• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here
  • This forum is for advice about initial treatment given to your injured/sick bird until a qualified avian veterinarian is available.
    THIS IS NOT MEANT TO REPLACE VET CARE

My baby cockatiel.

Status
Not open for further replies.

Set

Walking the driveway
Joined
3/29/11
Messages
190
I hope it's alright if I post in this forum.

I just brought a baby cockatiel home (intro thread here) and I'm very worried about her.

Her hatch date is March 17th, which I've been getting is very young to be sold.

I weighed her and she weighs 79grams, but she was wet from falling in her water dish, so I don't know if that will affect the weight a great amount. She's having trouble perching and her grip is fairly weak.

When I did weigh her she fell forward on my hand and I felt what I believe was her keel bone :huh: It was very sharp and very easy to feel. So I think she's underweight.

I just bought handfeeding formula (Kaytee Exact; it's the only brand that Petsmart carried that I have heard of on here before) but I'm not sure how much or how often to feed her, or what temperature it should be at.

When I got home she was shivering a bit in her cage :( Should I snuggle her? Will that do more harm than good? It's 23.9C (75.02F) in the house right now.

She will hopefully be going to the vet tomorrow. I'm waiting on my missing paycheck that was due on Friday.
 

rikkitikki

Biking along the boulevard
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
8/10/10
Messages
5,515
Location
Papillion, NE
Real Name
Erika
I think a person's temperature is lower than what the bird's should be, so snuggling would be a bad idea. Other people should be on soon to talk about potentially setting up a hospital cage, etc, I have no experience, so I don't know for sure. :hug8:
 

Allessa

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
1,465
Location
Phoenix AZ
Real Name
Janifer
Im sure your body temp is more than 75 degrees tho. I think if a bird is weak and not feeling well the ordeal temp should be about 80 isnt it? Do you have a heating pad you can put under her cage? She is almost 2 months old..thats not THAT young to be sold..depends on the bird i would think. Do you know if she is eating on her own? If her keelbone is showing she may be starving..maybe someone can link a vid for you to hand feed her. Hopefully some others have better advice =(
 

srtiels

Ripping up the road
Mayor of the Avenue
Avian Angel
Joined
11/23/09
Messages
1,000,000
Location
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Real Name
Susanne
Your baby is a little over a month old....therefore shame of the person selling you an unweaned bird. The average weaning ages for tiels should be 10-12 weeks of age.

OK...Since you have a scales I would suggest you weigh the bird (while empty). This will give you a idea of how much to feed per feeding. You should feed 10% of body weight, and at this age 3 times a day. For example 9AM, 3PM, 9AM.

Some rules/quidelines:

1...NEVER reuse formula. Since you are feeding 1 baby the best way to mix up the right amount without excess/leftover is weigh the baby to get 10% body weight. You mentioned 79 gram...so go with 8cc. Draw up 8cc into a small glass. Warm the water. Mix in powdered formula. The consistency should be about the thickness of baby food applesauce. DO NOT add supplements or vitamins to the formula.

2...You want the temp of the formula between 104-106 degrees To keep it warm, place the mixed formula in a pan of water. This thread on another forum I'm on as some info: Hand-Feeding Chart - Talk Cockatiels Forums

3... Always allow to empty between each feeding. Your feeding schedule (above is broken down into 6 hours between the 2 feeding during the day, and 12 hour overnight. This is plenty of time for the baby to empty and digest the crop contents. ALWAYS feel the base of the crop BEFORE you feed the baby. If there is food leftover in the crop from the previous feeding this is an early alert that a problem such as slow/sour crop may be starting.

If the baby is fully feathered then room temp is fine. Right now keep the baby in an enclosed container....such as a medium sized cardboard box, a 10 gallon fish tank or plastic tub approx thios size. As long as the baby is being handfed there is no need top provide water because the formula will be the source of fluids. Once you reduce down to 2 feeding a day you can place the bird in a cage during the day.
 

Allessa

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
1,465
Location
Phoenix AZ
Real Name
Janifer
She said her hatch date is March 17th. It is May 16...that makes her a little over 8 weeks doesnt it? Still young dont get me wrong.
 

Set

Walking the driveway
Joined
3/29/11
Messages
190
Yes, she is a little over 8 weeks.

