Baby Cockatiel. Need help with answers!

[Kiran]

Hello all! <3

I need some advice. Couple of my cockatiels laid babies and then flat refused to feed them. I noticed their frail bodies in the nest box about 72 hours ago and started handfeeding them nestle cerelac wheat apple stage 1 baby food(I've brought up 2 of my older cockatiels same way 3 years ago, but that was from 3 weeks). 1 passed away 60 hrs ago and the other guy was super weak until the last 24 hrs where he's been standing up and craning his neck rather well for his last 2 feeds yesterday and all 7 of his feeds today.

Now it's looking the same size as when I first got it in my care, the only difference I notice is it stands up nicely for it's feed. The feet and wings are super small, almost like a 2 day baby.
1]I don't know if the growth is stunted because the parents didn't feed them for few days or what. Does it look normal in the pictures?
2]Also, not all the time but once a day there is a few nano drops of blood in the dropping. It's ok?
3]The eyes haven't opened yet either and it's at least over a week old baby, is that normal?
4] He has what looks like dried dropping on his head, maybe from his demised sibling, not sure, should i just leave it be to naturally fall off or try to remove it by rubbing it off with wet cotton?
5]My wife is also due to deliver our baby anyday this week and there is no one else to care for the bird at home while I am at the hospital. One option I thought of was taking the baby with me to the hospital alongwith a thermos with hot water (naturally cooled to 104* on thermometer before feed) which will take care of 2 feedings (bacteria builds up after 2 hrs so I make the formula, fill up 2 syringes and feed it twice before I make a fresh one). Is that idea fine? or if anyone have a better idea, kindly let me know. Thanks!
Would appreciate info on the same from experienced folk. As pictures speak 1000 words, I've linked a couple under. Ty!







Ty!

 

[MissyMe83]

Im sorry, I don't know anything about the little babies! I hope it pulls through. Im sure someone will have a few things to contribute...

 

[crimson]

boy you sure do have your hands full!
Be careful when parents refuse to feed their young. They can always tell if they are healthy.... and they always know....mother nature knows best.

on occasion some parents do not feed their chicks, and turn out to be fine, but please, try not to get your hopes up, he may be fine, but he may not be.
you should weigh your chick to ensure he is growing normally.

any blood is not typical in droppings,which may indicate internal bleeding of some sort, which is why the parents may have rejected the chick
the eyes usually open anywhere from 10-14 days usually around the 11th/12th day
you might want to try and remove the crusties from the top of his head.
use warm water, until it loosens and gently pull it off, if you pull too hard, their skin is very delicate and it will bleed.
keep him warm, around 90-94 degrees for now
I would try and feed him Zupreem hand feeding formula

I had a very seasoned pair of cockatiels who refused to feed two of their chicks, less than a day old, discarded them into the corner of the cage.

I took them and fed them, both had stunted growth, at 4 weeks of age they only weighed 16 grams each. I had taken them to the vets, only for them to die 10-14 days later.
it was heart wrenching watching those tiny little creatures struggle to survive, and not thrive at all.
If another chick gets tossed, I've learned my lesson, especially from a set of good parents who know better than I....
good luck with your little baby, he is adorable.

 

[Kiran]

Thanks so much, Crimson! You've been the only reply with answers I've gotten in over half a dozen bird forums. <3

Yep, I cleaned the little fella's head with a wet cotton ball (dabbed into boiled water) and it's almost if not all clean now.

He's certainly up and perky, and I've noticed zero blood so far in his last few droppings, so I'm hoping for the best. I spoke to the bird specialist vet and she said that there's not much that can be done for very young babies and asked me to continue what I am doing. If it's budgie size or larger, she'll take a look at it.

We've got a nice rhythm going in the feedings and i'm not using as many tissues as I was earlier for cleaning the bird during feed. No matter what the outcome, I am having the best experience of my life just watching this little fella waiting for me with his two iddybiddy wings at the side and neck 1 inch out with beak open - the moment he feels my touch or hears me speak. Just tooo tooo cute. <3

I'm heartened to hear that the eyes open at 12 days or so and I can see some development around his eyes (they're looking like they're going to open soon, the separation is coming).

I called the pet shops in the area as well as the supplier and they're out of stock on the Prestige Premium A21 hand rearing formula, which is the only bird chick formula available in this region. They won't get a fresh supply for at least another 5 weeks, as per the sales manager of the company. Hence, I'll stick to >> http://img.babyoye.com/catalog/prod...33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/B/P/BPNES00005_1.jpg

I've been staying awake 18 hours daily to make sure he gets his crop filled every 2 hours when it is empty. I only slept from 5am to 10am every night since this little guy came into my care. Diet Coke caffeine ftw.

