Concerned About Baby's Sleeping Position

[Links]

Hello new forum member and bird owner.  My baby grey is 8 weeks old and we are hand feeding her.  She just had a vet appointment and she said she was doing great.  My wife was concerned that she seems to want to sit down or lay down when she sleeps instead of standing up.  I wanted to check to make sure this was because she was an infant ant not something we needed to worry about.  Thanks for any and all advice about this and anything else you think we need to know.  We are learning and reading up as much as we can as quick as we can. Thanks

William

[judygram]

I think most greys do sleep perched but I have heard of some that will lay or sit down, if your vet says your baby is doing fine then she must be. I have often wondered why they wouldn't be more comfortable resting down instead of staying on a perch, she looks adorable.

[Links]

Thanks for the advice Judy we absolutely adore her.  We had a horribly traumatic experience with another grey 5 years ago that left us feeling like horrible parents as we should.  We hand fed a baby grey from 4 weeks all the way through the weaning process.   We couldn't bring ourselves to clip her wings and one day she was playing on the couch.  Someone opened out front door and without hesitation she flew away never to be seen again.  We want this little girl to be 100 ok.  We got her on Sunday and actually didn't notice this sleeping irregularity until after the vet visit so he didn't know.  I didn't know if greys started perching from a very young age and whenever I saw people talking about greys that were not perched or laying down on the cage it was in reference to something being wrong with them.  My memory was foggy from our last one.  

Edited September 26, 2018 by Links
providing more info

[Greytness]

Baby greys at that age are clumsy at best, and feel safer lying down to sleep. You'll likely see that behavior switch over within the next 2-3 weeks.

If she's eating great, gaining weight and otherwise acting fine, she should be good to go.

[Links]

Thanks for the reassurance Greytness.  I've read lots of different opinions on feeding.  Currently we are doing 60cc twice per day which is what the "breeder" had her on before.  According to her 37g weight that's accurate for 12% of bodyweight.  But she won't stop crying after we feed her so I was wondering if it would be better to switch to 50cc 3x per day.  She eventually quiets down after we cuddle her for a while.  We are now going to start introducing the pellets, apples, raspberries, and mango in her cage and have a water bottle in there as well.  She currently just has a small cage where the grate on the bottom.  We try to keep the temp of the room 75 and have a small space heater near her but make sure she doesn't get too hot.  Any other advice is appreciated.  

[Greytness]

Sounds like you're doing a great job with her. You can always test her out by switching back to 3 feedings per day. Or give her the 60 cc's in the morning and evening with a small comfort feeding mid day.

Are you beginning to offer her some soft foods for her to pick at? I believe 8 weeks is around the time that she should be introduced to solids.

[Links]

6 minutes ago, Greytness said:

Sounds like you're doing a great job with her. You can always test her out by switching back to 3 feedings per day. Or give her the 60 cc's in the morning and evening with a small comfort feeding mid day.

Are you beginning to offer her some soft foods for her to pick at? I believe 8 weeks is around the time that she should be introduced to solids.

Yes we are doing that today to see i it makes any difference.  My concern was always making sure her crop was empty to prevent the sour crop but I may have to do a comfort feeding mid day like you said.  Thanks for the advice.