I got her to eat a small amount of hand feeding formula. She also will take and eat softened pellets, but anything harder than that she just can't chew at all. She can't open any seeds, either, except for millet. Shes going at the millet like crazy when I hold her, but in the cage she wouldn't touch it. So I have her sitting on my lap eating that right now. I don't have a heating pad but can probably get my hands on one. She is fully feathered.

Her grip seems to be stronger even after just eating a little bit. Her feet worry me, though, because they're really dark.

Also, she was being fed flax bread and millet as well as by her parents before I picked her up. Will the bread cause any problems? Can that impact her crop? She won't be getting anymore of it and I was very surprised that that's all they had fed her.
 

srtiels

Ripping up the road
Mayor of the Avenue
Avian Angel
Joined
11/23/09
Messages
1,000,000
Location
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Real Name
Susanne
She said her hatch date is March 17th. It is May 16...that makes her a little over 8 weeks doesnt it? Still young dont get me wrong.
---------------------------------------------

Thanks for pointing that out. At 8 weeks old it may still be too young to be 100% weaned, considering in the intro posting the baby was still being fed by the parents. or if the seller assumed it was weaned the baby may have relapsed. The baby may not be familiar with a syringe....may be starving...yet not know how to take formula. She may have go back to the basics and handfeed the bird, and wean it.

They said her mama was a whiteface and her daddy was a lutino. OK...from the info on the parents your tiel is a male....if the father was indeed a lutino and not a pied. (Do you have pix's of the parents?) He is visually a normal grey split to pied (light feathers on the back of the head)


the poster can offer it a syringe of formula.
 

Set

Walking the driveway
Joined
3/29/11
Messages
190
They said her mama was a whiteface and her daddy was a lutino. OK...from the info on the parents your tiel is a male....if the father was indeed a lutino and not a pied. (Do you have pix's of the parents?) He is visually a normal grey split to pied (light feathers on the back of the head)
I was wondering if this was the case. I thought I had read something about it somewhere, but wasn't positive. I don't have any pictures of the parents, but I may get some when the previous owners send me baby pictures.
 

srtiels

Ripping up the road
Mayor of the Avenue
Avian Angel
Joined
11/23/09
Messages
1,000,000
Location
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Real Name
Susanne
Her feet worry me, though, because they're really dark.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above does not tell me much :( More info needed. For example most normal greys will have greytoned skin on the feet. If the bird is dehydrated the feet can get a dark purplish color. Toes will be real thin and look like sticks. If the bird is dehydrated, or suspected that it is you can use Pedialyte as the water to mix the formula up with.
 

Set

Walking the driveway
Joined
3/29/11
Messages
190
They look purple, like they're bruised or something. The toes are lighter and pinkish.


And I just noticed one of her wings is droopy :sad8: Could she have hurt it in her cage? She looked like she was sitting really awkwardly on my finger, but it's just one wing is lower than the other.
eta: it's actually like this in one of the pictures I took in the car as well.




:darkcloud: What have I gotten myself into?
 
Last edited:

srtiels

Ripping up the road
Mayor of the Avenue
Avian Angel
Joined
11/23/09
Messages
1,000,000
Location
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Real Name
Susanne
The feet are fine. The bird looks fine. The eyes are bright and alert.
 

Set

Walking the driveway
Joined
3/29/11
Messages
190
The feet are fine. The bird looks fine. The eyes are bright and alert.
Thank you so much for looking at them. That really makes me feel so much better :)

Ugh I probably seem like a complete overreacting nut right now.
 

carkam

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
11/17/09
Messages
3,728
Location
Edmonds, WA
You are doing great and have help from someone with lots of knowledge! She is a cutie pie!!!:hug8:
 

April

Joyriding the Neighborhood
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
3/21/10
Messages
23,893
She's adorable,I hope she turns out to be ok. :hug8:
 

WingedVictory

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
1,435
Location
Pacific Northwest
Real Name
Gary
No, you are not overreacting, you are only worried and have come to the right place for help.

I agree the bird looks healthy but may be under weight. Suzanne will have many good tips on how to hand feed your bird and guide you along the way.

Gary
 

Dana Lee

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
4/5/11
Messages
1,954
Location
NJ
Real Name
Dana
:hug8: she's so cute
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top