I raised a baby budgie from an egg. His parents could not feed him (unavailable) so I raised him. Hes 8.5 weeks old now, healthy and happy but won’t wean off three hand feedings a day. Oleas3 help . I have his cage fully stocked with seed, mini pellets and millet spray plus fresh water. Still demands formula. Help!
Hi,
Congratulations on keeping him alive from day 1! But keep in mind since he was hand fed from day 1, he is not going to be as developed physically or emotionally as a parent raised bird his age. If he wasn’t fed by the parents at all, he is going to be lacking in immunity. It would be a good idea to take him for his first Vet check and have his feces checked for yeast and bacteria, and also have his mouth and crop swabbed. Yeast and bacterial infections are common with handfeeding chicks, and especially a chick that didn’t have the benefit of being parent fed for at least the first few days. A mild infection can cause a chick not to wean because they always feel hungry, and they can also not feel 100%.
The best way to wean is with a lot of foods. Seeds are not a good diet for a budgie, so I wouldn’t recommend offering them. Loose seeds offer little in the way of nutrition. Adding nutrients does not work because the nutrients are lost when the bird removes the hull. And adding to the water or food also doesn’t work because the do not drink enough or eat enough soft foods. He will end up overeating in an effort to feel satisfied, and he will end up getting fat and can develop issues like fatty liver disease. You need to be careful about his diet and only offer nutritious foods because he has some catching up to do, and again, by handfeeding from day 1, he may never be as robust as a parent raised budgie. You can offer seeds by feeding our foraging diets. These diets are nutritionally balanced the same as a pellet, but they are not ground up. The seeds are fresh, human grade with the hulls removed, and along with other ingredients they’re all coated with a nutritious binder which guarantees complete nutrition in every bite.
Each morning before you hand feed, put several dishes of food in the cage along with fresh water. Offer pellets both dry & soaked in warm water, our foraging foods if you want, soft food like cooked rice with chopped mixed veggies, leafy greens, some formula mixed thick, and a very small piece of millet – as long as he doesn’t only fill up on millet. Leave the room where he can’t see or hear you and give him at least an hour alone with these foods. Yes, you will throw away a lot of food every day, but he needs a variety to explore and learn to eat. After at least an hour, hand feed him, but don’t fill him up. Leave all of the foods in the cage and replenish as needed, especially any foods that may spoil. Refresh before each handfeeding and again, leave him alone for at last an hour. He should gradually explore and start eating these foods and eventually he will start to refuse the handfeeding. It is important that he feels he is alone, because if he can hear you or knows you are watching, he will focus on you and not the foods.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
