How to Wean

[babypiggy]

hey everyone
Ajax is 7 months old going on 8 at the end of this month

i'm still handfeeding him and i think it's time to him to be weaned


what do u guys think?
he does not "begg" for his formula but will accept it readidly


as this si a crutial part of a parrots life

how abouts would i wean him?

[birdlady49]

Since Ajax has suffered such trauma in his young life, it will take longer to wean him. As long as he accepts the food, keep giving it to him. He will stop on his own.

[SDavid]

"Since Ajax has suffered such trauma in his young life..."

If there's some back-story babypiggy, I think you should provide it before asking how your particular bird should be weaned. In general, when asking for advice on something this sensitive provide as much info as possible.

I'd say that by eight months a Grey should be weaned. I'm no expert though. Me and my wife have only weaned one bird...our TAG. She had access to a variety of foods throughout the weaning process and after about the fourth month we cut back to one feeding per day. After another month we discontinued any hand feeding. We observed her eating habits and droppings throughout. She was healthy and eating on her own.

I'd say make some calls to breeders or bird stores that wean their birds.

[babypiggy]

i copied this from my first post about ajax


we live in richmond bc (near vancouver for those of you guys not farmiliar with british columbia)

we (bf and i) bought Ajax froma breeder in Calgary Alberta. according to him he was in "perfect" health

so we both decided to go ahead and wire transfer him the money . he shipped ajax via west jet

anywho when we drove home from the airport i quickly took him out and put him nto his new cage to leave him be for a few days so he gets to the hang of things

to my astonishment he was missing half of one of his toes

a week went by and we took him to Dr Mcdonald who is an avian specialist

to her observation ajax had a few problems
1. under weight
2. his toes... they had some sort of truma to them
3. his breeders hand was on too tight

so we had a lot of work done on Ajax... (poor little guy)

he had his band removed
blood tests
and had to be hand fed so he won't be at a dangerous weight

we were also given ointment for his toes and antibiotics as well


later on that day another toe nail fell off...
:(

during this time we were both very very stressed and worried about our little boy
:(

days went by and more toe tips and toe nails fell off

it's been over a month now
and he only has 3 toe nails (one one foot)

i'm not sure about nails turning color

but all of them seem to be turning white (they were black b4)

is this normal? what can cause this?

he's not at a healthy weight of 390grams (or around there but we always weighted him after his morning poo poo

everything seems to be going great now

we are still hand feeding to ensure a good bond between bf and i (we take turns hand feeding him)

he is a very fussy eater
so i'm still trying new foods on a weekly basis

his diet consits of:
pelleted foods: zupreem (fruit and spicy version),tropican pellets,roudy bush,egg food,very tiny amount of seeds (no sunflowers)

fresh foods:
fruits: apples,grapes,pommegrante,raisins,cranberries,papa ya,mango
veggies:kale,beet (greens and the beet),carrots,mustard greens,kale
birdie bread: dried fruits,beans,veggies,millet (it varies depending on the batch)

i've also made him scones,mashed potatoe balls (consists maily of sweet potatoes,potatoes,beets,dried fruits),birdie bread

bla bla bla

his favorites are grapes and almonds (but we only limit him to 4 grapes a day

anywho i'm not sure what else i can say about us

[Lisa B]

Tags tend to wean quicker then Cags....(they actually tend to do alot more things earlier than Cags tho..they mature quicker in the wild)

Keep feedin him till he stops. there isnt any harm in it. you can try other warm mooshy things in the place of the formula, but he is just being a baby.
Sydney was about 9 months when he finally refused his formula.....
he was old enough to eat, and here is a pic prooving it,(mom was too slow one night) however, he just wanted that little bit of formula each night till about 9 months.

[sassie]

I have to agree with Lisa! Teko my TAG, took feedings until almost his 8th month, and he would still beg for it every night! Then one night, he didn't - and we offered him some warm veggies & that honestly was it!

I dont believe in forcing a baby to wean. If it were a child, after his 8th month of life you wouldnt force him off his formula :)

[SDavid]

Babypiggy that's certainly important information and it seems you may have a sensitive situation. Have you gotten in touch with Dr.McDonald since she knows your bird and her story? Have you considered having a professional wean Ajax (if it's even possible).

"he does not "begg" for his formula but will accept it readidly"

"he is a very fussy eater"

I think part of weaning is observing how they eat on their own and then knowing when to cut back on the hand-feedings. When I weaned I just did what I was told to do. I didn't know it at the time but there was actually a term for it. It's called either "abundance" or "bountifull" weaning.

I've observed even adult birds, that have long since been weaned, accept formula from a dropper. I'm sure that if I warmed up some formula my TAG would accept it right now even though she doesn't "cry" for it. So, I would think it makes the situation of waiting for them to refuse it kind of tricky. Don't know for sure though, like I said-limited experience.

I'm curious myself to know the general consensus of how the transition should be made. I do see a difference in the way Lisa and Sassie describe it. Is it when they stop "begging" for it, when they "refuse" it, or when they simply eat on their own when hungry. With my TAG I think it was the first and last. She was eating on her own and had stoped asking to be fed.

[babypiggy]

hmmm
i think it's abundance weaning

which i've heard before

well today i feed ajax very little
and he ate some of his veggies as i left the house
so that's kidna nice

but the breeder friend who i've asked how she wean her babies
saidi should not go any longer as he will have some issues being handfed way too long

[sassie]

I cant say Ive ever heard of any birds having issue's of being hand feed to long. Of course unless his daily diet only consists of formula at his age -- other then that sounds to me like the breeder isnt one to use abundance or no harm method of feeding. The choice is yours souly, you can search different sites for more info on the good & bads of weaning ect.

I wish you luck in your choice :)

[babypiggy]

yup
i've been reading as much as i can