Little Baby Cockatiel

[vancha]

The "EZY" feeder looks brilliant. That way you could measure how much they're getting, too. I've gotten accustomed to how big their crops look when they are getting about 10% of their body weight so, it's not as much of a concern for me right now. The little guy just latches onto the spoon like it is a life support. He's also starting to "growl" or "hiss" sometimes, particularly when I wake him up for a feeding. I poked him once and he let out quite the growl. I need to get someone to actually shoot the video but I should be able to do that soon...

As for the video, when I do get it, you are free to do whatever you would like with it. I will try to get the video as clear as possible, but sometimes it is hard with my camera. It's generally hit or miss; I've gotten very clear picture and very blurry picture on different occasions.

 

[srtiels]

Ah...if the little one does alot of hissing, rocking, and striking it may be a little hen. The females tend to act more ferocious than the males. the males are the cry babies and always acting hungry

Looking forward to the pix's.

 

[vancha]

Ah...if the little one does alot of hissing, rocking, and striking it may be a little hen. The females tend to act more ferocious than the males. the males are the cry babies and always acting hungry

Looking forward to the pix's.

Well, he is a cry baby as well.
He doesn't really rock, he just screams and begs and begs after he's been fed. He just let out a little hiss when I unpleasantly awoke him, it was just once, but we shall see.

I decided to edit and add a picture. Just a comparison one. He isn't growing like your baby did, that's for sure, but he definitely is bigger. I'm not sure how much he weighs now - maybe 7 or 8 grams at this point. He's been eating a lot.

Two days ago:

Today:

 

[srtiels]

I see toe growth (the length)...which is a great sign. And the wingtips look plump, which is good too. Skintone is excellent, so no dehydration problems.

What color were the parents. With how dark the eyes are, he/she would definitely not be cinnamon. In a couple more days if the outer edges of the wings start to darken up, a normal, or a pearl. If they stay pink or light, a pied.

 

[vancha]

I see toe growth (the length)...which is a great sign. And the wingtips look plump, which is good too. Skintone is excellent, so no dehydration problems.

What color were the parents. With how dark the eyes are, he/she would definitely not be cinnamon. In a couple more days if the outer edges of the wings start to darken up, a normal, or a pearl. If they stay pink or light, a pied.

His mother is a pearl and his father is a normal grey, from what I have been told. From my understanding that means most likely he/she will not be pearled? I think it's recessive.

That is great information about the wings. I'd never heard of that before.

 

[srtiels]

OK...if the baby is going to be pearled then the toes will stay pink and the nails will get dark.

As to the father...a normal grey could carry several splits to other mutations.

 

[Renae]

Susanne's great like that, she knows a lot and can always help when it comes to mutations and etc.

The baby is adorable, so fluffyy.

ETA: Just wanted to add, when I was hand-feeding 3 baby 'tiels, the cinnamon (which turned out to be a hen) always hissed and swayed, whereas the other 2 (which turned out to be 2 males) never did, so that seems to be pretty accurate.

 

[vancha]

I've got more pictures!
I think he is about 10g now. But I weighed him earlier so it might be more.

He is a pretty ferocious thing for something so small. He's starting to open his eyes a little, and he stumbles around towards my face when I talk to him. Very cute.

They are not great pictures, because he moves his head a whole lot during the "photo shoot" so I am forced to use flash - which, for some reason, I cannot get working properly on my new camera. In any case, here he is:

Because "he" has been doing a little more swaying and hissing lately, I believe "he" may be a "she".

I did make a video, Susanne - I will see about uploading it some time soon.

 

[TwilightsImprint]

Little alien

 

[vancha]

He certainly does look like he comes from a different planet.

 

[Renae]

S/he is certainly getting cuter & cuter! look at that big open beak.

 

[vancha]

S/he is certainly getting cuter & cuter! look at that big open beak.

Getting a shot of him when he's not begging is nearly an impossible feat.

 

[srtiels]

LOL...what a wide mouth...Feed me! The toenails and the wing tips are still light colored, so it will be interesting what he turns out to be. In looking at the crop the crop tissue looks great, but you might want to thicken the forumula up a tad. Byt the time he is a week old he should be able to handle the normal thickness just fine.

 

[Thugluvgrl187]

I showed Tony this and he just fell in

 

[vancha]

LOL...what a wide mouth...Feed me! The toenails and the wing tips are still light colored, so it will be interesting what he turns out to be. In looking at the crop the crop tissue looks great, but you might want to thicken the forumula up a tad. Byt the time he is a week old he should be able to handle the normal thickness just fine.

Yes, I think thickening up the formula would be a good idea, generally Roudybush is mixed to its maximum consistency (25% formula to 75% water for small species) once a baby is 3 days old but I tried to keep it a little thinner. I'll start to thicken it up now. His toenails are still white but I wonder if they are simply taking a while to change? We will have to see.

 

[srtiels]

OK...since it is Roudybush you'll have to keep it the thickness recommended on the package. I learned with that formula if it is thickened too much it can impact in the bottom of the crop and make it feel doughy.

Ah...if the toenails stay light you might have a pied.

 

[vancha]

He's taking a little while to grow but, his growth has been increasing quite significantly in the past few days. I can see pinfeathers finally coming in on his wings and even on the top of his head - they are dark. Right now, I think he will either be a normal grey or a pearl. I think his toenails are getting a little darker, slowly however. He did have a rough start in life so here's hoping his growth continues to speed up. He gained 5 grams today. Now, however, it seems that every time I weigh him with his crop full, he weighs as much as he will weigh later, when his crop is empty. So it's almost as if he gains the weight I feed him, or at least, almost that much.

 

[Renae]

Getting a shot of him when he's not begging is nearly an impossible feat.

You are so lucky you get to see him grow up, what a great thing to be able to do.

He's growing nicely from what I can see, and looks like a strong little baby!

 

[srtiels]

OK...for every cc you feed that equals 1 gram in body weight. You can estimate how much is in the crop in terms of cc's and deduct from the total if he has a full crop.

Yep...dark crest and toenails could be a grey ot pearl. Now what you have to do is watch the tail. If the entire tail area stays dark it is normal, and if it is light and yellow pins come in across the width of the tail it is a pearl.

If both parents were split to pied, the wings would look varigated...some light feathers in between the dark...

 

[vancha]

Susanne, I am a little concerned. It seems the roudybush does cause problems when too thick and although so far it is not a severe problem, I find that his crop has not been emptying wholly and feels just slightly "doughy" when it should be time to feed him again. I've been feeding water + probiotics and it may have helped a tad but not immensely thus far. I am concerned and want to make sure this food empties right away because I do not want to have sour crop on my hands. Otherwise, he is pooping and his crop does empty, it just has that left behind. Any thoughts or suggestions? I tried to keep the formula rather liquidy but I suppose I must have made a mistake once.

Update: I think it's getting better. It's just this formula, sometimes it really does get doughy. The other formulas get grainy and this one gets doughy; I think because its base is corn starch. Just loosening it up is helping. Hopefully soon everything is back to normal.