My cockatiel is 2 months old, he still hasn’t weaned yet, we try feeding him less but he still begs for the feeding formula. He is fluffed up most of the time after I give him the feed. He eats the feeding formula well though. We have another 3 month old weaned cockatiel who eats the grains yet my 2 month old isn’t eating them.
Hi Steve,
Two months is usually the earliest a cockatiel will wean. It’s best to let him wean at his pace. Before you hand feed him each day, put a lot of foods in his cage for him to try. You really need to be weaning him to pellets or our foraging diets, and not loose seeds. A seed mix does not provide much in the way of nutrition. First thing each morning, give him some warm soft food – cooked brown rice with mixed veggies – some pellets, water and even some thick formula in a bowl. Leave him with these foods for an hour, and make sure he can’t see or hear you. Then go back and hand feed him. Repeat this one hour before each feeding. Yes, you will waste a lot of food, but this is the best way to wean a bird to a healthy diet. They eat loose seed readily, but it’s basically a junk food in that form. We do have whole seeds in our foraging diets, but the hulls have been removed and they are coated with vitamins and minerals to make a nutritionally balanced diet. When vitamins are put on loose seeds, the vitamins are lost when the bird remove the hull. If you continue to see no progress with him weaning, then take him to the Avian vet for be checked out. Bacterial and yeast infections are very common in handfeeding chicks, and it can cause them to feel hungry all the time.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
