First Time Hand Feeding ! HELP

Kiki · Jul 14, 2011

http://s1106.photobucket.com/albums...96&previewCancelUrl=http://s1106.photobucket.com/albums/h367/Bina_kiki/&offer=y

take a look at the chick's photos they are from last night after feeding, I'll post the other photos now

Kiki · Jul 14, 2011

First I grabbed his head tried to open his mouth I did some kind of grip with my hand but he wouldn't let me do a thing ! when I tried to push the syringe i did it very slowly so only one drop came out n he could escape from my hand ! one drop I'm not sure if he had it even or not ! but yeah I think he swallowed air as u said !

Kiki · Jul 14, 2011

The formula is not too thick , it's like pudding even thinner

mitch2006 · Jul 14, 2011

was baby gulping as you tried to feed it..if yes its air it will come out..
but you could have been going too slowly pushing on the plugger out of fear..he swallow air
you would push it at a rate a little slower then a doctor gives you a vaccine needle
but as you have seen dr do its pretty a slow push while being pushed in.at a smooth rate.
only a drop or 2 at a time is too slow the idea is to let baby know there is food in its mouth so i give by the mouth fulls and pause to ensure it gets a breath every mouthful or two..

Kiki · Jul 14, 2011

Kiki · Jul 14, 2011

this was the thing ! I was actually TOO SLOW ! coz I was afraid to push it too much and then over fill his mouth with the formula and cause him aspiration ..

mitch2006 · Jul 14, 2011

when you do push it a little fast the chick will let the formula run out of mouth the excess and only swallow what it can.push as fast as a doctor gives you a needle but if you have fast drs then a little slower but rythmically gliding until emptied

if your really freaked out go back to spoon feeding it butbe sure a nice it has a nice rounded crop when done like this picture

Kristian · Jul 14, 2011

Poor baby! He really needed someone to take care of him better then in that pet shop.
Best wishes.

Kiki · Jul 14, 2011

Oh Wow !

I got surprised I entered the room Mum was holding the chick and she fed him with the syringe !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and when I asked her how did u do it she said I put it on the left side and just pushed it

mitch2006 · Jul 14, 2011

i dont use any tubes just a syringes tubes are used o feed directly into crop or removing bad food from crop only..you only need the syringe for normal handfeedings
how much are you feeding it ......is the syringes cc or ml?
he looks a little red which means hes dehydrated
do you have a gram scale to weigh him?or a kitchen meat/baking scale that weighs in grams
most 2 week -3 week old chick eat aprox 8-10cc/ml or til crop is full.every 4 hrs
10 cc is max amount at 2-3 weeks old..
this is why we weigh chicks so you feed max 10% of his weigh at each feed

Kiki · Jul 14, 2011

I saw that tube thing in videos ...

Do u think he is ok ? he is now trying to sleep I put him back to the nest box ...

I posted the syringe pic there r MLs on it .. no CCs ..

I don't know how much I am feeding him !! coz it was by a spoon but TOO LITTLE u know that's why he looks dehydrated ..

mitch2006 · Jul 14, 2011

by the way mum has the right idea just go slow and guide chick to syringe

mitch2006 · Jul 14, 2011

do you have a thermometer?
you could measure/mix out up to 10 ml of formula and place in a juice glass and place in a bowl of hot water (the glass )to keep it hot but get the temperature of the formula to 104f-106f before serving it to baby too cold it gets crop problems too hot it will burn the crop...then feed with the spoon or keep trying with the syringe you/he will get used to each other pace of pushing plunger/swallowing formula in sink.
i think he will be ok
but needs more fluid in his crop then in pic look at how full mine is in #27
try the method above and see if it works for you both

Kiki · Jul 14, 2011

Very much thanks

.. I'll do that keep u updated !

tielfan · Jul 14, 2011

You're getting great advice on the handfeeding, so I'm just going to comment on the baby's age. I think he's at least three weeks old, and probably more like four weeks old. Most of the pictures don't show the flight feathers and tail feathers, but this one shows part of the tail:

Compare this tail to the pictures on srtiels "watch me grow" page at http://justcockatiels.weebly.com/watch-me-grow.html Notice how the quill is still visible in the tail feathers when the chick is 20 days old. Kiki's baby doesn't have any quill showing and might have a longer tail than srtiels' 22 day old picture, which suggests that Kiki's baby is older than 22 days.

