i need help in weaning my cockatiel

[Raisin]

i have a lutino 8 week old cockatiel. right now i am trying to wean my cockateil so i have reduced the times i feed him to 2 times. but he still does not even touch the seed. he rarely does but he does not try to eat. i tried to give him apples and sunflower seeds but he refuses.
i need help

 

[GaleriaGila]

I'm glad you're here.
Weaning is so difficult, almost always, for a beginner.

Here is a time-honored link to an excellent thread by one of our experts.

http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/74363-so-you-bought-unweaned-baby.html


I am very sorry that you have had this challenge put on you.
I'm glad you're reaching out to us.

 

[itzjbean]

Welcome to the forums!

How long have you had this baby? Weaning babies can be difficult, as Gail has posted, and that's why it's left to those who have lots of experience.

Some babies wean early and begin eating on their own as soon as 6 weeks but my cockatiel Ember was slow to wean (the breeder told me), and he did not come to me until he was about 3 months old, so around 12 weeks. Every bird is different but around 2-2.5 months is normal weaning time.

Are you making sure the formula is between 100-106 degrees F? Good porridge consistency? Do you have the baby in a cage of his own, do you have a few perches of differing materials so he/she can begin to learn perching and how to 'bird'?

Try offering spray millet, a lot of cockatiels LOVE the stuff and its easy for them to eat. Mine like to eat on the floor of the cage, as opposed to seed bowls sitting up high on the side of the cage. You can try making 'birdie bread', which is cornbread muffin mix and you add in chopped veggies, some of their seeds or pellets, etc sweet potato baby food things like that and you can serve it warm, and keep refrigerated after that, or even freeze the little muffins and thaw out and serve. They seem to love the little corn bread bits, especially if it's warm.

What seed mix are you offering? You could also try serving sprouts, which is basically rinsing your seeds over and over for a few days and letting them germinate until they grow sprouts. They're very nutritious for growing babies and my two cockatiels gobble them up.

 

[EllenD]

Great advice given by Itzjbean...

Right now it is extremely important that YOU do not reduce the number of formula feedings your bird is getting nor the amount of formula in each feeding, that must only be decided by your bird!!! What you are accidentally doing by taking away a formula feeding is called "Force-Weaning", and it's a very detrimental thing to do to a baby bird, and will cause life-long neurological, psychological, and behavioral issues if you do it...Your bird is the only one who can decide to "take away" a formula feeding, or to reduce the amount of formula per feeding because he is eating enough solid food to do so...

At only 8 weeks old, your bird is pretty-much right on track at 3 formula feedings a day, so I highly suggest that you add the formula feeding that you took away back, and basically "start over" the "Abundance Weaning" process.

As wisely suggested by Itzjbean, the best way to start your bird weaning onto solid food is by putting a millet-spray into the bird's weaning-cage/brooder. So I would go right back to offering your bird a formula hand-feeding first thing in the morning, then put a millet-spray inside his weaning-cage/brooder, and then offer a second formula feeding as soon as you see that his crop is almost empty, probably some time in the mid afternoon, and then another formula feeding before bed, as soon as you see his crop almost empty again...And watch to see that he's starting to nibble at the millet-spray, usually they start very early, as early as 5 weeks-old on the millet-sprays....As soon as you see that the millet spray is gone, give him another one, and it should disappear more quickly than the first one did, and so on.

As soon as you know that your bird is eating the millet-sprays without any issues, then you need to put a bowl of a quality, Cockatiel seed-mix into his weaning-cage, NOT just sunflower seeds...The last thing you want to do is to wean your bird directly onto sunflower seeds, because then he will just reject all other seeds/pellets and beg for nothing but sunflower seeds, and he'll end-up with very early Fatty Liver Disease, Diabetes, etc. So stop the sunflower seeds completely right now, and go and choose a high-quality, low-fat seed-mix (cockatiel/conure size), that doesn't contain any sunflower seeds, no peanuts or other nuts, and no corn. These are the things you do not want him to start eating in his daily diet...There are lots of choices of "sunflower-seed Free" seed mixes, that's what you want, and you can find many at any Petco or Petsmart. If it has sunflower seeds, peanuts, or corn in it, do not buy it!!!

