Why is Finley my Nanday (13 weeks) acting like a baby? Will it ever end?

As some of you may know, we brought Finley home last weekend. He(dna test pending) was acting odd is he wanted to be hand fed still despite the pet shop (who hand raised them from an incubator) telling me he's fully weaned. I went to the vet on Monday and got $400 of tests that all came back saying he's healthy and the right weight for his age and size also. The vet told me he clearly wants to be hand fed (I knew that because he made baby begging noises and bobbing) and to do so 2 times a day for 3 weeks but try to ween him to 1 feed a day by the end of the 3 weeks. So my issue now is that I'm feeding him and he only takes about half or so of the amount he's supposed to be eating (9ml) and refuses the rest this last 2 days. It's the right temperature and consistency and I know I'm doing it right ect. In the beginning he took it all and wanted more. He isn't eating normal food either. I even bought some weening biscuits and I put them with warm water and fruit and veggies and some of Ollie's pellets to try to get him to eat it and no luck...he kind of picks at it but doesn't truly eat any. I also give him dry pellets and things in another bowl mixed with the disgusting seed mix shop supposedly weened him into and he only eats the dried fruit from it. He does love millet but if I sprinkle millet on any of the food or weening biscuits he'll just eat that off and ignore the rest. Fin hasn't lost weight at all yet but I'm not really sure how to go about weaning him if he won't eat anything substantial and if he's only eating half his amount of formula. He also still acts completely like a baby too, he'll play in his cage like normal but then if I pick him up or touch him all he does is make the baby begging noise and bob his head at me even if he just ate. If I'm holding him he just wants to cuddle up on me and be a begging baby like he just hatched 5 days ago lol. I mean don't get me wrong it's super cute (if not a bit loud at times) but I'm concerned a bit. Also, he seems huge. He will start making the noise even if I pet him if he's on top of his cage but no other time...only if I'm actually touching him. Any thoughts or stories or advice would be appreciated.

his interaction with humans up until you has most likely only consisted of feeding, when hand feeding a clutch of course people lose which one is which whilst going, so naturally the ones begging get the attention. From what I've seen it's the main trait of a hand-fed bird is at first they do baby begs for attention because that's what got them attention before.

I wouldn't panic, as long as he isn't losing weight then he should be okay, he may even be eating a bit whilst you're not observing him

It sounds normal to me. At 13 weeks Peanut still acted like she wanted the formula, but she started taking less and less. She seemed to eat the most formula at night while refusing the morning and afternoon feedings and then eventually turning her head away from it all together.

Like LT said it's also possible he's eating more solid food then you think. Peanut would shred up all her food and toss it all on the ground looking like she ate nothing, but obviously she was eating something.

Well today Finley had taken 2 full feedings so far so that's a bit discouraging on the weaning. I'm sure he'll have is evening one as well. I'm feeling a bit discourage at the moment. He also makes a baby crying for food noise anytime I touch him or hold him is that normal?

It sounds normal, Peanut did it too. He'll stop acting like a baby eventually lol.

Sorry to hear that you are still having issues. I wish I had something to add, but I just wanted to say it sounds like you are doing great and to keep up the good work.

Thanks guys! I got him on video whining... it's pretty cute. I'm glad to hear it's normal I just can't help but project everything into the future and worry, that's just my personality.

[ame="https://youtu.be/1Oh_LgW5Js0"]Finley the Nanday Conure whines at Mommy - YouTube[/ame]

This is Peanut when I first got her at 4 weeks old. I was a nervous wreck for a good four months. She did that baby whining thing until about 15-16 weeks if I remember correctly. You can tell he already loves you.

Awww thank you! Peanut was so cute and still is.

I got a nanday like a month and a half ago. his hatch date was like 9 months ago. He still acts like a baby, does the begging thing. He wouldn't eat adult food for a long time and lost about half his weight. Once I got him home he eats like a pig and is gaining weight but he acts like a baby still. It's cute and it's getting better. Maybe nandays are just like that? This is my first experience with one.

Kalani, my macaw, had significant baby-like tendencies for the first year (yes, larger bird with longer weaning period), and will still occasionally demonstrate baby behavior at nearly two years old. No worries! You have quite a while until sexual maturity!

Did the pet store have trouble weaning him or did you do it yourself? Maybe they are just weird like that. mine literally won't eat solid foods. He'll pick at millet but that's it. I even bought this special weaning biscuits and mix it with warm water to soften it and put veggies and fruits with a little millet and my sun conures pellets and he just goes in the bowl and picks the millets out but gives up and just cry for hours until I feed him formula from a syringe. How did yours finally start eating solids? Did he just almost starve before he ate the solid foods? I feel like he's going to eat baby food forever and get really fat lol and I guess hand feeding him for too long can lead to behavior problems later on so I'm worried. Other than that he's such a huge sweetheart and love to cuddle and doesn't bite.

