Questions (14 Week Old Amazon)

[SkyDancer]

Hi everyone,

We decided to welcome home a little YNA. He was born April 2nd, making him around 14 weeks.

Breeder said he was starting to eat solids but he was still giving him formula 2x a day in a syringe.

I used to be a Vet Tech for an avian vet and handfed a lot of parrots (she was also a breeder).

We picked him up last night and I mixed up his formula but he showed no interest. I am used to them bobbing their heads and taking it pretty quickly. He kind of nibbled on the syringe and lapped at it with his tongue for a minute. He maybe ate 2.5ccs? Then shook his head and had a couple tiny bubbles it seemed by his nostrils/nares. I have a hard time believing he inhaled any when it was such a small amount and he swallowed it - but he just generally doesn’t seem interested.

Can I put it on a spoon or in a bowl instead? I made some scrambled eggs which he was excited about and nibbled at!

I do have a scale and will be weighing him. Also, suggestions on housing?

They can’t go in a regular cage at this point as they could fall, right? We have a huge corner cage that will eventually be his.

I have him set up in a small wire kennel with low perches, bowls, and a rope toy now! Should I leave water and food in the cage with him? I am worried about him dipping his whole beak in and getting it in his nares.

 

[April]

Aww what a little cutie pie! Let me tag a few breeders @melissasparrots @Mockinbirdiva @BrianB .
I'd be careful with that rope toy as it would be easy for him to pull off and ingest the strands or possibly get caught in it and hurt.
If the bowls are swallow enough I wouldn't be too worried about him dipping his beak in too deep and the sooner he learns how to properly eat from the bowls the better.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

I would take into account you just brought him home last night. If at the breeder he was still kept with other babies and is now in a new and strange environment ( including his temporary cage) he has a lot to get used to in transitioning to new faces, new voices, new sounds. If the breeder wasn’t spending much time socializing the babies but more so hand feeding and putting them back in their enclosure then I would expect he would balk at taking feedings. He’s of the age where visually he readily accepts his hand feeder( the breeder) Since you are new to him I would suggest keeping him in a fairly quiet area where when you are ready with your formula ( at the very same temperature the breeder fed at) and feed him in a very low light but light enough you know you won’t err with feeding correctly. It may take a couple or more days for him to adjust to a new face. He’s probably used to the breeders voice too so I would be quiet while I fed until he’s done. Talk all you want after. Do you know what he was kept in before you picked him up? All I can say about the temporary dog kennel is the length of the vertical bars ( and no horizontal bars) he may have some difficulty climbing around. I would certainly keep a dish with pellets and a bowl of water available at all times so he can explore what his diet will be once he’s weaned. After his feedings I would offer other soft foods including a few soaked pellets. You don’t have to fill a water bowl so high if you are worried he’ll dip his beak up to his nares He will learn not to.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

I also vote for removing the rope toy. Is he DNA tested?

Reread your post regarding feeding with a spoon or bowl. I would feed just as the breeder did. It might prove difficult to teach him to eat from a spoon when it’s feeding time with formula. You might give that a try with other foods when it’s not the critical time for feeding and see how he takes a soaked pellet or other soft food from a spoon.

 

[April]

For some other toy ideas,it's never to early to start them with some foot toys with balsa and sola for really soft and easy and some slightly harder ones like Pine and Basswood. It will help with coordination and encourage exploration. For hanging toys there's great options especially at Lil Monsters Bird Toys and SeriouslyNutz. When he's young they can be lighter more easy to destroy toys and as he gets older and stronger you can move onto the harder and more challenging woods.

