Hello, new here. And have a hand feeding problem

Hello everyone, I'm Tammy.
I have a 4 month old cag, Peanut and a 3month old B and G Baby Bobby.
I'm having problems feeding Bobby, for 2 days now. He doesn't seem interested in feeding at all, he is fighting me and will only take a mouthful at a time. He has pellets in his cage he nibbles at them , but not enought to fill his crop.
Peanut the cag is on 1 feeding a day, and has always acted like this. She takes her time, 1 mouthful at a time. Bobby has always been very anxious to feed.
Could this be a game? He sees Peanut getting extra attention and think maybe thats how to do it?
I'm very worried.

Hi and welcome! You're in the right place to get help! I have no macaw hand-feeding experience, but I have a lot of hand-feeding experience with cockatiels and budgies. You say he's only been fighting the hand-feeding for the last two days? How many hand-feedings was he taking prior to him refusing to take them? And since this just started suddenly and recently, are there any other new or different behaviors? Is he acting at all sick or agitated about anything else? Anything else new happen or anything in his environment change during this time period?

I've found that when I've still been hand-feeding a cockatiel or a budgie but they are old enough to have pellets and seeds in their cage, and their feedings per day start to decrease because they are eating more solid food, they tend to start fighting me on taking hand-feedings, but that's usually much more gradual, they get down to one or two feedings and then just want comfort feedings at night. This doesn't sound like the same sort of situation, it sounds sudden, like something happened to cause him to not be hungry...has he been having a feeding reflex at all when he sees the syringe? Any of his normal feeding sounds or motions?

Obviously you have to worry about an illness or infection causing him to not want to eat, I followed a feed in another forum about a baby green wing macaw that completely stopped any type of feeding response suddenly, and it ended up being a combination of nasty crop infections. Have you been weighing him to see if he's losing weight? If he is not maintaining his weight (unless he's fledging, which at his he's not) obviously there is something going on that could be potentially serious. There should be experienced macaw breeders or hand-feeders on here that will chime in, but my first instinct is to get him to his avian vet to make sure he's not ill and hiding an infection of some sort. It's always better safe than sorry with babies you're hand-feeding.

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Hello, and welcome to the Parrot Forums family!

I've moved your thread here in the hopes that those of our members experienced with hand feeding might see it and help you with your questions. All of the birds I've ever had were weaned before they came to me, so I lack such hands on experience with hand feeding. But that said, one thing that springs to mind is that he may be weaning? When ready to make the complete transition to solid foods, I know that baby birds will start refusing their formula. (Though 3 months might be a bit on the early side for a macaw, from what I understand.)

Has Bobby lost significant weight? When hand feeding a baby, it is important to weigh them daily. Twice a day would be even better. That way you can see right away if there is a problem.

An avian vet should be able to give you some more solid guidelines as to where Bobby should be, weight-wise, at this point. Not to mention that he/she could also examine him to make sure that there isn't anything else wrong (other than simple weaning) that could be causing a loss of appetite.

Hoping the best for you and your flock. Please keep us informed of Bobby's progress.

EDIT: Guess I was still typing as you were posting, EllenD. Good post!

Thank you for the nice welcome.
Nothing has changed in the house. Bobby has been acting normal, he or she has been starting the wing flapping, like getting ready to to fledge. I really don't think he's ready as he is still sleeping on the floor of his cage. I have half of his cage set for a baby, and the other half set for a bird learning to perch.which he still hasn't mastered perching.
Bobby wieghs 1047 grams yesterday he was 1050 grams.
I'm watching his wieght closely. He is munching on pellets and zupreem convertion pellets. Today I made a mash of formula and hagen high performance pellets ans some soft fruits. He didn't know what to do with so I spoonfed it to him. He liked that. There has been no regurgitation and poop seems normal. I've been with Bobby since he was 2 weeks old. This is the first time he has refused to even look at the feeding syring. I plan on taking him to the avian vet on Monday. I know they'll see him right away. I've been reading about macaws, and even though he is very young it looks to me like he's trying to wean himself, very fast. That's what scares me. so definitely to the vet I have been reading that yeast infections are common in young fledglings, that are weaning and that could cause loss of appetite, but as long as I'm getting a little bit down him and his weight stay stable I will wait till Monday if not I'll go to the emergency I hate the emergency that's because they're usually not avian specialized. I also sterilize all of my hand-feeding tools and his bowls for food and water for all the birds I are washed in hot soapy water. Food dishes are changed out twice a day and water dishes as many as three times a day although Bobby doesn't have a water dish yet. Thank you for getting back to me so fast I really appreciate it I'm not new to birds I had a flock of 12 birds at one time but lost them all to a bitter divorce. But Bobby is my first hand fed macaw. My cag Peanut is doing fine, she is a little upset that baby is not being fed as much because I always gave her a little formula with every one of his feedings she enjoys it and really enjoys one night time Comfort feeding which she'll receive regardless of what Bobby's doing.

