Seeking advice - New IRN

[Nugget0205]

Hello everyone! It’s my first time posting here hope everyone is doing well! I really need advice with my new 7 week old IRN.. he’s the sweetest boy, loves to cuddle and sit on my lap, I’m constantly looking for resources and watching videos but I feel like none answer my questions fully so I thought the best thing to do is ask for help as I want to make sure I’m doing everything I can for him.

His name is nuggets, I got him when he was about 3 weeks old, his schedule was as follows:

- 10cc’s at 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 5:00 pm, 11:00 pm for around 10 days

Then I moved to:

-11-15 cc’s at 7:00 am, 5:00 pm, 11:00 pm currently 15 cc’s for all feedings.

Food: kaytee exact formula for baby birds with omega 3

He currently weighs 116 grams he perches well and we train him to flap his wings (not clipped and will not clip) while perched on our hands, even though we practice a lot, his initial reaction is to walk along my arm and sit on my shoulder or under my neck I noticed today he looked more balanced and was flapping his wings a lot more so I’m excited for the progress he’s making

I was wondering:
-Would this be a good time to bring his feeding down to twice a day? am I falling behind should he be down to one feeding a day soon?
-his weight was 127 grams a few days ago (before he got all his flight wings) he lost weight once he started fledging is this normal given the difference in weight in just a few days, it was my first time weighing him so I made sure it was before feeding
- Do you have any tips and advice about weening and what would their weight look like in this stage
-I read that they start flying around this time, is there anything I can do more to make him comfortable

Other things to note:

he was born on the 02 of may 2023 but when I got him he resembled younger IRNs so I followed the feeding schedule based on his needs

Feel free to let me know if I’m doing something wrong or if you have questions! And thank you in advance I’d appreciate the help and any tips I can get PS: the photo was taken 5 days ago

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed.

Keep giving him formula until he starts to refuse to eat it. IN the mean time start offering along side the formula some pellets and veggies - I like mashed sweet taters as a starter food, it kinda resembles the formula. Try other veg too. Even if he does not take any right away, now is the time to get him used to and interested in pellets and veggies.

 

[Nugget0205]

Welcome and be welcomed.

Keep giving him formula until he starts to refuse to eat it. IN the mean time start offering along side the formula some pellets and veggies - I like mashed sweet taters as a starter food, it kinda resembles the formula. Try other veg too. Even if he does not take any right away, now is the time to get him used to and interested in pellets and veggies.

Hello! Thank you so much for your response ill definitely start adding food today and see how it goes! Should I reduce his feedings to twice a day? Or should he still be on three feedings for now, I'm sorry for a asking again I just want to make sure I get it right, thank you again

 

[onamom]

Welcome to the forums!

I don't have experience weaning a bird myself so I can't speak to that but just wanted to say: Nuggets is SO cute!!! I love his coloring and that photo is precious. Makes me want to go back to the itty bitty baby days with my birdie

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

Generally, keep offering the formula until they refuse it. When they regularly start refusing one feeding, it's safe to drop it form their feeding schedule.

And Nuggets is SOOO CUTE!

 

[Nugget0205]

Welcome to the forums!

I don't have experience weaning a bird myself so I can't speak to that but just wanted to say: Nuggets is SO cute!!! I love his coloring and that photo is precious. Makes me want to go back to the itty bitty baby days with my birdie

Thank you, he’s a sweet baby! I’ve been taking photos in a photo box every few days so I can see him grow I thought it’d be cute to see his progress :”) and I knew I’ll appreciate the photos when he’s older…look at little nugget hehe

 

[Nugget0205]

Generally, keep offering the formula until they refuse it. When they regularly start refusing one feeding, it's safe to drop it form their feeding schedule.

And Nuggets is SOOO CUTE!

I wasn’t sure if I should be listening to him when he’s hungry or if the feeding schedule is something more set in stone for a certain age but this makes sense, I’ll stick to his current feeding! He still loves his formula hehe!

He is, nugget says thank you ^^

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Welcome and be welcomed.

Keep giving him formula until he starts to refuse to eat it. IN the mean time start offering along side the formula some pellets and veggies - I like mashed sweet taters as a starter food, it kinda resembles the formula. Try other veg too. Even if he does not take any right away, now is the time to get him used to and interested in pellets and veggies.t

If y

I wasn’t sure if I should be listening to him when he’s hungry or if the feeding schedule is something more set in stone for a certain age but this makes sense, I’ll stick to his current feeding! He still loves his formula hehe!

He is, nugget says thank you ^^

Awww, nothing is cuter than a baby bird! Now is a good time to introduce your baby to eating pellets. When I hand fed my budgie, Rocky, I began mixing tiny pellets into her formula a couple weeks before weaning so she would get used to the taste and texture. I wanted her to eat pellets as her primary diet and starting now makes it easier. I hand fed Rocky using a baby sized teaspoon which made it easy to mix the pellets into the formula. She enjoyed the pellets and at seven months old now she eats them as the primary part of her diet. He should be showing interest in feeding himself by now. Put a small flat dish of tiny pellets in his "house" so he can peck at them between meals. If you plan to feed him seed, don't mix seed with his formula because parrots need to shell the seeds before eating them. Just put seed in his "house" for him to graze on. As your baby's growth slows down he will eat less. I was amazed at how much formula Rocky ate when she was growing quickly but when she was almost adult sized and her feathers were mostly grown the amount she would eat dropped a lot. I weighed her every couple days between hatching and four weeks old but I didn't weigh her after weaning so I don't know if she lost any weight, but I'm pretty sure she did. She was a very chunky baby and I doubt she could have flow with such a big round crop. After weaning the crop shrinks down to adult size and her body became more streamlined to allow her to fly gracefully, so I think you baby's weight loss is normal at this stage.

I never adhered to a set feeding schedule for Rocky. I fed her as much as she wanted as often as she cried, just like a parent bird would do. I always fed her by spoon, even from hatching. The time between feedings increased as she got older and at four weeks I had pellets in her enclosure to encourage her to feed herself. At about five weeks old Rocky began to reject hand feedings and within a week she was completely weaned. I would offer her a feeding and she would either take a small amount or reject the feeding completely. I think she took her last hand feeding at just over six weeks old. I thought weaning would be more difficult than it was.
Since I didn't wean her onto a seed diet, seeds now only make up about 20℅ of her diet at seven months.
As for flying, his first flight will probably catch you by surprise! All that stationary flapping he's been doing was building up his flight muscles in preparation for the big day. It will happen when his flight feathers look full length, his body looks more streamlined and he is no longer begging for hand feedings. Just be prepared to rescue him when his first flights land him on the floor.
As nice as it is to see your baby all grown up, you will probably miss the baby days when he begged for feedings and just wanted to cuddle!

Post more pictures!