Green yolks? (Graphic pictures)

[Dissonata]

I have had a lot of problems with my parrots this year. Most of their babies have died before or shortly after hatch. The ones that did live, quite startlingly, developed what seemed to be neurological symptoms -- twisting their necks backwards, flipping over on their backs -- and declined rapidly. My breeding pair is acting very normally, poop looks normal, everything ... but I'm taking them to the vet in a few days for a very thorough exam because this is, obviously, really severe. But one thing I noticed was what seemed to be yolk sac infections, and these incidents were always accompanied by green yolk... I know it was green in those babies because it was visibly green beneath the skin. Unfortunately, my pair has been incessant about laying eggs and wouldn't stop no matter what I did, so I have a few unfortunate eggs left. One recently died, a few days after it was supposed to hatch. It didn't make any attempt to hatch as far as I could see.

It's odd because they seem so healthy throughout incubation. Every time I candle they have good veins, good movement. Everything seems normal. And then when it comes to hatching things turn south...

I snapped a few photos of the eggtopsy of the most recent egg that died. There is still some blood on the yolk because I had been watching the egg carefully and caught it probably only a few hours after it had died, if that. Which at least is useful because then decomposition isn't really a problem.

But the yolk is definitely green. Kind of mottled green, with parts that look more yellow.






The odd thing is, it doesn't really have an unusual odor. Maybe a little off-smelling, but nothing extreme. I'd expect it to smell if there was an infection. For that matter, I would normally expect the embryos to die at an early stage if there was an infection. But most things I read point to E. Coli. I'm not sure how my birds would have gotten it, but I was away for a while earlier in the year and it is possible their water wasn't cleaned out as frequently as it would normally have been. Either way, they are going to a vet as soon as possible and I hope that we can shed some light on this. In the meantime though I was really curious to see if anyone had ever experienced anything like this before...

And as a side note, I don't think the yolks are green when the eggs are freshly laid. It's only later, towards hatching. How would that make sense? What would make the yolks turn green like this, and why only towards the end of incubation? It is completely baffling to me.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Odd... I'm very curious, tell me what happens.

 

[Dissonata]

I will let you know when I find out! I sure hope there's an easy answer. I have antibiotics on hand (amtyl) that I have primarily in case of infection in hand-fed babies, but I don't feel safe using it in this scenario because I have no idea whether whatever the culprit is will respond to this particular antibiotic or not. I figure it's too sensitive an issue to take chances.

However I've commonly heard that yolk sac infections are almost always caused by E. coli bacteria. If that's what it is, it should be relatively easy to treat... Fingers crossed.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

And if you get any babies to hatch you owe us pics, as well of the parents. What breed of parrots?

 

[Dissonata]

They are nanday conures, a small green parrot with a black head. I'm hoping that if we can diagnose this quickly I might be able to treat any babies that manage to hatch... But at this point I doubt any will.

I don't breed them very often but I had a clutch in 2011. I kept one of the babies and he is a wonderful pet.

Here's a picture of him when he was still quite young, but fully feathered:




Here are the parents. They are not friendly with humans at all, but very dedicated to each other and their eggs.



I had some problems in 2011 too but they were mostly related to really low house humidity. I think the wooden nestbox somehow was even drier than the room their cage is in, because the eggs lost far too much moisture and there were problems at hatch. Luckily humidifiers exist so that has been fixed. I was hoping things would go smoothly because of that, but unfortunately it has been far, far worse.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Their so cute!
Well I wish you the best of luck, And hopefully you'll have some more parrot-lings before winter

 

[Dissonata]

Well, it's been a while. I took the birds to my vet and she sent away a test for viruses and Chlamydia. She seemed to favour the diagnosis of Chlamydia because it can be asymptomatic, and usually with more typical bacterial infections, they will have diarrhea. My birds are asymptomatic and in pretty good shape. It seems like the test will take quite a long time and to be entirely honest I don't think it will come back with any answers.

I also don't think she took me seriously when I said that they've had yolk problems. I had a couple babies hatch and at the moment they are still holding on, but they are not doing well. The oldest seems to have retained its yolk in its abdomen and is not digesting it as it should be. My vet sort of brushed me off when I told her that the yolks were green in unhatched babies, because that can happen after death, as the yolk rots. But that is not the case here at all. I can actually watch their retained yolks growing darker in their abdomens as they get sicker. The problem with yolk is that antibiotic is usually not helpful in treating it. I don't think it really gets much blood flow so the antibiotics probably don't reach it. And then, to make matters worse, once actually digested, it hits the bloodstream very fast. An article I read about a study where scientists deliberately infected eggs with E. coli before hatch stated that this systemic infection can even cause pericarditis and peritonitis--inflammation of the sac that surrounds the heart and the peritoneum. These systemic infections are obviously really serious and in my opinion could probably explain the neurological symptoms I saw in the other babies. I do have antibiotic, the amtyl I mentioned, and I've been treating the babies I do have. That's the best I can do because amtyl is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that treats E. coli and other common bacterias. However, every source I've come across says antibiotic therapy is generally fruitless.

I also had another egg die, with another green yolk. They are visibly green beneath the skin of live babies too, but that is harder to capture with a camera. The yolks become more and more green as time passes, and after one baby died a month ago, I opened up its navel and saw an entirely green retained yolk. So I know this is happening.



I think I may have to ask my vet to do a fecal test for E. coli, at the least. I really don't think Chlamydia or a virus would cause these symptoms. Again, every bit of reading I've done has told me that primarily bacteria will do this, and primarily E. coli. So, no answers yet.