Refusing formula

[Parrot kid]

My baby sunconure which is 6 weeks is trying to avoid its hand feeding formula
But it is very active and playful
Help wanted!!!!
Reply soon!!

 

[LaManuka]

Welcome to the Forums, Parrot kid and your baby Sun.

Do you have experience with raising baby parrots and hand-feeding? I'm very sorry to say that it seems that your sun conure was too young to have been sold to you. Not your fault as it is unfortunately quite common, but it really should not be permitted for various health and ethical reasons, and sadly there is a lot that can go badly wrong, even for those with lots of experience with hand-raising very young birds. The really should not be sold until they have been eating solid adult food independently for at least two weeks.

I am not a bird breeder myself, but we have a wonderful member who is, and I have linked up one of his posts here, in the hope that it might be of some assistance to you...

Best thing you can do it get him fully weaned and ready for a long life as effectively and safely as possible.
One good way to start is mixing up formula and putting it into a dish in his cage and monitor that he is actually eating some by himself as otherwise you will need to continue syringe feeding.
Another key and probably the most important tip is feeding palatable foods that he likes. Soft foods like bananas, peas, corn, steamed carrots are all excellent ways to get him onto an adult diet. Softened pellets in water too and even some commercial dry egg and biscuit mix powder would be beneficial

Along the way in the next couple weeks, ensure to monitor his progress and reduce the syringe feeds slowly until you eventually are able to Eliminate formula completely in a few weeks

Best of luck, keep us updated with his progress!

And another resource written by a very experienced member here that may have some info that will help you...

So you bought an unweaned baby...

Today I spent several hours trying to help someone save a baby bird they had purchased unweaned. The baby died; they are usually almost dead by the time the new owner realizes something is wrong, not because the owner doesn't care but because they are not educated about what to look for or...

www.parrotforums.com

Personally I would be seeking support and advice from a certified avian vet if you have access to one at a critical time like this. I'm not sure where you are located exactly but hopefully the link below may assist you in finding one close to you...

https://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803

If there is not an avian vet anywhere close, I hope you can continue to approach the breeder you got him from for support with hand feeding and weaning onto adult food.

Thank you for joining and for reaching out for help, and I wish you and your baby Sun all the very best!

 

[Newfie-N-Tx]

Hello Parrot Kid,
This is a really stressful time when you bring home a baby parrot and they refuse food. I don’t know much about sun conures but I have hand fed a baby cockatiel and an double yellow headed Amazon. Our cockatiel was a difficult one to wean off formula and a total glutton for the stuff but our Amazon was a challenge to feed in comparison with him refusing the formula like how you describe your sun conure. He did this early but the worst was when he was starting to move around more and beginning to try to fly.

I found out the way to get ours to eat when he was starting to really refuse food as he got more mobile was to sit on sofa kinda leaning back and have him stand on a towel on my chest and sing to him which got him to open his mouth. Often times it felt like he wanted me to simulate how a mother bird would feed her young. Kind of holding his beak with one hand close to my face and the formula in syringe with the other. We had a set time of days from breeder for feedings at the beginning but many times he wouldn’t eat and refuse, turning away and then even when he accepted it, letting it run out of his beak not swallowing. I then figured out he wanted to be held to eat and paid closer attention to his behaviors and sounds to learn when he was asking for it and would offer formula to him all throughout the day. When I learned his “language” and figured out his hunger sound was a clucking type sound almost like a chicken meant he wanted food even if it wasn’t usual feeding times I fed him then when he asked. Sometimes he wanted more than other feedings. Sometimes he would refuse food almost the entire day and only thing that would work is singing to him to get his mouth to open and I’d rub the side of his beak to trigger the reflex to get him to take it. I started to offer him fresh veggies and fruits(before a pellet or seed mix) soon after we got him at 6 weeks always even if he didn’t do more than play with it a bit. I’d try a few different things and pay very close attention to sounds and body language of your baby. They do seem to all have a way of telling us when they are hungry.

Do you have a scale you can weigh yours to see if there’s weight loss? Even just a regular kitchen scale can work. You mentioned your conure is playing so that might be why. Its normal for them to refuse when they start to move around more getting ready to learn to fly. There’s a lot of sites that give estimates on the ages to expect these things but from what I’ve seen it varies based on their personality. When they prepare to learn to fly they lose an amount of weight that is normal, and refuse food getting ready for this stage. My guess they know instinctually moving around a lot with a full crop could be dangerous and maybe it’s uncomfortable for them. That said too much weight loss is not safe and it may be best to check with a vet if there is one in your area or where you got your conure.

 

[Laurasea]

good advice above.
Be weight checking daily.
Make sure you are starting to offer veggies of all kinds. For babies it can be best to have everything chopped up to pea size. Even serve warm after a quick steam. Nibble some yourself and hand offer some, they learn from you. Babies are programed to start exploring food at thus age. Often right after you give morning hand feed of formula is when they will feel most secure and interested in exploring other foods.

