New here, meet puffy!

[Cynthia & Percy]

Welcome

 

[melissasparrots]

oh okay. I will try my best to get it. thanks for letting me know! also, there is this health mix powder here which is actually for humans but these are its contents:
earl millet, Finger millet, Sorghum, Parboiled rice, Maize, Wheat, Whole green gram, Soyabean, Groundnut, Cashewnut, Almond, Sago and Cardamom.

will this be fine instead of cerelac? should I discontinue cerelac immediately?

I think this is probably okay, but I'm not sure. I would not feed it as the majority of the diet. If you can't get baby bird formula, can you get adult bird pelleted food? Monkey biscuits would be another option if you can't get pellets. You can grind pellets into a powder, mix with water and feed. A small amount of ground sunflower seed or human baby fruit or vegetable food is okay to add. However, the majority should be the pellets. Then get actual baby food as soon as you can. The good news is that your baby is probably very nearly full grown. Messing around with its formula and having poor nutrition for a while might cause stress bars on its feathers which will eventually molt out.

 

[Lady Jane]

@melissasparrots is one of your best resources when it comes to baby bird nutrition and also @Monica .

 

[RainbowFlo]

Welcome! Everyone has given great advice Hope all goes well with your lovebird and you enjoy the avenue!

~Estella

 

[expressmailtome]

Welcome, and enjoy the site!

 

[puffy.love]

Are you hand feeding with a syringe?

uh yes I am . I keep it at the tip of their mouth and inject(?) the food as slowly and they gulp the food. I have been having no problems in feeding them with a syringe.

 

[puffy.love]

Something I would advise doing now is finding an avian vet (a vet who treats birds) and start saving money for a vet fund. In an emergency, you do not want to be frantically calling around vets trying to find someone who has experience with birds.

there many vets in the city I am from. so I will for sure find out one.

 

[puffy.love]

also I add these drops to the food like they told me to. here are some pictures:
but puffy has been fed cerelac form when they were handfed and they are doing perfectly fine. they are very healthy and active.

a friend of mine told me that I can feed roasted gram seed powder with fruit juice instead of cerelac and his mom has been growing birds from a young age... will this be fine?

 

[puffy.love]

A21 is what a lovebird needs. It has a green lid.
Here is a link, this one is a little less and free delivery;

Buy Versele Laga A21 Nutri Bird Food (800 G, Multicolor) Online at Low Prices in India - Amazon.in

Amazon.in: Buy Versele Laga A21 Nutri Bird Food (800 G, Multicolor) online at low price in India on Amazon.in. Check out Versele Laga A21 Nutri Bird Food (800 G, Multicolor) reviews, ratings, specifications and more at Amazon.in. Free Shipping, Cash on Delivery Available.

www.amazon.in

You may find it cheaper on an Indian website that is not Amazon, maybe some sort of pet supply website. Have a look around, it will be easier for you to search because of the language barrier.
If you can get the A21 but not A19, it is not the worst, but A21 (green top) is better. I did feed the A21 to one of my little ones when I couldn´t get the right one, the composition is different, not by too much but it has to be better than human baby food.


Give him the attention now that he will have for the rest of his life. Don´t interact with him 12 hours a day now, then in the future you only spend 3. Try and keep it somewhat samey.

I will post this link as I think it will be helpful for you;

Some helpful links about hand feeding :)

With these Links-I hope to bring You as Much information as I can to help anyone that finds them selves having to Hand feed A chick Lots of tips for Breeders-with links for Hand feeding etc http://www.parrotscanada.com/breeder...rbreeders.html A new way to Hand feed-With a Cup...

forums.avianavenue.com

Maybe you could offer to help with some chores for pocket money, or wash neighbours cars or something?
Maybe resell some old clothes you don´t use and pay for the formula yourself?
Maybe borrow money from someone?
Just some ideas.

that's not how desi families work
that won't be possible..

I can get the formula when I go to the city as I told before.

