Some more information and links:
How To Provide Supplemental Heat
A supplemental heat source is essential for ill or injured birds. Birds lose body heat very rapidly when ill or injured. Place the sick bird in a warm, humid and dim area with a temperature of 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. This area should be as quiet and secluded as possible. To create a warm environment:
* Cover a small cage with a towel and place the cage on a heating pad that is set on low.
* Infrared lamps can also be used, but place them slightly back from the cage to avoid overheating the bird. Make sure that no cords or parts of heating pads are within reach where they may be chewed by the bird.
The inside temperature of the cage can be monitored with an aquarium thermometer that has been placed out of the bird’s reach. Wings that are held away from the body or panting are signs indicating that the bird is too warm. Provide easy access to water or to an electrolyte replacement solution for the bird. Sick birds can dehydrate rapidly due to lack of water consumption and the disease processes. Electrolyte solutions rehydrate the bird more quickly and also provide replacement of those electrolytes lost with vomiting or diarrhea. Discuss the recommended solution with your veterinarian.
from
http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-diet-an ... a-vet.aspx
First Aid for the sick bird
A sick bird has three main requirements warmth, fluids and food.
A bird's normal body temperature is 410C. This is reached by absorbing heat from the air around it (the ambient temperature), and then generating the balance by metabolising food to produce energy (and therefore heat). A sick bird is not eating much, and therefore its production of metabolic energy is decreased. Its body temperature starts to drop, so it fluffs its feathers to trap body heat (much as a doona does on a bed). If its temperature continues to drop it will become hypothermic, go into shock, and die. This will usually happen before the bird dies of whatever has made it sick in the first place.
So sick birds need to be warmed up - urgently. Putting a blanket over its cage won't help the bird is not generating enough heat for the blanket to trap and keep warm. The most effective way to warm a bird up is to place it under a light (a bulb, not a fluoro). The heat generated by the bulb will raise the ambient temperature to 350 400C quickly, making the bird much more comfortable. The bulb should be nearly touching the wire of the cage, right beside a perch. This allows the bird to get right up to it if it wants, and to move away if it feels too hot. The light needs to be left on 24 hours a day, until the bird is no longer seeking its warmth. By warming the bird up, you overcome hypothermic shock and allow the bird to direct its metabolism towards getting better, rather than just keeping warm. Try not to disturb or handle the bird too much until it becomes more active. You need to curb your patience until it is feeling stronger.
Warming a bird up is the single most important thing you can do for it. Don't try to do anything else for an hour or so, until the bird is becoming more alert and active. Once you have it under a light, ring your vet to make an appointment. Don't ask us for a diagnosis or treatment over the phone it just can't be done. All sick birds look the same it is only by getting a thorough history, doing a careful physical examination, and using appropriate lab tests that we can determine the problem and an appropriate treatment. Anything else is just a guess, and it is unfair to put us in that situation.
If it is going to be some time before you can get to the vet, the next thing to do is to get some fluids into your bird. If it is drinking well (and not vomiting), adding some glucose powder to the water may be all you need to do. Place 1 teaspoon into 100mls water, and let the bird drinks as much as it likes. If the bird is not drinking, or isn't drinking enough, you need to give it the fluids, either with an eye-dropper or a crop needle. If you are comfortable injecting fluids, giving the bird 5% of its bodyweight twice daily under the skin is quite effective.
Offer your bird a variety of foods. If it isn't eating, you may need to crop feed it. We use a hand rearing formula but if you don't have this handy, a vegetable and/or fruit baby food works well.
REMEMBER DON'T GIVE FLUIDS OR FOOD TO YOUR BIRD UNTIL IT HAS WARMED UP. A weak bird given fluids or food by mouth could easily choke on them.
from
http://www.westtoowoombavetsurgery.com/ ... 98bbast6vv
Ellie.
He's not looking good at all after the car ride to the vets either so I am now sweating cos I'm keeping him in a warm place, he has antibiotics, food supplement and additive to his water which I am trying to get down him every few hrs. Apparently conjunctivitis is a common symptom of psittacosis so, if I had have got him to a vet when his eyes FIRST flared up (even though it wasnt that bad and settled overnight) we wouldn't have him at deaths door now!