weaning

yazzie · Post by **yazzie** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:28 am

Hi my baby irn are now 6 1/2 weeks old and i have put them in a cage with seed and water i give them egg food with fresh peas, carrots, sweetcorn, apple, melon, cucumber. I am still giving them 3 formula feeds a day first is 7 am second 3 pm and the third is 11 pm. I am finding they are not wanting to eat the first feed but want it about 11 am so I am wondering if it is worth just giving them 2 feeds of 11 am and 11 pm. they will be 7 weeks on friday. They are weighing about 125g now the eldest was 135g but has dropped 10g the other is holding on is this normal .

Post by **ringneck** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:40 pm

Nope, during this stage they start to cut back on their food intake and this is quite normal. I too get really paranoid during this time so I feed more regularly—say five to six times a day. Rather than focus on larger meals, gives them more frequent meals. Great job on feeding them a variety of food! Sounds like you’re off to a wonderful weaning start.
Also, you should expect them to wean around 10 weeks and it can even push into the 12th week so you still have a while to go. Though it may seems they are well feathered they are still very much babies. While you are playing with the babies, take the food and play with it with your fingers—it’s amazing how they catch on.

Good luck and we hope to hear from you!

Wishing you the best of luck

,

Imran

yazzie · Post by **yazzie** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:01 am

I am feeding baby quakers 5 meals a day so i will now put them back on that. But they are refusing the formula and just hanging of the pot of seeds. Shall i remove them and just put them in twice a day.

Post by **ringneck** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:00 am

Nope, keep the pot of seeds there--this will help encourage weaning. Baby parrots are so curious that they’ll look for things to chew on—hopefully the pot of seeds you have given them ;o). Also, if one baby dose decide to chew on some seeds most likely the other will follow.

That’s ok if they refuse the formula. Some feedings they might decide to take 1 ½ ccs or others 5 cc—just give them the option. I believe this gives them extra confidence and also reduces any extra stress.

The seeds will get dirty so continue to keep the pots there and change them daily—ur off to a wonderful start! Please keep us updated!

Best wishes

,

Imran

yazzie · Post by **yazzie** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:41 am

HI i weighed them this morning and they had lost another 4 grams and they had not taken much formula so i felt awful doing it but i tube fed them to fill the crop. The next feed I will give it off the spoon and then if they do not take I will tube again, what do you think.

Post by **ringneck** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:10 am

Crop feeding is very dangerous—take caution as you don’t want to push the tube down the trachea (sp??). This will quickly kill the babies if you’re not careful. My personal opinion would be to not crop feed the babies. As mentioned above, there as so many things that can go wrong and I know you would feel awful should something happen.

You have done such a great job feeding them that they have gained so much weight—now it’s time for them to drop a few grams to fly

. This is completely natural and all baby parrots experience this weight loss—it’s nature’s way to ensure the babies are able to fly when ready.

To tell you the truth, I too have had lazy ringnecks who refuse to feed. I just feed more often

.

Also, during this stage, the crop is shrinking and it is not able to hold as much food as it did a few weeks ago. Too much food inside the crop at this stage will aspirate the bird or force him/her to regurgitate.

I promise— if you feed more throughout the day they will be fine

.

I hope this helps and don’t worry too much

.

Also, a cool tip I should add in would be to make the formula thicker. I make mine like a thick cream of wheat and it takes the chicks longer to absorb the food.

Best wishes

,

Imran

julie · Post by **julie** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:12 am

I started to give baby food too, it helped them get the taste for other types of food. If you do give them some baby food watch your fingers particularly with strained apples

yazzie · Post by **yazzie** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:12 am

Hi I will take your advice I do not like tube feeding for the reasons you have mentioned, but it is worrying me the amount of weight loss they are going through. The eldest chick weighed 135 grams and has now dropped to 119 that is a loss of 16 grams over 7 days the second chick weighed 127 grams and is now 117 grams which is a loss of 10 grams over 4 days is this any thing to worry over I appreciate your help and advice very much these are my first ever chicks i have hand reared so I feel very neurotic I do apologise thanks karen

yazzie · Post by **yazzie** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:43 pm

Hi i have been giving more feeds and one has gained 2 grams and the other has only lost 2

Post by **ringneck** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 4:08 am

How are they doing? If they continue to drop too much weight take them to the vet--you can never be too sure

please keep us updated...

U.S Marine · Post by **U.S Marine** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:11 pm

Does not sound good, take them too the avian specialist.