 

[BrianB]

I always start with shallow ceramic dishes for water and just increase the amount of water in the bowl as I see the bird learning to drink on their own. You could try offering the formula on a spoon to see if it will take it that way. You could also dip the syringe in hot water before presenting it to the bird. Sometimes the extra heat at the tip helps stimulate the bobbing action. For slow feeders, I dip the syringe, feed a little, dip it back in the hot water and offer a little more formula. That is usually enough to stimulate eating even when they act like they don't want any. The bubbles may have been just what was already in the mouth coming out when he shook his head. It sounds like you've got a lot of experience hand feeding so go with what your instinct tells you. As long as you're checking the weight and it isn't dropping then you should be fine. Scrambled eggs are good soft food for babies as long as they aren't cooked in butter and you break them up into nice small pieces. As for the cage, my babies go from the incubator into a brooder and then they are mostly feathered I move them into a cage that's appropriate for their size. Conures go into utility cages, bigger birds like Greys or baby macaws go into a rabbit hutch and then into a large cage as they get too big for it. Once I see them starting to grab things with their feet I give them perches and when they start to parch and climb I move them into a larger cage so they can start to explore.

 

[SkyDancer]

He was doing more head bobbing this evening and ate 9-10cc. He’s been picking at scrambled eggs, pellets, and drinking some of his formula out of a shallow dish on my lap as well. He seems like he’s doing really good. Any tips you guys have on nipping and how to correct it now (mostly ears), we try not to let him on our shoulders at all right now! He is NOT DNA’d but I would like to have it done at some point. Do all males become mean? Even with a lot of training and socialization?

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

He was doing more head bobbing this evening and ate 9-10cc. He’s been picking at scrambled eggs, pellets, and drinking some of his formula out of a shallow dish on my lap as well. He seems like he’s doing really good. Any tips you guys have on nipping and how to correct it now (mostly ears), we try not to let him on our shoulders at all right now! He is NOT DNA’d but I would like to have it done at some point. Do all males become mean? Even with a lot of training and socialization?

He sounds like he’s relaxing some. Changing environments is stressful for them. More than people can see or understand. Ears? No shoulders ever would be a good start at avoiding nipping where you have no control once they make it up to your shoulder. They like being higher so it’s a natural instinct… so is biting the hand that tries to get them to step off to get them down. ( especially when they don’t want to get down). I had an ex( emphasis on EX ) that taunted a female nape I had ( rehomed her so she wouldn’t get hurt). He leaned in to show off for his friends visiting and she latched onto his lower lip, he jerked back and she ripped his lip down horribly. Lucky for him I worked for oral surgeons and called one up to meet us at the office to put his lip back together. She certainly got even for every beak flick he gave her. Avoid games with your hands. They can be easy going until they reach maturity (4-5 years) and there’s no telling what hormones will cause in a change of behavior. My male yellow nape is 17. He’s been with me since he was 4 or 5 months old. He can be a dangerous terror if I’m being completely honest. My female double yellow head can be a little snappy but never has she come after me. I hardly know when she’s hormonal unless I’m touching her head and she doesn’t relax… she flattens out and clucks a little. It doesn’t last long for her and I just don’t oblige a head scratch unless she just enjoys the scratch without getting clucky. I don’t think it matters how much training or socialization you give them. Just be prepared to accept that behavior and don’t be disappointed your feathered friend acts like they want to eat you. Always be kind and loving… you’ll find patience goes a long way! Do that DNA test to see if you have a male or female. Have you given him (?) a name yet?

 

[melissasparrots]

He may be on the verge of weaning. I've had plenty of yellow naped babies that weaned in the 12-14 week old range. The only ones that went to almost 16 weeks were clipped earlier than the others after they started chewing my kitchen up and that slowed down their development. I think you may have brought him home at that awkward time when he's effectively weaned, but maybe not stable enough to be moved and stay weaned. I'd make sure to weigh him. Expect a temporary weight drop which should start to stabilize or rebound by day 3. Offer formula however the breeder offered it twice a day. Make sure to offer the same brand of formula. Unless his weight is crashing, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Other hints that something is wrong is if he cries a lot but still won't take the food, or produces a lot of poops without a fecal component. Cooked and soft warm veggies are a better food than scrambled eggs. I do cooked soft and mashed sweet potato mixed with cooked rice, cooked quinoa, a SMALL amount of mashed banana and maybe some cooked soft beans. Fed at hand-feeding temperature, it serves as a good transition food and even my adults eat it with gusto a few times a week. Based on his feather quality and stress bars, it looks like your baby might have had a rocky start. He may or may not be behind others. If he is flying well and landing with a degree of grace, he's probably ready for a grown up cage. If he was clipped before flying, you'll have to watch how well he gets around the smaller cage and make a judgement about when to move him to the bigger one.

