by Samson Chew

Created on: January 21, 2007

A crop is the part of the bird that store and digest the food after it has swallow them. Crop slow down is refer as the crop in the baby is taking a longer time than normal to digest the food. In simple terms - indigestion.

Crop slow down occurs most frequently when the temperature suddenly drops. If not treated properly can cause the crop to shut down completely.

Crop slow down can be detected easier if the bird is still on hand feed. If the crop is notice to be swelling(contain food) even if the bird has not been eating much or has not eaten, it is most probably a case of crop slow down. During a crop slow down, the droppings of the bird might also appear to be DARK green. Dark green droppings could be the intestines of the bird not receiving food.

Once crop slow down has been detected, provide the bird with warmth if the temperature is low. Let the food be a little more watery when feeding the bird. You can also mix infant applesauce with the food if you are using baby feed. Make sure the bird is being fed only after the crop is empty. You can also try to massage the crop to try to break up any food that left in the crop. Do not massage the crop when it is full. Observe for 24 hours. You can slowly revert by the food to normal if the crop is seems to be working properly again. If the crop is still not digesting properly, bring it to a vet.

Also if by the time you discover this problem the crop is already very full, you can try to provide it with warmth as mention above and stop feeding for around 12 hours and see if the crop swelling goes down. If not, it will be best to bring it to a vet as soon as possible.

PS: This article is no way a guide on treating crop slow down and should not be treated as one. This article only serve as a reference. One should only refer to this as an aid. This article is written in hope to help other bird owner to cope in situation similar as mentioned above and in helping more baby birds survive from this problem. It is best to bring the affected bird to a vet as soon as problem is detected. Lastly, I hope no birds will ever have this problem again.

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