3 Day Old Baby Sun Conure, In Need of Help!

Hello Everyone, New to Parrot Forums (or forums or any matter). I'm also new to raising baby conures. I am a zookeeper at a small, understaffed zoo outside Chicago, IL. We have been incubating our sun conure eggs this year and unexpectedly, actually hatched one out. I have the little one on Kaytee brand exact hand feeding formula and have been feeding it according to the directions (1:6 formula to water ratio). I know some of the basics of raising baby birds...such as keeping a clean environment/baby, making sure to sanitize feeding instruments, making sure the formula is the proper temperature, not overfilling the crop, and keeping the aquarium set up warm enough and so on but I need help. We are clueless at the zoo to put it bluntly. Most of my experience comes from already fledged softbills at another institution. Any suggestions on good books, websites or even general advice would be great.

Also, another concern is the lack of defecation. I feel like the baby should be defecating more regularly. What is "normal" for day 3? And if it is starting to get stopped up, is there anything I can do to help?

Lastly, Any warning signs I should be watching for?

Thanks so much!

Any suggestions on good books, websites or even general advice would be great.

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Don't be offended at all; but a great book to try is 'Parrots for dummies'. Many other members on here have suggested it. Though, I'm not sure if it contains anything on handfeeding.

Here's a link to try: handfeeding baby green cheeks, crimson bellied conures, african grey baies, handfeeding parrot babies, handfeeding conures., and Parrot Handfeeding Tips | QuakerParrots.com (it says quaker parrots, but it's still helpful).

Also, another concern is the lack of defecation. I feel like the baby should be defecating more regularly. What is "normal" for day 3? And if it is starting to get stopped up, is there anything I can do to help?

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The general space between defecating is about 20-30 minutes. The consistency of it is generally very runny at this age, so don't be worried about that. It will solidify as the bird ages. I'm no vet, so you might want to seek avian veteranarian help if you think baby is 'stopped up'.

Lastly, Any warning signs I should be watching for?

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Yes, there are some scary warning signs to look for. Gasping/trouble breathing, lethargy; just to name a few.

Hi Julia, Just a suggestion, maybe find a local breeder to give you some hands on instruction, while handfeeding baby birds is not rocket science its not so easy learned from books, maybe you can trade some passes to the zoo for some instruction, if you don't know any breeders maybe you can google some local bird clubs and ask them, or even try Ebay Classifieds to find a local breeder and ask for help, from what you've stated in your post you have alot of basics right, you want to start a log writing down the date,time, how much the baby has consumed and if you have a digital scale, the weight, at this point you'll be feeding 4 times a day,make your recordings after each feeding,when they are this young, knowing how much to feed is pretty easy with no feathers, watch the crop, you want to feed just so it fills the crop, it will slightly bulge, be careful not to over feed or the bird may asperate, it really is hard to describe all this in writing, thats why i suggest hands on help, I use zupreem embrace for my babys, served at about 104-107 degrees any warmer and you may get crop burn,any cooler and it may harden in the crop and go sour, another suggestion is when you mix the food with water is that you mix it for a few minutes before serving, formula has a tendency to thicken after a few minutes, to thick in young birds is not good, they need it a bit thinner for the hydration, not sure about kayte but it should instruct you to change the ratio of water/formula at about 2 weeks or so to get more nutrition from it by making it a bit thicker, like I said this is kinda hard to do in writing, I will watch this thread closely and answer any questions I can,.......Bob.

Actually Bob, all your info is great, but baby should be on 5 feedings a day.
6a-10a-2p-6p-10p. You can take a tiny bit of mineral oil on a q-tip and massage the cloaca to stimulate bowels.

Your right Greycloud, it shoud be 5 a day, I'm so used to not starting handfeeding till at least 3 weeks, after the parents have done the hard work....lol Thanks!, ....Bob.

Thanks everyone for the quick for replies and kindness!

To 'Parrotqueen', I am sooo NOT offended about the Parrots for Dummies book, haha. It was actually one of the first things I purchased. It was really handy when it came to constructing my aquarium set up but not too much else when it came to the more detailed hand-rearing. The websites were good, too.

Thanks for your help, too, Bob. I'm definitely going to have to get in touch with a local breeder. Hopefully, they're are willing to work with me a little and give me a couple of their secrets. I completely understand this is a craft and something I am going to have to get a feel for.

Thanks, Greycloud. The mineral oil worked like a charm! I'll keep my eye on the issue. I had no idea about only doing 5 feedings a day! Sources online varied but a few were telling me every 2 hours from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Basically, I've been going crazy. I guess I've been over feeding a little....or a lot.

While I work on contacting a local breeder/veterinarian, would you guys suggest keeping the baby on the diluted formula alittle longer since I've been having some issues with defecation or following the directions on the formula to a "T"? (the directions are from hatch-2 days feed 1 part formula to 6 parts water....2-5 days 1 part formula to 2-3 parts water). I think I already said, but the baby is at the end of day 3.

Thanks again everyone!

I would keep it a little thin. About like a thinner gravey. After a week you can up the powder and make it like a thick cream soup. If the baby wakes up peeping in the middle of the night you can do a HF around 2-3 am.

Your welcome Julia, I can't imagine any breeder turning down a request for help when it concerns the health and welfare of an exotic bird....good luck, please keep us up to date on the progress.........Bob.

I don't have any advice to offer, but lots of encouragement, if that helps. I can't imagine that a breeder wouldn't help. Good luck!

Three other things:
1. when they say keep the baby warm, they mean WARM (85 degrees min -the thermometer should be right by the baby's head).
2. make sure the baby is kept in the dark when he is not feeding. Baby parrots expose to light will end up with vision problems (parrots nest in dark cavities).
3. don't use bedding that can snag a little claw, they are very clumsy when babies and their legs tend to splay out under them so you don't want anything that might cause an injury to a tendon.

Hoping for an update,I'm curious as to the status of the little Fid

juliaebauer said:

I had no idea about only doing 5 feedings a day! Sources online varied but a few were telling me every 2 hours from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Basically, I've been going crazy. I guess I've been over feeding a little....or a lot!

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You really can't feed them too often as long as the portions are smaller. The 6-a-day or 5-a-day guidelines are the minimum number of feedings. There is a certain amount of nutrition they need and only so much food they can ingest at one time - these guidelines are based on that. In the wild their parents would be feeding them continuously - one small bit of food every few minutes.

Right now I'm raising sparrows in my lab for a behavioral study; we are feeding them every hour from 6am to 9pm 7 days a week - and I generally feed them every half hour for the first day or two (we collect at ~3-5 days post-hatch). Their parents though would be coming back to the nest with small bits of food in increments measured in SECONDS not hours - of course this is sparrows not parrots, but the feeding routine isn't all that different.

BTW this is why the older members haven't seen much of me, and the newer members probably have no idea who I am I've been working 16 hour days 7 days a week!