So add a bowl of the high-quality, low-fat seed-mix into his weaning cage, and watch to see that he's eating it. You should be weighing him every single day, first thing in the morning before you feed him his formula, to make sure that he's gaining weight or staying the same, and not losing...The hand-feeding formula is specially made for developing, rapidly-growing baby birds, and that's why you absolutely cannot just "take away" a feeding of it, that has to be his choice based on the fact that he's full from eating the seed-mix...And as time goes on, the more healthy, low-fat seed-mix and fresh veggies he eats, which you can offer him at any time along with the seed-mix, the less formula he will eat in each hand-feeding...And then eventually he'll totally refuse a hand-feeding, and replace it with the seed-mix and fresh veggies. And this will continue until he's only begging for a nightly hand-feeding of formula, called a "comfort feeding", which is more psychological than the fact that he's hungry...

The millet-spray will get him started eating seeds. As soon as you notice him eating them, then start the healthy, low-fat, sunflower, peanut, and corn FREE seed-mix...But do not attempt to take away any formula feedings or the amount of formula in a feeding on your own, or your bird will end-up with serious issues for the rest of his life...

Also, as Itzjbean also mentioned, you absolutely have to make sure you have a candy/cooking thermometer in the hand-feeding formula the entire time you are feeding it to him, and it must be between 104 degrees F at the lowest, and 110 degrees F at the highest...If it is one degree lower than 104 he can develop a fungal/yeast infection in his crop, develop slow-crop or complete crop-stasis, and also they tend to not want to eat the formula if it is cooler than 104 degrees F....If the formula is even one degree hotter than 110 degrees F it can severely burn his crop and cause a horrible infection, which is only remedied by a Vet doing surgery and basically cutting a hole in his crop to remove the infection/burned tissue and then letting it close-up on it's own...So if you're not already using a cooking/candy thermometer in the formula the entire time you're feeding it to him, you must go to Walmart or somewhere else and buy one; a digital cooking/candy thermometer with a metal probe you insert in the formula costs $10-$15 at Walmart...And the older he gets, usually the thicker they like their formula...

 

[Raisin]

I'm glad you're here.
Weaning is so difficult, almost always, for a beginner.

Here is a time-honored link to an excellent thread by one of our experts.

http://www.parrotforums.com/breeding-raising-parrots/74363-so-you-bought-unweaned-baby.html


I am very sorry that you have had this challenge put on you.
I'm glad you're reaching out to us.

thanks for that link. i never thought that force weaning was so cruel, now i know how bad it is..thanks

 

[Raisin]

Welcome to the forums!

How long have you had this baby? Weaning babies can be difficult, as Gail has posted, and that's why it's left to those who have lots of experience.

Some babies wean early and begin eating on their own as soon as 6 weeks but my cockatiel Ember was slow to wean (the breeder told me), and he did not come to me until he was about 3 months old, so around 12 weeks. Every bird is different but around 2-2.5 months is normal weaning time.

Are you making sure the formula is between 100-106 degrees F? Good porridge consistency? Do you have the baby in a cage of his own, do you have a few perches of differing materials so he/she can begin to learn perching and how to 'bird'?

Try offering spray millet, a lot of cockatiels LOVE the stuff and its easy for them to eat. Mine like to eat on the floor of the cage, as opposed to seed bowls sitting up high on the side of the cage. You can try making 'birdie bread', which is cornbread muffin mix and you add in chopped veggies, some of their seeds or pellets, etc sweet potato baby food things like that and you can serve it warm, and keep refrigerated after that, or even freeze the little muffins and thaw out and serve. They seem to love the little corn bread bits, especially if it's warm.

What seed mix are you offering? You could also try serving sprouts, which is basically rinsing your seeds over and over for a few days and letting them germinate until they grow sprouts. They're very nutritious for growing babies and my two cockatiels gobble them up.

I have had this baby cockatiel for 4 weeks and 4 days. I always made sure that the temperature of the formula is the right temperature. he lives in a cage of his own and he has toys and perches he loves the swing he has, he is a very good flier he comes when i whistle.
In the place where i live the pet shops don't have millet sprays. And now he also eats some seeds in the seed mix. the mix i buy is sold as lovebird mix. it has sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, a few other types of seeds and some coloured crunchy things which my bird really likes. I shall try the sprouts to see if he like them.
thank you itzjbean

 

[Raisin]

Great advice given by Itzjbean...