 

[puffy.love]

I think this is probably okay, but I'm not sure. I would not feed it as the majority of the diet. If you can't get baby bird formula, can you get adult bird pelleted food? Monkey biscuits would be another option if you can't get pellets. You can grind pellets into a powder, mix with water and feed. A small amount of ground sunflower seed or human baby fruit or vegetable food is okay to add. However, the majority should be the pellets. Then get actual baby food as soon as you can. The good news is that your baby is probably very nearly full grown. Messing around with its formula and having poor nutrition for a while might cause stress bars on its feathers which will eventually molt out.

so can i just continue with cerelac? puffy was fed that from when they were young. due to these times, I can't get any of the above food immediately...
but I can get the health mix one I mentioned above asap cuz it's sold everywhere..

and when exactly can I start feeding my bird pellets and seeds?

 

[melissasparrots]

so can i just continue with cerelac? puffy was fed that from when they were young. due to these times, I can't get any of the above food immediately...
but I can get the health mix one I mentioned above asap cuz it's sold everywhere..

and when exactly can I start feeding my bird pellets and seeds?

I was referring to the health food mix with the millet and sorghum you mentioned. The cerelac is not ideal. If its all you have, maybe try mixing it with a small amount of ground sunflower and baby food veggies or fruit from a jar. I used to do baby applesauce, bananas, peas and carrots. Powdered human baby food is probably too high in iron to be very good for a bird. But, better than feeding nothing. I don't know about the Zincovit that you posted a picture of. You need to be careful of zinc with parrots, although I have no idea what constitutes an unhealthy dose. People need zinc, parrots don't need nearly as much.
You can start offering adult food as soon as the baby starts picking at its bedding. Just because you offer, doesn't mean the baby will eat it though. It can take a few weeks before the chick starts eating a lot of adult food. If you have any quinoa you can cook that until soft and offer that as both part of the baby formula and weaning food. Same with cooked rice and beans.

 

[Lajarox]

I really hope this is the right place to post about my new birb and me. let me introduce myself.

my name is Nimal. I've never had a bird before and believed a lot of myths about owning one. but my friend got one and all of those misconceptions just shattered and I just wanted one. but I wanted to be a good birb dad so I had to think a lot about getting one. initially I chose to get a cocketiel but I was never able to find a young one. me and my dad went to a pet store and found this blue love bird chick and immediately just wanted to get them. so, say hi to puffy!
View attachment 350309
the store guy told they are about a month old. they are THE CUTEST. they started hopping on my hand on the second day and has started sleeping on it too. I cover them with my hand so they get warm and they never struggle unless its uncomfortable. but yea, they poop A LOT MY GOD. but it's okay cuz they are my lil baby. I feed them this human baby feed called cerelac with some vitamin drops called zingovit, like the store guy told. I know they should be fed with a baby bird food mix but due to covid, my family and I have come to a small hometown to be safe so we don't get that food here. but they so active and playful and I don't think the food is causing any issues. i feed them three times a day and make sure the crop is empty before I do so and stop feeding when they prompt me to. I've kept them in a small cage for now. my mom and I are planning to make a DIY cage cuz large ones here are super costly here.

about myself (don't know whether yall are interested), I am from India. my interests include politics, psychology, physics and poetry. and also, I am gay lol. I am a hugggeee Taylor swift fan. so yep. puffy and I say hello to y'all!

can yall say how will they look like when they grow? I am confused about the exact breed.
thank you!

Hello and Welcome!!! I am pretty new to the Avenue too, and have found everyone here to be helpful and supportive. Any questions, just ask, there is alot of knowledge here. Your chick is beautiful...good luck and congratulations!!

 

[puffy.love]

I was referring to the health food mix with the millet and sorghum you mentioned. The cerelac is not ideal. If its all you have, maybe try mixing it with a small amount of ground sunflower and baby food veggies or fruit from a jar. I used to do baby applesauce, bananas, peas and carrots. Powdered human baby food is probably too high in iron to be very good for a bird. But, better than feeding nothing. I don't know about the Zincovit that you posted a picture of. You need to be careful of zinc with parrots, although I have no idea what constitutes an unhealthy dose. People need zinc, parrots don't need nearly as much.
You can start offering adult food as soon as the baby starts picking at its bedding. Just because you offer, doesn't mean the baby will eat it though. It can take a few weeks before the chick starts eating a lot of adult food. If you have any quinoa you can cook that until soft and offer that as both part of the baby formula and weaning food. Same with cooked rice and beans.

i can get the health food mix and sunflower seeds. so i will grind them, add them to the mix and add fresh fruit juice and feed it?
I can also cook quinoa and rice. so can i alternate between the mix and cooked rice or should I only Ffeed one of them?

