The only medicine used during the hand rearing was Nystatin. It was used as a prophylaxis to help prevent Candida overgrowth, a fungus (yeast) that mostly affects the upper digestive tract and mouth. However, thorough cleaning of the inside of the mouth after each feed greatly reduces the chances of an infection, as food is removed that would otherwise turn bad. When the chick is small, we use a Q-Tip dipped in water, placing it inside the mouth and carefully drawing food particles out. As the chick grows, a piece of cloth or gauze is used to thoroughly clean inside and outside the mouth, as illustrated here. Candidiasis is not a disease specific to ramphastids, but can affect any chick. Oral hygiene is therefore important.

As a precaution, we used Nystatin as follows:

Chick’s weight in grams / 400 = dose in cc’s

Day 9    Day 18     Day 27   Day 34     7 weeks