Help weaning

[Flagator13]

I have a 4 month old Eclectus that does not seem to be eating much on her own. I place pellets, veggies, fruits, nuts all in separate bowls and she nibbles and tears them apart but I can?t tell how much she is really eating. The volume in the bowl does not seem to go down and she is starving when I do hand feed her once a day.
What can I do to help the process?

 

[chris-md]

Time! That’s all you need

The bird will wean itself at its own pace. Don’t try to speed it along. Eventually it will start rejecting hand feedings. Keep offering regular food in the meantime. Some ekkies can take up to 8 months to fully wean.

Rejecting food and only having one hand feeding is concerning. Are you monitoring her weight to make sure she continues to grow? If not, start now. Without further Information My gut is screaming that you really need to up the hand feedings, to 2-3 times per day.

 

[Scott]

Perhaps increasing feeding interval to twice or more daily will prove beneficial. Not all birds wean per set schedule, transition to solid foods may require longer process. Do you have a scale sensitive in grams? Periodic weighing will identify potential problems of health and consumption.

How long have you had this bird?

 

[Flagator13]

I’ve had her since she was 4 weeks old. She was on 3 feedings a day until she started fighting the handfeedings. Then I went to 2 a day. Recently I went to 1 a day when she started nibbling at her food but I think I will go back to 2 a day like it was recommended here. Thank you all for your help.

 

[Scott]

You are very welcome, please update with progress, we love success stories!!

 

[justinlm24]

I just went through a similar experience with my female ekkie. I got her at about 16 weeks, breeder claimed she was fully weaned. This seemed to be true for about 3 or 4 days then was completely rejecting any fruits and vegetable I offered her, and was constantly screaming for food. I began offering her two hand feedings a day for a couple weeks, then down to 1 night time feeding. I also always kept fresh fruits and veggies, pellets and small amount of seed in her bowl. After about a month she started attacking the syringe and wanted nothing to do with the formula. She is now well adjusted and eats most anything I give her. Just be patient with her and let her wean at her own pace. She will eventually refuse the formula

 

[Kitekeeper]

I have just had a similar situation here with a pacific parrotlet. Of course there are huge differences between ekkies and parrotlets but it might be worth to bring this out for you.

The best thing to follow if the bird is eating is to access his weight every day, which I did not for not having a scale with me. I did a lot of observation however and could not identify him eating although he nibbled the food all day long. The poor guy was just not proficient in the seed eating peeling and eating process.

So I returned to handfeed him more frequently and made some formula preparation in a more solid state (like a "smashed potatoes" texture) covered by smashed pellets (looking like a pellets "flour"). All this offered in a spoon.

From then on he started to feed on smashed pellets and later on pellets. After a week he was able to peel seeds and eating by himself.