# Is my baby cockatiel sick?? Please help



## caterpi (Jun 9, 2017)

Hi i'm new to the forum, i've got a baby cockatiel around a week ago and i'm a newbie so i'm becoming extremely paranoid.

My tiel is around 40 days now and from its behavior i think it might be sick and i'm probably doing something wrong.. I contacted the vet but he will be available only in a couple of days

So the problematics are the following..
I've noticed his feces have like a defined shape but are soft and surrounded by transparent liquid. They have been like this from the day i got it basically and at first i thought it was normal, then i started looking a lot on the web and i guess they are a symptom of something? The breeder just suggested to make the food thicker, and i tried but nothing changed.

Another thing is, when i feed it sometimes he sneezes, and in the last 2 days sometimes he has like hiccups, but both happens only while eating. Also when he eats, he has like a little air bubble on its left, is it normal?

He doesn't want to be touched by anything so after eating it gets very messy, especially on the feathers close to its beak and i guess it drives him crazy.. but i really don't know how to clean it..

He started learning to fly a little so i've moved it from the box to the cage, is it too early?
Also i wanted to ask.. when do tiels completely grow their feathers? Mine is still bald in some spots, around the neck, the top of the crop and a bit behid.

Even tough it is a handfed cockatiel, in the beginning it was extremely scared of me, now it is going a little better but he still doesn't want to be touched, although it started to accept to climb on my hand.

I'm really sorry for the infinite questions, but as i said i'm really going crazy for it. I'd be really grateful if you could help


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## ParrotletsRock (Oct 8, 2013)

caterpi said:


> Hi i'm new to the forum, i've got a baby cockatiel around a week ago and i'm a newbie so i'm becoming extremely paranoid.
> 
> My tiel is around 40 days now and from its behavior i think it might be sick and i'm probably doing something wrong.. I contacted the vet but he will be available only in a couple of days
> 
> ...



I'm sorry your having problems and are stressed out over your baby, handfeeding is not for the weak at heart that's for sure!! Are his feces a normal brownish beige color? Is there a normal white urates as well? If so then soft formed feces with liquid is not unusual for a handfed baby on formula.. do not thicken it to much because then he will not get enough fluids, best to mix it according to the intpstructions on the package. 
What concerns me is the sneezing and hiccuping during feeding, are you using a syringe? I prefer a small spoon, I don't use anything fancy, just a small human baby spoon and it works well for me. I'm concerned he may of aspirated a small amount of formula into his lungs... has he ever choked when you have fed him? A large amount of formula aspirated will kill him immediately, however a small amount will sit there and cause aspiration pneumonia which can develop over a few days and lead to serious illness... the bubble you mentioned do you mean a small bubble in his crop? That is from swallowing air while fed and can gently be massaged out... I gently rub my thumb down the side of the crop until I see the bubble go or feel it burn out... however this needs to be done VERY gently or you can push the formula up the throat and baby can inhale it leading to aspiration. If the bubble is not to large it can be left alone and baby will burp it out.

Formula really needs to be cleaned off the feathers every time you feed and not allowed to dry, dry formula sets like cement and can be very irritating to the baby. I use a warm wet face cloth to epwash faces and chests when I am done feeding... yes they struggle and do not like it, like most young kids...lol mine are used to being handled and picked up tho, they are not afraid of me or the cloth, they just don't care for having their faces washed.

Babies should not have so many bald spots, it is normal for a full crop to appear sparsely Feathered when younger and a bald spot on the back of the head in some mutations, however at 40 days a bird should be pretty much Feathered out... was he plucked by his parents?? 

Sounds like even tho he was handfed he was not socialized and has not bonded to humans.. keep working with him and he should come around... good luck!


