# Whole seeds in their crop



## cynthia (Aug 15, 2011)

hello, 
I'm new here, I'm Cynthia, I'm 14 years old (and a huge cockatiel fan!), I'm from Holland and since the dutch cockatiel forum will not answer my questions I will ask them here and hope they will be answered

I have 5 baby cockatiels of 11,10,8,6 and 4 days old. they have whole seeds in their crop and they poop them whole out  is this normal? because there are also black spots in their crop. Should I start to handfeed them, I don't have any experience with handfeeding so I'm a little afraid they don't survive if I will handfeed them.

Here are some links for the photos of their crop. 
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/97/p8140052.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/840/p8140053.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/194/p8140054.jpg/

Cynthia


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

If seed is all you feed the parents, then yes there will be seed in the crop. See if the parents won't eat some veggies or some cooked rice or something, this might help with the babies digestion. They look a little dehydrated, but not enough for any emergency procedure, you could feed them a little bit of a week solution of formula, not straight water, there is less chance of aspiration if it has a little substance in it. This would help with the dehydration and also with the digestion, the whole seeds are not something to worry about, but you do need to start feeding a better diet to mom & dad. 

I would not pull them for hand feeding, especially at your age. You would not be able to feed them enough times a day while at school to allow for good growth unless someone was willing to help you feed while you were gone. It's best to leave them with the parents and if you must, co-parent them. You can search the forum for co-parenting, it's pretty much you leave them with the parents and you pull them for one or two feedings a day then return them.

Good luck!


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## cynthia (Aug 15, 2011)

I don't only feed them seeds, I feed them a variety of veggies and fruit every day, cooked rice/pasta, eggfood, wetted multi grain bread etc. I replace it at least 2 times a day so they have plenty. I don't know why they are still eating a lot of seeds. I can't give them no seed or at a later time because there budgies and other kinds of birds in the aviary.

I have summer vacation till 29 of august the cockatiels are 26,25,22,22 and 18 days old. 
How many times a day do they need food at that age, cause maybe I can make a sort of a schedule. I'm really afraid that they'll die if I let them sit with there parents


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

OK, when you say they're pooping out the whole seeds, are the seeds still formed? Because to me, those crops look perfectly normal. Co-parenting works best. If you pulled them now, especially the younger ones, you would have to feed every 2hrs even through the night, which is really hard to do. At the older age you mentioned you would have to feed them three times a day, so for instance, 7am, 3pm, 7pm would be your feeding schedule. But, its best to leave them with the parents because they get healthy bacteria and immunities from the parents that hand rearing formula can't provide.


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

They don't look like they are in danger. They look fine. It's best to leave them with their parents. If you pulled them when you said, the younger ones would need to be fed 4 times a day, 7:00 AM, 12:00 PM (Noon), 5:00 PM, 11:00 PM, until they are 24 days old, then 3 times a day. 3 times a day, I would feed 7:00, 17:00, 23:00 or 7:00 AM, 5:00 PM, 11:00 PM you want the feedings as stretched out as possible so they do not go to bed with an empty crop or wait too long for their first feeding. You could probably do 6:00 AM, 4:00 PM, 10:00 PM if you felt like getting up that early so you could keep a relatively early bed time, still that is too late for a young teenager going to school. 
With co-parenting you'd pull them for the am feeding, and maybe the early pm feeding and let mom and dad feed at night.


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## cynthia (Aug 15, 2011)

Thanks for your advise. I think I will let them with their parents.It's a lot safer but if they would not grow good enough or if the avian vet will say that they're not healthy I will handfeed them.. I do not want to play with their lives and I would like to sacrifice my sleeping time  
(That were my bedtimes last year... 11/12 PM bed and getting up at 6-7 so that's no problem)
Again thanks for your advise.. it helped me a lot


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