New Cockatoo mom problems

[Pixiebeak]

Looks off for sure. If you can put down a white paper towel to poop on its easier to see what's going on.

Weaning and post Weaning are a big time in a parrots life. They need a lot of guidance from flock and parents. Adolescent sets them up fir health happy well adjusted life.

So you as flock need to be eating some of the veggies and stuff you offer with them and messing around with the food with them . They are really willing to try stuff at this age and copy and learn from you their flock. Its a time to offer every kind of good stuff you want them eating. And stress and anxiety are linked with food security.

So rushed Weaning can have an impact on them. They are less willing to try new stuff on an empty stomach sounds weird but is true . I am not sure of Weaning age for your species . Or if yours even experienced a rushed Weaning and or forced Weaning. But given the age of your baby it is very likely would still be getting an occasional support feed from parents. Larger species of parrots are often supported by parents up to a year old. They are taking them to food sources show them what's good and feeding them some of it.

You might find its very helpful to offer a little comfort feed of warm baby formula, or soft warm food like mashed warm sweet potatoes in the morning. Then right after immediately offer all your wide mixed offer of veggies and pellets. Start off with chopped up to pea size and slight dampen and soften pellets mix all together. Light steam veggies can be helpful. And offer separate too, as well as some larger hunks to pick up with feet and explore if they want. Sure there is going to be a lot of waste at first. You want to expose them to all kinds of textures and shapes and color veggies. Don forget the leafy greens! Like romaine lettuce, Swiss shard, bok choy , some shredded purple cabbage, arugula.
the end result will be a parrot thst isn't picky and eats a wide Variety of foods easily and loves too!

The same with toys . Offer all kinds . Play and ness with thrm with your parrot. Start teaching foraging as an interactive game you do together .

All the extra hands on time and fussed and teaching results in a more confident and independent parrot later. Young burds tend to need more physical contact and cuddles too.

Hopefully this is a minor gi disturbance. And resolves. Or stays minor till after Christmas and you can get in with your veterinarian.
I would still probably put in a phone call and ask for advice . Ir ask if can video chat or email or text poop pick.
But if anything changes more , like more sleeping and fluffed or not eating , or decrease in eating you may have to go in on emergency. If it is? Bacterial? It could worsen quickly

 

[Hailey S]

Looks off for sure. If you can put down a white paper towel to poop on its easier to see what's going on.

Weaning and post Weaning are a big time in a parrots life. They need a lot of guidance from flock and parents. Adolescent sets them up fir health happy well adjusted life.

So you as flock need to be eating some of the veggies and stuff you offer with them and messing around with the food with them . They are really willing to try stuff at this age and copy and learn from you their flock. Its a time to offer every kind of good stuff you want them eating. And stress and anxiety are linked with food security.

So rushed Weaning can have an impact on them. They are less willing to try new stuff on an empty stomach sounds weird but is true . I am not sure of Weaning age for your species . Or if yours even experienced a rushed Weaning and or forced Weaning. But given the age of your baby it is very likely would still be getting an occasional support feed from parents. Larger species of parrots are often supported by parents up to a year old. They are taking them to food sources show them what's good and feeding them some of it.

You might find its very helpful to offer a little comfort feed of warm baby formula, or soft warm food like mashed warm sweet potatoes in the morning. Then right after immediately offer all your wide mixed offer of veggies and pellets. Start off with chopped up to pea size and slight dampen and soften pellets mix all together. Light steam veggies can be helpful. And offer separate too, as well as some larger hunks to pick up with feet and explore if they want. Sure there is going to be a lot of waste at first. You want to expose them to all kinds of textures and shapes and color veggies. Don forget the leafy greens! Like romaine lettuce, Swiss shard, bok choy , some shredded purple cabbage, arugula.
the end result will be a parrot thst isn't picky and eats a wide Variety of foods easily and loves too!

The same with toys . Offer all kinds . Play and ness with thrm with your parrot. Start teaching foraging as an interactive game you do together .

All the extra hands on time and fussed and teaching results in a more confident and independent parrot later. Young burds tend to need more physical contact and cuddles too.

