Baby tiel afraid of me

[iDarK_PLayeR]

I finally bought a parrot

Yesterday I bought a 3-4 weeks old cockatiel the breeder took it from the parents so it not used to human ,i fed it twice so far but it still afraid of me how can i make it not afraid

And i may have more questions but I’ll post them later

 

[TikiMyn]

Could you return it and let the parents do the feeding? That is what I would do.
If you want to hand feed, do you knkw how? @Monica @melissasparrots and @finchly might be able to teach you and offer more help

 

[iDarK_PLayeR]

Could you return it and let the parents do the feeding? That is what I would do.
If you want to hand feed, do you knkw how? @Monica @melissasparrots and @finchly might be able to teach you and offer more help

Well I don’t think i can return him to the owner.

I’ve handfed smaller birds (similar to canary) which kinda easier since they open their mouth wide unlike my tiel

 

[melissasparrots]

I'd call up the breeder and tell them you are returning the baby to them. Also, that you'll expect to pick the baby up in a few weeks when it is properly weaned. Shame on the breeder for selling an unweaned baby.

Alternatively, you could just be patient. Sometimes it takes about 3 days of very slowly feeding a fearful baby before they figure out that you are a good thing. Make extra certain to have a warm water bath so that the formula in the syringe doesn't get cold while you are trying to coerce an unwilling chick to eat. Double check temperature with a thermometer both for safety and because older babies are pickier about temp. Sometimes it helps to have a drop of warm water on the end of the syringe to start the feeding response (although never just water from a syringe to a baby as they can aspirate).

 

[finchly]

Ohhhh. That is way young.
Melissasparrots has given you good information.

I would add be REALLY careful/correct with the temperature of the food. Also, I try to do a very slow and deliberate routine with them. Birds notice every single thhing you do. So with my baby tiels (who were 10 weeks old) I would do this. Carry the baby with me to fix the food. Stick it in the water bowl after checking the temp. Stand the baby on a little T-stand. Say "are you hungry?" and present the syringe. It didn't take long for them to learn what that meant!

Keep your baby warm, and no matter what you read on the Internet about feeding --- feed him when he is hungry! Don't try to limit it! No one can second guess how much YOUR baby needs, and often times they have a little growth spurt and need more.

As soon as you can, start soaking millet and/ or pellet food, or even make the pellets into a mash and offer that. The baby should start picking at it. You'll feel like you are wasting a lot of food, but the faster this little one learns to eat on his own the better off you both will be.

Good luck! We want to see pictures!

 

[Monica]

Buying unweaned is highly frowned upon since so many things can go wrong. Ditto though what Melissa has said and Tanya!

 

[Lady Jane]

That baby needs to be with the parents. Please tell the breeder we told you to do that. It is a huge risk you are taking with this baby's life!!

 

[melissasparrots]

I'm not entirely certain the parent's would take it back. Cockatiels being as they are, its worth a shot. Sometimes a crying baby will illicit an instinctive feeding response. Other times, once a chick has been gone for more than a few hours, the parents will no longer recognize it as their's...or at least not treat it as their's. Still, the breeder should be experienced in coercing fearful baby's to eat if they are pulling and selling chicks at that age.

 

[iDarK_PLayeR]

Thank you all for your help I’ll try to return him to the breeder

One more thing, how do I know his crop is full?
The picture is after i fed him

 

[melissasparrots]

I don't think that is a full crop. A little hard to tell from the picture. A general guideline is to feed most meals about 10% of the chicks empty body weight. So, you use a gram scale to weigh the baby each morning on an empty crop. If the baby weighs 100 grams, 10mL of formula should be a nearly empty crop. Once you get a feel for it, you can sometimes feed a little bit more than that for the first feed of the day when the chick is empty. I'm happy to read that you'll contact the breeder to return him. He really should be in the hands of an experienced feeder.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Wishing you the best with the baby and hoping the breeder will take him/her back and finish the hand feeding.
Here is some info about hand feeding 'tiels just in case the breeder won't do that: Hand-Feeding and Weaning
Do you have a scale that you can use to weigh the baby? It's a good idea to weigh the baby daily and use gram units rather than ounces.

 

[iDarK_PLayeR]

Wishing you the best with the baby and hoping the breeder will take him/her back and finish the hand feeding.
Here is some info about hand feeding 'tiels just in case the breeder won't do that: Hand-Feeding and Weaning
Do you have a scale that you can use to weigh the baby? It's a good idea to weigh the baby daily and use gram units rather than ounces.

I have a food scale I weighted him this morning hes about 77 g so the food should be 7.7-9 g
I have like a tube syringe and its 20ml so its kind of big for him and he moves his head a lot, anyone thank you for that Hand-Feeding and Weaning its very helpful and thank you all SO MUCH and I'm so happy i find this site

 

[sunnysmom]

I hope things go well with the baby.

 

[sunnysmom]

I hope things go well with the baby.

 

[NirAntae]

Oh my goodness.

I have 20+ years experience with parrots, but the idea of hand feeding terrifies me, because I've read so many accounts of when things went wrong (too hot, too cold, too much, not enough, etc. etc. etc.).
When I got my Goffin's 'too, even though she was weaned, she reverted a bit from the stress, but she was old enough that she was satisfied just eating a bit of slightly-warmer-than-room-temp formula off a spoon, I didn't have to try and deal with syringes etc.

Best of luck to you and the tiny one. Please keep us updated!

 

[Max83]

hope everithing will go well! the important thing is that he eats... he will be less and less scared in a matter of days

 

[iDarK_PLayeR]

hope everithing will go well! the important thing is that he eats... he will be less and less scared in a matter of days

Thank you for asking, he’s good now and when I prepare his food i let him out of his brooder for awhile and he love it.

 

[NirAntae]

Thank you for asking, he’s good now and when I prepare his food i let him out of his brooder for awhile and he love it.

Excellent to hear, keeping fingers crossed that all continues to go well!

 

[iDarK_PLayeR]

Thank you

 

[finchly]

Pictures! We want to see your baby!