How do I know if one baby isn't being fed? Please help

beetory

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Aug 21, 2018
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Two conures, a pinapple (Booger) and a yellow sided (Darling).
Hey everyone,

I'm getting a little worried. This entire day I've been checking on the three babies we have here from my conures and I think the middle one is not being fed. I'm not sure if I have bad timing because I do hear the sound of my birds feeding them but I checked them this morning and his crop wasn't that full and just now compared it to the other two babies and his was definitely empty.

How do I know if the baby is being rejected??
 

MonicaMc

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Mitred Conure - Charlie 1994;
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You can keep an eye on their weight using a gram scale. Do you have hand feeding formula in case you need to step in? And all the necessary supplies for raising a chick(s)?
 

EllenD

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Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
You need to get yourself a digital kitchen scale, if you don't already have one, and start blocking-off the nest-box at the same time each day (the best time is first thing in the morning, early enough that it's before any of them have been fed) and weighing each of them with empty crops, and writing it down. They should each continue to gain weight, or at least not lose any weight, until the point where they fledge, as it's normal for them to suddenly lose a bit of weight during fledging, then they'll start gaining again. But as young as your chicks are, they should be gaining weight each day and not losing any.

It's possible that you're just not seeing the parents feed this one particular chick, as sometimes the parents do feed them at different times, based on how/when their crops are emptying. But if there is an issue with this chick's health, for instance if he has a crop infection or some kind of congenital issue, it's quite possible that the parents will reject him.

This is why you always need to be prepared to have to remove a chick or all of the chicks from the nest box, put them in a Brooder at the proper ambient temperature, and have the equipment, supplies, and knowledge to hand-feed them formula. Sometimes the parents simply stop feeding the chicks for no apparent reason at all, sometimes they literally kick them out of the nest box. It can be because there is something wrong with the chicks, such as illness, disease, there are too many chicks in the clutch, etc., or it can be simply because they just want to stop. Either way, this is why you cannot ever just rely upon the parents raising/feeding chicks up until they are weaned, as over 50% of the time something goes wrong and the breeder/owner has to take over.

Start weighing all 3 of your chicks every day at the same time, and if this chick isn't gaining or is losing weight, then you'll need to take-over feeding him; as long as the parents aren't being aggressive or hurting him, and continue to keep him warm, then you can allow him to stay in the nest box and just block it off, feed him, and put him back in. If the parents start hurting him, plucking him, kick him out of the box, etc., then you'll have to set-up a homemade Brooder at the appropriate ambient temperature and actually raise him. But hopefully it won't come to that.

In addition to weighing him, I would be checking his crop many times throughout the day to make sure you're not just missing him being fed. At their age they should be fed between 4-5 times a day by the parents or you, so you should be able to catch him with a full crop many times throughout the day; if he never has a full crop, chance are you're going to have to start hand-feeding him formula and take-over for the parents. Sometimes the parents will again start feeding the chick once you have started hand-feeding them and they see him with a full crop again, but most of the time you'll have to continue feeding them on a schedule, every day up until they wean...But start by weighing all 3 of them every morning at the same time with empty crops and checking him many times a day for a full crop.
 
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beetory

beetory

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Two conures, a pinapple (Booger) and a yellow sided (Darling).
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Thanks for the advice EllenD.

Sorry for not updating sooner. I see that they are feeding him and he does have a sort of full crop during the day but it's not like 100% full. I'm tracking weight and hoping I won't need to feed him myself but I did purchase everything I would be needing for feeding as soon as one hatched.

The parents are still preening that baby and stuff but I don't know, I guess I'm just anxious.

Actually one of the babies came out of the nest yesterday. I walked by and was wondering why Booger was wondering around the cage floor before noticing it was actually the little one. I didn't want him to stay alone outside so I placed him back in the box for the night but I'm sure I'll find him out again today. Would you say it's a good idea to take them all out and make them an open nest outside as itzjbean suggested? I don't think he was kicked out because they were down there with him preening and feeding him. And I had seen him poking his head out since last week and last Friday he had a leg braced on the nest opening like he wanted to jump out.

The second baby (the one I'm worried about with his crop/feedings) is a month old. Just in case I do have to start feeding him how many hours between each feed should it be? Since you said 4-5 times a day I'm thinking every 4 hours or so?
 
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beetory

beetory

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Two conures, a pinapple (Booger) and a yellow sided (Darling).
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Just some more details. When they're out for us to handle them the baby is like, he's active so I just don't know. Like, I know birds can hide it when they are ill and I'm sure babies will do this easily as well.

How many days can I risk not knowing if he is being fed well enough? It's been two so far since I noticed something might be slightly off. I don't want him to starve to death.
 

Sunnyclover

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Get a scale...weigh the babies daily. You should be doing that anyways even if you think they're all being fed.
 

EllenD

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Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
Any update here? Have you been weighing them daily? Are you having to feed him?
 
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beetory

beetory

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Two conures, a pinapple (Booger) and a yellow sided (Darling).
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Sorry for being slow on updating this. it's been a bit crazy and upsetting.