Hopefully this is a minor gi disturbance. And resolves. Or stays minor till after Christmas and you can get in with your veterinarian.
I would still probably put in a phone call and ask for advice . Ir ask if can video chat or email or text poop pick.
But if anything changes more , like more sleeping and fluffed or not eating , or decrease in eating you may have to go in on emergency. If it is? Bacterial? It could worsen quickly

Thank you so much you and everyone for the info! I do have a random question (and it didn't strike me until now) : can birds get human viruses (and the opposite?) I've been feeling under the weather lately... little slow to start in the morning and just don't want to eat a lot. This started a day after Jolly and I was told before that birds can sometimes contract human viruses too. I wonder if they go away in time and rest like humans too? It's certainly not bird flu because I haven't touched anything or been around wild birds. Just a curious thought (since him and I are both out sick lol)

 

[Pixiebeak]

Avian Chlamydia is called parrot fever in people its caused by a bacteria . I had my whole flock get AC and took 3 rounds of antibiotics in the burds to clear over several months.. I did not get it....but one time with minor flu like symptoms ly doctor treated me just incase because of 7 burds sick with it. we don't have confirmation that I had it .

You can pass strep to your parrots.

Other than that there isn't anything I worry about myself anyway

 

[melissasparrots]

The place I got him from weened him at 5 and a half months. He's currently 7 months and he definitely still has tendencies to love mushy foods like his baby food. He'll just go through fits with eating but I'm generally afraid if I buy baby food for him, he'll fall back to it again.
No real changes, no. He gets cleaned up daily since he flings so much as well, that's when I noticed the stool change. This has been for about a day and a half to two days with no massive attitude change.

I would definitely hesitate to put him back on formula. I'd try to get through a baby period with lots of warm mashy veggies mixed with warm mashy cooked beans and grains. A lot of your concern about his poop could be solved by monitoring his weight. It might be a little too late now. But, ideally, you weigh the bird at least weekly or more often if it's a new bird or freshly weaned. The actual weight is less important than the trend. If the bird was 500g and holding for several weeks and suddenly its down to 480 for no good reason, I'd be looking at droppings and make sure it's breathing okay. If it keeps dropping down a little at a time and has anormal poops or something else is off, then I'd be off to the vet. Personally, I'd be getting a gram weight on this bird every morning before the first feed. Get to know what it's high end weight is every day and what it's low end weight is so you know what constitutes normal variation. If his empty morning weight keeps trending down over the course of days then you need a second opinion at the vet. In fact, if your vet didn't do at the very least a gram's stain and blood work, then they don't really know if he's healthy or not. With suspicious poops, I'd be doing a culture and sensitivity test just to put my mind at ease.

 

[melissasparrots]

Sorry it took so long. Lighting at night isn't the best and even now this picture is incredibly blurry cause he was trying to climb on my phone and arm lol. I took the grating and whatnot out to keep an eye on the poop and clean it twice a day. His stool comes out dark green or brownish green but instead of the urate coming out white ish like it normally does, it just splatters clear. This looks slightly better than yesterday but still not his normal. His normal is dark green or green-brown with white urate and it coming out semi solid. View attachment 419772

Any chance the poop just looks like that after it had a big drink? That does sometimes happen. When in doubt though, a vet check is best with actual lab work done. If you never had the disease testing done, that would be a good idea too.

 

[Hailey S]

New here so I'm sorry if this was asked. It's been a long time since I've been on online threads as well.

Got a cockatoo a few months back... not even a year old and a lovely male triton. He's been fine all the way up till this week.
This week, hes been crying, getting moody, flinging more food, and having watery stool when it's normally firm, and he's shedding feathers. He's up on vaccines, no real diet change... he LOVES veggies but that normally doesn't change his stool. He daily gets cuddles, humidifier time, every other day showers, and time out. I can't think of anything he could've caught either cause he's been inside due to it being damp and cold. I'm at a loss. Help! Hoping it's nothing serious. His vet visit a month ago said he was healthy as a horse.

