Marlene Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Hey All, Greetings from Sunny South Africa again. My lad Gus - now 20 weeks old is still wrapping me around his finger(?). He is still on 3 feeds a day of about 50ml of formula. Between times he toys with the stuff I so lovingly prepare for him constantly. However, his crop is still getting desperately empty (is this not dangerous?) I am feeding Avi-Plus handrearing formula and the consistency is that of thick tomato sauce (Ketsup). What am I doing wrong? I have resorted to offering seed which he seems to think is really great - but still the empty crop. I also give him Kaytee exact pellets - which he nibbles a wee bit. He also gets grapes, apple and other fruit and veg as well as pasta which he seems to adore. But still - the empty crop and me running with the formula. What can I do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun777 Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 start weaning him off the bottle, 3 feeds a day is way too much. I have a grey of 18 weeks and I am feeding her every alternative night on the bottle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 I hear you - now please explain how. If his crop is empty and he's hungry (asking for food) I can't simply starve him into eating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 The crop will empty...thats a good thing. Every time his crop is empty does not mean he needs to be fed. I'm guessing you are feeding in the morning, afternoon, and night. You need to drop the afternoon feeding. I know you think this will starve your baby, but it won't. Make sure to put all the food he likes in a little before the afternoon feeding would normally happen and keep an eye on him for a few hours. See how much he will eat on his own. When birds eat normal food they will not fill the crop like when they are hand fed, there will just be a little bit in the crop that you and feel with your finger (lightly). If it feels like there is some solid food in the crop then he is doing fine. If you never give him the chance to get hungry he will never want to eat on his own like he is hungry. You say he pecks at his food, and at 20 weeks he is more than able to eat, it sounds like he just picks because he isn't hungry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Good advice BMustee, Karma to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Thanx - I feel a little more cofident that I will not starve my darling. I'm gonna give it a bash and see hoe it pans out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Thanks BMustee for some excellent advice for Marlene, I hqve karma coming your way too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Glad you feel better Marlene theres not many animals that will starve themselves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Ok, it is now mid afternoon - day 1 of no lunch for Gus. I am turning into a neurotic woman.... His crop is now a deep dent in his chest, he's hanging on the bars of his cage looking at me and squeeking. He has a good range of foods in his cage that I know he has sampled before and seemed to enjoy. I am at the other side of the room trying to not make eye contact. Should I leave the room? should I be talking to kim and prompting him to eat. If I relent and haul out the syringe will I still be hand feeding him at 25 years old??? This is not such fun - I feel like a traitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachdes Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 I need a little information also, my grey is 10 weeks old and not interested in food at all. I keep placing freshly soaked pellets in her cage and occasionally I have seen her pick them up and throw them but that's about it. At what time do they become interested? I have another question- We had to actually play wuth her toys- pretend we had beaks- and toss them around before she started to play with them. My question is am I suppposed to do that sort of thing to introduce her to eatting? Thanks again for all of the advice everyone here so pleasantly offers. I really appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Here is a good link for hand feeding, it is a guide & all greys will vary slightly. http://www.greyforums.net/forums/bird-food/36364-hand-feeding-a-baby-grey.html As for playing with toys yes you will have to show her how to play, there is no siblings to play with It is worth trying to encourage her to eat while you pretend also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Marlene and Coachdes- You could go in 2 directions. My Elmo wanted NOTHING to do with food when he was around 9-10 weeks. What I did was I would pick him up and have him on my desk (he came to work with me) and I found that he loved cinnimon apple sause with blueberries, cherries (pitted), and grapes mixed in. He would eat himself stuffed when I would offer these items to him. He didn't really begin to eat pellots, seeds, and nuts till he was on one feeding a day. Try this and see if it helps for them to be with you. The other thing you can do is basicly leave the room. There are a few birds at my work that won't eat on their own when there are people around...esp. the hand feeders. These birds are also the birds that wean older than others. One thing to keep in mind. There are a few different health issues that will keep a baby bird from eating on it's own and weaning. If the tricks I posted don't seem to make a big turn around in your babies I would take them to an avain vet and get a crop culture and blood work for cell counts. There are two baby birds that I have seen at my work that had crop infections and would not eat on their own till it was cleared up. P.S. - Not trying to scare anyone with the infection thing, but I wanted both of you to know about that possibility. Marlene, you should have the fastest trun around because of the age. Coachdes, give him a little while because you could have a normal late bloomer baby.