Raiden's growing up...

[nblitzkreig]

Hello, you guys had helped me a while back with Raiden, but I had some more questions. He or she is currently 84 days old (12 weeks) today and I am aware that this is around the time they start weaning and trying to fly. I was wondering, how much am I supposed to feed him because he won't take the recommended 10% of his body weight. (If I try to give him that much he will take most of it, dribble out a bit and then regurgitate some). His weight peaked at about 1131 grams and he's down to 1039 this morning. I've been feeding him 3 times a day (8 hours in between each meal) and when he is empty sometimes I'll give him a piece of fruit to play with (i've tried kiwi, blue berries, grapes, bananas and mangoes). He seems to really like bananas as he actually swallowed some yesterday when I gave it to him and kept getting more for a bit but eventually became disinterested. I was wondering if I should be offering these fruits more often and if I should be giving him a bowl of water to drink from in his cage. I am aware that the formula does contain water but don't know if that is enough. Also I bought some adult bird food pellets and was wondering if I should put that in his cage as well and if so how (dry or wet). Finally he's been flapping his wings alot lately and I noticed that his feathers are really messed up since he rolls around in his cage or outside his cage a lot, will this prevent him from flying? If so how do I get him to preen his feathers in a way so that they don't have separations in them? Any help would be appreciated... Also if it helps I believe he is a Harlequin and Scarlet Hybrid. Oh and last question, how long until he can fly on average?

 

[JerseyWendy]

So good to hear from you and Raiden!!!!!!!

Don't worry about unsightly, unkempt, out of place feathers, that's pretty normal for macaws as young as yours. He will replace them with fresh, pretty feathers once he goes through his first molt.

Don't force feed him, please. Don't feed him to the extent that he starts throwing up.

At this age, I'd have at least 2 full bowls of food in his enclosure at all times, in addition to a bowl of fresh water. 1 bowl can contain dried foods (pellets, and or a dry food mix - I personally LOVE Goldenfeast mixes), and the other bowl should have fresh fruits/veggies. Of course the fresh food bowl needs to be cleaned out frequently.

Have you looked in our recipe section to possible entice Raiden to try diverse foods? We have an AWESOME and wide selection of many different recipes.

Looky: Parrot Food, Recipes and Diet - Parrot Forum - Parrot Owner's Community

Please remember, if pre-soaking the pellets, don't leave them in his cage all day as they could go bad.

Yes, it's normal for them to lose some weight as they start weaning/fledging.

Can I beg for some pics of your baby???? Pretty pretty please???

 

[nblitzkreig]

Thank you and sure thing as soon as I figure out how to post them again haha..

 

[nblitzkreig]

Sorry it took me a while to figure this out... Here are pic's of him or her about 5 minutes ago haha...

 

[JerseyWendy]

Oh my gosh.....CUTENESS OVERLOAD ALERT.

Raiden is GORGEOUS!!!!! Thank you so much for the photo! What a sweetie!

 

[nblitzkreig]

Thank you... By the way I had another question, as of yesterday I attempted to feed Raiden about 4 times (up an extra meal from the 3 a day I was feeding him). He really didn't want to eat much if any of it. I was wondering what am I supposed to do if he flat out refuses to eat. I've read other threads where people say that around this time their birds want less and less food and may even regurgitate the food they do take in but I'm worried because yesterday he threw up after every meal (fed him around 60 to 80 cc 4 times). He also threw up this morning after his first meal of 80 cc... Do you think I may be over feeding him (he is still losing weight currently weighed in at 1014). The only reason I wanted to keep him eating is so he didn't rapidly lose weight. I understand that baby mac's can lose up to 20% of peak weight before learning to fly. But no where do I find info on how much I should actually feed him. So I guess my actual question is, should I just feed him what ever he will take even if that is only 40 cc then wait 8 hours or do I wait till he wants food or do I wait a certain amount of time?