Second late night update cause I'm still eyeing him too (he randomly likes to wake up even when he feels well to say hello at 12 or 1am lol). I called the vet and they got back to me. He had said if he appears to still be eating and drinking with just a slight damper on mood, to cut down veggie and fruit intake and start him on an avian probiotic as soon as I can (which obviously is gonna be a few days. We're snowed in and it's Christmas). With the poor past experience I've had with large birds (not blaming my macaw. She fought with all she had and I'm grateful for it), I'm terrified and just on edge with this. It's an awful waiting game and makes me scared and sick. Thank you all for the advice though! I truly hope it's some random gi disturbance or quick 'stomach bug' illness like people get and get over in a few days.

 

[Tanya]

The place I got him from weened him at 5 and a half months. He's currently 7 months and he definitely still has tendencies to love mushy foods like his baby food. He'll just go through fits with eating but I'm generally afraid if I buy baby food for him, he'll fall back to it again.
No real changes, no. He gets cleaned up daily since he flings so much as well, that's when I noticed the stool change. This has been for about a day and a half to two days with no massive attitude change.

It's perfectly fine for him to fall back into it. Many hand reared babies are weaned too early and would benefit from comfort feedings. I think it is usually better to give more security than less in a young bird.

Also, he's right on schedule for his first post-hatch molt.

 

[Tanya]

Second late night update cause I'm still eyeing him too (he randomly likes to wake up even when he feels well to say hello at 12 or 1am lol). I called the vet and they got back to me. He had said if he appears to still be eating and drinking with just a slight damper on mood, to cut down veggie and fruit intake and start him on an avian probiotic as soon as I can (which obviously is gonna be a few days. We're snowed in and it's Christmas). With the poor past experience I've had with large birds (not blaming my macaw. She fought with all she had and I'm grateful for it), I'm terrified and just on edge with this. It's an awful waiting game and makes me scared and sick. Thank you all for the advice though! I truly hope it's some random gi disturbance or quick 'stomach bug' illness like people get and get over in a few days.

Molting can be stressful and stress can cause loose stools. We actually call them "stress poos" at our house. Misty, non-soaking baths can help. Be sure to get him fully dry in a warm, draft-free room before bringing him to a cooler place on the house if you live in the northern hemisphere where it has been a bit chilly of late.

 

[Hailey S]

Molting can be stressful and stress can cause loose stools. We actually call them "stress poos" at our house. Misty, non-soaking baths can help. Be sure to get him fully dry in a warm, draft-free room before bringing him to a cooler place on the house if you live in the northern hemisphere where it has been a bit chilly of late.

My good mercy you're right! I've been paranoid this whole time and he got a shower for the first time in a couple days (he was agitated and didn't want touched the first couple days) and he was COVERED in pin feathers under his normal ones. Poor sweetie sat under the shower head for a LONG time and he looked relieved about it. Usually the birds I've had in the past I didn't have during their first molt. I never knew it was this stressful first go round.

 

[aooratrix]

Molting can be stressful and stress can cause loose stools. We actually call them "stress poos" at our house. Misty, non-soaking baths can help. Be sure to get him fully dry in a warm, draft-free room before bringing him to a cooler place on the house if you live in the northern hemisphere where it has been a bit chilly of late.

Good call!

 

[Hailey S]

New here so I'm sorry if this was asked. It's been a long time since I've been on online threads as well.

Got a cockatoo a few months back... not even a year old and a lovely male triton. He's been fine all the way up till this week.
This week, hes been crying, getting moody, flinging more food, and having watery stool when it's normally firm, and he's shedding feathers. He's up on vaccines, no real diet change... he LOVES veggies but that normally doesn't change his stool. He daily gets cuddles, humidifier time, every other day showers, and time out. I can't think of anything he could've caught either cause he's been inside due to it being damp and cold. I'm at a loss. Help! Hoping it's nothing serious. His vet visit a month ago said he was healthy as a horse.

Update on this a week later:
Poops are still watery. I tried warm foods. He loves his oatmeal every couple days until he stopped eating it a few days. I finally caved and called the vet for an update cause he seems to have lost a little weight. I'm honestly unsure if this helped, but I fed him some baby formula. He absolutely adored it and is now picking at his other foods. Perhaps that's all he needs is one feeding every couple days? This is very odd behavior for him but after I fed him his formula, he's acting like himself again. Did the breeder cut him off too early then? He's a confusing one.

 

[Shezbug]

He is still young and I would think he would still benefit from the odd comfort feeding.