Help! I am going nuts with this yellow crown

[kouma]

I am almost giving up on this parrot. I purchased a yellow crown Amazon almost three months ago. When I purchased him supposedly he was 4 months old and was being fed using a syringe. I continued feeding him using the syringe with NutriBird (A19) while always leaving food (Zupreem fruit blend and nuts) in the cage. I used to feed him 30ml of food formula 2 times per day. Anyways, the first 1.5 months he looked fine, healthy, active, and even tried to talk. His poop looked healthy as well. At this stage his eyes were still all black.

After that, the following 1.5 months, he started going down hill. I can see attempts at eating the pellets, but it seems like he was crushing them (playing) more than eating them. I read that it is normal for the bird to loose weight when they start eating on their own. Based on this, I start lowering the syringe feeding to 1 or none per day. Honestly, I really wanted him to start eating on his own because I am generally very busy with work. However, he only got worst after that: His feathers did not look as bright and he started loosing weight (you can see and feel his chest bones clearly and he is very very light), and his poop did not look good. Moreover, he is generally weak and not active. When he stands on my finger, it doesn't take a lot for him to fall. I feel his claws and beak do not have strong crushing pressure. I tried to introduce fresh fruits like apples, grapes, and bananas 3 weeks ago and he started munching on them like crazy. So now, I always have pellets, fresh water, fresh fruits, and nuts in his cage at all times, in addition to 2 feedings of 30ml food formula. After two weeks however, he stopped eating them as much as before (maybe bored) and his condition did not improve. At this stage his eyes are showing a faded yellow ring.

I am so desperate that I started chewing his pellet food and feeding him from my mouth - which he seems to accept gladly. I have been doing this for the past two days but I can only feed him at night and it generally takes up to 30 mins for him to stop accepting food. This is obviously not a solution I can maintain and it is painful when he chews my lips in the process.

I need help or I am afraid he will die. Thanks for reading everything thus far and I appreciate any advice that can help me.

Regards,

Firas

 

[cdog]

Stop chewing his food now, you will kill him! Humans have bacteria in their mouths that are fatal to birds so stop doing it!
Weaning birds is time consuming, you can't just stop the formula because you don't have time for it. He was just playing with the pellets because he is a baby and didn't know how to eat them. They mostly eat fresh food while weaning then slowly start to eat more pellets.
Just continue to formula until he refuses it then offer lots of fresh foods 24/7 and pellets so he can he mostly fresh foods. He will eat the fresh foods because they are softer and that is easier to eat. He will soon learn to eat pellets and when he does, stop giving him the colored ones and get the natural ones because the colored ones are too sugary.

 

[kouma]

Thanks cdog, I did not know that feeding from the mouth is that dangerous, I will stop it. Now, regarding the fruits + formula strategy I was already following that but it did not seem to make him better. In fact, for the past 2 days he barely touched his fruits. I hate how his chest bones are sticking out its like there is a dent. Also, could it be that his condition is related to the lack of exposure to direct sun?

 

[Safira]

It sounds like you are due for a vet visit. Also I would suggest purchasing a scale where you can weigh him on a daily basis before he is fed, that way you can keep track of any major gains or losses.

 

[cdog]

You should have a scale, a UVA/UVB bulb on at least 6 hours a day and I would say you should just take him to the vet.
I can't help you as much as a board certified avian vet can so taking him to see one of those is your best bet.
Babies do lose a lot of weight during weaning and their beast bone does stick out a bit but not super bad, that is why you should have a scale because he should only lose about 20% of his weight while weaning.

 

[wenz2712]

My advice would be, take him to see a Vet and get him checked over as none of us on here are qualified Vets and we can only offer advice. At 7 Months of age they are not usually still being syringe fed.. He should be fully weaned by now ! I have a YC and she was fully weaned by 12 Weeks old.

 

[kouma]

I do not think we have qualified vets for birds in where I reside (country = UAE), they are usually qualified for dogs and cats. I will try this weekend though. Until then, is there anything else I can do? I have only started placing him beside the window recently, is that enough or I still need those UVA/UVB bulbs?

 

[kouma]

Thanks wenz2712, i also thought he should be weaned by now. Can you recognize the age from the color of the eyes? as I said mine is faded yellow now.

 

[cdog]

No, windows filter those rays so you have to get the bulb. Make sure you don't put the bulb closer than 12 in and no farther than 36 in.

 

[henpecked]

hey kouma, and welcome to the forum. Try feeding him with a spoon. You can crushand wet his pellets and feed with a spoon.Don't leave them out long because they will spoil quickly.You realy need to get a digital kitchen scale and weigh him every AM before feeding. This will help you monitor his weigh and know better how the weaning process is going. When you do take him to the vet,carry a fresh poop sample in a plastic bag . Get the vet to check for worms. Read some of the older post on weaning or feel free to ask more questions. Several of us have lots of experience hand feeding and weaning zons,so ask away. Look on amazon.com for a book titled,"Parrots,handfeeding and nursery management" by Howard Voren and Rick Jordan. It's pretty much the bible when it comes to handfeeding and weaning. Good Luck and check in with your Avian Vet.

