Bea thats a precious photo of Bailee and Snickers Bailee is doing an amazing job as a father

 

Aaaaaaaawww! Bailee and Snickers are so cute together! Sorry to hear that Cookie and Bailee are sick, hope they get better soon.

Oh, and in the last picture you posted, it looked like Bailee was giving snickers a hug. it was adorable!

 

What a lovely photo it definately matches the saying "il take you under my wing and show you how its done" lol I wish you all the best with handrearing little snickers

 

I wish you all the best with handrearing little snickers

Seeing as Cookie and Bailee have perked up and are looking happier today (well they were till their mean mum attacked them with the medicine, now they're just looking disgusted at the taste ) so i'm leaving Snickers with them to see how things go. I am going to start weighing Snickers though, to make sure he's getting bigger not smaller. Today he weighs 15g with some food in his crop.

 

What a good Daddy

 

Thats a good idea Bea-that should settle your mind about if he/she is growing enough each day-one less thing to worry about! Keep up the good work!

 

15g.......awww bless him. lol.

 

Snickers seems on the low end of the weight scale for his age, he is what about 11 days old? there could be reasons for it, genetic history of the parents overall health of the parents and babies etc... I would keep a close eye on him and if he is not being fed enough or gaining weight I would pull him for hand feeding and this is not written in stone but here is a listing on average baby weights.


Tiel Weights
7 days - 37 grams
14 days - 50-65 grams
21 days - 70-84 grams
28 days - 85-99 grams
35 days - 92-110 grams
42 days - 90-105 grams
49 days - 88-100 grams
56 days - 95-120 grams (weaning weights)

 

I was looking at that yesterday, he is very small for his age i think. He still has his eyes shut and no pin feathers. This morning Snickers also has a scratch on his butt and one on his beak, i'm guessing one of the parents nicked him on the way in or out of the nest box. They don't seem to be bothering him at all.

 

I'd take him out if I was you.. When I bred my cockatiels, they had the same problem as snickers is having. The last one lived until 16 days old [no pin feathers, and eyes only a tad bit opened] and he died. Along with the other clutch and his siblings from that pair. Some pairs just aren't right for breeding, especially tame ones.

That's only my opinion though, I think you should hand feed him, it's hard at first but now that he is nearing 2 weeks of age, his feedings aren't going to be very often, unlike a newly hatched baby.

It's very bad about the scratches too, I noticed that on my pairs babies. And afterwards [No more than a day] they died because either the parents weren't feeding them, or they trampled the chicks. It's heartbreaking and I'd hate to see that happen to snickers!

But, whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck!

 

The thing is he's not small because of lack of feedings, Cookie and Bailee are doing a good job there. I would think it's all because of the bacterial infection that they all probably have. Seeing that he is so tiny makes me wonder if i should bring him out for handrearing, but at the same time i know handreared chicks grow slower and i don't know if that would be good for him.

 

Have you run this by your vet Bea? I would ask them. This is a very complex situation and I know I wouldn't want to make any hasty decisions. I would advise that you call up the vet and ask their advice.:blush:

 

I didn't mean the feedings, my female was suspected to be severely inbred [Of course, I found this out after all of the chicks died] and that caused the babies to not grow at an average rate and eventually die. They also experienced dry skin and puffy heads, is Snickers experiencing any of these symptoms? I'm not saying your birds are inbred, but in my opinion, lack of growth could be either malnutrition or something with the genetics. And of course I stopped breeding my female after I found out about her situation, so I have really no further information. I'm sure snickers will be fine though!

This is a picture of the older baby, I was so heartbroken when he died.

This was him at 14-16 days old. As you can see, he was very small.



EDIT: Cannuck is right, I think the best thing to do is talk to your vet. I'm just trying to help out a little, hehe.

 

His skin was a little flakey but i've been increasing the humidity and that's improved it. I still say that the lack of growth is because of the bacterial infection. I know that Bailee at the very least is from great breeding stock.

 

Here are some photos of Snickers with Cookie!

 

So cute snuggling up to mommy Snickers is lifting his head posing for the camera

 

I just weighed Snickers with a full crop and he's gone up from 17g to 21g, i'm so happy! That's a 4g gain in 24 hours. If he can keep that up i'm sure he'll get to the size he's supposed to be!

 

Wow thats great news Bea, keep it up little Snickers

 

Snickers is so adorable! Can't wait to see if you have a Mr. Snickers or a Ms. Snickers

 

Aww bea. I hope he does survive. Be such a shame if he doesn't

 

Oh that's a nice gain, good boy/girl Snickers.

 

Im happy to hear snickers has gained weight. The scratches were probably an accident when i had all my children I cut my nails because there usually long I still ended up scratching them though I couldnt help it

 

What beautiful pictures you got there. Snickers seems to be doing better, a wonderful weight gain in just a day!

 

Snickers today at 12 days old! I think he looks like he's got his "hands" on his hips telling me to hurry up already cause he wants to go back to the nest box.

Today i can see a little prickly patch just above his cere where a crest is getting ready to pop through, and some dark flecks are showing up on his wings so i think we'll be seeing some pin feathers in the next couple of days!

 

awww. at lease is still being well fed. Best of luck. hopfully he soon opens his eyes

 

Snickers is looking good Bea, and his crop is nice and full, I can't wait for the pin feathers to come through won't be long now I can't believe he is 12 days old already.

 

Snickers looks like he is doing great He reminds me of a snowman