Stunted 3 month old Green Cheek Conure

[mothhteeth]

this little baby is supposedly three months old, we got him from a really wack breeder on craigslist and we got him because when we saw him we were so concerned. (granted we shouldnt have bought him because it just rewards the breeder for bad practices)(we're planning on trying to report them for animal cruelty and neglect as soon as possible)
The water bowls in his cage looked unclean the food thrown about everywhere.
He also was the runt of his clutch which makes him even smaller.

I want as much advice on caring for him as possible, anything you think i absolutely should know
how often we should feed him, what to feed him, giving him water, cage set up, weaning, heating, ANYTHING at all I should know about a baby bird

 

[Shezbug]

@Zara @Mockinbirdiva

 

[BirdLady13]

He looks like he's about 31-35 days old. You should definitely weight him; he should be 70-75 grams. At 8-12 weeks he should be weaning. I would recommend hand feeding him so he gets the proper nutrients for growth and development. Use a syringe or a spoon with bent sides. Place the syringe tip into the left side of the mouth, being careful not to aspirate or jab him in the mouth. If he pumps his head you have the green light to start feeding, in which case you need to aim towards the back right side of the mouth. If you don't feel comfortable trying this, you can use the bent spoon method where you slowly drip food into his open mouth. Whichever method you decide to use, make sure you follow the formula directions carefully. Since you have to add hot water you'll need to pay close attention to the temperature.

Hand-feeding formulas:
Harrison's Juvenile Hand-Feeding Formula
Psittacus Mini Feeding
Higgins InTune Natural Hand-Feeding Formula
Kaytee Exact Hand-Feeding Formula Baby Bird Food

 

[mothhteeth]

heres an older photo of him that was on the breeder's page. in this photo you can see how little he is compared to his siblings

 

[mothhteeth]

You should definitely weight him; he should be 70-75 grams.

are you sure he should weigh 70-75 grams? its just thats about how much our adult green cheek weighs and id like to make sure

 

[Shezbug]

are you sure he should weigh 70-75 grams? its just thats about how much our adult green cheek weighs and id like to make sure

I think you will be best to wait for a bit and converse with Zara or Andrea to find out everything you need to know to help this little guy, they are both very good at helping in these situations and have both bred birds.

All birds have a general average weight range but it will depend on many things so generalized weights will not fit every bird and it can be dangerous to expect them to fit perfectly on the weight chart. Size of your bird is a major factor not just age and average weights of that species.

 

[Ulis_Beast]

I'm rooting for you and the baby!

(I have one that was bought in similar circumstances)
Some people simply shouldn't be allowed to have pets let alone breed them.

But I have no idea how to raise babies.
Good luck!

 

[Zara]

Hi,
Have you got a little brooder set up for the little one?
Though I see the cage in the picture, I´m sure you have realised by now the breeder was not a good one. Until he is fully featheres, a brooder is where he needs to be. You can set up a critter carrier with aspen shavings in the bottom for him.
The brooder will help him keep warm and digest the food properly.
Key things right now; nutrition and warmth.
Be sure you are preparing the baby bird formula to the package instructions and feed it on a little metal teaspoon. He should be consuming 10 % of his body weight per feeding. Looking at the bird, that will be at least 3 feedings per day.

Here is a link on handfeeding and tips;

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

and for brooder setups;

How To make a home made brooder

There are many ways of doing it. But This is how mine is and it is my 2nd version of a home made Brooder and I like it much better than my 1st Items needed Fish Tank( I use a 10 gallon) Lid with wire mesh over top Heating Pad Thermometer Blankets/Towels Newspapers Paper towels Steps to take...

forums.avianavenue.com

I would also highly doubt the bird is 3 months old, sounds like they just wanted the sale, also he doesn´t appear to be stunted.

 

[Zara]

Tagging @Laurie

 

[BirdLady13]

are you sure he should weigh 70-75 grams? its just thats about how much our adult green cheek weighs and id like to make sure

Adults typically weigh 60-80 g. Babies can surpass this weight because they tend to lose 10-15% of their body weight during the weaning process, but like Shezbug said, these are ranges. You should start weighing him daily to see if he is gaining or losing weight.

 

[Laurie]

Hi there. What a cute little fuzzy one you have here!

While it is nice to know their age it is not essential, you can just simply start caring for him based on his stage of development.

With as many feathers as he has he should be able to maintain his body temp well but I would keep him in a warm area, 80+ degrees until he gets all his feathers. Warmer is fine too, you just don't want him to get chilled.

He is definitely going to need to be handfed. Are you set up to do that? This baby will not eat enough on his own without handfeeding (probably 3 times a day, maybe 4). Handfeeding will need to continue passed being fully feathered and flighted. I am not sure the age of green cheeks weaning but we are really not going by age. If anyone can tell you how long after fledging they when that might be a helpful guide.

If you can track his weight that would be ideal, track it in grams. It doesn't matter so much what his weight is just whether it is trending up or down.

Sorry this is incomplete but I just wanted to add a few thoughts before I had to get back to work. Good luck.

 

[mothhteeth]

So we weighed him and he is 41 grams at the moment. We will be weighing him ever day before and after feedings. We don't have a brooder set up yet because we expected him to be old enough to be in a cage that we bought him so for the time being he lives in a little plastic tub and we've been heating up bags of rice and t-shirts in the microwave to keep him warm until we go to the pet store later today to get all that he needs.