weening

[erik7181]

Ok so for those of you who don't know me, I bought a baby sun conure almost 9-10 weeks ago he is now weening and eating a steady diet of parrot mix. Now my question is: He started eating reg food Friday, now I use to feed him his formula 2 times a day but sense he started eating iv stoped. He will eat his food for a hour stright if I let him. He eats a lot is this normal? Thanks Erik

 

[HiroGcc]

Only from my one experience (meaning i might know nothing on this subject but..) I have a newly weaned green cheek and i put approximately 1.5 tablspoons of pellets in his bowl and it takes him all day to eat it. if you cuddle him and hand feed him in the morning he will munch on those pellets for a good 45 minutes. I also offer him seed 3-4 times a week just about a tablespoon and fresh foods every day. he has normal poops and his weight is steady it often seems like he cant possibly be eating enough but hes healthy. so i guess my question is are you giving him unlimited food and he will keep eating it all or is he eating a normal amount of food just taking forever to do it? if he is eating a normal amount just taking forever to do it, if i were to guess id just say maybe they are slow eaters cus they are still babies. Of course im definatley no expert im a birdie newbie but this is my experience with my baby birdie. If hes eating copious amounts of food then I have no idea and thats not very helpful.

 

[Bobby34231]

Hi Erik,
I read your post a number of times and I hope I understand it right, you state that you've been hand feeding for the last 9-10 weeks and you were down to 2 a days, your bird just started eating hard food Friday you you've since stoped hand feeding, you have to be very careful that the bird does not starve, even though it appears the bird is constantly feeding from the bowl, just a few days experience of sampleing hard food doesn't make them good eaters, just a suggestion, but I would continue to hand feed as well as allow him to eat an abundance of foods such as fruits,veggies,pellets and seed,birds will generally let you know when they are weaning from formula to regular food by not accepting as much or as often, its when they start turning thier beak up at formula you know your pretty much there on the weaning process, when hand feeding birds I monitor their weight daily with a digital scale to make sure they maintain and gain weight, if your not using one, you should at a minimum feel the center of the birds breastbone, if it feels sharp you know that the bird is losing weight, its just my opinion, but in over 30 years experience with exotic birds, going from 2 feedings a day to cold turkey and hopeing your little guy will get enough nutrition on his own might be a bit early, hope this is helpful, I'm sure others will weigh in with their opinions as well.......Good luck with little fella.....Bob.

 

[Mel]

I agree with Bob to weigh your baby every day to make sure he's getting enough food - at the same time preferably such as in the morning before feeding.

 

[erik7181]

Well the thing is I was trying to feed him his formula and he jus didn want it. I was feeding him a syringe and a half 2 daily and then I would put some kaytee hand feeding stuff on a paper towl and he'd have some of that. But wat happened is my green cheek eats a mixture of seeds pellets fruits and chi chi started eating that and now its like he's hooked. But I do but dryed fruit in every day. I useully buy the food by the pound and it has fruit but the kind I bought didn so I bought this stuff called fruit cocktails for parrots and conure and I add that.

 

[erik7181]

Ok I started the formula again