air in crop of african grey

Question
Hi thanks for your advise with this problem i've been trying to remove the air from the crop when it is empty but im having no luck i've tryed squeeze the crop and pushing the air back out. The chicks still taking 2.5 ml of food per feeding so would it be ok to leave it or should i take it to a vet.

regars
Luke Daniels
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Followup To
Question -
I have a 5 day old african grey chick that i have been handrearing for 14 hours and during the last feed i noticed that there was air in the top of the crop above the formula. the formula seems to have passed though the crop but the air remains. i've been feeding the chick embrace plus every 2 hours, the temp of the formula is 41 celcius and the brooder is kept at 34.8 celcius and 55% humidity. is there anything i can do about the air in the crop and is my setup causing the problems

regrads
Luke Daniels
Answer -
Hi, Luke.  Thanks for posting.

This is common during handfeeding.  The baby parrot takes in air while it is feeding and you have to "burp" the baby's crop.  GENTLY squeeze the crop and/or "push" the air back out with your fingers through the baby's mouth.  Do so very gently so as to not allow the formula to come back out of the mouth or you might aspirate the chick.  Sometimes you can just gently squeeze the crop together at the top where the air is in order to get the excess air out.  This won't harm the baby even if you leave it alone.  The baby will eventually burp it out all by itself.  Congratulations on the new baby!

Chrys  

Answer
Hi again, Luke.

"Burping" air from a baby parrot's crop is very easy to do.  However, I can't think of an instance where burping was necessary when the crop was empty.  Usually, burping is required just after a baby has been handfed, unless the baby is taking in extra air just breathing normally.  Perhaps something else is wrong.  Is there a hole in the crop?  A hole can be burned through the crop (from inside out) if the formula being fed is too hot (the formula burns through the crop).  Otherwise, removing air from the crop should be a very simple procedure.  I don't know whether it's OK to leave the baby because I don't know for sure what the problem is.  If you are concerned, by all means, take the baby to the bird vet (better safe than sorry).

Chrys