9 weeks and suddenly won't eat as much formula

[links1979]

Hi we have a 9 week that we started introducing mango and pellets to at 8 weeks. One week later and she would only take 30cc at her morning and night feeding vs 60cc. Its not like she is consuming a large quantity of food either. Is this normal behavior or should I get her to a vet? Thanks for any advice.

 

[ChristaNL]

To start of with the question:
have you been weighing her?

Weaning is an interesting process anyway (and I haven't done much of it-- usually I just keep offering food when asked and let them figure it out on their own, birds usually do)-
but I will let people with more experience step in here

Weightloss/gain is always a great indicator of how your bird is really doing.

 

[links1979]

To start of with the question:
have you been weighing her?

Weaning is an interesting process anyway (and I haven't done much of it-- usually I just keep offering food when asked and let them figure it out on their own, birds usually do)-
but I will let people with more experience step in here

Weightloss/gain is always a great indicator of how your bird is really doing.

Thanks yes we weight her every morning before feeding. She went from 35 when we first got to her to 42 a week ago and 43 today. We keep mangos, corn on the cob, organic pellets and water in her cage as well as a water bottle and a bowl of water too

 

[KevH]

Crush pellets add bit of water use it like a formula till she's a bit older

 

[SilverSage]

Do not crush pellets to use as formula. Only use formula as formula.

What temperature are you feeding the formula, and what temperature is her environment? Is everything else normal? How are her droppings?


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[Laurasea]

I hope you start offered more variety of veggie. No bird raising experience to share.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Do not crush pellets to use as formula. Only use formula as formula.

What temperature are you feeding the formula, and what temperature is her environment? Is everything else normal? How are her droppings?


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Sage, I'm guessing you can't fetch this thread from your phone? I hope you won't mind if I offer it. It's SOOOOO well-done.
http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/74363-so-you-bought-unweaned-baby.html

 

[links1979]

Do not crush pellets to use as formula. Only use formula as formula.

What temperature are you feeding the formula, and what temperature is her environment? Is everything else normal? How are her droppings?


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Thanks temp is always 105 to 107 and we keep the room at 78F. Her dropping are a mix of water urate and what looks to be primarily formula as it is fluffy green. There was more white in this previous one. We have her her in a 40 inch by 30 inch cage which she loves. She will give the feeding respond for about 20cc and then won't do it anymore. She will however take mouthfulls and eat up to 50cc slowly in this last feeding.

 

[SilverSage]

Try bumping the formula up to 109-110F. Older babies often require that. I would also suggest keeping her at no lower than 85F. Switch up both those temps and I bet her appetite kicks in If, however, it continues to drop for more than 3 feedings, go immediately to the vet. In fact, schedule the appointment now for 3 feedings away; you can always cancel.


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[SilverSage]

Gail, yes, I have trouble linking other threads this baby should be feathered out if I have my grey timeline right (I’ve never raised them) so it’s less likely to be on the brink of death.

OP; if your baby isn’t COMPLETELY FEATHERED, like an adult bird, then it needs to be in a brooder, not a cage!


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[brighterdaysaviary]

What kind of species of bird? She could be weaning herself off the formula. Birds startto refuse formula and eat less and less until they are fully weaned.

 

[links1979]

Try bumping the formula up to 109-110F. Older babies often require that. I would also suggest keeping her at no lower than 85F. Switch up both those temps and I bet her appetite kicks in If, however, it continues to drop for more than 3 feedings, go immediately to the vet. In fact, schedule the appointment now for 3 feedings away; you can always cancel.


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Here are some pics including the cage. We switched to the cage based upon some things we read, and she seemed to finally start to perch. Can you take a look at these pics and tell me what you think as far as if she needs to be in a brooder? I'm making the vet appointment tomorrow. Thanks for the help everyone. These pics were after her last good 60cc feeding. Todays were 30cc am, 30 cc via feeding response, 20cc allowing her to take some chew and swallow, 20cc just now total of 100cc. She ate some mango and corn on the cob, but not enough to warrant not eating her full formula. I did adjust temps as directed all day.

Not sure why images not showing up in image tags here are the links:

https://imgur.com/coezzNR
https://imgur.com/0DdgzaP
https://imgur.com/3EKvZoQ
https://imgur.com/NE9PPPb
https://imgur.com/KX4G2pn

 

[links1979]

What kind of species of bird? She could be weaning herself off the formula. Birds startto refuse formula and eat less and less until they are fully weaned.

She's an african grey

 

[brighterdaysaviary]

Awww so so cute. Has she started flying yet? If not then I believe she is at the beginning of her fledging period where she will start refusing formula to try and lose some weight so she can start flying. It's normal. Just keep offering her formula and let her decide how much she wants to eat, don't force her to eat though. And also offer solid foods all the time so she can wean herself off of formula.

Also, make sure she isn't clipped and don't clip her feathers.

 

[links1979]

Awww so so cute. Has she started flying yet? If not then I believe she is at the beginning of her fledging period where she will start refusing formula to try and lose some weight so she can start flying. It's normal. Just keep offering her formula and let her decide how much she wants to eat, don't force her to eat though. And also offer solid foods all the time so she can wean herself off of formula.

Also, make sure she isn't clipped and don't clip her feathers.