Kiki's baby also seems to be standing upright very well in all the photos, which suggests that he's close to fledging age. Younger chicks spend a lot of time resting on their bellies.

There are individual differences in growth rates of course. The other "tiel development" sites that I found didn't show the tail clearly, but it looks like srtiels' baby is developing at a very typical rate and maybe faster than some. The other sites:
http://www.avianweb.com/cockatielchickdevelopment.html
http://www.acstiels.com/articles/breeding/Cockatieldevelopment.htm

Bea's pictures of Snickers from http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=5855 His development was slowed a bit because of a bacterial infection in the parents:

mitch2006 · Jul 14, 2011

if the chick is 3 weeks old...

first you will have to rehydrate this chick....when his skin color returns to normal color
the skin should look this color of these chicks heads ..you will know hes properly rehydrated

then you can reduce the feedings to 3 times a day ,6hours apart from each other
with a 12hr complete crop emptying overnight...no feeds overnight til 1st am feeding time

so an example of a 3-4 week old feedings is 830am,230pm,830pm
with seeds/pellets/millitte being offered all day inside cage on a saucer..
and veggies and fruit being offered mid-day for a half hour period only then remove it after half hour is up.

srtiels also has a thread called "hand feeding chart" its a sticky thread
which gives details on how to wean a 3-4 week old to smaller feedings amounts gradually
to prepare for switch over seeds/pellets when old enough to do so
check it out also
great info ive used it many times with great success

also check out "aspiration scare" by nwoodrow also a sticky thread
also great info to know and advice

hope this helps you out

Kiki · Jul 14, 2011

I mixed grinded pellets with the cerelac formula and fed the baby

I'm so happy that he had some ! he had like 9 ml ! I grabbed him and my mum was opening his mouth to push the food from the left side of the beak to the right side, step by step, like a push and we were stopping until he swallows it properly and breathes normally then we kept on going ! that was quite difficult and takes time but I hope he gets used to it soon

! DO u think its gonna take longer than 2 days to get used to it ? coz he is proper refusing it !! he keeps running away !

Here I posted some of his photos again after being a happy baby

http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h367/Bina_kiki/IMG_0404.jpg
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h367/Bina_kiki/IMG_0405.jpg
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h367/Bina_kiki/IMG_0406.jpg
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h367/Bina_kiki/IMG_0407.jpg
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h367/Bina_kiki/IMG_0408.jpg

I'll feed him again in 4 hours until he gets his normal color back as u said !

I'm not sure about the age, the owner didn't know either !! I don't know what kind of a guy he was ... the mother was plucking the baby right in front of his eyes n he was like smoking saying " ok I can't do anything about it " !! ;/ pathetic mind .

I showed his tail in two pix ! would u figure out the age and gender

? coz I donno if it's a he or a she I'm just guessing it's a he

.. and yes is quite strong to stand up properly and move around !

http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h367/Bina_kiki/IMG_0409.jpg
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h367/Bina_kiki/IMG_0410.jpg

one more thing ! Do I have to keep him in the nest box ? I actually put his nest box in his cage ! but I remove the cover of the nest box so he doesn't feel too hot ..
at this age should I just put him in the cage on the ground ?

MeanneyFids · Jul 14, 2011

thing with older chicks... they dont see that as food after being fed by the parents for so many weeks.

mitch2006 · Jul 14, 2011

he sure looks fuller and happier

i found this pictures of me feeding mine

the babies after a bath

and final picture with babies with bibs

mitch2006 · Jul 14, 2011

update us in morning

First Time Hand Feeding ! HELP

Kiki

Kiki

Kiki

mitch2006

Kiki

Kiki

mitch2006

Kristian

Kiki

mitch2006

Kiki

mitch2006

mitch2006

Kiki

tielfan

mitch2006

Kiki

MeanneyFids

mitch2006

mitch2006

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities