Skinny Tiel - what to feed to bring her weight up

[LilQtBear]

So I'm sitting here with sunny and it seems she may be underweight. It's hard to explain but her chest doesn't look like it used to. I have heard of under weight birds but didn't know how people could tell with the feathers.
Anyone have any ideas what good foods I may want to start giving her to bring her back to normal? high protein? I think she may have started loosing the weight after I stuck stormy in with her (my newest bird) Not sure.
:confused:

[Mythara]

Feel her keel bone. Its just in the front of the chest. You shold be able to feel it easily, but the muscle on either side should line up with it. If it's sticking out from the muscle on each side, then she's too thin, and you can't feel it easily, and the muscle sticks out beyond the keel bone, then your bird's overweight. =)

How many food dishes are in the cage? You should have at least two. Stormy may be stopping Sunny from eating if there's only one dish.

[Jack404]

After storms here we get wild birds that need a rest and relax...

they tend to not want to eat for a while once caught, so when they do, i feed em a porridge of normal oatmeal porridge and millet that i flatten with a rolling pin and some honey to make it sweet.

they seem to be frisky fit after a day or three of this and they all seem to like it

chicken and eshka love it but i dont like to feed them this mix too often

dont want chubby chickies eh

cheers

jack

[Mythara]

After storms here we get wild birds that need a rest and relax...

they tend to not want to eat for a while once caught, so when they do, i feed em a porridge of normal oatmeal porridge and millet that i flatten with a rolling pin and some honey to make it sweet.

they seem to be frisky fit after a day or three of this and they all seem to like it

chicken and eshka love it but i dont like to feed them this mix too often

dont want chubby chickies eh

cheers

jack

I don't think there's actually been a storm, Stormy is the second birds name. ;)

[sweetrsue]

My bean mix is a good high protein Food! Mine enjoy it every other day. Also if you feed any moist food you could get some hand feeding formula. They sell it in small bags. Sprinkle it over something moist. Most brands are 22% protein. Most seed and pellets are between 11 and 16%. Here's my bean recipe:

I buy bags of dried beans for about $1.

1/2 cup pinto beans
1/2 cup navy beans (whits beans)
1/2 cup Garbonzo Beans (chick peas)
1/2 cup barley (optional)

Soak all these overnight. next morning rinse soaked beans and return to the pot with the water level about 2 or 3 inches higher than the beans. Cook on stove top at medium heat for about 30 mins. Then add

1/2 cup split peas
1/2 cup lentils
1 cup brown or wild rice

cook for an additional 20 mins then add

1/2 cup Quinoa
1/2 cup hulled millet (optional)

cook for an additional 20 min.
After it's done cooking eliminate any excess moisture and add 2 cups Zupreem Natural Diet.

[Tiki]

Millet has a lot of fat in it. Maybe you could try feeding her some brand of crappy seed mix that would usually be unsuitable but has a lot of seeds in it.

Hope she gains weight soon.

[atvchick95]

it wouldn't hurt to invest in a Gram scale to weight her

Tiels should be between 90-110 Grams

I bought this one at my local Harbor Freight store - and love it - it has a option called Tarrif so when i sit a basket on it I hit the button and it clears the weight of the basket so i'm only weighing the bird inside the basket

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95364

[Mythara]

it wouldn't hurt to invest in a Gram scale to weight her

Tiels should be between 90-110 Grams

I bought this one at my local Harbor Freight store - and love it - it has a option called Tarrif so when i sit a basket on it I hit the button and it clears the weight of the basket so i'm only weighing the bird inside the basket

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95364

Kami is 84g. She's perfectly healthy though, and steady at that weight. Plus her keel bone feels fine, and the vet agreed she was fine. Lofty is 92g. Some birds are just smaller than others.

[atvchick95]

yes weight varies, that is the average weight I was told on here a while back

i looked up average weight of a love bird the other night and got like 6 different averages and only 2 matched up together

[LilQtBear]

it wouldn't hurt to invest in a Gram scale to weight her

Tiels should be between 90-110 Grams

I bought this one at my local Harbor Freight store - and love it - it has a option called Tarrif so when i sit a basket on it I hit the button and it clears the weight of the basket so i'm only weighing the bird inside the basket

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95364

Think you - I checked out that link and I think I need to invest :D I've been needing a digital scale anyway.

They have been using 1 dish, so i am also going to get another dish for the cage as well as look into a larger cage anyway, I have one with a rounded top, i would like one with a flat top, more of a rectangular cage. :-)

I have also been giving them seeds and stuff :blush: looking into making them better food. checking out some other peoples recipes on here :cool: going to figure out where to get all the ingredients and start trying to switch them over to a better diet. I think its going to take some word since they are so used to the seeds and stuff. :( But its worth the effort

[sweetrsue]

I brought a tiel to the vet that I was concerned was underweight. She was 85 grams but the vet said based on her bone structure she was just fine at that weight. So if the keel bone isn't sticking out she's OK.