She's getting ready to. Fluffing the feathers, scratching at the floor, practicing flapping her wings in spurts, but she hasn't taken off yet. I don't plan on clipping them until she has flown and landed for enough time. Even then I only want to do a small trim so that she can still fly but can't gain much height. I would prefer not to ever clip them, but really don't want to lose her one day if someone accidentally comes in our house unannounced for example.

 

[LordTriggs]

Awww so so cute. Has she started flying yet? If not then I believe she is at the beginning of her fledging period where she will start refusing formula to try and lose some weight so she can start flying. It's normal. Just keep offering her formula and let her decide how much she wants to eat, don't force her to eat though. And also offer solid foods all the time so she can wean herself off of formula.

Also, make sure she isn't clipped and don't clip her feathers.

She's getting ready to. Fluffing the feathers, scratching at the floor, practicing flapping her wings in spurts, but she hasn't taken off yet. I don't plan on clipping them until she has flown and landed for enough time. Even then I only want to do a small trim so that she can still fly but can't gain much height. I would prefer not to ever clip them, but really don't want to lose her one day if someone accidentally comes in our house unannounced for example.

don't clip for at least 6 months. During this time they NEED to fly, so their chest muscles can develop properly to protect her keel bone if she has a tumble, and so her lungs can develop. She also needs to understand how to fly so she can develop mentally. Unfortunately YOU will have to change habits in regards to people coming in, so the main door to the outside world should really be locked to stop anyone randomly opening it and your first reaction to a knock should be putting her in the cage. It's a piece of the responsibility of having a pet bird I'm afraid

 

[ChristaNL]

I am with LordTriggs on this one - let them grow up first, they gain so much confidence in themselves it is glorious to behold.
(selfconfidence is somethings greys really need a large supply of to stop them from becomming timid, neurotic ones)
CAG's will not reach puberty till they are roughly 2 years old - so use that 'childhood' to get them out and about, socialized to the hilt and eat everything you can possibly think of that is safe for them -> good habbits will last a lifetime
(TAG's do it in about a year, not sure which one you have// lol, the pictures cleared that right up, thank you!)


But yes: doorbells and locked doors, just to be safe.
One of my greys stays inside when doors open unexpectedly, the other one is always ready to bolt -> so curious!


and if you dare: plze remove the grate: greys love to chickenscratch on the floor (it is part of their natural behaviour)-
it's better for their feet anyway.
(right now they are both at it here, they sound like a couple of chickens too, with stuff flying *everywhere* and having a ball)


Your pictures are SO adorable.
lovely!
Keep them comming?

 

[SilverSage]

Agreed on the flight; an absolute MINIMUM of 6 months flying. In the mean time start training her to come when called.

CLIPPED BIRDS CAN STILL FLY AWAY, AND WHEN THEY DO THEY CAN’T COME HOME! Clipping to prevent loss (there are other reasons that can be good ones) is pointless and dangerous. It doesn’t work, all it takes is a surge of adrenaline, a breath of wind, anything. CLIPPED BIRDS CAN STILL ESCAPE! A flighted bird has the ability to navigate and come home, a clipped bird does not and will usually end up killed by a predator or stuck too high in a tree to be retrieved, unable to preform the extremely complex feat of flying downward.

But that’s not the point of this thread. Have gram stains done at the vet to check for bacteria and yeast in her crop and vent area. Please keep your house at at least 85 until she weans (on her own time!! No force weaning!!).

You will likely run into more complications so I’m really glad you found us! We are here to help in any way we can! I’m so sorry that an unethical seller sold you an unweaned baby.


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[EllenD]

I too agree she needs to get to your CAV asap, especially since the ambient temp has been low...At what age did you remove her from the Brooder? Was she kept in a controlled temperature until all of her mature feathers grew in? If not, if you removed her from the Brooder before ALL of her mature feathers grew in and she was kept below about 85 degrees F, then that's a very common cause for GI/Crop fungal infections...

I'd also try bumping the formula temp up, no higher than 110, they do tend to want the temp a little higher...However, when you were describing her droppings as being "fluffy green", that was worrisome to me...any "froth" or bubbles? It's very likely that she is suffering from a fungal infection either in her crop or throughout her GI Tract...If her Crop is still fully emptying normally then that's a good thing, but she needs culture done ASAP...

You can also add a probiotic to her formula in the meantime and see if that helps a bit, although most hand-feeding formulas (commercial ones) already have a probiotic added-in, so if that's the case then no need...

 

[links1979]

Thanks for all the great advice and concern. I took her to the vet today who said she looks perfectly healthy with a good crop, no foul odor or visible signs of infection, good muscle tone on her chest. Her weight was good. She actually told me that she suspects she is starting to wean very early. She gave me a broad spectrum medication just in case. The thing is Lucy will now eat all the formula if you let her chew and swallow it, just not with the feeding response the whole time. The vet said if there are any other problems THEN come back and do a crop culture. What are your thoughts? If she is eating the correct amount of food via chewing and swallowing is that cause for concern? Should I give her the meds pre-emptively? Today I had blueberries, raisings, mango, and pellets in her cage and they have been picked away at. I actually took a measurement of the food so that I can remeasure to see how much she eat in a few minutes.

This is her with my german shephard who adores her and hopes she will play ball one day. I keep them very supervised.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezc3aURLF88&feature=youtu.be"]October 8, 2018 - YouTube[/ame]