Right now it is extremely important that YOU do not reduce the number of formula feedings your bird is getting nor the amount of formula in each feeding, that must only be decided by your bird!!! What you are accidentally doing by taking away a formula feeding is called "Force-Weaning", and it's a very detrimental thing to do to a baby bird, and will cause life-long neurological, psychological, and behavioral issues if you do it...Your bird is the only one who can decide to "take away" a formula feeding, or to reduce the amount of formula per feeding because he is eating enough solid food to do so...

At only 8 weeks old, your bird is pretty-much right on track at 3 formula feedings a day, so I highly suggest that you add the formula feeding that you took away back, and basically "start over" the "Abundance Weaning" process.

As wisely suggested by Itzjbean, the best way to start your bird weaning onto solid food is by putting a millet-spray into the bird's weaning-cage/brooder. So I would go right back to offering your bird a formula hand-feeding first thing in the morning, then put a millet-spray inside his weaning-cage/brooder, and then offer a second formula feeding as soon as you see that his crop is almost empty, probably some time in the mid afternoon, and then another formula feeding before bed, as soon as you see his crop almost empty again...And watch to see that he's starting to nibble at the millet-spray, usually they start very early, as early as 5 weeks-old on the millet-sprays....As soon as you see that the millet spray is gone, give him another one, and it should disappear more quickly than the first one did, and so on.

As soon as you know that your bird is eating the millet-sprays without any issues, then you need to put a bowl of a quality, Cockatiel seed-mix into his weaning-cage, NOT just sunflower seeds...The last thing you want to do is to wean your bird directly onto sunflower seeds, because then he will just reject all other seeds/pellets and beg for nothing but sunflower seeds, and he'll end-up with very early Fatty Liver Disease, Diabetes, etc. So stop the sunflower seeds completely right now, and go and choose a high-quality, low-fat seed-mix (cockatiel/conure size), that doesn't contain any sunflower seeds, no peanuts or other nuts, and no corn. These are the things you do not want him to start eating in his daily diet...There are lots of choices of "sunflower-seed Free" seed mixes, that's what you want, and you can find many at any Petco or Petsmart. If it has sunflower seeds, peanuts, or corn in it, do not buy it!!!

So add a bowl of the high-quality, low-fat seed-mix into his weaning cage, and watch to see that he's eating it. You should be weighing him every single day, first thing in the morning before you feed him his formula, to make sure that he's gaining weight or staying the same, and not losing...The hand-feeding formula is specially made for developing, rapidly-growing baby birds, and that's why you absolutely cannot just "take away" a feeding of it, that has to be his choice based on the fact that he's full from eating the seed-mix...And as time goes on, the more healthy, low-fat seed-mix and fresh veggies he eats, which you can offer him at any time along with the seed-mix, the less formula he will eat in each hand-feeding...And then eventually he'll totally refuse a hand-feeding, and replace it with the seed-mix and fresh veggies. And this will continue until he's only begging for a nightly hand-feeding of formula, called a "comfort feeding", which is more psychological than the fact that he's hungry...

The millet-spray will get him started eating seeds. As soon as you notice him eating them, then start the healthy, low-fat, sunflower, peanut, and corn FREE seed-mix...But do not attempt to take away any formula feedings or the amount of formula in a feeding on your own, or your bird will end-up with serious issues for the rest of his life...

Also, as Itzjbean also mentioned, you absolutely have to make sure you have a candy/cooking thermometer in the hand-feeding formula the entire time you are feeding it to him, and it must be between 104 degrees F at the lowest, and 110 degrees F at the highest...If it is one degree lower than 104 he can develop a fungal/yeast infection in his crop, develop slow-crop or complete crop-stasis, and also they tend to not want to eat the formula if it is cooler than 104 degrees F....If the formula is even one degree hotter than 110 degrees F it can severely burn his crop and cause a horrible infection, which is only remedied by a Vet doing surgery and basically cutting a hole in his crop to remove the infection/burned tissue and then letting it close-up on it's own...So if you're not already using a cooking/candy thermometer in the formula the entire time you're feeding it to him, you must go to Walmart or somewhere else and buy one; a digital cooking/candy thermometer with a metal probe you insert in the formula costs $10-$15 at Walmart...And the older he gets, usually the thicker they like their formula...

thanks for your advice. i now feed him three times a day. i offer him a seed mix not just sunflower seeds.

