Juvenile Lovebird Help

Hi all,

I'm a first time bird owner and new to the forums. I just picked up a new 8 week old peach faced lovebird, Sunny, from a local pet store yesterday! He (she) seems to be adjusting well considering he has been here for just over 24 hours. I do have a bit of an issue due to a lack of knowledge, despite considerable research though.

When I picked my new bird up, I was told that he hadn't been completely weaned yet and I would have to feed him formula for two more weeks along with pellets or seeds and the odd millet to get him transferred over to adult food. They showed me how to feed him and all seemed well. In fact, I was happy with the situation since I thought that handfeeding myself would help build a bond with him.

Not so much! I have done more research since and what they showed me in the store amounts to force feeding him formula (forcing open his beak to feed). Looking around the web, it seems like that is not generally a good idea in a bird that age. I managed to get 4mL into him last night and another 7mL this morning before he refused to eat. Even what I did feed him was a struggle as he doesn't really seem to want it. I am being very careful about temperature (106F) so i don't think that is the issue.

Anyway, this morning and afternoon, I provided him a wide variety of solid food options: pellets/seed mix, millet, cheerios, corn. He has pretty much been eating steadily most of the day from the millet and seed/pellet mix, as well as some picking around (playing with?) the cereal and corn.

My question is: Is it necessary that I make him eat formula since he seems to be accepting solid food with no issue? I was wondering if I should instead just pull him out once or twice a day to see if he wants formula and, if not, just leave him to solid food. I know that seeds and millet should be limited but intend to keep giving him as many options as possible before reducing or removing those from his diet.

Any advice would be much appreciated as I want to make sure Sunny lives a long healthy life!

First of all, welcome.
Okay, so I'm pretty new to lovebirds too, and I definitely am not an expert. I did want to put my two cents in though.

Lovebirds seem to generally be weaned at six weeks of age, so eight weeks is already pretty old. I think my lovebird was about eight weeks old when I got it back in February. Therefore, if your bird seems to be more interested in millet and seeds and stuff, I would say you could probably wean it. Make sure to keep an eye on its weight. If you don't already, buy a scale that weighs in grams or ounces (like a postage scale). If Sunny's weight starts to drop more than a gram or two--if you weigh at the same time each day--maybe you should give it a little formula.

And don't worry about giving Sunny seed and millet. My bird ate millet, and then I gave it seeds and took the millet away, and *then* I introduced other foods. I can tell you researched well though.

Thanks for the quick reply and the welcome!

I will try weaning him and see how it goes. I have a kitchen scale I think will fit the bill to monitor his weight, if I can get him to stay on it long enough to weigh him. He will sit on my hand if I put him there but isn't thrilled about being handled at the moment. I am assuming that will improve with time.

Edit: Added picture of Sunny eating millet spray:

I can tell it's a very young bird. Look at all the black coloring on its beak... it's a little baby. Yes, as time goes on, it should get more used to being handled. It seems very happy with you.

At his age he should be weaned by now or close to it if he's dependent on formula. But if he's eating the solids fine, skip the formula. Just be sure he is eating them, you will be able to feel food within the crop sac. Then just watch his weight making sure he's not dropping weight.

Thanks for the advice!

I got him on a scale yesterday for a few seconds so have a baseline. I haven't checked his crop yet but I will check next time I have him out to weigh him.

I'm pretty sure he is eating since there are loads of empty millet shells in the bottom of the cage. He was also definitely eating Cheerios later last night. Keeping my fingers crossed as I think both he and I will be happier if we never have to do the formula thing again!