ZuZuFuzzyButt Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 We've had our CAG home for 3 days now. He's 15 weeks old and supposedly fully weened from the parrot store that hand fed him from the first couple weeks of age. They won't let a baby go home until at least 7 days after they have stopped hand feeding them. But one of the store employees admitted to me that she was feeding him once in the evenings because he still begs for it. Even tho the man who oversees the rearing of baby birds told me that my CAG had not been hand fed for 2 weeks, now I think that girl was telling me the truth about hand feeding him still. Coming home to us is a big culture shock, I'm sure and I wasn't surprised to notice that he has not been eating on his own. His crop is always so empty and concave even. So I started hand feeding him 2 days ago. Just 24 hours after he came home. I used to breed birds so hand feeding a baby bird is no big deal for me. I hand raised my first CAG as well from the age of about 6 weeks. But that was many many years ago and I wonder if I should be feeding him formula or continue doing what I'm doing which is to take his zupreem natural pellets, soak them in hot water, microwave it, mash it up, wait for it to cool a bit, then spoon feed it to him. He gobbles it up like he's starving. I've been doing this once a day in the evenings. Is the zupreem good enough , or should I purchase hand rearing formula instead. I suspect I will only be doing this for a week or two. He's already 15 weeks old. And he will likely start eating more on his own once he adjusts to living with us. What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Greetings! Thank you for joining the Grey Forums. What I suggest you do is get the ZuPreem Plus Baby Formula and mix it per instructions. Feed at 102 to 109 degrees once a day up to 60cc's. Start with 30-40cc's and do not overextend the crop. You'll have to decide whether to feed him morning, noon or night, whichever he likes the best. My preference is bedtime feeding. As he eats more and more, decrease the amount of formula over time. This could go on up to a year old or longer. Now my little preach; Abundant Feeding If a Grey does not feel there is enough available food for him to eat, he can develop a phobia or even die. At this stage of the game, keep a good seed mix (sunflowers are ok, no nuts in the shell) example Volkman, certain Kaytee's, Sunshine, etc. Get the simple mix without the fruit, just the seeds. The same thing with Pellets, I personally like ZuPreem Nut Blend. Fresh veggies even though he will hardly touch them. Make him a smash (cooked sweet potatoes with a bit of organic low sodium peanut butter and a bit of organic baby applesauce or pears) and you can even mix a little formula in that. Very little fruit. You can give him this for breakfast or dinner. Does he fly? Is he clipped? If he flys, he will need the extra protein and calories that the peanut butter and Seeds will provide. 15 weeks old is young! He has only been fledged for a few weeks. How many grams does he weigh? A trick we always did was give them the warm smash for breakfast starting with a 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of peanut butter. Once again, welcome and thanks. Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZuZuFuzzyButt Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Thank you for your advice. I give him veggies in the morning but he barely touches it. And this is surprising because the same store employee who told me she hand feeds him in the evenings, told me that he LOOOOVES veggies and will eat his own and anything the other birds leave behind too. So I'm thinking that his unwillingness to eat on his own now is due to the huge change of coming home with us. He's also gone from a tiny cage to a huge one where he sleeps on the floor at night. Poor guy... I'll see if I can find the baby formula at a local store today so I won't have to order online and wait for shipping. I'm glad to know feeding him like this is not going to ruin him. When I hand fed my first CAG, she started eating on her own early so I didn't need to hand feed for too long. She also already lived with me and was used to her surroundings from day one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZuZuFuzzyButt Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 OH, about flying. He does not fly because they clipped his wings (twice!). I want him to be fully flighted so he will not be getting clipped again. He has already crash landed a few times after his last clipping where the lady practically cut every feather she could lay her eyes on. (I wanted to slap her!) But that's in the past.