 

[EllenD]

Yeah, but he's going to start ONLY eating the sunflower seeds...And besides that, you shouldn't be feeding him any seed-mix that has sunflower seeds in it anyway. They are considered to be "junk seed-mixes" that are extremely high in fat, low in protein, and if that is what you are feeding him while he's weaning him, then that's what he will eat the rest of his life, and his life will be greatly shortened...Cockatiels should live well into their late-teens/earyly 20's, but most of them don't live into their teens at all due to obesity and Fatty Liver Disease because they are fed the exact seed-mixes that you're actually weaning him onto...Sunflower seed, safflower seeds, nuts, and corn are either occasional treats or not given at all; this is a captive, pet bird, not a bird that flies 20 miles a day in the wild...That's what you need to remember.

And it's not that "Force-Weaning" is specifically cruel, it's that it literally deprives baby birds of the natural process of weaning. Imagine taking a human baby and instead of bottle-feeding it formula or breast milk, you simply started setting solid food in front of it as soon as you see that it has teeth. What happens is the baby birds simply never develop properly psychologically or neurologically, and what you will end-up with is a bird who has the mentality of an unweaned baby bird for the rest of it's life, constantly begging to be held, refusing to eat anything that you don't hand-feed to them, constant crying and whining, etc. This happens quite often because breeders are selling unweaned birds more and more often to people who have no experience hand-feeding or weaning, and this is exactly what happens...

Again, do not make any decisions for your bird as far as taking away formula or giving him less formula per feeding...If it takes your bird a year to fully-wean at his own pace, then that's what you have to do at this point to make sure you don't cause him great psychological and neurological damage. And honestly, that might be what it takes until he's ready to stop hand-feeding. You just won't know, and you just have to go at his pace and stick with him...

Make sure that you are ALWAYS checking his crop BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER HE EATS A FORMULA FEEDING!!!! His crop should be totally empty first thing in the morning before you give him his first formula feeding, and in-between the daytime formula feedings it should either be almost empty or completely empty...And if he begs for a 4th hand-feeding and you check his crop and it's empty, then that's what you have to do. Anytime you hear him crying/begging, you need to check his crop, and if it's empty then you have to feed him, because it means he's not yet eating enough solid food to keep him fed. It's all about checking the crop.

And if he's already fledged and is fully-flying, then he should again continue to gain weight and not ever lose any weight again (they tend to lose weight while they are fledging, then after they start gaining again). So if you are weighing him every day like you need to be, in the morning at the same time every day, before you feed him his formula, then you should see him gaining slightly and then leveling out. If he starts losing weight, then this is how you tell that he's not eating enough solid food, and you need to check his crop more often throughout the day, and if it's empty you need to add another formula feeding.

****Just for future reference, and this is no knock on you, it's not your fault, but don't ever buy another bird that is not fully-weaned onto completely solid food. If you are ever looking at buying a bird and you are told that it still requires being fed hand-feeding formula, just say no and walk away. Not only because you will keep putting yourself through this nightmare and can also possibly kill the baby (at 4 weeks old, when you brought your bird home, it's extremely easy to aspirate formula into it's lungs and kill it), but also because you do not want to support any breeder/pet shop that is selling unweaned baby bird. No reputable bird breeder will sell an unweaned baby bird, not ever. Only unscrupulous, greedy breeders sell unweaned baby birds, because they want to save money and time on hand-feeding formula, and they want to make room for more babies to sell. They are only concerned about money and not about the lives of their babies, and that's a bad scene and not something that you should support...