Sometimes they start dropping a feed here sbd ther as they start to wean, with morning and last of tge day feed usually being tge last they drop. But make sure formula is kept at tge right temperature during the whole feeding. As is keep a thermometer in formula, abd have formula containir sitting in a bigger container filled with hot water. Make sure you are keeping the baby bird warm like around 85f if fully feathered. To cold they aren't able to digest, make sure crop is emptying between feeds. I'd way before and after each feed.. yiu should be seeing a slight drop before next feed,, but sn overall gain during the day. The morning weight is true start weight. Fir example and exactly what yiu might be seeing, let's say morning wright us 100, after morning feed its 108, by next feed probably would drop to 104 , then after next feed might be 114, abd drop to 110 before next feeding.. it will be something like that. If yiu are weight checking every day and before abd after feeding yiu will get a feel of how yours does. Make sure you aren't making them hand shy.

Make sure you are poop watching. Frequently, amount and look of solid part and liquid part of poop, it tge liquid part change in color or clarity, poop part change in color or firmness. Changes in snell ect.. this. An be a red flag indicating health issues and a need for vet check

Baby burds can get in trouble very quickly, it's easy to get a crop infection, crop impaction, slow cold crop, burned crop ect...so anything that worries you should be checked by a vet quickly . As baby burds can be dead in day or two if something is up.

We have baby hand raised burds by new people die on the forum all the time. In such numbers thst we are always trying to spread tge word only get an abundance fully weaned baby. Anything else should be considered unethical. Its the breeder trying to get out if work make money and start on their next clutch they are going to sell

 

[Laurasea]

Hand Feeding Problems & Possible Solutions – arizonaparrots.com

arizonaparrots.com

An article on weaning

Weaning Baby Birds

by Pat Pecora

www.exoticpetvet.com

 

[Parrot kid]

Welcome to the Forums, Parrot kid and your baby Sun.

Do you have experience with raising baby parrots and hand-feeding? I'm very sorry to say that it seems that your sun conure was too young to have been sold to you. Not your fault as it is unfortunately quite common, but it really should not be permitted for various health and ethical reasons, and sadly there is a lot that can go badly wrong, even for those with lots of experience with hand-raising very young birds. The really should not be sold until they have been eating solid adult food independently for at least two weeks.

I am not a bird breeder myself, but we have a wonderful member who is, and I have linked up one of his posts here, in the hope that it might be of some assistance to you...



And another resource written by a very experienced member here that may have some info that will help you...

So you bought an unweaned baby...

Today I spent several hours trying to help someone save a baby bird they had purchased unweaned. The baby died; they are usually almost dead by the time the new owner realizes something is wrong, not because the owner doesn't care but because they are not educated about what to look for or...

www.parrotforums.com

Personally I would be seeking support and advice from a certified avian vet if you have access to one at a critical time like this. I'm not sure where you are located exactly but hopefully the link below may assist you in finding one close to you...

https://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803

If there is not an avian vet anywhere close, I hope you can continue to approach the breeder you got him from for support with hand feeding and weaning onto adult food.

Thank you for joining and for reaching out for help, and I wish you and your baby Sun all the very best!

Thnx

 

[Parrot kid]

Welcome to the Forums, Parrot kid and your baby Sun.

Do you have experience with raising baby parrots and hand-feeding? I'm very sorry to say that it seems that your sun conure was too young to have been sold to you. Not your fault as it is unfortunately quite common, but it really should not be permitted for various health and ethical reasons, and sadly there is a lot that can go badly wrong, even for those with lots of experience with hand-raising very young birds. The really should not be sold until they have been eating solid adult food independently for at least two weeks.

I am not a bird breeder myself, but we have a wonderful member who is, and I have linked up one of his posts here, in the hope that it might be of some assistance to you...



And another resource written by a very experienced member here that may have some info that will help you...

So you bought an unweaned baby...

Today I spent several hours trying to help someone save a baby bird they had purchased unweaned. The baby died; they are usually almost dead by the time the new owner realizes something is wrong, not because the owner doesn't care but because they are not educated about what to look for or...

www.parrotforums.com

Personally I would be seeking support and advice from a certified avian vet if you have access to one at a critical time like this. I'm not sure where you are located exactly but hopefully the link below may assist you in finding one close to you...

https://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803

If there is not an avian vet anywhere close, I hope you can continue to approach the breeder you got him from for support with hand feeding and weaning onto adult food.

Thank you for joining and for reaching out for help, and I wish you and your baby Sun all the very best!

This is my fifth hand feeding bird
I have experience with alexandrine,hanging parrot,cockatiel and budgies