The baby is being fed and he is gaining weight but I noticed he was bobbing his head a lot like he wanted to regurgitate. I saw him do it successfully once. I took him to the vet because I didn't think this was right but they couldn't find anything nothing wrong with him. It's strange.

He has a lot of energy and strength, for example he's come out of the nest with the bigger one every day and he climbs the walls of the cage and I've spotted him perched on one of the second highest perches with his mom. He does beg for food too but... he also sleeps a lot?

I've been spending a lot of time crying about this because I'm so confused. I don't know what's going to happen anymore.

The other two babies are super healthy too. Even the youngest one which is 5 days younger than the first and still doesn't have all his feathers is jumping around and playing and even trying to perch on the biggest sticks in the cage. I feel like he does more to keep up with the older two.

I don't know what to say.

I think we might lose this baby and I'm trying with what I can do but I don't see what more I can do but wait. It's been over a week since he started acting weird and he's still here. I know that probably doesn't mean anything, I know he can die tonight, but whatever the case he looks happy right now.
 

ChristaNL

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Sometimes there is nothing you can do, and sometimes you have to do nothing and everything works itself out.


You've done all you can: you are monitoring, making sure the parents have everything they need to do a great job (and I am pleasantly surprised just how well you've all been doing!!) and even got the little one to the vet on a hunch and a few observations instead of waiting for some sort of "major crisis".


There are forward children and slow ones on this planet- as long as nobody is getting hurt or miserable.. let them develop at their own pace.
Maybe your middle chick just needs a bit longer to get started (or maybe there is something wrong no-one can fix for him).


Try to stay postive and know you have done everything you could, now it's up to the bird and maybe a Someone that protects baby-birds all over the planet.
 
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beetory

beetory

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Two conures, a pinapple (Booger) and a yellow sided (Darling).
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Thank you.

I feel like... Guilty I guess? I keep thinking there's more I can do or I haven't tried but I think I have done the best that I am able to.

I have a bit of comfort because the parents are still cuddling it and preening him and feeding him so I'm sure if there was something wrong they would know. At least it's what Ive heard.

I really hope he makes it. I hope it's just me overthinking.

I'll post pictures of them later today, I hadn't taken any recently because I focused on just holding them while they were out for us to handle them.
 

EllenD

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Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
So you're certain the parents are feeding him, and he's not losing weight, correct? So basically he's just sleeping a lot? How old is he now?

i'm not scolding you at all by saying this to you, you've taken him to a vet, and you obviously care a great deal...But what you're going through is exactly the reason that we always try to counsel people who come on here asking "how do I get my parrots to breed" to not do so. It's a long, difficult, frustrating, and often heartbreaking process, and even if you plan on letting the parents raise the chicks, it hardly ever works-out that way...It's just not a good idea to allow it to happen...I bred for 20 years, as did my mom and my grandma, and we all had things happen, many times. So it's just a part of the process...

If this baby is being fed and is gaining weight, and you're certain of that, and is moving around and such, then there's not a whole lot you can do, unless you can identify the issue...A lot of the time it's due to a fungal infection in their crop, which causes slow-crop or crop-stasis, so the parents don't feed them as often or at all, because their crop doesn't empty as quickly...but the vet should have easily spotted that..Just keep making sure he's being fed, and I'd also start offering them all some millet sprays to start with...if you can possibly get him to start weaning a little early, which they often do with millet sprays, that may save his life...
 
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beetory

beetory

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Two conures, a pinapple (Booger) and a yellow sided (Darling).
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They are definitely feeding him and he is gaining weight. They just come right out of the nest in the morning now so im going to make plans to shift them all out into an makeshift nest under the cage today.

Yesterday I took them out to handle them a bit and the baby was like everywhere and throwing toys and crashing into them before he cuddled up after about 40 mins of this.

He is 5 weeks and a few days old now.

I am offering them some food outside and yesterday they took little nibbles of what I had for them. Some soft carrots and millet. I think they were mostly just chewing the same millet piece without eating it but they're definitely curious.

This morning he was up in the perches and grooming so I think he's starting to perk up. I will keep updating.

I never wanted my Darling to breed, I knew it would be very difficult if she ever did. I probably shouldnt have given her the means to incubate her eggs but I felt bad for her somehow if she did it and had no success. After this I will be boiling any more eggs she lays. I don't think I can handle this one more time.
 

MonicaMc

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Mitred Conure - Charlie 1994;
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You can always get dummy eggs... this way, you can always have some eggs on hand to switch out.
 

itzjbean

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Yes, while witnessing the miracle of life is great, it can turn into a terror very quickly when you aren't sure if the babies are getting fed and have to watch them starve. That's why professional/responsible breeders have the equipment on hand to intervene and save all the babies so they don't have to worry if mom and dad are truly feeding them.

I don't blame you for not wanting to do this again. It can be a traumatic experience, especially if you lose a chick .
 