 

[wenz2712]

Do you have a pic of him? this may help Members on here that are pros with Handfeeding to be able to give there honest opinion .

 

[kouma]

I will get a picture of him tomorrow, he is sleeping now. I will post it then. Thanks for all the members who replied.

 

[kouma]

Here are pictures I took this morning, notice the dent between his chest and stomach. I have tried feeding him formula food this morning using syringe and spoon and both methods failed. I am very frustrated, I will try to get the UV bulbs today hopefully this will help.

 

[wenz2712]

Yes, I can see the dent... I am not qualified in any way to advise you on that, other than to say, you really need to get him to a Vet as a matter of urgency I think!

 

[cdog]

That dent is not normal, you need to take him to an avian vet now!

 

[Alisana]

That dent is not normal, you need to take him to an avian vet now!

Agreed. I'd be worried if there is an infection or something else at play with the young bird.

Have a flick through this: Hand-Feeding and Raising Baby Birds: Breeding, Hand-Feeding, Care, and ... - Matthew M. Vriends - Google Books

And look at page 105-108 - there is a chapter in there about spoon feeding and feeding older birds.

 

[melissasparrots]

I do not think we have qualified vets for birds in where I reside (country = UAE), they are usually qualified for dogs and cats. I will try this weekend though. Until then, is there anything else I can do? I have only started placing him beside the window recently, is that enough or I still need those UVA/UVB bulbs?

Falconry I believe is a major sport in your country. I bet one of the bird of prey vets would be competent to see an amazon or they can recommend someone who is.

Amazons usually wean themselves fairly easily, which to me means he may very well be sick. Otherwise, if he's weak or crying like a baby, feed him. Get a gram scale and weigh him daily so you know if he's gaining or loosing and exactly how much he's gaining or losing. If he was looking good on 2 syringe feedings a day, continue with that while you wait on an appointment with the vet. You can try cooked and soft veggies. Toward the end of weaning when I'm trying to get my babies to give up the syringe for good, I do a lot of cooked until soft sweet potato mixed with a little bit of cooked soft rice, oatmeal and banana. Served warm at a safe hand-feeding temperature. You might have to get him started by offering a clump from your hands, but most birds will take it.
The eyes fading to orange is normal. Most amazons with a lot of yellow on their head have orange eyes. I have to kind of wonder if he was younger than 4 months when you got him because I breed a very similar species to yours and most of mine are clearly starting to get orange eyes by the time they are 4 months old. If yours had solid black eyes when you got him, I bet he was under 4 months. In which case 2 hand-feedings a day might not have been enough to support growth and a feeling of security and it has delayed his whole weaning process. That said, often times a bird that just will not wean on its own has a bacterial infection that needs to be treated. Almost any vet should be able to do a grams stain of his mouth and feces. Better yet would be a culture and sensitivity to diagnose what bacteria are growing in there. Definitely check into the falconry vets. If you can't find one, talk to a dog or cat vet or look up falconry in your country and see if there are any clubs close to you. A lot of arab countries take their falconry birds VERY seriously.

 

[dishgal1]

He sounds like Forrest when he was young. I thought he was going to die he was so weak.....he was literaly starving to death. Would not eat the pellets. I started giving him seeds, if I hadn't he would have died. You can gradually get him on to pellets and fresh veggies. He will starve if you don't, mine was so thin and weak he just sat on my shoulder under my hair.
Just get him to eat and worry about pellets later.

 

[melissasparrots]

Here are pictures I took this morning, notice the dent between his chest and stomach. I have tried feeding him formula food this morning using syringe and spoon and both methods failed. I am very frustrated, I will try to get the UV bulbs today hopefully this will help.

The dent is normal and means he has an empty crop. It looks like I can see some veggies in the back of the cage. You might want to chop those a lot smaller. Think about .5cm sized pieces or smaller. In fact, I mash a lot of food with a fork for mine. If you have grapes or whole berries in there, cut them in half or quarters. A lot of young birds don't know how to manipulate food with their beak or punch through large pieces to eat it. Offer warm food in small pieces. Something about the size of a kernel of corn or smaller would be a good size. If he refuses hand-feeding, make sure its about 104-108 degrees Farenheit. You'll have to convert that to celcius for me. A lot of weaning babies get very picky about temperature. And one of the steps to weaning is refusing to take formula and they do lose some weight. You really need a gram scale to determine how much is too much. Some individuals will loose an alarming amount of weight. Sometimes if the owner doens't quite know what they are doing, they will lose even more. Is he crying? Doing the slow up and down baby begging motion with some low pitched crying? If so, then he's hungry for something. If not, then depending on what his weight is, I'd be tempted to think he's trying to be done weaning. Without actual numbers from a gram scale and knowing how heavy he was when you first got him, its hard to advise you on how much is too much to lose unless you report a number that is WAY low.

 

[Chaz12]

I would suggest bringing you parrot to a Vet.. I know you say the vet is a cat and dog spe******t, but the vet can tell you where a good bird spe******t is located.. Your parrot could die, if it becomes to thin. I would also give it Oatmeal that you can give to in a syringe.. But the parrot cost $600 to $1200 and is worth seeing a vet.. Expensive pet..