Hi Joem,
No you should never force feed a baby cockatiel or any hand feeding bird. This can cause it to get food in its lungs and it will probably die. Unfortunately it doesn’t sound like you got it from a responsible breeder. Two weeks is when chicks are pulled from the nest to hand feed. It sounds like the breeder gave you a chick straight from the nest. Newly pulled chicks take several days to get used to hand feeding. And frankly it is irresponsible for a breeder to sell a chick this young to an inexperienced person. This is why it’s illegal to sell unweaned chicks in a lot of places. I personally would take the chick back and ask for a refund, then buy a weaned chick from someone who is more responsible and cares more for their birds. If you don’t want to do that, you will need to put a drop of food at a time in his mouth and wait until he swallows that. It’s a slow process, and it will get tired after a few bites, so you have to repeat this every hour until it learns to eat from the syringe or spoon. You should have the chick on a heating pad or some type of heating pad, and the formula has to be warm enough, but not hot enough to burn him. If it is too thick, he can’t digest it, and if it is too thin, he will aspirate it into his lungs. Once he is eating well, you can’t over feed him or the food will sour in his crop and he will need Vet care to survive. It’s not easy, which is why a novice should not be trying to do this. We are here to try to help, but again, I would return the bird. If the breeder will not refund your money, then ask the breeder to wean the chick for you.
Take care,
Brenda