Here's some fresh pictures of the baby.








Once again, thanks so much for all your advice and support. <3

/love n hugs,

Kiran

 

[crimson]

your doing very very well! and your welcome
I was laying in bed last night thinking of you and your bird, and I realized I forgot to wish you a happy congratulations on becoming a father!!.....my apologies

I know what u mean when the little ones wait for you and their little wings are quivering, it just melts your heart doesn't it? He will have dark eyes, and looks like a lutino

looking at your photo, I would not fill him so much, cut back just a wee bit. If his crop gets too full, it could become impacted(which you don't want) and he would surely die

after 5-7 days you can get a good night sleep and not feed him thru the night any longer
they will sleep thru the night with no problem. you might want to put a small stuffed animal in with him so he can cuddle up to it, for a sense of security.

great news about no more nasty deposits....lets hope it keeps up.

You know, I needed to try as well, cause I just couldn't watch my little wee ones starve, so I understand completely....but don't burn yourself out either, your wife is expecting, you will need to really focus on your new baby.
I'm not sure how your going to feed that little one while your at the hospital, I know here in Canada they would not allow any type of animal in a hospital.
btw, you can feed it every 4 hours and it will be fine if that helps, but only if your at the hospital with your wife....it will be fine, hungry..... but fine.

After 7 days or so, you may feed it every 3 hours or so.
At 2 weeks every 4 -6 hours, probably closer to 4, ensure the crop is entirely empty before the next feeding.
if you have any more questions, no matter how small, you can pm me if you like(private message).
please let us all know when your baby arrives!!! how exciting!

 

[Kiran]

Will do! I've actually limited my feedings the past few days as I didn't want to overfill the crop. Just today I've started feeding him as much as he keeps his beak open for. The moment he doesn't open his beak for more feed, I stop. I'd seen the earlier babies that were raised by their parents and their crops would almost touch the floor and I thought maybe I'm feeding too little and fed as much as you see. He goes through that quantity in his crop inside of 2 hours. I reckon its 4ml on the syringe so I'll cut it down to 3ml.

His parents had actually tossed out 2 babies in January because they were lutinos I think as they were yellow feathered when I found their bodies inside the nest box and that's probably the reason why the parents tossed them and him.

My sister is actually visiting to help manage the house while my wife delivers sometime this coming week and she was absolutely amazed about this baby bird. The first words both my dad, my wife and my sister said when they saw this baby with me couple days ago was "OMG! looks like he's not going to make it." and I'd be like "FFS! Quit jinxing the whole thing. I'm trying my best to keep this guy up!" All I can say is, if this lil fella makes it to adulthood, he's literally going to be like an irl baby to me, with all the effort that went into him.

<3

 

[crimson]

there is one thing you should understand about cockatiels....they will eat and eat, even though their crops are full, which can lead to an impacted crop.
when the parents feed them, they pass on their live bacteria from their bodies into the chicks, which help break down and digest their food.
our feeding formula, have bacteria in it, but it's not the same.
to my knowledge I don't think a baby chick has died from an impacted crop from a parent, they just know when to stop, and when their chick is sufficiently full.
please don't let your baby gauge how much you feed, you are his primary caregiver, or dad, so it's up to you to make sure he is full, but not stuffed.
you know when your sink is clogged and the water doesn't drain properly, or goes down very slowly, well, their crop is the same way.
too much food will result in the crop draining more slowly, thus leading to an impacted, or crop infection.
I'm glad you will feed him less, the rule of thumb is 1/10th of his weight.
for example, I am feeding 4 cockatiel babies, between the ages of 4-5 weeks.
one weighs about 50 grams, so I am suppose to be feeding it 5 cc's.
I always go by their crop, 5cc's would not fully feed him, so I feed him around 6-7.
however yours is very very young, so just go by the crop, full but not stuffed.
do you have access to any liquid vitamins?,if you do you could put ONE drop in the formula, just once per day.

 

[Kiran]

I think Cerelac has vitamins. Here's the pictures of the nutritional information.It appears there's a fair amount of vitamins.







Yep, I'll keep the feed limited.

 

[crimson]

thanks for the pics, it really helps clarifies things.

its good that it is rice based, which is easier to digest.

although it is designed for humans, not birds, so the amounts of the ingredients will be far more substantial than it should be for birds.

