Baby Nanday younger than I thought?

So my husband and I have had our new baby for about 6 hours and he's now in his new sleep cage for the night. We did notice a few things that lead us to believe he is younger than 12 weeks or possibly sick. I'm of course going to get him to the vet ASAP for a check up anyways but want to see if my description can get some advice on the matter. The Nanday had his tail pointed slightly downwards and had his wings a little loose to his sides but did these things as it was close to bedtime. He would cry like he wants to be fed and looked to me like a baby begging for food the whole time with head bobbing up and down and a squeak when I held him only but when he was in his cage he was silent. He also isn't perching terribly well but I know that's a baby trait too and he's clumsy but alert and wasn't sleepy at all and was happily eating so millet and playing with toys. He also got down on the bottom of the cage but was playing for the most part. The little one also went into full on hand feeding mode when I touched his beak on both sides. I'm confused because Ollie was around 12 weeks when I got him and did not exhibit any of these behaviors... I'm half tempted to go to a nearby pet store and get some formula or is he sick? Advice welcome!

Sunnyclover said:

So my husband and I have had our new baby for about 6 hours and he's now in his new sleep cage for the night. We did notice a few things that lead us to believe he is younger than 12 weeks or possibly sick. I'm of course going to get him to the vet ASAP for a check up anyways but want to see if my description can get some advice on the matter. The Nanday had his tail pointed slightly downwards and had his wings a little loose to his sides but did these things as it was close to bedtime. He would cry like he wants to be fed and looked to me like a baby begging for food the whole time with head bobbing up and down and a squeak when I held him only but when he was in his cage he was silent. He also isn't perching terribly well but I know that's a baby trait too and he's clumsy but alert and wasn't sleepy at all and was happily eating so millet and playing with toys. He also got down on the bottom of the cage but was playing for the most part. The little one also went into full on hand feeding mode when I touched his beak on both sides. I'm confused because Ollie was around 12 weeks when I got him and did not exhibit any of these behaviors... I'm half tempted to go to a nearby pet store and get some formula or is he sick? Advice welcome!

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If you have a near by pet store that is open and has formula, STOP reading this and go to the Store ASAP.

What you are defining is a Parrot that has not been fully weened from formula to solid food.

Always go with your gut feeling!!!

I don't have a pet store open right now but the nearest Petco opens at 9am and I will get down there like the wind. Will they have formula and that spoon thingy there? What is the spoon called. The pet store told me he'd been just weaned but I guess not quite yet. It was the 3rd day he was out on the floor and not in the back being hand fed. He does eat solid food a bit so maybe they thought he was done. I hope he hasn't been starving this last 3 days /sigh. I'm not sure they realized since he's eating solids and they have plenty of birds to worry about. Luckily you guys have helped me learn so much I easily spotted the issue! Parrot forums are ftw!

it sounds like he's regressed. I would give the place you got him from a phone call to say he's regressed to wanting hand feeding again and say you need to take him back for a couple weeks just so he can get back on track. I wouldn't frame it as a question more as a pre-warning of your arrival

It sounds like both illness (down pointed tail and loose wings aren't a sign of babyhood) and force Weaning to me. Please get him back on formula and to the vet to check for a bacterial infection asap. Petco likely has syringes, not spoons. If you know your baby was fed with a bent spoon you may need to bend one yourself or get one from the horrible place that sold you the bird.


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So we're on our way to the avian vet right now! Hope to find out what's wrong with my new baby...I really didn't want to take him back to the pet store to complain because they clearly didn't know what was going on or didn't care.

PLEASE GET GRAM STAINS!!!

If they tell you the baby is fine without getting these you will go home with a sick baby and a lot of wasted money.


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Aw, sorry to hear of your new baby having troubles. Not sure about the first part you described but the bobbing is definitely a baby thing, likely force weaned and may need to start feeding formula, as others have said, to get this baby back on track. Let us know what happens at the vet, praying your new baby is okay!

SilverSage said:

PLEASE GET GRAM STAINS!!!

If they tell you the baby is fine without getting these you will go home with a sick baby and a lot of wasted money.


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I'm on top of it thanks!

Excellent! I just hate to see people wasting money at the vet and babies suffering


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Right... however so far it's been about 40 mins since we left and arrived at the vet and baby bird hasn't pooped. I am not sure if he will and I'm not sure what the do for a gram stain hmmmm.

Okay so he pooped for a gram stain so that's good news!

That's good! Gram stains can be done with cloacal swabs and crop swabs as well so that's good


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SilverSage said:

That's good! Gram stains can be done with cloacal swabs and crop swabs as well so that's good


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thanks I was just wondering if there was something like that they could do in case someone gets "stage fright"

At the vet they did the gram stain and a few blood tests and the results should be back in a couple of days. The vet says the baby bird looks healthy but she thinks he has either just regressed to baby bird behavior after being weaned because of a new environment or he was force weaned too quickly and no one noticed he wasn't eating quite enough solid foods. He was clearly a hungry baby to her and she sent me to buy formula and baby food to mix a bit into it and administrator with a syringe. She said to feed twice a day one in morning and one in evening. I fed birdie once and he only took about 6ml before refusing so I'm not sure what that's about because she said he would probably want around 10ml. So the tests will come back to rule out anything else but the little one seems stronger already.

Edit: I gave him a bath because he smelled unsavory and now he's just drying and seems happy enough. When I pick him up all he does is the baby"feed me" cry so I'm kind of confused. He seems t o be perching a little better but still unstable which is also weird, he might be a little disabled but too early to tell...I also suspect he just got his wings clipped like right before I bought him because he tries to fly but really slowly. I know one thing for sure: No matter what he's found his forever home!

The feeding hesitancy could be a temperature issue. Do you make sure the formula is between 104 and 110 degrees F?


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No I did not but I will now. Thanks for the tip...the vet did not tell me that I tried to make it warmish but not hot.

Sunnyclover said:

No I did not but I will now. Thanks for the tip...the vet did not tell me that I tried to make it warmish but not hot.

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Yes hopefully your baby will eat more if it is nice and warm! Not sure if the baby food you're adding in would make him refuse it but you could also try just the formula and see how he likes it. It should be a baby-food consistency. Good luck, sending good vices your way for positive results from the tests done and for this baby to gain some weight and start eating solids!

I gave him his night feeding at the appropriate temperature this time and he accepted like 3 more money so that's good. He was really interested in it when I was mixing it too so I knew he wanted it. One more question, do I hold him still while he's flailing about while eating? I wasn't sure what to do but I gently geld him in place because I was convulsing so harshly I couldn't help but hold him. He also made a super loud sound once both times I fed him, any idea if that's normal? It wasn't a screech but more of a yell...the formula was not too hot so that out of the question that he was being burned.

I would suggest looking at hand feeding videos on YouTube. That will be more useful than me trying to explain proper technique and hand placement


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