 

[puffy.love]

thanks to everyone here! I am learning a lot. I am grateful to you all for your advices.

 

[sunnysmom]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[melissasparrots]

i can get the health food mix and sunflower seeds. so i will grind them, add them to the mix and add fresh fruit juice and feed it?
I can also cook quinoa and rice. so can i alternate between the mix and cooked rice or should I only Ffeed one of them?

Instead of fruit juice, in America we have baby food in jars containing cooked and pureed carrots and various fruits and vegetables. That is what I have used previously. You are in make it up as you go territory here. If the cerelac seems not to be killing your bird and the bird can digest it, I'd just mix in some of the other stuff with it. You might not be able to feed it as easily by syringe though. You can also put some of the cooked rice, quinoa, beans, seed and fresh vegetables into a bowl for him to practice eating independently as he weans.

 

[puffy.love]

Instead of fruit juice, in America we have baby food in jars containing cooked and pureed carrots and various fruits and vegetables. That is what I have used previously. You are in make it up as you go territory here. If the cerelac seems not to be killing your bird and the bird can digest it, I'd just mix in some of the other stuff with it. You might not be able to feed it as easily by syringe though. You can also put some of the cooked rice, quinoa, beans, seed and fresh vegetables into a bowl for him to practice eating independently as he weans.

puffy seems to be doing perfectly and is very active with cerelac. yea those jarred foods aren't sold here. so I will mix some fruit juice along with cerelac and feed them? and yes i will start keeping a bowl with those food you told.

I have a question. the bird shed a lot of flaky stuff. is it because of the preening or..?

 

[melissasparrots]

puffy seems to be doing perfectly and is very active with cerelac. yea those jarred foods aren't sold here. so I will mix some fruit juice along with cerelac and feed them? and yes i will start keeping a bowl with those food you told.

I have a question. the bird shed a lot of flaky stuff. is it because of the preening or..?

Be careful of fruit juice. Too much sugar can give the bird a yeast infection. I'd cook some sweet potatoes until soft and put that into the mix. Or soft cooked carrots. A very small amount of pureed apple or banana. When you think of how much you should mix with the formula, go with less than you think you should add when it comes to fruit. Most people go WAY overboard with fruit. For a bird that size, think about .5 teaspoon or less of pureed apple for the whole day. And then don't give apple every day. Switch to a vegetable the next day. Vegetables are better than fruit most of the time.
The flaky stuff is just the casing of the pin feathers coming off as all his feathers mature.

 

[puffy.love]

Be careful of fruit juice. Too much sugar can give the bird a yeast infection. I'd cook some sweet potatoes until soft and put that into the mix. Or soft cooked carrots. A very small amount of pureed apple or banana. When you think of how much you should mix with the formula, go with less than you think you should add when it comes to fruit. Most people go WAY overboard with fruit. For a bird that size, think about .5 teaspoon or less of pureed apple for the whole day. And then don't give apple every day. Switch to a vegetable the next day. Vegetables are better than fruit most of the time.
The flaky stuff is just the casing of the pin feathers coming off as all his feathers mature.

thank you! yes i will do that for sure. can you tell me the veggies and fruits I can feed so i can switch them everyday? apples, carrots and sweet potatoes are noted. anything else?

 

[Ira]

thank you! yes i will do that for sure. can you tell me the veggies and fruits I can feed so i can switch them everyday? apples, carrots and sweet potatoes are noted. anything else?

For veggies, beets are fantastic, as are zucchini, squash, and all kinds of peppers. DON’T give him anything you’re not sure of. Certain things will make him sick or kill him, like avocado, tomato, onions, garlic, others.

For fruit, blueberries, banana and cherries are easy to work with, but as said above, not too much. And cut the cherries to toss the pits. Otherwise, all fruit is okay except for high acid citrus like oranges, lemon, etc. Watermelon is okay but it’s pure sugar with like no nutrition, so when he’s older, as a rare treat. Also try mango, pineapple, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries.