|
It is currently Sat May 10, 2025 10:12 pm
|
 |
|
 |
|
Author |
Message |
Chipper
|
Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds  Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 4:14 pm |
Cockatiel |
 |
Posts: 1645 Joined: Nov 2014 Gave happy chirps:
19 times
Got happy chirps: 49 times
|
5 minutes per chick? you are lucky! It takes me at least 1.5 hours for all 4 of them and I try to do it 3 times a day! My life is a hell right now I don't know why they don't eat. I mean, it seems that they want to, but I am probably that much inexperienced so I can't do it right. If the chick is facing me, and not very wiggly, I do OK. If chick isn't facing me and I am behind the chick, I have to squeeze the formula on the right side of the beak because I am right handed and very uncomfortable doing it on the left side of the beak. Is it not a big issue? Left to right only need to be done with the feeding tube, correct? They also run away, fly away and just moving their heads so that formula goes in the nose or eye or top of the head. The best result is when I am pressing the chick down tight but then they are forced. What is my goal for now? Should they keep weight stable? Or Should they gain weight? Also, its not easy to have enough time for feeding as I have lots of other things to do. Lady from the store called me but all she can do is giving me advise over the phone. This is not what I need. We ordered the cage on Amazon.
_________________ Cuddles and Trillie (cockatiel parents) and their 8 children
|
|
|
|
 |
Chipper
|
Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds  Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 4:35 pm |
Cockatiel |
 |
Posts: 1645 Joined: Nov 2014 Gave happy chirps:
19 times
Got happy chirps: 49 times
|
talking about seiling fan - I hate it! Dad taught them how to sit on it, so all they want to do is sitting on the fan!
_________________ Cuddles and Trillie (cockatiel parents) and their 8 children
|
|
|
|
 |
Chipper
|
Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds  Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 8:08 pm |
Cockatiel |
 |
Posts: 1645 Joined: Nov 2014 Gave happy chirps:
19 times
Got happy chirps: 49 times
|
They are just scared of that pipette! Its probably like trying to feed formula from the bottle to a completely breastfed child. I would say it takes more than one day to break the habit and the mom should be completely removed. Your advise above didn't work - they wiggle their way out and are very strong! Surprisingly strong for malnourished babies. I also noticed that dad prefers some chicks to others. The pearl girl always gets fed. IS it normal for chicks to help other chick to clean? Or is ti beginning of plucking? One baby learned how to get inside the nestbox and the mom doesn't mind a company. So I am having one more problem - how to get that baby out for anything (handfeeding, out of cage time, eating other food, etc) - the mom attacks me when I put my fingers in.
_________________ Cuddles and Trillie (cockatiel parents) and their 8 children
|
|
|
|
 |
Chipper
|
Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds  Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 6:15 am |
Cockatiel |
 |
Posts: 1645 Joined: Nov 2014 Gave happy chirps:
19 times
Got happy chirps: 49 times
|
I have no clue if the baby inside the nestbox gets fed. Too busy trying to feed the rest of them.
_________________ Cuddles and Trillie (cockatiel parents) and their 8 children
|
|
|
|
 |
Chipper
|
Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds  Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 8:54 pm |
Cockatiel |
 |
Posts: 1645 Joined: Nov 2014 Gave happy chirps:
19 times
Got happy chirps: 49 times
|
I don't know if we should continue the torture of handfeeding. It appears to be the torture for them, and thus, torture for me. Well, sometimes some of them respond, and I have a good feeling after this, but not all of them and not always. For example, Tator Tot, the youngest chick, always behaves like I am executing him. Whatever formula comes in, comes in by accident. He is the one who had the most dramatic weight loss, from the second heaviest to the lightest. Somehow he managed to gain a few grams today, and measured at 81g in the evening which is not bad for him at all (peak was 103g)
Bella, who loves to sit in the nestbox with mommy, has been seen playing with pine bedding or eating it (hard to say). What is the chance she is eating it? Is it common? Is it dangerous?
Sammy, who was born first, LOVES to pick up seeds and crumbs and other food on the cage floor, that's his favorite time-spending, so I am not worried for him.
Stella, the pearl girl, is daddy's favorite, always gets fed by him. She is interested in toys.
A good thing is that our cock, I think, picking up his new responsibilities. It always takes him time to figure out how to behave in different stages of breeding. He is seen feeding the kids more often but still ignores them a lot.
Mom still not feeding anybody and spending a lot of time in the box.
We got the new cage but didn't have a chance to look at it.
The store, I think, don't feed them at all on Sundays (they leave pellets and seeds in cages), which is a bad sign for me. I may be wrong, as they have some really tiny babies without parents in the nursery, but maybe they take this tiny chicks home with them.
DO you think my chicks would benefit from being sold to the bird store or not? As I saw, they feed them several times a day, but don't let them out or handle, also no toys or anything in cages (just feeders and perches). The new clutch was started Nov 12, and she sat from day 1, so it should be due beginning of December, when the older chicks will be about 6.5 - 7 weeks old. What is the chance parents will continue feeding them? Or should I persist with handfeeding for not leaving them without nutrition if/when the new chicks are born?
_________________ Cuddles and Trillie (cockatiel parents) and their 8 children
|
|
|
|
 |
Chipper
|
Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds  Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 9:17 pm |
Cockatiel |
 |
Posts: 1645 Joined: Nov 2014 Gave happy chirps:
19 times
Got happy chirps: 49 times
|
Another issue. I noticed that formula gets thinner overtime because my process takes not less than an hour to feed all. I keep cup with formula in a pot with hot water and I have to replace hot water several times, and this eventually makes formula not so dense. I probably need to make a new cup for the last 2 chicks.
I am amazed how fast and how well they learning to fly. I wouldn't even say they were clumsy learning to sit on perches. Sometimes a chick lands on top of another chick and this is probably no fun for the one on the bottom.
_________________ Cuddles and Trillie (cockatiel parents) and their 8 children
|
|
|
|
 |
Chipper
|
Post subject: Re: Caring for new chicks and parent birds  Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 9:23 pm |
Cockatiel |
 |
Posts: 1645 Joined: Nov 2014 Gave happy chirps:
19 times
Got happy chirps: 49 times
|
IS this OK that my chicks don't bob their heads when I feed them? They just have no chance... If I leave them free enough to bob their heads, they will be gone in no time.
_________________ Cuddles and Trillie (cockatiel parents) and their 8 children
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum
|
|