Not a Conure, but Jasper (IRN) used to baby cry up until his first moult (6 months old). The only issue I ever had with weaning him was the fact he wouldn't wean onto seed, but had no problems weaning onto pellets (vetamarm nutriblend mini mix). Not sure why that was though... He didn't wean intil he was 14 weeks old... it might just be that your bird is going to take a little longer to wean...

I started Jasper on grated fruit & veg (smallest grating size), soaked seed and soaked pellets (mushy). Though the first few days I would puts bits in his mouth that he'd lick/twirl in his beak until he actually started getting interested in it a few days later.

I wouldn't starve your bird - as he will cry until you feed him, not go into trying weaning foods. Usually content chicks start investigating/exploring weaning foods

I'm trying to wean him onto pellets, seed, veggies and fruits or literally anything. I'm trying it all! The grating this is a great idea and I'm going to try that. I'm not starving him at all... he's on 2 feeds a day and I feed him the weaning foods when he wakes up before his feed and right before his evening feed when he's the most hungry. I would never starve wean him, in fact that's why I'm even hand feeding because I could tell he wasn't eating his food and just picking at it and I could see how weak he was and rushed him to the vet and my suspicion that he was not fully weaned or that he'd regressed was correct!

Sunnyclover said:

I'm trying to wean him onto pellets, seed, veggies and fruits or literally anything. I'm trying it all! The grating this is a great idea and I'm going to try that. I'm not starving him at all... he's on 2 feeds a day and I feed him the weaning foods when he wakes up before his feed and right before his evening feed when he's the most hungry. I would never starve wean him, in fact that's why I'm even hand feeding because I could tell he wasn't eating his food and just picking at it and I could see how weak he was and rushed him to the vet and my suspicion that he was not fully weaned or that he'd regressed was correct!

Click to expand...

Ok, good. I've heard of people doing the "starving" method of weaning. I hate it!

Then its likely he either regressed, or wasn't weaned properly in the first place. I usually keep my chicks 2 - 3 weeks after they've been weaned to ensure that the likeliness of them regressing is low...

Sunnyclover said:

I guess hand feeding him for too long can lead to behavior problems later on so I'm worried..

Click to expand...

well to quell your worries that's actually the opposite! A bird or heck any animal who weans out of choice are more well rounded animals.

Before I was around my mum bred Rottweilers and she had one who decided they didn't want to wean off their mother until they were nearly a year old! Recently she had an Alsatian pup who decided she didn't want to go onto solid food despite having weaned from mum, to the point my mum had to sit down next to her food bowl and hold the food up to her mouth to get her to eat. Animals all do weird things.

Maybe before you feed with the syringe try pretending to eat the solid food, even better if you take a bite out of some fruit and offer Finley another piece, he may be struggling to understand the stuff is food

Could this not be a blessing in discuise though and help form a stronger bond with hand feeding him still? I think he really wants you to be his mummy, its kinda sweet. Try hand feed him pellets, its what i did with Xander and then he went onto fruit and eating on his own. Finlay will get there, hes just a baby x

Thanks guys.

LTriggs: I am doing just that, pretending to eat what he's eating and even eating it a bit. So far it's a no go on anything besides millet (sort of). I'm going to keep giving him everything though I think I'll let him watch Ollie eat too...maybe that will help him.

Carl: It might be a blessing because he has not bitten me yet and is already really attached to me and screams if I leave the room.which is a good sign for bonding I think. He's so cuddly so far too. He is too cute!

I'd recommend getting a gram scale and keep a daily log of his weight. Parrots can loose some weight in transitioning to adult foods, but you want to know how much. Let him wean at his own pace, feeding him the baby formula until he refuses all feedings, and keep a good variety of adult foods available all day for him. Pellets and finely chopped veggies and fruits, as long as he is playing with them, thats a good sign. Also include some larger pieces of broccoli, carrot sticks, larger pieces of pepper, any kind, the reason is that he needs to learn how to manipulate food items, something that only adult parrots teach. Hand feeding does not teach this. THis is quite important as he gets older.

Al: I have been logging his weight daily since I got him. Thanks for the tip about putting larger pieces of veg/fruit in the mix I did not know to do that! He seemed more interested in pellets since I put him next to Ollie to see him eating. Ollie wasn't thrilled but let it happen so that's good! He's mouthing pellets as we speak.