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## caterpi (Jun 9, 2017)

ParrotletsRock said:


> I'm sorry your having problems and are stressed out over your baby, handfeeding is not for the weak at heart that's for sure!! Are his feces a normal brownish beige color? Is there a normal white unrated are well? If so then soft formed feces with liquid is not unusual for a handfed baby on formula.. do not thicken it to much because then he will not get enough fluids, best to mix it according to the intpstructions on the package.
> What concerns me is the sneezing and hiccuping during feeding, are you using a syringe? I prefer a small spoon, I don't use anything fancy, just a small human baby spoon and it works well for me. I'm concerned he may of aspirated a small amount of formula into his lungs... has he ever choked when you have fed him? A large amount of formula aspirated will kill him immediately, however a small amount will sit there and cause aspiration pneumonia which can develop over a few days and lead to serious illness... the bubble you mentioned do you mean a small bubble in his crop? That is from swallowing air while fed and can gently be massaged out... I gently rub my thumb down the side of the crop until I see the bubble go or feel it burn out... however this needs to be done VERY gently or you can push the formula up the throat and baby can inhale it leading to aspiration. If the bubble is not to large it can be left alone and baby will burp it out.
> 
> Formula really needs to be cleaned off the feathers every time you feed and not allowed to dry, dry formula sets like cement and can be very irritating to the baby. I use a warm wet face cloth to epwash faces and chests when I am done feeding... yes they struggle and do not like it, like most young kids...lol mine are used to being handled and picked up tho, they are not afraid of me or the cloth, they just don't care for having their faces washed.
> ...


Thank you so much for your response, only now i understand why it is never suggested to get them when they are so small, i just wanted to have a bigger bond but now i wish i got it a bit older.

The feces are a beige/greenish color, sometimes there isn't the white part, sometimes they seem more normal and at times the liquid surrounding the feces is white.

I feed him with a syringe because that was the way the breeder suggested me, but if it's possible with a spoon as well i think it would cause less problems.. so i'll try with that next time. I don't remember him chocking while eating... the hiccups are really recent so i don't know..:wacko: The air bubble goes away by itself after a while, but i've noticed it appears every time he eats, and it's always on the same spot. I can't massage it out as he doesn't let me touch it

I don't know if it got plucked by its parents.. but i've always thought it was normal to still be so "bald" as his sisters are almost in the same conditions. His neck is completely bald...

I hope to see a vet as soon as possible so at least i can be sure


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## cheery (Nov 15, 2012)

Oscar came to us at 8 weeks and was fully feathered and flying. We kept feeding him with a spoon for a few weeks until he got used to his new surroundings and then put seed and water in the bottom of his cage and then in the trays on the side. It sounds as though you did take him a bit early but it should help you bond better as you will always be his mother provided nothing happens so that he is cared of you.


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## caterpi (Jun 9, 2017)

cheery said:


> Oscar came to us at 8 weeks and was fully feathered and flying. We kept feeding him with a spoon for a few weeks until he got used to his new surroundings and then put seed and water in the bottom of his cage and then in the trays on the side. It sounds as though you did take him a bit early but it should help you bond better as you will always be his mother provided nothing happens so that he is cared of you.


Thank you for your reply, i took him to the vet today and he said he seems fine and well feathered, but i was a bit perplexed as he like barely looked at him :hmm: i started feeding with the spoon but he still has hiccups, about that the vet didn't say much.. just to keep an eye on it and also to start the weaning. His feathers kinda looks like the picture you have of oscar (?) at the end, with those bald spots XD


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## cheery (Nov 15, 2012)

That picture is of Beauty who died several years ago. He pulled all his feathers out but was a Lutino. He couldn't fly and the reason I had him was the owner was going to 'dispose' of him aged about 6 months. He was a real character and went everywhere by climbing. Up curtains, stairs, up your leg when you were sat. I was going to get another Lutino but I would have always been thinking about Beauty and not my new companion.


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## caterpi (Jun 9, 2017)

I'm so sorry about that, didn't the feathers grow back? a tiel crawling everywhere seems so cute and funny


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## cheery (Nov 15, 2012)

No, he would continually pull out any new ones. Sometimes you would hear a load squawk as he pulled another out. We did everything a vet suggested, toys, another bird for company but nothing worked. Other than that he was very happy, always singing and talking.


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## caterpi (Jun 9, 2017)

I see, at least apart from that he was happy!


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