Weaning Baby Tiel

[MiaBella]

Marco (Carlie's baby) is now 7 weeks old. I'm handfeeding him and he is not interested in learning to eat on his own. What do I do? He's seen the vet twice and no suggestions there.

[Monica]

Handraised cockatiels don't normally wean until they are 8-12 weeks old... Don't try to force wean him any sooner. Just let him take his time into weaning and learning to eat foods on his own.

[Vankarhi]

Make sure you have plenty of soft foods to offer him, like frozen corn/peas/beans etc that have been warmed up for him. I would grate carrots and finely chopped apple/strawberry etc for him to taste test. Remember to always keep his food fresh and change regular (at least twice a day..................or at least that is what I do anyway). Try some toast with peanut butter on it cut small, my birds love that. Rani loved peas and corn and finely chopped apple and pine nuts too. Pine nuts are small and soft so baby birds find them easy to chew on. Good luck. I had one 'tiel who took about 6 months to wean fully, but I was a softy and kept him on at least one feeding a day ............... just because he wanted it.

I would try some millet sprays in the cage too. Anything different to keep his interest up and get him used to tasting different things. also always keep seed in his cage too, so he can experiement with that too.

do you have any older birds who can be beside him in their own cages? If so then put their cages side by side so the older bird can "show" the younger bird how to eat. That is also what i did when weaning Rani recently. I put Skye's cage next to Rani's so she could see how the "big girls" do it.

[Jackie C]

Have you tried millet sprays? My 5 week old is eating a lot of millet, and only about 5cc of formula at each feeding. Sometimes I can't even get that much in him. I'm afraid that's way too much millet and I can't get him interested in any other foods. He's the oldest, the next oldest nibbles at millet but still likes his formula. I've seen the younger two poke at the millet but I can't tell that they are really eating it.

[birdsnthings]

If your baby is picking on bedding now add in Millet, dish of seed and other thing you want him to wean to. Try using Cherios dry. Many breeders use that to try to get them to wean. May use them like a frisbee at first but thats the point, they try to eat them. I also use fresh kale along with the frozen mixed veggies.
Seven weeks may be a little too young but then it is up to the bird when he wants to start weaning. The funny thing about Cockatiels is that they still want you to feed them even though you know they have been eating and can feel a crop full of food. Many will stop eating and start crying for food as soon as they see you.