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Baby Pi regression

SecretlyRobots

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Hey folks,

I'm hoping you can help me out. We got our baby white cap through a breeder who shipped him out on Sunday. Breeder said he was weaned and eating solids and drinking for weeks and would only occasionally accept a comfort feeding. He's twelve weeks old today.

He arrived two days ago via Delta and seems to have fully regressed to wanting to be hand fed. I'm sure he's totally freaked out with the change in location and the loss of his previous family. I've been doing my best to try to get some formula into him twice a day (10-15 mL @ 107 F, he weighs approx 170 g) and he's eating some food on his own but he cries quite a bit and sleeps constantly. We've been responding to his cries after feeding by making cooing noises back to him as any direct contact seems to upset him farther. Is there anything else I can do to comfort him? He has a vet appointment tomorrow to rule out any physical issues.

Second question is he seems very, very, clumsy and uncoordinated. He can't turn around on a perch and seems very uncertain climbing on the sides of the cage. Unfortunately the breeder seems to have clipped all his primaries so I'm sure that's contributing to his uneasy feeling. He tries to perch in the food dishes but managed to fall out of those too. We had a giant cage for him but there's no way he's confident enough to use it so he's been chilling in his travel cage but even then he barely moves around in it most likely because he's afraid.

I know you should never force a bird to interact with you and I've been trying to hand feed him through his little cage setup but its very messy and awkward. I'm stuck between wanting to give him space to adapt to his new environment and also the necessity of trying to make sure he gets adequate food and his needs are met.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

Chopper

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Babies are usually clumsy and uncoordinated. The travel cage will be okay until he/she feels confident.
Babies usually regress so please feed him/her. if you don't know how to syringe feed please look it up.
I would syringe feed or spoon feed that baby twice a day until he/she no longer wants it. It will be messy.
I don't have a Pionus but I have had young birds and they both regressed. Usually I get older birds.
 

LSA

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Babies are usually clumsy and uncoordinated. The travel cage will be okay until he/she feels confident.
Babies usually regress so please feed him/her. if you don't know how to syringe feed please look it up.
I would syringe feed or spoon feed that baby twice a day until he/she no longer wants it. It will be messy.
I don't have a Pionus but I have had young birds and they both regressed. Usually I get older birds.

@Eloy has several Pionus experiences. @iamwhoiam has breeder experience.

I've had chicks through seniors. There is a certain amount of regression in them all.

Generally for shipment, a birds flight feathers are cut for their protection. All chicks of that age especially are rather clumsy and tend to prefer smaller places. It's really what they know best.



 

finchly

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My goodness, get that baby out and cuddle and feed him!

In addition to formula, you can wet and mash his pellets, or offer mashed cooked sweet potato or soaked millet. You can mix formula and offer it in a small bowl and let him eat it that way.

Hold him close to your body, or even wrap him in a towel and hold him for comfort. This will help him bond to you plus comfort him at the same time. Hell get over the crying - his whole world has changed. He’s confused.

All babies are clumsy, and it sounds like the breeder clipped him right before shipping. He’s just got to get used to it.
 

SecretlyRobots

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I totally understand why he's upset I just don't know how to comfort him aside from food. I tried at your suggestion @finchly taking him out away from his cage and he eventually calms down and will climb all over me but I can tell he's still anxious looking for a way out. Its possible I'm not meeting his food needs as I'm not very experienced with hand feeding but it seems to be getting better as time goes on. I will try softening some pellets and see if he likes that, do you feed it with a spoon?
 

Chopper

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You can feed it with a spoon or your fingers for now.
Whatever it takes to get the food in him.
If one thing doesn't work try something else.
 

hrafn

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My baby WCP regressed when I brought her home too, and was a massive crybaby begging for food and attention constantly. She also had her primaries clipped just before shipping, and she had a very hard time with balance until she got used to the clip. Babies are klutzy little things in general, and a major clip doesn't help.

I spoon fed my baby warm mashes of sweet potato, baby food, applesauce and wet pellets, and handled her whenever she was fed. She was pretty wary of me at first, like your baby is, but once she associated me with food and comfort she began to trust me. The only negative is that now, she considers me her mama.
 

javi

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Pi's are notorious for wanting to be handfed forever. My Mattie whom I handfed did not wean until about 6 month old. She just always wanted it even though she was eating. I of course did not want to stop if she still wanted. SO until she was about 6 months old she was fed two to three times a day. Sometimes more if she wanted and I was able to. Even now that she is about 7 years old she will still want formula if I am making any for babies. In fact all but the recent rescue will bed for formula when I make it for babies. With speaking to breeders they all agree that they are slow weaners taking as long as cockatoos and macaws. I wouldn't think a 12 week old would be near weaned. I would keep hand feeding until she refuses or stops asking for it.
 

SecretlyRobots

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Thanks guys! I'm getting better at hand feeding so I'm slightly less worried now and comitted to let him go at his own pace. Vet says he might have an upper respiratory infection contributing to his general unhappiness but otherwise looks good. His sad pathetic crying just goes straight to my heart :unsure1:
 

finchly

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@javi to the rescue! Glad you are here to help.
 

javi

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Congrats on the new Pi by the way. I have 4 and think they are the best birds. They were a dream bird and took about 13 years before I was able to get my first. And years between the others. Two of which are rescues.
 

SecretlyRobots

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I really appreciate all of the help and suggestions! Does anyone know at what age baby white caps lose the black spot on their beaks?
 

javi

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I wish I could remember when mine lost the black. She only had a little when I got her. She will look like a totally different bird by the time she is a year old though.
 

SecretlyRobots

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Thought I would give an update in case anyone was interested or comes across this thread in the future. For about 1.5 weeks he was taking a full 20-30 mL hand-feeding three times a day and baby crying quite a lot. He started making a huuuuge mess by playing with his pellets around the same time. About two days later he was becoming less phobic about new things and actually started playing with toys and eating veggies! We're around the two week mark now and he's refusing most hand feeding (he will accept the occasional small comfort feeding) and has minimal weight loss and is super active running around and destroying toys. He's still a little wary of human contact but overall a huge improvement :)
 
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