Weight of 15 week old African Grey

[reap76]

My female African Grey is 15 weeks old and just took her to get her wings clipped and was told that her weight is low. He weighed her at 350 grams. Do I need to be concerned with this?

[Dave007]

That depends on what your bird weighed before it was weaned and whether it should have been allowed to formula feed for a longer time.

Every grey loses weight when they're weaned and start regular food, so if your bird was a small sized bird from the very beginning and was heavier, the present weight would be lower.

There's small, medium and large boned greys. You definitely have a small bodied grey. Many people do. The minimum weight for a small boned grey should be at least 385 gms up to 400 gms.

If a vet told you about the weight, you should ask about what can be done. If it wasn't a vet that told you then visiting one may to find out if there's actually no problem or just a minor problem. Let the vet be the judge of this type of situation. Should you be concerned? I would be because your bird may have been forced weaned instead of abundance weaned which is why I would visit a vet. A different type type diet may be needed especially since your bird is extremely young.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/03/22 04:47

[lovethatgrey]

She does sound like she is on the light side. My grey is supposedly on the light side too. She weighs 405grams at a year old. When she was around 15 months old she weighed at least 385- 390grams. Was the person who clipped her wings an avian vet? If not I would take her to one to confirm.

[reap76]

I checked my records and she was 414 grams when I picked her up from the breeder. She was abundance weaned, but I think I figured out what the problem was. By the way she is up to 420 grams today. I would chalk this up as a novice mistake... First off, I was feeding her the weaning pellets for the first 2 weeks. I went to a bird store and was told to take her off of that immediately so I sort of stopped feeding her that. The problem was that in the morning I would put her on top of the cage which opens up on top and she would just hang out on top and not eat too much. I have put her in her cage more often and have seen a dramatic weight increase in 3 days.

[Dave007]

I wouldn't worry about her not eating when she's out ogf the cage. When she's hungry, she'll go right over to the food. She doesn't need to be put in the area where the food is. And, the weight is now normal.

[reap76]

I checked my records and she was 414 grams when I picked her up from the breeder. She was abundance weaned, but I think I figured out what the problem was. By the way she is up to 420 grams today. I would chalk this up as a novice mistake... First off, I was feeding her the weaning pellets for the first 2 weeks. I went to a bird store and was told to take her off of that immediately so I sort of stopped feeding her that. The problem was that in the morning I would put her on top of the cage which opens up on top and she would just hang out on top and not eat too much. I have put her in her cage more often and have seen a dramatic weight increase in 3 days.