I purchased an unweaned Grey before I knew it was such an issue

[DonnaBudgie]

As long as her vet says she's fine I'd say she's fine. There can be a pretty big normal size range for parrots. I have budgies that weigh 28 grams and others all the way up to 65+ grams and none of them are obese. Cockatiels can weigh 70- 120 grams.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

They say that male Greys weigh more than females.

 

[newbaby]

Millie (new name lol) is now 12 weeks and two days old. She’s learning to fly and has had a few “successful” flights across my living room.

As of this morning, she’s 334g (she was 361g when I got her). She’s also refusing her food alot. Sometimes she will take up to 30ml in a feed and sometimes she’ll only take 2-3ml in a feed. She’s seen an avian vet and they said she’s fine and that she would put on weight when started to fly, but I can’t see how that happens when she won’t really eat her formula anymore. I literally chase her across the house to feed her lol. She acts hungry, takes 1-2 spoonfuls, then runs away?

Ugh. I’m sure this is normal and I’m just stressed. Weaning birds is hard and I’m so confused.

She has pellets and water all day. Her poops have definitely changed so I’m positive she’s eating pellets and not just smashing them into powder lol. I’m just worried that she’s losing weight.

Someone tell me she’s fine lol.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

She's fine. Seriously. If she's hungry she'll eat. I'd call the vet and ask. Keep monitoring her weight. I felt the same way when my hand fed budgies went from eating lots of formula to eating so much less when fully grown and they lost weight too. The muscle mass from flying will add some wight over the next couple months. Does she like chop? If you offer her some tasty foods maybe she'll eat more.
And have fun with your new flying toddler!

 

[newbaby]

Sigh. She is now 306g and shows no signs of ever wanting to eat. So she’s gone from 361g when I got her to 306g as of today. She just wants to fly around and play. I chase her down all day long sneaking food in here and there. Her poops always have food in them, so I know she’s eating. It’s just obviously not enough to keep her weight up. Not really sure where to go from here. She’s not sick she’s just more interested in flying around and playing than she is in eating.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Maybe you ought to keep her in her cage for half the day. She may get bored enough to eat.

 

[newbaby]

I do!

She gets fed morning and night as she won’t eat the afternoon feed at all anymore. I take her out in the morning, let her fly around for half an hour or so and then when I can tell she’s starting to “settle” I start the process of chasing her around to feed her. By the end she will finally stay in one spot, but still refuses to eat (won’t open her mouth at all). I keep her out for another hour or so, then she goes back into her cage for the day (while I’m in school). When I get home, I let her out and she’s out for 2 hours ish before I attempt to feed her again so she’s usually quite settled by then. Still refuses most of her food. In summary, on days that I’m in classes, she’s in her cage for 8 ish hours so she should be more than bored/hungry enough to eat the food she has in there. She does eat her pellets, just not enough of them. I’ve also tried brown rice, peppers, cucumber, and apples . She doesn’t really eat those. Just mouths them.

I mean, she’s not unhealthy. She’s very active. Full of personality. I just wish she’d stop losing weight. Vet is adamant she’ll eat if she wants too, but I’m not convinced lol. She’s got to be hungry? How does she fly around and play and be so full of personality and just not be hungry ever? She’s giving me grey hairs lol.