 

[Raisin]

Yeah, but he's going to start ONLY eating the sunflower seeds...And besides that, you shouldn't be feeding him any seed-mix that has sunflower seeds in it anyway. They are considered to be "junk seed-mixes" that are extremely high in fat, low in protein, and if that is what you are feeding him while he's weaning him, then that's what he will eat the rest of his life, and his life will be greatly shortened...Cockatiels should live well into their late-teens/earyly 20's, but most of them don't live into their teens at all due to obesity and Fatty Liver Disease because they are fed the exact seed-mixes that you're actually weaning him onto...Sunflower seed, safflower seeds, nuts, and corn are either occasional treats or not given at all; this is a captive, pet bird, not a bird that flies 20 miles a day in the wild...That's what you need to remember.

And it's not that "Force-Weaning" is specifically cruel, it's that it literally deprives baby birds of the natural process of weaning. Imagine taking a human baby and instead of bottle-feeding it formula or breast milk, you simply started setting solid food in front of it as soon as you see that it has teeth. What happens is the baby birds simply never develop properly psychologically or neurologically, and what you will end-up with is a bird who has the mentality of an unweaned baby bird for the rest of it's life, constantly begging to be held, refusing to eat anything that you don't hand-feed to them, constant crying and whining, etc. This happens quite often because breeders are selling unweaned birds more and more often to people who have no experience hand-feeding or weaning, and this is exactly what happens...

Again, do not make any decisions for your bird as far as taking away formula or giving him less formula per feeding...If it takes your bird a year to fully-wean at his own pace, then that's what you have to do at this point to make sure you don't cause him great psychological and neurological damage. And honestly, that might be what it takes until he's ready to stop hand-feeding. You just won't know, and you just have to go at his pace and stick with him...

Make sure that you are ALWAYS checking his crop BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER HE EATS A FORMULA FEEDING!!!! His crop should be totally empty first thing in the morning before you give him his first formula feeding, and in-between the daytime formula feedings it should either be almost empty or completely empty...And if he begs for a 4th hand-feeding and you check his crop and it's empty, then that's what you have to do. Anytime you hear him crying/begging, you need to check his crop, and if it's empty then you have to feed him, because it means he's not yet eating enough solid food to keep him fed. It's all about checking the crop.

And if he's already fledged and is fully-flying, then he should again continue to gain weight and not ever lose any weight again (they tend to lose weight while they are fledging, then after they start gaining again). So if you are weighing him every day like you need to be, in the morning at the same time every day, before you feed him his formula, then you should see him gaining slightly and then leveling out. If he starts losing weight, then this is how you tell that he's not eating enough solid food, and you need to check his crop more often throughout the day, and if it's empty you need to add another formula feeding.

****Just for future reference, and this is no knock on you, it's not your fault, but don't ever buy another bird that is not fully-weaned onto completely solid food. If you are ever looking at buying a bird and you are told that it still requires being fed hand-feeding formula, just say no and walk away. Not only because you will keep putting yourself through this nightmare and can also possibly kill the baby (at 4 weeks old, when you brought your bird home, it's extremely easy to aspirate formula into it's lungs and kill it), but also because you do not want to support any breeder/pet shop that is selling unweaned baby bird. No reputable bird breeder will sell an unweaned baby bird, not ever. Only unscrupulous, greedy breeders sell unweaned baby birds, because they want to save money and time on hand-feeding formula, and they want to make room for more babies to sell. They are only concerned about money and not about the lives of their babies, and that's a bad scene and not something that you should support...

so i should get a seed mix without sunflower seeds? also do you have any tips in getting it weaned?

 

[Flboy]

Hi!
By the time stamps on your posts, I am guessing you are on the eastern side of the Atlantic!

TOPS has great seed mixes and pellets!
https://topsparrotfood.com/

Having never been with a bird through the weaning process, my understanding, they slowly wean themselves!

 

[Raisin]

oh, i am in the indian ocean. i live in maldives. so i cant get those seed mixes

 

[EllenD]

I went through that in my first long post, if you read it you'll see some step by step directions for starting the weaning process...And yes, get rid of the sunflower seeds in his seed-mix!!! You don't want him to start weaning onto the most unhealthy thing possible! Pellets would be ideal, but in this situation where weaning is going to be difficult, I would first wean onto a healthy seed-mix with no sunflower seeds, no nuts, and no corn, and then once you get through that, then work on adding pellets...

This isn't a case where the "bird is going to wean itself" normally due to what has already happened, he will "wean himself" and like I said, you can't make those decisions for him, but it's going to take time and patience from you...