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beetory

beetory

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Two conures, a pinapple (Booger) and a yellow sided (Darling).
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Yes, unfortunately no matter how prepared I thought I could be it's just not realistic. I will stay optimistic for now. I wish I was an expert but I'm not and never planned to be. I have what I need in case I need to take over but they're not really giving me a reason to.

I've been staying in front of their cage all day as soon as I'm home and they do feed them all. Not always at the same time usually there's about a 20mins or so interval between random ones. For example the big one and the middle one will be fed but the third one won't be asking until around 10 mins after. I don't know, I'm doing my best.

I could take him to the vet again next week if he starts to become lethargic again but yesterday was a really good day. He was up the entire time I was watching the cage, preening and even started flapping his wings and clinging to the wall as he did so.

What was worrying me was that he wasn't begging as much as his siblings for food (though he was still being fed) but about two days ago he started chasing down the parents and chirping at them for their attention and food.
 

EllenD

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Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
It sounds to me like they are all going to be fine...If you've never done this before or aren't familiar with the process of the parents feeding them, then it's completely normal to worry about them, and I'm glad that you did. When the parents feed their babies, they never feed them all right in a row, because they are all at least a day or two apart in age, they all have different food quantity requirements, they all empty their crops at different rates, etc. And it's also not unusual to see the chicks actually "beg" for a feeding at completely different times throughout the day from their siblings. It's really common to hear one chick in a clutch crying for food, and then when you look in the nest-box, every other chick has a full or semi-full crop, and the chick that is crying has a completely empty crop. So that's totally normal and fine...

At 5 weeks old they should start abundance-weaning now. The parents will pretty much take care of this and you'll not need to do a whole lot, but I would make certain that all of the chicks have easy-access to whatever staple food you want them to wean onto,
hopefully that is a high-quality pellet!
It's great to start-out the weaning process with millet sprays, and once you see that the chicks are completely devouring an entire millet spray, which should happen in a day or two at 5 weeks old, that means that they already know how to "shell" and eat seeds, which is a pretty innate ability anyway...

However, the unfortunate reason why most parrots won't eat pellets and are difficult to convert onto pellets is because their breeders don't wean them onto pellets from day 1...and your chick's "day 1" is right now. So I'd give them a millet spray, you can put that right in the nest-box with them, and make sure it disappears....but please, even if you don't feed your adult parrots a pellet staple, please go a purchase a high-quality, NATURAL pellet (NO FRUIT PELLETS! They are loaded with sugar that turns into fat and is stored in their livers!), and put a dish of them in a spot where all of the chicks have access to them. I don't know if you feed your adult birds pellets, if you do that's great, but I have no idea...If not, please get these guys weaned onto them starting today, and keep in-mind that sometimes you need to even soak them in some fruit-juice to soften them at first, so they'll eat them. Some great brands of NATURAL parrot pellets are Harrison's, Tops, Zupreem Natural, and Tropican. Make sure that you get the smallest size of pellet for them, which will not be the size of pellet that is made for their species; each of the pellet brands I listed above not only makes Natural pellets, but they all make their Natural Pellets in a size for American Budgies/Parakeets, and that's what you'll need for your chicks until they grow in size. After they are fully-weaned onto the smaller Budgie/Parakeet pellets, then you can just buy the same brand/type of Natural pellets, but in the Conure size. For now though they need to be small.

As far as what to do when/if your female lays eggs again, which she probably will, especially if she is housed with your male, you need to remove each egg immediately after it's laid, and either boil it for 20 minutes and put it back in the cage, or you can buy fake-eggs and just swap each real egg out for a fake egg, and destroy/dispose of each real egg...Either way, the next time you find an egg inside of the cage anywhere, do not provide her with a nest-box again, nor any type of "nest" at all, nor any nesting material, such as bedding, wood chips, fabric, etc. NOTHING! All you need to do as soon as you find an egg is to remove it and boil it immediately/use a fake egg, and put the boiled-egg or the fake egg on the bottom of the cage, right on the grate. No nests, boxes, not even a towel or a blanket. Any nesting material/boxes, any type of nest or anything that will make her more comfortable or provide the eggs with protection will only serve to trigger her hormones and the more eggs she'll lay, plus she'll not lose interest in them nearly as quickly if they are in a box or on a nest or soft material...So just boil the egg and put it right back in the cage on the floor/grate, and simply do the same with each future egg in the clutch...Without any nest/box or nesting material, she should lose interest in laying on them very quickly after she realizes they aren't going to hatch, and as soon as she stops laying on them and you're certain she's not paying them any attention, then simply throw them out...any eggs that break, throw them right out...****And keep in-mind that she will lay eggs a day or two apart, and that the mother will typically not start laying on any of the eggs until there are at least 2 eggs laid, often times they wait for 3 eggs to be laid. So just let the newly-boiled first or first and second eggs lay on the grate of the cage and just wait, don't throw them out if you don't see her laying on them, as she will lay on them after she feels she has laid enough to start...If you throw the first egg or two out because she isn't laying on them and you mistakenly think that she's already lost interest in them, she'll only kick it into high-gear and immediately start laying more eggs, probably more than she would have originally.
 

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