Feeding baby

[Laurie]

I think it feels like the middle one you drawn

That's good.

 

[Hagen]

I am a breeder but not of Eclectus. Babies can and do weigh more than their parents pre weaning and especially pre fledging. Is your baby flying yet? Underweight is more of a concern than overweight.

In my opinion, the keel bone is not the best way to check body condition on a baby since they will naturally have less muscles around their chest because they have not fully developed yet. So it would be very easy to judge them as underweight when it is just that they are not fully developed yet. With babies, the key is recording keeping and comparing them to themselves rather than other individuals.

You can often feed them up to 10% of their body weight per feeding so in your case about 40ml. This is only if they are interested in food. It is not uncommon for fledging babies to be so excited to be out and about and with people that they are not interested in eating so you have to keep offering a few times before you give up because they will eat eventually if they are hungry.

They way that I like to wean babies is to judge their interest in food and also track their weight and track the amount of formula that they are eating.

Track their weight each morning before they eat, so you get the weight of the bird not the weight of the bird plus food. To track food intake either record the amount they eat in ml or better yet weight him before feeding and then immediately after and subtract, then you will know how much food was eaten.

As for interest in food, if you have been feeding a baby for very long you probably understand what I mean by a baby acting desperate for food. If your baby acts hungry or desperate at any of the feeding times then you would not want to remove that feeding time or cut back the number of feedings.

If he is only mildly interested in food and is continuing to gain or maintain weight then you can consider adjusting the feeding schedule. Basically, at any given feeding you will want to continue to feed as much as he wants to eat. If he is completely uninterested in food or only eats a little then you can make an adjustment.

So at 3 feedings a day I assume you are doing maybe 10-12 hours of sleep at night with feeding every 6-7 hours during the day? Is that right? Let me know what you are doing and how hungry he is at each feeding? Does he eat equally at each, how does he behave? These types of observations help to decide what he needs. Let me know...

Hallo
He is flying very well already infact when I let him play outside his cage which is most of the time hy comes flying to me . I spend a lot of time with him and he is a very fast learner
Lately he is beginning to play with the formula on biting at the spoon.
I gave him some slices of apple today and he liked it very much and could not get enough of it . He is typically the hungriest at night time , but sometimes he is eating more at lunch

 

[Laurie]

That all sound about right. If he eats only a little in the morning you could try and delay that feeding for and hour or two and see if he eats better. Otherwise keep it at three times a day until he is really uninterested in the middle feeding then go to two. You really just have to judge by his behavior but whenever I do go to two feeding I generally feed and hour or so after they get up and then about 10 hours later. They do not get as hungry over night. Either way you should always feed him if he acts hungry also, babies tend to get nippy when they are hungry.

Best wishes, I hope it all goes well

 

[Hagen]

Im not sure what breeder would sell an unweaned baby- the complications of such can be drastic and irreversible.

At 9.5 weeks- he should be able to 'play' with food, but still be on formula. You give formula till he naturally weans off. It is not the quantity of the food he eats- in Ekkies it is usually down to how much water he drinks as well that will determine if he lives or dies. You need a scale for him ASAP.

Until you know his weight- you cant judge progress as they will not show signs of illness till it is far too late.

Edit: weaning is an extreemly compliated process- and with Ekkies even more so. Many ekkies dont wean till 16 weeks. The last few weeks are so critical in type of fresh food provided, technique, husbandry, etc. People contact me often with the same questions- and they all have sad updates down the line. Please call your breeder- ask him to take the unweaned baby back and return to you when the process is complete.

Im not sure what breeder would sell an unweaned baby- the complications of such can be drastic and irreversible.

At 9.5 weeks- he should be able to 'play' with food, but still be on formula. You give formula till he naturally weans off. It is not the quantity of the food he eats- in Ekkies it is usually down to how much water he drinks as well that will determine if he lives or dies. You need a scale for him ASAP.

Until you know his weight- you cant judge progress as they will not show signs of illness till it is far too late.

Edit: weaning is an extreemly compliated process- and with Ekkies even more so. Many ekkies dont wean till 16 weeks. The last few weeks are so critical in type of fresh food provided, technique, husbandry, etc. People contact me often with the same questions- and they all have sad updates down the line. Please call your breeder- ask him to take the unweaned baby back and return to you when the process is complete.

Hello just want to let you know everything is going really well with pablo he is eating his veggies and is full of energy

Im not sure what breeder would sell an unweaned baby- the complications of such can be drastic and irreversible.

At 9.5 weeks- he should be able to 'play' with food, but still be on formula. You give formula till he naturally weans off. It is not the quantity of the food he eats- in Ekkies it is usually down to how much water he drinks as well that will determine if he lives or dies. You need a scale for him ASAP.

Until you know his weight- you cant judge progress as they will not show signs of illness till it is far too late.

Edit: weaning is an extreemly compliated process- and with Ekkies even more so. Many ekkies dont wean till 16 weeks. The last few weeks are so critical in type of fresh food provided, technique, husbandry, etc. People contact me often with the same questions- and they all have sad updates down the line. Please call your breeder- ask him to take the unweaned baby back and return to you when the process is complete.

Just wanted update you on pablo
He is eating his veggies and fruits
He is doing really well and is soo full of energy and playfull
Only concern is and i dont know if it is a bad thing is that he is really attached to me , he goes crazy when I am not with him for an hour and he never wants to be in his cage when I am in the room
Btw I do not like keeping him in a cage and will never keep him for long periods of time in his cage
It just worries me a bit that he might get lonely when I go to work again