He needs the water and adult foods left in the cage with him. Make sure to give him the same brands of seed and pellets as the breeder had him on and make sure it is ALWAYS available. Along with a good assortment of fresh and cooked veggies at least twice a day to keep him interested in exploring his food. The last thing you want to do to a maybe/maybe not recent weaned baby is be inconsistent about when he can access food. It's okay to only hand-feed twice a day. But he should have other food available and within easy reach always. That might mean multiple food bowls. It should be hard for him to move around his cage without running into food.
In answer to your other question, not all males turn mean, but most will have aggressive periods. That is typical of all yellow napes. Expect a few tough years when hormones first hit. Then, if you handle it well, it will likely taper off to just seasonal or reasonable enough that you can watch body language and kind of know when he can be picked up.

I would get him vet checked with at least a gram's stain sometimes soon. He just looks like a bird that had a rough start. Feathers a little thin and with more black bars than I'd expect on a yellow nape. Although, that could be a subspecies thing. Does he have any black bars or growth disruptions on his wing or tail feathers?

 

[SkyDancer]

I don’t have a gram scale but I weighed him on my other scale and he was 4.6oz (around 130 grams).

Does that seem like a good weight if he was born beginning of April?

He ate his formula really well last night and bobbed his head for it (also drank some out of a bowl), but more interest in fresh foods and no formula again this morning.

 

[melissasparrots]

I don’t have a gram scale but I weighed him on my other scale and he was 4.6oz (around 130 grams).

Does that seem like a good weight if he was born beginning of April?

He ate his formula really well last night and bobbed his head for it (also drank some out of a bowl), but more interest in fresh foods and no formula again this morning.

That weight isn't anywhere near right for a bird that is still alive. He would have surpassed 130g by the time he was 2 weeks old and probably earlier. You really just need to get a gram scale. If he is a small bird or a skinny bird, weight could be as low as in the middle 300's or into the 400's for a decent sized bird that is thin but not too thin. I have a slightly smaller subspecies so healthy weaning weights for mine might be 350 for a small female to 450 for a large male. Slightly fat adult weights for the same birds would be around 50-100g more. There is such wide size difference in yellow napes that the number isn't what is important unless it's getting super low. Its more the trend. A weaning bird will bounce around within a certain range and maybe trend down just a bit. Your baby is probably near the lowest he is going to go. Within the next couple of week, he will probably wean fully and stabilize. If he took formula, that is great. But understand that weaning looks like he starts to refuse formula. So if he doesn't want it, push the veggies and adult foods. If he wants the formula, give it, but don't try to sweet talk him into eating it.

 

[SkyDancer]

Just ordered a gram scale! Thank you!

 

[Haroobom]

Just ordered a gram scale! Thank you!

Hi, any updates ?

If it helps
I rescued an adult red lored amazon on may,
and more recently acquired a 12 week old red lored (have hand reared cockatiels before, so this wasn't an issue).

Today at 14-15 weeks he weighs 400 grams, and fully fledged. We are currently working on weaning.

First I introduced boiled sweet potato mash, this helps since its a texture he is familiar with, once I was sure he was feeding on it (checking his crop), I started adding more and more finely chopped vegs, and started reducing the sweet potato quantity, currently I'm at 50-50%, and still handfeed him at nights, and let him eat during the day, also he has free access to organic seed mix 24/7.

At this point he should always have food so he tries it or plays with it and will eventually end up ingesting it on accident or purpose, also toys that are 100% safe and destructible. Introducing misting as a form of bathing is also important so it becomes a habit and helps with feather care.