Help needed for my new baby parrot

Hi all, we're new to the forum!

We just picked up a baby rainbow lorikeet last night, he's about 3 weeks old and has a few little fluffy feathers - sooooo cute!

Anyway, I have a few questions - I've noticed Charlie's poo is a very dark green, similar to ducks poo. It looks black until you wipe it up on a tissue. Is this normal? We are feeding him the hand rearing baby food that the breeder was using and he's been fed 4 times (in the period of about 16 hours).

The first 2 or 3 feeds were small and when I got home tonight, he ate about a teaspoon of the powder mixed with water which seemed like a decent feeding amount.

The other question I have is how do I tell if he's too cold? I'm not sure if he likes the lamp on him and the heater is always on in my house so it's always warm - do you think that's enough or do they need a high temperature at this age?

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated, thanks in advance.

Oh, and last question - are we meant to give the baby water or is it true that they get all the water they need from their food?

Thanks
Fiona & Steve

Lories are beautiful... but their droppings never are.

As with any new bird you should set up an appointment for a full checkup with a vet. They can test his stool there to be sure he is healthy. Color is an important first indicator, but there are so many other things than can affect it that it is not that meaningful by itself. Lorie droppings are almost all liquid and often darker colors normally, so this complicates it more. So I'd say do not worry about it too much, but have a vet check him out soon.

As for water: YES he needs fresh clean water all the time. He will get a lot of water from his food but he should still always have fresh clean water available. Not only do they still need to drink some water but they make a grand mess of their food and birds know how to bath. He can bath himself in water if its there, otherwise he will bathe himself in the food mixture... I've seen lories who do this, it's awful.

Generally for temperature if you are comfortable (without sweaters or blankets) he will be comfortable. But until all his feathers are in it's good to be a little on the warm side. If there is no draft the warm end of room temperatures should be fine.

After thinking about it he should be fine. However, give him water.