The Beak

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The Beak is Located a short drive east of San Diego in the rolling hills of Alpine, California, we welcome you to "The Beak."

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

An Exciting Day

It is always an exciting day when I have the opportunity of assisting in the birth of a tiny Cockatoo/Parrot that, in the wild, would not have survived. 

In my last post, I spoke of the "perfect hatch" which is when the tiny chick cracks its egg in a perfect circle around the top of the egg, pops the end and out he comes.

All to often, however, we see a not-so-perfect hatch.  One where the little chick breaks (pips) the egg and then just keeps pecking away at that same spot.  Before long it has broken a hole there and the outside air begins to seep into its egg drying out the membrane inside its shell.  Once this membrane begins to dry, it acts like shrink wrap and shrink wraps itself to the little chick.  Now the baby is caught and is no longer able to assist in its own hatching. 

Nothing is sadder than seeing a Mother Parrot who has futilely attempted to peel the egg off her chick.

This is always a balancing act because a chick that hatches to soon and has not consumed all the nutrition from its egg will be a weak chick and very likely to not survive.  So we keep good records and log the time of pipping, the time of chirping inside the egg and listening for the ever present tapping. 

There can even come a time when the chick will panic because it is running out of air, when we hear this kind of chirping, we move fast.  Normally we hope to just move at a normal progression.

Our little chick today had opened its egg and then had only enlarged that hole in the last 24 hours.  It was chirping strongly so I gently peeled back a tiny bit of the egg and as I suspected, the chick was totally encased in the dried membrane, unable to move.

Now we set up the ER and go to work.  I heated some saline solution (the same solution that you might use for your contact lenses).   Those who wear contacts, have you ever let a contact dry out and then added saline and re hydrated the lens.  Well, this is exactly what we do for the little chick. 

Remembering that the little chick must be kept at 95 to 100 degrees, we heat the saline and then using an eyedropper, carefully rehydrate the dried membrane, always careful to avoid the chicks mouth,

If our timing is right, the little chick will begin to squirm, loosening itself from its shackles.  Normally a second application is required and before long, we are rewarded with a healthy pink baby.

And here it is, not quite out of its egg and doing it all on its own.  Its name is Zeke and next to it is its sibling, Diego, who did have a perfect hatch and is resting comfortably in its butter cup.

Enjoy your day,

Pat from The Beak