Yeah i think its empty because its small. Sadly the vet called me again just now and said the bird specialist is taking a day off so i had to find another one, i called the other vet and they said “yup we can treat bird” idk why but it sound a little bit unproper, do i still go or try to force feed my tiel? It look a little bit hungry and tired.
Don't force feed it because it can aspirate the food and die. I'd offer the formula on a small spoon and let it feed itself. If the baby refuses to eat at all you should definitely bring it in.
Try again in a few hours and see how much he eats. Is he acting normal? Pooping as usual? Walking around? If he's lethargic or acting different then take him in. Baby birds can get sick and die quickly and that would be tragic!Ok got it thx, he starting eating but like the portion decreased like um he eats less do i still need to bring him to a vet?
Right now his eating like 8ml of formula, usually 14ml or so, well his pooping time is normal but his poop looks more wet usually its a little bit more solid, and he just sleep and do nothing now, well for the past few days he didnt really do much but he was not sleeping all day long.
You really should have a gram scale so you can monitor the baby's weight every day or two. You should weigh the baby at the same time every day. Most people say first thing in the morning before feeding them. I did it right after feeding in the morning understanding that at four weeks at least five grams was going to be the food they just ate but I figured as long as it was consistently after feeding I would be able to detect any trends downward which is what's most important, not their actual weight. I made a log of the dates and weights to keep track.Ok got it thx
What is a flour scale? What's it used for? How sensitive is it? Does it measure down to grams? What units of measurement?
No idea. Maybe he ate a bit too much in the evening and he felt a little off without much appetite this morning. Just make sure you don't over feed him because sometimes they keep on eating and make sure his formula is the right temp.
Yeah i am going to start offering him seeds! He just perch on my finger for the first time just now, but i messed up pretty bad because the syringe was pretty hard for me to press so i press it pretty hard then quite a bit of the formula went straight in his mouth, then he started sneezing, i shouldve listen to you by feeding him using a spoon but i dont have the curve spoon, he sneeze like 3-4 times or so then continue eating a little bit, how do i know if he can breathe or not because i think a bit of he formula got into his lungs and that will be a BIG PROBLEM.
This is exactly why I told you to use a spoon! You don't need a curved spoon. I just used a regular teaspoon. I never mentioned a curved spoon. If any formula got into his lungs it is an emergency and you must take him to the vet immediately.
How is your baby?
I'm SO happy the baby is doing well! I wouldn't worry about the actual volume of formula you are feeding him. I never used a syringe (fear) and therefore never measured what Rocky ate. I just let her eat until she refused more food and scampered off to play or fall asleep. Make the formula is nice and thick at this age and you will find it easier to feed him thicker formula by spoon than the syringe because the syringe can get clogged with thicker formula. Thicker formula also lets the baby (and you) go longer between feedings as it doesn't exit the crop as quickly as watery formula does. Spoon feeding can be messy especially when he tries to dive right into the spoon so make sure you clean him well after meals. Just like in human babies, as they start eating solid food, they don't require feeding as often (allowing both baby and parents to sleep through the night). I think a level teaspoon is roughly 5ccs but dinnerware spoons vary a lot in size. You may want to use a measuring teaspoon if you want to try to track the volume he eats. Or you could measure the formula into a syringe and squirt it into the spoon before feeding him. You should get a pretty good sense by how much enthusiasm he has for eating whether his appetite is good and he's getting enough to eat. He should start cracking seed or eating tiny pellets around now. I highly recommend adding tiny pellets (not seed) to his formula, adding texture and making it a bit "chunky". He should enjoy this and it's a perfect way to start weaning him onto a healthy pellet based diet rather than a seed based diet. Seeds definitely have their place in a tiels' adult diet but unless you start very early with pellets you may have a hard time getting him to eat pellets after he's warned onto a primarily seed diet. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to start feeding him healthy foods like pellets and finely chopped fresh veggies and fruits while he is weaning. It will set him up for a lifetime of healthy eating habits instead of a seed only diet which is so bad for parrots, including cockatiels and budgies (they are small parrots). Rocky associated me with "good food" so much as a chick that all I had to do to get her to eat something new was to show her I was eating it myself with lots of gusto! The hard part now is keeping her out of our plates during meals because if we are eating it, she wants it too! If I'm eating something healthy for her I chop some up really fine and give her some in her food bowl (though she prefers what's on our plates) She loves scrambled eggs, pasta, rice, sweet red and green peppers, chopped dark greens like spinach, kernel corn, rolled oats, unsalted crackers. She even likes bits of well cooked chicken and tuna. I have to stop her from eating some foods that are too salty and cheese is only okay in tiny amounts. Others may add some of their comments and id I'm feeding Rocky something I shouldn't, please tell me!
The reason you don't add whole seeds like white millet to the formula is because the shells aren't removed and are bad for his digestion. Parent birds hull the seeds before swallowing them and regurgitating them to the babies but the baby needs to hull his own seeds before he can safely eat them. That's why I added tiny pellets to the formula when Rocky was about four weeks old.
Sorry for the late reply, i am travelling and need to order the pellets so maybe ill try to add pellet maybe in a few days, thank you so much for the tips too! I can’t wait to see him starting to fly to me and share food with me, thank you so much!