Ah, sounds like you're on top of things, then. I'm hoping with you that he's just weaning quickly and that there isn't anything wrong with him. I'm looking forward to hearing the results of the veterinary visit on Monday.

In the meantime, any flock pics to share?

I will check in on monday to let all of you know whats going on. Than you very much, its nice to have found this forum, I don't feel so alone.
I have many pics to share as soon as I figure out how to. LOL. ☺

Tammy52 said:

I will check in on monday to let all of you know whats going on. Than you very much, its nice to have found this forum, I don't feel so alone.
I have many pics to share as soon as I figure out how to. LOL. ☺

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Welcome Tammy, we are glad you joined! You've gotten some great advice, and I have no recent hand-feeding experience to share. So, I'll leave you with this link to assist posting photos when you desire:
http://www.parrotforums.com/technical-support/6287-how-post-pictures.html

I have handfed GW and rosellas. Two things I found very important was temperature of the mixture. The formula during one feeding session will chill very fast, so I would have a cup of boiling water on hand to warm up the formula in the syringe (remember to shake the formula well after each warm up to avoid hot spots in the formula). If formula is not warm enough you risk a yeast infection in the crop. I would always check the formula on my inner wrist (like human baby formula) to make sure the formula does not burn as this may cause a burn in the crop.

The other thing is to make sure to disinfect all the materials in contact with the formula with boiling water as the babies are very suceptible to bacteria.

To me about 1000g at 3 months is a little on the low side for a regular B&G. When they fledge they will loose 10-25% body weight and a regular B&G should be about 1000 g at adult weight. A B&G before fledgeling should be somewhere between 1100 and 1250, but he could be of small parents.

If he likes the mix of formula and pellets, I would give him that along with as much formula he will eat. I have had great success with mixing coconut milk with the formula instead of some of the water. This makes the formula richer and they usually like the taste better and will eat more.

Please keep us posted on what the vet says And please ask as much as you like, we all like to help where/whenever we can.

Thank you, I'm very aware of the problem with formula being too warm, not warm enough, everything I use get sterilized before I use it I've tried to avoid all of these problems. I will try your coconut milk idea that sounds great and thank you I appreciate all ideas. Tammy

Went back to the vet yesterday, and they flush his/her crop. There is no infections, as far as they can tell Bobby is weaning itself. Oh and we'll be finding out if she is a he or she. �� tired of not knowing.
Feeding is still a battle, but they said to keep hand feeding even a mouthful at a time. Any more ideas to get her to eat would be great. She's going to hate me after this. The Dr.said she needs to gain weight. She has been weighting between 924grams and 965 grams.
Thanks Tammy

Tammy52 said:

Went back to the vet yesterday, and they flush his/her crop. There is no infections, as far as they can tell Bobby is weaning itself. Oh and we'll be finding out if she is a he or she. �� tired of not knowing.
Feeding is still a battle, but they said to keep hand feeding even a mouthful at a time. Any more ideas to get her to eat would be great. She's going to hate me after this. The Dr.said she needs to gain weight. She has been weighting between 924grams and 965 grams.
Thanks Tammy

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Only advice I have is to add coconut milk as I have said previously. Keep the formula/liquid ratio, just exchange some of the water for coconut milk. This makes the formula taste better and it hightens the calories of each feeding

Ohh be sure to not have too much water in the formula. I have found, that if I gave formula, that was too watery, they would not gain as much weight as they should.