Trouble weaning...

[joeydgraffix]

Kiwis about 3 months old now, and by far we are having a hard time weaning her. All of our other birds we've had no problem with. But she by far is really hard.

Ive tried weaning food, and she just hates it, I've never seen her drink any water and she hates any type of human food as well.

She eats her regular food I've always been giving her as well as some treats but she always cries for her baby formula mix.

[Monica]

If she's having a really hard time weaning and taking longer than the others, then perhaps you might consider an avian vet visit to ensure she's healthy... then again, perhaps she just really wants to be handfed?

[TooDusty]

I don't think I've ever handfed past two months. I'd get her checked out.

[tvymola]

You probably should have her checked by your vet. However, I feel that 3 months old is still very young and you should keep feeding her if she is still asking for it. All birds are different, so you can't really put a time line on her. Keep encouraging her to eat on her own. One thing that I am doing with my Ekkie who is currently weaning, is I hand feed him his other foods, not just his formula. He loves eating food out of my hands, it is comforting to him. She will wean in her own time. Studies say that abundantly weaned birds grow up to be more secure adults.

[Monica]

3 months is 12 weeks. Lovebirds usually wean at 6-8 weeks old, or around that ball-park. Larger parrots may take longer to wean but the little guys [smaller than tiels] usually don't take more than 10 weeks to wean.

As mentioned it could be an individual bird thing... or it might be something else... I didn't include the above info in my previous post so thought I'd put it in, in case anyone may be wondering.