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZuZuFuzzyButt Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Jayd, I looked at your page on aretop.com That's very cool but is there an app, software, or website that one could use to track the progress of their pets? Zuzu is only one of 10 pets that I currently have and I would love to have a place to track their health and habits. Similar as iHerp.com is for reptiles. I use that to track the feedings, sheddings, etc.. of my pythons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 OH, about flying. He does not fly because they clipped his wings (twice!). I want him to be fully flighted so he will not be getting clipped again. He has already crash landed a few times after his last clipping where the lady practically cut every feather she could lay her eyes on. (I wanted to slap her!) But that's in the past.... How cruel they were to clip the wings so drastically, I would never purchase anything from them again and advise anyone you speak to about the place to not shop there either, they obviously don't know jack about birds. Poor thing and it will be awhile before all the flights come in so he will be capable of flight again, what a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZuZuFuzzyButt Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 How cruel they were to clip the wings so drastically, I would never purchase anything from them again and advise anyone you speak to about the place to not shop there either, they obviously don't know jack about birds. Poor thing and it will be awhile before all the flights come in so he will be capable of flight again, what a shame. It *is* a shame and I wished that I had spoken up about not getting him clipped the second time. I had no choice for the first time. But the second, I was standing right there. They usually do the first 7 wing feathers. Isn't that a bit drastic?! Seven feathers? I used to do 3 in the middle. Anyways, I can't wallow in that fact. The best I can do is make sure he is well fed and adjusted to us and that he becomes used to his harness because once he flies, he will be flying outdoors with his harness on. I'll take a picture later tonight to show you what they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Thanks, if you don't want to give him formula, if you want, you could try the squash or sweet potato (just boil until it is mush) add the organic baby applesauce, pears, baby food carrots, whatever you want and the peanut butter. Warm it under 110 degrees and give it to him warm. I would give this to him twice a day which is a normal smash/mash feeding schedule. If he accepts it good, then as you go along, you can add other vegetables and you can continue this. My opinion, there is a possibility that your bird wants to fly because it is natural for them to reduce food intake to cut down on the weight at that stage of their development. So encourage exercise as much as you can. I found this for record keeping http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww68e.htm Thanks, Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZuZuFuzzyButt Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 Thanks, I went out and found zupreem hand feeding formula. I didn't think I was going to find it so halfway thru my search (I had to go to 3 stores to find it) I also bought kaytee hand feeding formula. The kaytee smells more like what I used 20 years ago when I bred birds. but I'm just mixing the two for now. I'll get some sweet potato tomorrow and make a batch of that and freeze it like I used to do for my (human) babies when they were learning to eat solids. Then I'll give him some of that in the mornings, and formula in the evenings. Yes he wants to fly. When I would visit him at the store, I'd take him out of his tiny cage and he would flap his wings until he was tired. How I just want to keep him from losing weight while he adjusts to us. Since he can't fly anyway, I just want to keep him healthy. He flaps his wings a lot during the day still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingy Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Kaytee has had a recall of some of their hand feeding formula. If it were me I wouldn't use the Kaytee. Please see this thread for information http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?195477-Kaytee-Exact-hand-feeding-forumula-recall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Kaytee has had a recall of some of their hand feeding formula. If it were me I wouldn't use the Kaytee. Please see this thread for information http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?195477-Kaytee-Exact-hand-feeding-forumula-recall Thanks Wingy.. DON'T use the Kaytee, take it back!! I lost bird 3 yr's ago, and now it's bad again!!!!!!It's not the same company...Thanks again Wingy.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Keep him Flapping......Good Parront!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZuZuFuzzyButt Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 Wow, I had no idea that kaytee had a recall. I'm tossing that canister as soon as I get home. I've fed him 4 times with that mixed with the zupreem. Thanks again for letting me know. I hope my batch was OK, but I won't take the chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Wow, I had no idea that kaytee had a recall. I'm tossing that canister as soon as I get home. I've fed him 4 times with that mixed with the zupreem. Thanks again for letting me know. I hope my batch was OK, but I won't take the chance. Thanks, Good move! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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