Normal or Worrisome and babies taught parents to eat better

[gracebowen]

The past few days I've noticed a change in the parent child relationship.

The babies are eating better on their own. They even taught Jet to eat the cockatiel sized pellets. I had the bag on my bed and they helped themselves.

First it was just the babies then Jet started eating them too.

The question I have is the parents only feed them 2 or three times a day and from what I can tell not very much. They beg for food 5 to 6 times a day. As I type this Rosie has been begging for food for 10 minutes or so. Jet fed her for like 10 seconds.

Oh and Rosie( changed from Rose) stole a dorito off of my plate today. I didn't let her eat much.

 

[gracebowen]

OK now she's eating on her own

 

[gracebowen]

Bump . . . .. ......

 

[JerseyWendy]

Forgive me, Grace, I forgot. How old are the chicks now?

The parents may very well be on their way to wean them off. Are you monitoring their weights? If the weights are pretty consistent, I wouldn't worry.

 

[henpecked]

Yup. That's what happens when t he parents start to wean them. The parents don't want to feed them thr rest of their lives so the babies go hungry to give them some incentive to feed themselves. If you are keep a good weight chart you should notice the weigh level off or drop alittle when they fledge and when they wean. That's normal. Parent birds feeding chicks will consume what ever food is availble and best for the babies. They have a nutral instinct for that type of thing. Don't be surprised if that adult no longer eats t hose pellets after the babies wean.

 

[gracebowen]

Rosie is 7 weeks today. Pied is 7 weeks in 2 days. They chase the parents all over my room begging for food. Then they give up and go eat. Rose is eating cauliflower right now.

 

[gracebowen]

I hope Jet continues to eat those pellets but thanks for the warning he might not.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Yes, at that age the parents are most definitely 'weaning them off'.

What about their weight? Holding pretty steady?

 

[gracebowen]

Honestly I havent weighed them. They rarely stay still. Their energy level is the same. They look really good. They are getting to be stronger and more agile fliers.

 

[SilverSage]

Yes at that age the parents are weaning them.

You need to be weighing them. It is simple to put them inside a small carrier to do so. Weight change or lack their of will sometimes be the ONLY warning you may get that something is wrong in time to save the baby, especially when you don't have much experience. If your birds have babies in the future please weigh them at least daily and keep a detailed record.

As for the healthy diet changes, now that you know that jet knows they are food, why not switch over to pellets? Especially if you ever let them breed again, I have seen major problems come from allowing the parents to eat a mainly seed diet while feeding young chicks, especially with a larger clutch where the youngest can be more than a week younger than the oldest. The younger chicks are not ready to process the seeds the way they are being fed to the older chicks. I feed seed in a separate cup during the pre breeding season, courting, laying, and incubation but starting a day before the first egg is schedualed to hatch I remove all seed until the youngest baby is at least 3 weeks old.