He might not fully understand the handfeeding process yet. But he'll probably figure it out soon!

There are lots of handfeeding videos on youtube, and if you watch a few of them you might pick up some helpful hints. There are a variety of techniques, but with basically all of them the baby has to stretch upward to reach the syringe. Your baby might not do this on his own since he hasn't started begging for formula yet, but you can hold him in a way that gently stretches his head up a little.

The way this guy does it is somewhat similar to the way I do it, although I sit at a table not on the floor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnWagjxLvgc I cup my hand around the baby's back and use my fingers to hold the head up a little so the baby can't head-bob too extremely.

His 'part 2' video is basically chaos, a lot of fun to watch with three babies begging and going crazy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6xF-1LYgn4

P.S. You're doing a good job, feeding him frequently since he won't take much at a time, and asking for advice when you need it. You said earlier that your parents thought it was your fault, but we know you're doing the best you can. It's helpful to inspect the babies every day to make sure they're being well fed; but an inexperienced breeder isn't likely to notice problems as early as a more experienced person would, and you did catch the problem before it turned into disaster. If your parents give you any more flack, we can tell them that even the most experienced breeders have problems sometimes, and you're doing well considering your age and inexperience.

The crop has been the same size for the whole night! Doesn't that mean no food is being digested? What do I do? I am certain here is food from yesterday still in the crop. PLEASE HELP!

If he's not digesting the food, this is called slow crop or crop stasis. I don't have any experience with it so I can only pass along what I've read from other sources, but if you join Susanne's ICR Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ICR.unite/ she can give you direct personalized help. She has also written several excellent articles on dealing with crop problems in babies and here are the most relevant ones for you:

http://www.justcockatiels.net/sour-and- ... edies.html
http://www.justcockatiels.net/crop-and- ... blems.html

So please talk directly to Susanne if at all possible and read the articles too. If all else fails see an avian vet if you can, but for problems like this I think Susanne knows more than most vets do. This is an emergency situation - if the crop isn't emptying the baby isn't getting any food at all.

I don't have facebook....... is it not absorbing because it needs something to drink? Would coconut water help?

So please talk directly to Susanne if at all possible

Do you have her phone number Hannah? I could give it to you but I wonder how she would feel...

What do you think Carolyn? I want this chick to be successful but I also want to respect peoples privacy.

I could pm it to you, I just hope she won't get upset at me.

No, I don't have her phone number.

Susanne is generally OK with people calling her for help but it's proper to get her permission first. I'll PM her on Facebook, however she hasn't been there for 3 hours and I can't predict when she'll come back. In the meantime, please read the articles!! It will be easier for Susanne to help you if you already know as much as possible and she doesn't have to start from scratch.

If it's possible for you to join Facebook you could go to her page, but I realize that some parents don't allow this. According to Facebook rules you have to sign up with your real name, but a lot of people don't feel comfortable with this so they use something else. My name on Facebook bird boards is Tielfans Birdroom. You could use something like Hannah Nevermind lol.

Have you been checking the temperature of the formula before you feed it? It's essential to have the right temperature, between 102 and 106 F (some sources will give you a slightly different range, but that's the most common recommendation). If the formula isn't warm enough it's hard for the baby to digest it, and this can cause slow crop.

If the food that's already in the crop has hardened, coconut water might help. You feed the baby some liquid and massage the crop gently to break up and soften the hard material. The articles will tell you about other possible problems like yeast, and you can look for signs of that.

I gave it some coconut water and it started opening its beak back and forth, almost like it was on rhythm. I thought the baby was choking, and I panicked! i didn't know what i was going to do, then all of a sudden it made some weird noises. I then bundled it up tightly, went upstairs and got on the computer, where i'm sitting now. was the baby choking? my mom thought since the baby wasn't used to taking liquids......that's why it "choked". This is such a scary experience! i fed it formula around 1:00 this morning. but before that, i let the father feed it a bit. i am literally crying while i am typing!

Does the baby seem to be OK now? It's possible that a little bit of the liquid tried to go down the wrong "tube". This is called aspiration.