Ask Lafeber

Handfed baby refusing food but not seed

Hi !
I have a 5 weeks old cockatiel, that was pulled out of the nest at 4 weeks ½. The mother stopped feeding him and started plucking his feather. Hes been eating well since then but today he kept refusing the seringe. We put a branch of millet and a small bowl of water and seeds hes been chewing seeds and drinking water every now and then hes not sleepish, or acting out of the ordinary. Hes even flying around.
Im just worried about him not eating the handfeeding formula like his little sister does.
Hes 5 weeks old tomorrow ( monday 2021/03/01) and he weights 82g.

Hi Pascale,

It can be impossible to get an older chick like that to accept hand feeding. However, he isn’t getting enough nutrition from just eating seeds. Start offering him other foods – cook some brown rice & mix some frozen mixed veggies in it, and serve it to him warm. Also try pellets, chopped veggies, cooked eggs(only for while he is growing), and mix some formula up thick, where he can eat it on his own. You can also offer these foods to the other chick, along with hand feeding it.

As to the parents, if these are your birds, then remove the nest box and rest them for 6 months. Cockatiels will breed year round without stopping in captivity. This is very bad for them  in the wild, they only breed once a year. So the nest box should always be removed once the chicks have left it or been taken out, and the parents should be rested from breeding for 6 months. While parents will sometimes pluck the chicks, there are many reasons for this – being over bred, not enough nutrition, being disturbed too much, being bred too young or simply not being good parents.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda