handfeeding questions

[jriley]

Well, life with Molly is mostly going well so far (sorry no pics yet, went to take some today and camera battery was dead). She didn't eat well yesterday morning and seemed very lethargic. We took her outside and misted her and she still wasn't very energetic. I then noticed her droppings were very dry! I dug around and found a clean syringe and fed her some warm water and she was so excited to see the syringe! I figured out that her prior human using a spoon rather than a syringe was why she was refusing her formula (they told me they thought she was trying to wean herself). I did her nighttime feeding with the syringe and she sucked a huge amount down. I kept checking her crop and she filled it right up. I was worried she might be impacted from being dehydrated, so I made her formula very runny. I fed her by syringe again this morning and again she ate well. She had lots more energy today when I got home from work and she demanded another feeding (they told me she was down to twice a day), so I fed her at 4 pm and she ate a lot. I saw evidence in her cage bottom that she had been at least trying all the foods in her cage while we were gone (pellets, nutriberries, a cooked bean/pasta/pellets/corn/peas mix, and some seed mix), but she must not be eating well on her own because her crop was fairly empty by the time I got home. She pigged out again when I gave her a bedtime feeding at 8 pm tonight.

She does have a vet appointment Thursday (first opening they had). She's looking better today and is starting to vocalize and jump around and play with toys, but I have some worries about her feeding. Should I find a way to get her a feeding closer to midday? I was assuming she'd be fine with just morning and evening and eat on her own in between, but she sure seemed hungry when I got home today. We only have a few more days of school left so I really didn't want to bring a cage in to school for those few days, but maybe I can arrange to leave work for a few minutes at lunchtime to feed her. She's three months old and fully feathered and can fly, but I don't know enough about babies to know if she is old enough to do with two feedings a day and is just begging from the stress of a new home or if she really needs that extra feeding. I haven't seen her drink from her water dish at all. I've tried playing in it with my fingers and dripping water from the dish onto her beak, but she shows no interest. The water dish is between her hot foods and seed dishes, so she is in front of it when trying to eat. As far as her eating "real" foods, I haven't seen her actually swallow anything besides banana (and she tongues that for ten minutes before swallowing a single bite). She'll take a corn kernel (soft, from the hot foods dish) and tongue it around in her beak and then eventually lets it drop. She seems to maybe eat the pasta, but it's hard to tell because she plays with it for so long.

I'm really worried that I'm not giving her what she needs. If anyone has been in a similar situation or knows what a cockatoo at this age typically needs, please let me know. I searched and searched on the internet and didn't see anything specific enough to be helpful.

Thanks,
Julie

[Sashagirl]

Unfortunately I've never handfed a Cockatoo.Just Eclectus,Amazons and Macaws.I guess Macaws would be the closest to a Cockatoo.It's been 2 years
since I've handfed my Macaws.I don't have my books on hand but I thought the larger the bird the longer before they can be weaned.I believe my Macaws
didn't wean until about 4-5 months and they more or less let me know by refusing the handfeeding formula.By then they had started to eat on their own.Whatever you do make sure the formula is the right temperature or they will refuse it.There is a book called handfeeding baby birds it goes into detail.
You can probably Google search it.Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[Conure & Macaw Mom]

I've only hand fed Severe Macaws. One of mine was past 8 months old before he was completely weaned. I just googled it & the only thing I could get was they said its best to spread the feedings out rather then cutting feedings out. It did say that if your baby is't acting normal or is loosing to much weight then add a feeding. I'm sure someone will come along and help you better. Crystal

[Sashagirl]

Okay here is the book it is called Handfeeding and Raising Baby Birds by Matthew M Vriends Phd it's put out by Barron's I hope this help you.

[2horse]

I would think about 4-6 months at least. Ducops can stay babies longer.

[dislater]

My grey was well into her 8th month before she was completely weaned. I think you need to be sure she eats every day and until the vet sees her. I'd come home at noon to feed her. Be sure to get a thermometer and feed her formula at 105 degrees. It needs to be at that temperature so that her body can get the best from it. di

[iggysbirds]

She definitely shouldn't be weaned yet. Even the smaller cockatoos such as the goffins don't wean until at least 3-4 months (just finished weaning one she was 17 weeks old before fully weaned and even now likes a bit of food off a spoon if offered, she does drink well and keeps her crop full though so technically she is weaned) For an umbrella the minimum would be 5-6 months and possibly up to 8 or so months just depending on the bird. I know some breeders will tell you to wean at four months but they may not be eating enough by then. Also you do have to watch when weaning an umbrella they will eat being handfed until they reach full adulthood and even after if allowed so be careful to watch the amount of intake, the fullness of the crop, the weight gain/loss (they will usually lose some weight when weaning but it shouldn't be too great of an amount) and of course whether she will drink water, that seems to be one of the hardest parts of weaning. If she was spoon fed in the past you can try offering water on a spoon holding it over the water bowl and she may learn easier where her water is and what it is for LOL!

[Machelle]

The breeder that I got my grey from gets her birds to drink water by putting a wiffle ball with a bell in it in the water bowl. They go to play with the ball and end up getting water. Its worked for her for a long time and thats how she got my grey to drink. Its an idea. As long as she is eating her formula, and it sounds like she wont be weaned for awhile, she will get her water from the formula but u definitely need to work on getting her to drink for when she is weaned.

[jriley]

Thank you everyone for the input. I will look for that book. She seems even brighter and happier today, so I guess she really does need three feedings a day for now. She did refuse her formula this morning, mostly, and I guess it must have been a bit cold since I didn't check the temperature (just dipped a finger in). I will be sure to actually check the temperature from now on.

Julie

[Bagwellfan]

I am one of those that does not believe in forced weaning. My B&G was handfed until she was 8 months old. My Amazons, I hand feed til about 5 months and really eating on their own. My Too's, I hand feed till about 5 months also. Are you weighing this darling every morning on an empty crop? I always after about 2 months, give mine babies, 5 cc's of water to make sure the formula passes through on the feedings. Please keep us updated after vet visit.