Hello! Brand new poster, but I’ve been reading quite a while! A quick background - we have a male and female. Female we’ve had for almost 6 years, male for almost 5. Except for sleep time, they are out of the cage. Just within the last year our female has laid a few eggs. We’ve candled them, found them infertile, let her sit a bit and then slowly pull them. We do a confirmation candling before tossing them just to be sure. Well, this last time one apparently slipped through the cracks and when we confirmation candled, there was a very wee one inside. There was no way we could toss it, so began our journey. (We now have fake eggs to immediately replace any eggs laid in the future as we do not plan to breed, this was strictly an oopsie!) Mom was great, sat on the egg very well. Dad is sort of not the brightest bulb, though we love him dearly. He played no role in the sitting of the egg or feeding the baby. On September 17, our little one hatched! Unfortunately despite our hundreds of efforts over the years, our tiels eat primarily seed and millet. Mom was stuffing baby’s crop full doing a great job, but she was only stuffing it with seed =\ At 13 days old, with eyes still shut and only weighing 19 grams I made the decision to pull the baby and hand feed. Baby gained quickly and was changing by the hour! It couldn’t have gone better. He’s 5 weeks (37 days) old now (DNA test came back yesterday!) and weighs 96g. He’s fully feathered and in a beginner cage to learn perching, etc. He has available and is nibbling/eating NutriSoft pellets, chop, millet, arrowroot biscuit and fruit as I want him to eat a wide variety unlike mom and dad!) He also has fresh water available. Today for the first time he is refusing formula. We had been doing three times a day and today I was knocking back to twice a day. This morning was a fight to get him to eat and this evening he absolutely refused. I’ve read that this is normal during this time and not to worry but I want to make sure. I have never forced formula on him and don’t plan to but I also want to make sure it’s okay to let him skip a formula feeding and try again in the morning. Thank you in advance for your guidance!
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Cockatiel weaning at 6 weeks?
- Thread starter Twinks113
- Start date
Zara
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Glad you were able to raise the little one.
As for fruit, opt for more veg than fruit.
Ok, for the formula,
So if you went down to two feeds today, then do a late morning ,then a bedtime feed. Offering your veggies throughout the day, and having dry pellets avail in the bowl all the time.
Do the two feeds for a few days at least, you don't want to drop from three to one or none. Try and do it steadily. I find that sometimes a chick will pull back, but I wait a minute and they take more. When they pull back as second time, the feed is over.
When you drop down to one feed, it will be the night time feed that carries on and you drop the late morning feed.
Your chick looks gorgeous, really lovely looking, nice beak eyes, feathers, clean
Please post if you're unsure about something else!
I don't know what that is?
As for fruit, opt for more veg than fruit.
Ok, for the formula,
So if you went down to two feeds today, then do a late morning ,then a bedtime feed. Offering your veggies throughout the day, and having dry pellets avail in the bowl all the time.
Do the two feeds for a few days at least, you don't want to drop from three to one or none. Try and do it steadily. I find that sometimes a chick will pull back, but I wait a minute and they take more. When they pull back as second time, the feed is over.
When you drop down to one feed, it will be the night time feed that carries on and you drop the late morning feed.
Your chick looks gorgeous, really lovely looking, nice beak eyes, feathers, clean
Please post if you're unsure about something else!
Hello! I have been hand feeding baby since he was 12 days old. He will be 6 weeks old tomorrow and the last couple of days has started to completely refuse his formula. We’ve had no feeding issues, crop is good and emptying appropriately, formula is the correct temp, nothing has changed other than the addition of other food sources. He has been eating NutriSoft pellets, millet, chop, arrowroot biscuits and parsley but we’ve been doing two times a day formula as well. 6 weeks seems early to me but I also don’t want to force feed him formula. Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
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Zara
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Continue weighing daily first thing in the morning. And continue to offer the night time feed just in case.
Pixiebeak
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Yes sometimes they wean at different ages . And yours looks so wonderful! Tho crop looks a little big ..you don't want to over stretch the crop.
Because crop infection are so common in hand raised babies , if you have any reason to think is not eating, or signs of not feeling well , then get him checked out by a vet quick. As going Ines can go down hill quickly.
If eating on own and good poops , then should be good .
Agree with Zara, monitor weight, keep offering and letting the baby refuse, don't force if doesn't want .
Because crop infection are so common in hand raised babies , if you have any reason to think is not eating, or signs of not feeling well , then get him checked out by a vet quick. As going Ines can go down hill quickly.
If eating on own and good poops , then should be good .
Agree with Zara, monitor weight, keep offering and letting the baby refuse, don't force if doesn't want .
