Ask Lafeber

Cockatiel chick is not eating on it’s own

I have a cockatiel chick who’s 10 weeks old and has full ability to eat on its own but doesn’t. It keeps begging for hours until it’s parents feed it. But it’s other two siblings have become independent since they were 8 weeks old, only this chick refuses to eat by itself. What do I do to make it eat by itself?
Because I had a similar experience with a chick the last time where the baby ended up dying without eating anything as the parents stopped feeding at 12 weeks.
And I have tried separating the chick from it’s parents.. it just won’t eat and becomes thinner and thinner. So please let me know what I can do to make the chick eat in its own

Hi,

A natural weaning period for a cockatiel is between 8-12 weeks. Most are weaned too soon in captivity because the breeder wants to sell them. It’s usually a more gradual process when you allow the parents to feed and wean them, because the parents tech the chicks to eat. It is really important that you remove the nest box if you haven’t already. Usually parents only fail to wean a chick if they decide to nest again too soon. Your pairs should be rested for 6 months between every clutch, which means only 2 clutches per year. A pair that is too eager to breed again, or too exhausted due to being over bred will be less likely to wean a difficult chick. Have you removed the weaned chicks? They can actually help each other with weaning because the unweaned chick may follow their example and try eating on its own. Do you have plenty of foods in the cage to encourage weaning? You should have pellets, a small amount of seeds, spray millet, chopped veggies, soft scrambled eggs, & some warm soft foods like cooked brown rice with mixed veggies that you offer warm, three times a day. These foods should all be in the cage, usually on the floor in shallow dishes to make it easier for the chick to access them. If the chick fails to make progress, you might take it to an Avian vet to rule out an infection. A crop or intestinal infection can cause a chick to beg & beg, and not feel like self feeding. It’s unusual for a parent fed chick not to wean. This is usually something that happens with a hand fed chick, and it’s due to the owner giving in and feeding it. So other than having plenty of foods to entice the chick, sibling example and ruling out a medical cause, I’m not quite sure what else to recommend.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda