hi i have a young female cockatiel who is having trouble weaning to solid foods, she was raised on formula with a feeding tube that deposits the formula directly on her crop, i have seem her show interest and play around with the seeds and pellets, but her crop is always empty and there is no solids in her droppings, also she loses weight rapidly if i don’t tube feed her
Hi,
Unfortunately tube feeding is not ideal for the bird. It’s a fast way to feed volumes of babies, but the chicks get no taste for food and they do not get the same handling and attention as they would if hand fed properly. Before you tube feed, try offering her some warm formula from a spoon or put a few drops in her mouth with a syringe. She needs to taste food to be interested in it. The tube can also act as a constant irritant, so eating and swallowing may cause some discomfort. Many tube fed birds end up extremely hand shy because they associate any pain from the tube with hands. You need to get her off of the tube to assist with actual weaning.
For weaning, you should offer an abundance of food. A lot will be wasted, but this is the best process for the bird to feel secure and confident about self feeding. For example, offer pellets, chopped veggies, fresh water and some warm soft food – cooked brown rice, soaked pellets, cooked egg, you can even mix a small amount of formula but make it thicker where she can eat bites. Put all of this food in the cage first thing in the morning, and then leave the room. She needs to spend at least an hour with these foods, alone, so that she is more likely to explore them instead of begging for food. Check on her after an hour and offer some formula. Repeat this an hour before each feeding. Eventually she should eat enough that she starts refusing any hand feeding. She may take longer than some birds to wean, but let her take her time.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
