capability to remove.

S.E.

 

[Ellamumu]

Great job getting that out of your bird, hopefully now she starts eating properly and catches up to the rest of her siblings. As soon as I read your post I double checked my barn for strings lol. My bird ate a 3/4 carat diamond stud right out of my ear when she was about 4 months old, I worried about it hurting her forever, but I guess it was like any other rock they eat just way more expensive!

 

[chickenzoo]

Had a peahen do the same thing with bird netting...it got caught around her tongue and the rest was down her throat...I tried for a long time to find out what was wrong with her....one night I was out with a flashlight and when she opened her mouth something shined.....with tweezers I just caught a hair of it.....my surprise when I pulled it all out how much was there.......she was fine after.....
Glad you found it.....

 

[Ellamumu]

Since losing my last chick I have been watching all the chicks nightly and I noticed the youngest not eating or drinking the same as the rest. She would run but not play and stand while others ate - she is half the size of the rest of them.

Today when I put them out in the run she looked weak and tired - I thought she may have an impaction so I went to the drug store and got an oral syringe and mineral oil then to the hardware store for tubing. I have never tried anything like this but I knew I had to do something or she would die.

My wife held the bird and I put the tube down her throat and gave her some mineral oil - I could see that the area where the tongue would be - looked like it had a wound on it. So I picked up a different bird opened its mouth and compared side by side - it was clear something was wrong looked like a growth around the opening.

With a pair of tweezers and pulled white material out little piece at a time until I got to something solid - pulled and to my surprise this is what I found:

This is a string from a feed bag - must have falling on the floor of the shed and I didn't see it.
It appears that this has been stuck in her throat for some time (poor girl).

I am just happy that I had read about impaction on this site and read up on it in the EFHB _ I never would have known what to do.

How is this little one doing?

 

[Grassman 52]

She is still very weak - I have her back in the brooding area. I really don't think she is going to make it.

We are doing all we can for her and only time will tell - I will keep you posted.