• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here
  • This forum is for advice about initial treatment given to your injured/sick bird until a qualified avian veterinarian is available.
    THIS IS NOT MEANT TO REPLACE VET CARE

Urgent not sure if this is urgent: 3 week old cockatiel weight

caseyjane

Moving in
Joined
7/1/15
Messages
10
Location
kitchener, ontario
Real Name
casey
I have a 3 week old cockatiel whose weight is at 39 grams
and read at that age they should be from 45-72 grams


his/her crop empties normally ever 6-8 hours and never goes to bed with an empty crop.
formula temp in check, brooder temp in check. formula not too runny and not too thick.

I use tropican hand feeding formula (HARI approved)

ill weigh him/her again tomorrow morning to make sure he/she didn't drop below 39 grams but if anyone has any info or think I should worrie about the weight and try to fix it anything will help.

I breed gouldians, owl finches and crested zebra finches and have hand raised tons of them, over 15 years experience but im completely new at hand feeding hookbills, so far its a lot easier then tiny finches but theres still all the same chances of problems and id like to catch anything early.

any insight would be great thanks
 

SandraK

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avian Angel
Joined
3/21/11
Messages
1,000,000
Location
Palm Coast, FL. Carioca'55 when RJ was in GB.
Real Name
Sandra

Bokkapooh

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
10/18/09
Messages
25,464
Location
Pacific Northwest
Real Name
Mercedez
How thick of formula are you using? It should be applesauce consistency. Most people make the mistake and not increase the thickness as they get older. And continue to fee pea soup or thinner consistency until theyre weaned. Which prevents them from proper growth and prolongs the weaning time and often makes a n eedier and whinier baby bird.
 

parrotluv

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
9/30/10
Messages
1,730
Location
Quebec, Canada
If he has just been removed for handfeeding, the main thing is that each day he is gaining.
 

caseyjane

Moving in
Joined
7/1/15
Messages
10
Location
kitchener, ontario
Real Name
casey
well either way I didn't catch it early enough this morning he still had food in his crop from last night (though its also hasn't been 12 hours since his last feeding).
I don't know anything for his history, he/she was bought for my mom as a companion pet not a breeder at 2.5 weeks old
I always use apple cider vinegar in all my baby birds water that mixes with the formula, there was an error somewhere that happened for now I can put my slow crop knowledge to work now that I have a possible root to the problem.

wasn't sure it was slow crop making him lose weight since his crop was emptying normally up until this morning.
 

caseyjane

Moving in
Joined
7/1/15
Messages
10
Location
kitchener, ontario
Real Name
casey
*yesterday his crop was emptying in 6 hours which was perfect for the 6-6-12 hour feeding schedule

*formula temp was 104-105
*brooder is at 100 on the warm side and 80 on the cool side
*I kept the formula thickness as apple sauce until I noticed him losing weight then I thickened it up alil, until I fed him this morning I made it apple sauce thickness again.
*im wondering if I should try some hearty bird thrive mixed in with his formula for a immune boost but the formula says not to add anything to it.
*I also have S76 and polvo 4 en 1 medications if anyone is familiar with them?
he had stinky diarrhea the day I got him but figured it was from the food switch over since it went away after the first day.
 

Attachments

caseyjane

Moving in
Joined
7/1/15
Messages
10
Location
kitchener, ontario
Real Name
casey
I emailed the lady who owns his parents a few days ago saying that I didn't think he was coming along like a well off baby cockatiel she said he looked great......moral of the story always trust your gut....
I get 100% success rate with my hand raised baby zebra finches but again this is not a baby zebra finch
 

Monica

Cruising the avenue
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
5/18/10
Messages
11,253
Location
Hell, NV
Real Name
Monica
The chick does appear to be under-feathered. Sounds like something may be going wrong and I hope you are able to figure out what so that the chick can thrive.
 

caseyjane

Moving in
Joined
7/1/15
Messages
10
Location
kitchener, ontario
Real Name
casey
im trying the lemon juice as the just cockatiels website has, crop was empty this morning.
lemon juice is suppose to make the crop less inhabitable to reproduce yeast.
and I used apple cider vinegar to prevent this from happening in the first place (not at the same time as the lemon juice).
it doesn't look like yeast is growing in the crop but he does have the red veins, slow crop and under weight.
 

sunnysmom

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/16/13
Messages
28,803
Location
Pennsylvania
Real Name
Michelle
If you continue to have problems, I would contact Suzanne (srtiels) through her Just Cockatiels website. She is really very helpful and very knowledgeable. I just don't think she's been on the forum much lately. I believe she also has a facebook page. I hope the baby is better soon!
 

caseyjane

Moving in
Joined
7/1/15
Messages
10
Location
kitchener, ontario
Real Name
casey
I hope so too, I have a shopping list made up from just cockatiels website.
I'm going to try and find
*liquid cayenne extract
*coconut water
*diflucan(for yeast infections)
*baryta carbonica(stimulates growth)
* and if possible pau d'acro herbal extract(for any secondary yeast/bacterial infection and immune boost)
Sounds like a hard one to find.
 

caseyjane

Moving in
Joined
7/1/15
Messages
10
Location
kitchener, ontario
Real Name
casey
Crop seems to be going down alil better, its already empty from the morning feeding but I didn't feed to full crop, going to do the less is more.
Feed him less more often.

And he hasn't lost anymore weight. He was moving a lot but the scale bounced from 39-41 grams
 

sunnysmom

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/16/13
Messages
28,803
Location
Pennsylvania
Real Name
Michelle
Keep us posted on how things are going. :)
 

caseyjane

Moving in
Joined
7/1/15
Messages
10
Location
kitchener, ontario
Real Name
casey
well I found alka seltzer, powdered cayenne (no one knew of any cayenne extract), coconut water and pau d'acro extract(for secondary yeast/bacterial infections)
I found fluconazole in 150mg capsules but was a little scared to estimate a dose myself so ill try the herbal way first. with the lemon juice, baking powder and cayenne(as on just cockatiels website).
changing the apple cider vinegar to lemon juice seemed to help more then I thought it would.

keep your fingers crossed for me
 
Top