<br><br>Post edited by: BMustee, at: 2008/02/01 17:15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachdes Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Thank you for your advice, I'll stop by the grocery store again today and try your treat this evening... I add spiritulina and acidophilus to every third feeding so I'd really be surprised if she got an infection. She discovered a brown paper bag last night in my kitchen while we were putting groceries away and put on the funniest show I have seen in a long time. She was playing peek-a-boo which none of us have thought her. She was really excited that she could climb into this bag in peck at it. Has anyone else experienced that? It was so cute- I wish I would have recorded it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Posted February 2, 2008 Author Share Posted February 2, 2008 Thanx for the advice. I skipped lunch again yesterday - plenty good stuff in the cage for Gus - in vain. This morning he did not want too much food I did not force the issue. He's now back in the cage with lots of goodies. Will check out with the vet this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 He didn't want a lot of hand feeding formula? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chapala Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Marlene, good idea to check with your vet. Also, you may want to google articles on "abundance weaning", that give information on getting through this time with less stress for you and the bird! Reta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 Hi, Yup, that morning he did not want too much formula. Since then I have skipped lunch feed each day. Hes now really climbing into the few seeds I leave but pretty much just picking at the other good stuff (fruit, baby food & oats, pellets, etc.). In the evening he's pretty hungry and takes about 60ml of formula. Taking him to the vet for his check up this week so I'll have all that checked out too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 It sounds like he is doing OK. Two of the three baby greys at my work don't really get into the morning feeding and then are little piggies for their night feeding. They are about 15 weeks, and it seems they are just about ready to drop the morning feedings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyric Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 My TAG took forever to wean because I guess I missed the "window of opportunity" at 4 1/2 months old. What I finally had to do to teach him to eat was let him share meals with me- I'd cook some sweet potato or squash and brown rice and I'd eat it with him. He seemed to get the hang of it after that. I just don't think he understood it was something to eat until he watched me doing it. He was the only one in the clutch too so he didn't have other birds to learn from. I think sometimes they need to learn by example. You might try it anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Hows things going Marlene ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Posted February 9, 2008 Author Share Posted February 9, 2008 Thanx so much for asking. Gus is still not really interested in the mushy stuff, the warn stuff, the pellets, the lovingly prepared fruit & veg etc. He eats seeds if they are there. However, I'm not mad about him eating only seed. I am still giving him 2 feeds a day but he's happy with about 40ml. I am planning on dropping his morning feed sometime this week as he has not lost much weight aftr dropping the mid day feed. He is still a happy birdy. Yesterday he was on my shoulder and I asked for a kiss which he gave me. I thought "No, it was flook." and asked again, I again got one. This went on for about 10 min and I'm still so stoked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Thanks for the up date,continue offering the fruit,veg & pellets he really needs to have these in his diet as a seed based only diet is no good for him long term. He will have a special bond with you marlene as you are in his eyes a replacement mom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Posted February 9, 2008 Author Share Posted February 9, 2008 Teh thing is, I am so aware of how bad a seed only diet is. My TAG got very ill a few years back and when we found out that it was his seed only diet we were horrified that we had done that to him. Over time we managed to convert him to pellets but he always refused anything else. The pellets were only accepted after trying many different brands. However, fruit, veg, chicken, legumes - you name it he never did eat them. Gus fortunately will nibble on these other things so as I cut down on the formula, I plan on offering less and less seed. Would this be the way to do it or should I leave the seed till he's completely off formula? He is my special child and I really want to do what's best for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Marlene here are some tips for feeding new foods... http://www.greyforums.net/forums/bird-food/53831-tips-for-getting-your-grey-to-eattry-new-foods.html If he is eating excessive amounts of seed you can cut down a little & try the ideas above.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlene Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 I tried some of these tricks this morning. We had some pear and grapes together. Worked like a charm - Thanx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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