But I wouldn't worry, you've raised two before on it, and they were fine, so hopefully this wee one will be fine as well.

 

[Kiran]

Aye! Here's the pic of the 2 I raised on it before. They're my first 2 cockatiels and the ones who are nothing less than the most loyal children one could have. A couple weeks ago, I was fixing a bird net on the windows around their cage and it took me 6 hours to attach the cable ties connecting the net to the grill, from 7pm to 1am. The only 2 of my 15 cockatiels who stayed near me from window to window and slept only after I was finished, even though it was 6 hours past their normal sleeping time. No two ways about that, it's pure affection. And I think they've turned out rather well. Nice n shiny! 3years and 5 months old now.

 

[crimson]

they are gorgeous Kiran!.....I love Lutinos, they are one of my favourites.

 

[MikeyTN]

It doesn't guarantee to be a lutino baby cause baby dawn feather is yellow, they're always yellow or white depending on the coloration as all whitefaced babies are white dawn while everything else would be yellow.

It depends on how old the babies were when you pulled to handfeed that's why your home made formula is fine but its supposed to be temperary as you should have the handfeeding formula available. This should of been expected if your breeding them!!!!!

Impaction is caused by feeding formula that's too dry when they're that young it need to be very watery! Always allow the crop to empty completely before feeding again otherwise it can cause sour crop and impaction. I personally think the crop sac looks fine to me! There's added stuffs to the formula that promotes growth so you should get it instead of thinking you've raised two on cereals before and that's what you should do. They're not made for growing chicks!

 

[Kiran]

It depends on how old the babies were when you pulled to handfeed that's why your home made formula is fine but its supposed to be temperary as you should have the handfeeding formula available. This should of been expected if your breeding them!!!!!
There's added stuffs to the formula that promotes growth so you should get it instead of thinking you've raised two on cereals before and that's what you should do. They're not made for growing chicks!

Agreed. But there's absolutely none available here as there is only one importer and I spoke to him earlier today and he said he won't be getting any fresh supplies for another 5 weeks. The 4 pet stores I called in various parts of the city also get supplied by the same guy and they too were out of formula. It's also mentioned on their website that it is out of stock. >>

NutriBird A21

There's a huge market here for pet food now but only one importer / distributor where birds are concerned. So for lack of any other option, I'll have to stick to baby food. Money isn't the problem, supply is.

This city is FULL of millionaires and there's just one Chinese cage supplier. Anybody selling large bird cages like you see in US & UK would sell 1000's every year in this city alone, but oddly there are absolutely no suppliers. The largest cage available right now is 36"x22"x22". Imagine large birds in that.

 

[MikeyTN]

You should purchase a bag extra as a backup and store it unopened in the freezer to keep. But you should always keep them on hand to begin with. Are you able to order stuffs online in your area???

 

[Kiran]

I can use my credit card, but the last international item (which was cuttlebones and minerals(before they were available here 6 years ago)) I ordered took 2 months to get here due to being in customs for 6 weeks and it's just too much hassle overall with a nice chunk of customs duty as icing on the cake. Although a lot of time has passed, in this country the process is the same. I'd rather wait for the supplier to get it.

Also, I was suggested this baby food by one of the local bird breeders who has fed all the expensive bird babies like macaws, cockatoos, conures and what have you with the same right in front of me and all have grown up ok.

 

[MikeyTN]

You should supplement more then just cereal alone! Get baby cereal, hard boiled egg yolk, cottage cheese, wheat, etc. Mix the mixture with hot water to bring up temperature and feed it watery for now. Its high in protein to help him grow instead of your cereal formula....

 

[MikeyTN]

That choice is yours to make! At least add the supplements I suggested!

 

[Kiran]

Certainly! I'm always game for improvements, especially where a living being is concerned.

It's 3:30am and I've given the baby a feed. I'm jumping to bed now so I can be up by 9am and feed it again.

Whatever feed I've given so far has been fully digested from the crop within 2 hours. There are no remnants.

After the morning feed, I'll run to the store and grab some peanut butter & boil the egg and use the yolk for the mix afternoon onwards. Is the cottage cheese and egg yolk going to blend nicely into the food? as in, it won't form small chunks that can cause a problem?

Thanks for all the help so far! <3

 

[MikeyTN]

You want to smash it first and make it mushy! Smear them to paste form then its ready for mixing. The formula can keep in fridge for a few days. Then you need fresh formula again.

 

[MikeyTN]

Crimson,

Their eyes actually start to open at 7 days old!