Baby Cockatiels

Question
QUESTION: My mom and I have started hand raising baby cockatiels for a friend. The first egg the mom laid we let hatch and then we started hand feeding it ourselves. It was doing fine for the first few weeks, we thought, until the fledging/weaning stage started. We made him eat, and he would spit it back up. We read that that was normal, so we didn't think much about it. A few days later, we woke up and he was dead in his nest. At first we thought that he'd fallen over, couldn't get up, and had suffocated. Well, this morning our friend, who has taken up handraising the babies too, found her 5 week old baby dead too, the same way ours was. We'd started thinking that our bird had something wrong with it because our friend's bird had developed so much faster than ours had. But now, we're not so sure. We don't know what's going on, except that the babies shouldn't just fall over dead like that. They acted kind of sleepy for a while and then would perk up a few days and then they would die. We have three more eggs, and no more parents, on account one flew away and one died from eating some kind of plant, so until we find somewhere else to get babies, we have no more chances. We don't want the last three birds to die, if they hatch.

ANSWER: Hello,
I do understand your problem, I have never hand fed a cockatiel before though, I leave that to the parents, but I could lead you in a direction giving you some answers. I always suggest to people like you to contact a vet, or bring the dead bird to the vet, this will cost you money, but you will get answers. The vets may be able to tell how the bird died, and if this has been happening a lot, whatever killed the bird might give you answers to why it has been happening. Calling your local vet is a great idea too.

I do however have some sites for you to look at; only reason being, the death of a baby bird probably is the persons fault. One small mistake, either going known or unknown could easily kill a baby cockatiel.

http://www.cockatielcottage.net/feeding.html

If this did not help you, which it probably didn't I would try contacting a vet.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks. That's the website that we've used many times to help us.
We're looking for a vet, but there are none that have any type of specialization in birds. We'd have to travel atleast two hours to get to the nearest one.

ANSWER: If you don't mind me asking, what city, state do you live in? I actually have a great way for you to contact a vet that does specialize in birds. I just need your city, state, or zip code.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Southern GA.

Answer
Thank you,
Here are some links that might lead you to a vet. If you cannot visit a vet, you can try calling them.

http://netpet.org/cats/vets/georgia.html

Sadly, you may never find out what is wrong with your birds, but let me just let you know that you should not have any pets if you are not able to have access to a vet. Here are some links that may help you. Try calling each vet with your question, or emailing them.

http://www.southcoastalanimalhealth.com/contactus.htm
http://vca.know-where.com/vca/region/US/GA.html
http://www.newildlife.com/ --- ask for the ODD PET VET.
http://www.acstiels.com/

I spent about 10 minutes looking for this info...it might help, just go to every link and see what you can find.

Sorry I couldn't help much and good luck!