Question - hand-feeding baby sun conure

[elliehk]

This is my first time posting on the forum, so i apologize if I make any mistakes!

I just brought home a baby sun conure (hatched mid-June) from a breeder a couple days ago, and she still needs to be hand-fed formula 3 times a day. The breeder showed me how to do it, but I'm still over-the-top nervous about pretty much taking control of her life like this. She's been very distracted when I go to feed her and has only been eating about 1-1.5 syringes full of formula at each feeding, as opposed to the 2 she would take from the breeder. I don't know how to tell if it's because I'm nervous and she can sense that, or if she's weaning onto her solid food, or if she just doesn't trust me yet.
I weighed her this morning and she was 106g. I'm going to keep an eye on her weight to at least make sure she's not losing.
Long story short, this is my question. Should I just be more firm with her when hand-feeding? Or do you think she's just trying to tell me she doesn't need it?
I'm so scared to mess this up. I know hand-feeding is a really important part of parrots' lives and I'm trying my best to do it right... I just feel a little clueless right now.
Thank you!

 

[SilverSage]

How old is she? What temp are you feeding the formula?


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[elliehk]

How old is she? What temp are you feeding the formula?


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She's just about 9 weeks old and the temp is 104, give or take a degree or two.

 

[MonicaMc]

My advice? If you aren't sure what you are doing, then take her back to the breeder. Have the breeder finish hand-raising and weaning her. DO NOT take her home until she's been weaned for *AT LEAST* two weeks, if not longer.


There are a lot of horror stories out there of people having no clue what they are doing and getting unweaned chicks. The chicks end up dying, most often due to human error, or some that survive, but then are in need of serious medical help.




All that aside.... if she's becoming somewhat 'distant' when it comes to handfeeding her, then try dropping out a feed, such as the middle feed. Feed her in the morning and at night. Make sure she's maintaining weight.

Although telling you to make sure she's maintaining weight is kind of contradictory because fledglings do lose weight when they start flying around more and around this time may eat less food. If they are too heavy, it makes flying more difficult.

As long as she's more than 95 grams, she should be ok, but if she drops to 95 or less, there may be an issue. Keep a close watch on her behavior during this time.




If she doesn't want to take the food, that's ok! Don't force her! But do make sure she has plenty of access to a variety of healthy foods!

 

[elliehk]

My advice?...

Thank you so much! It seemed odd to me that he let me—and encouraged me to—take her home before she was done weaning. I knew it would be hard but this is almost too much for me to handle. I'm going to try to get some food in her this weekend, until I'm able to get back to the breeder on Monday. I don't want to mess her up this early in life.

One more question- she seems to be eating solids, but when I watch her more closely it seems that she just grinds the crumbles and fruits, then drops then back in the bowl. So I don't know if she's actually eating. Is it normal for babies to do that?

 

[Flboy]

Eating solids, 10-1 ratio for waste/eat is normal.