# Baby Trouble



## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

Stinky and Snowy have a clutch of 5 babies right now. 4 of them are just fine and getting big and strong. there last baby though is now a week old but only weights that of a newly hatched chick. They just aren't feeding him. I took him out and made some hand formula up for his age and tried giving it to him off of a spoon. he would not open his beak for me. so i tried something else. i put a bit of food on my finger nail and gently stuck it alongside of his beak where the crack is between top and bottom and he opened and tasted the food. he made a few little squeaks of feeding and stopped. i grabbed the spoon and he started to want to feed. I managed to get something in his crop. I know he is dehydrated because he is hot pink in color and looks like crap. He is still able to hold his head up though. It seems as though he didn't know how to feed or something. what else can i do here? I put him back in the nest box in hopes of them feeding him now that he seems to know what to do. ill be checking on him though out the day. 

This has been his weights for the last 7 days:
Day 1(hatch): 3g 
Day 2: 3g 
Day 3: 4g
Day 4: 5g
Day 5: 4g
Day 6: 3g
Today: 3g


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

The parents must be feeding him at least a little bit or he would have starved to death by this time. You did the right thing by assist feeding him, and you will need to keep on assist feeding him until you see that the parents have started doing an adequate job of it. Our most experienced breeder (srtiels) has an article on assist feeding on her website at http://justcockatiels.weebly.com/assist-feeding-chicks-in-the-nest.html

It will be easier to assist feed if you have a plastic syringe or pipette. For a tiny baby like this you only need a small syringe. Here is some syringe info from srtiels website:


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

Now with what it says on the side of my formula container for his age is that it should be 1 part food to 2-3 water. is this alright? also instead of water i am using electrolyte solution that i got at the pharmacy.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Does it look like the parents have fed him since the earlier assist feeding? I'm not an expert on this sort of thing, but I think the answer to that question determines what sort of proportion you want to feed him. 

Based on Susanne's recommendations at http://justcockatiels.weebly.com/assist-feeding-chicks-in-the-nest.html if the parents are feeding the baby you don't want to fill him up with food, so he will continue to beg the parents and respond well when they feed him. If he is dehydrated you want to give him mostly liquids to help him process the thick food that the parents are giving, so you would give him a thinner dilution of formula than what the package suggests.

But if the parents are not feeding him, he needs both the calories and the liquid so you should follow the package directions. If someone more knowledgeable than me recommends otherwise then definitely listen to them, but that's my understanding of the situation.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

They have not fed him. I have seen him sorta beg and he didn't have a crop full at the time either. he has put on 1g since this morning so i guess im doing something right.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Good work! As he gains size and strength he might beg more effectively, and maybe the parents will start feeding him.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

setback. i fed him at 6am this morning and the food i put in hasn't gone anywhere. i know it was warm enough because he spits out cold stuff and i keep a thing of hot water next to me to keep dunking the syringe in to keep it warm. going to just give him a few drops of warm water to see if that helps things get moving again.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

This could be the development of slow crop...try mixing some ACV with his next feed. The problem is that you have to have the temp at 104-106 degrees or the crop slows down.


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## birdlover302 (Jul 19, 2011)

Went to give him water and he was gone. cold. his suffering has ended. what the worst part is, is that my husband blames me. he says that he said something 3-4 days ago but i did nothing. 4 days ago i had a fever of 103.2 with tonsilitis. the baby wasn't hot pink in color either. i just wish i could have done more. i tried. my last memory is me this morning feeding a very hungry baby who was happy to get food. R.I.P little one


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I'm sorry for your loss. And no, its not your fault. We can't catch everything that happens in the nest.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I'm sorry that you lost the baby. You did what you could for him, but quite often when parents don't feed one baby there's a good reason for it. He may have been born with a problem that wasn't survivable and the parents knew it.


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## thewandererw (Aug 22, 2011)

sorry for your loos of the little one.


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## Harleysgirl (Oct 31, 2011)

Oh no sorry for your loss :-(

Breeding is hard and very emotional


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## Clair (Jul 31, 2012)

I'm so sorry. I agree - it's not your fault.


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## lilbear (Aug 2, 2012)

Oh no! So sorry for your loss. I agree it is not your fault he would have passed sooner if you were there. so you did everything you could have.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

Sorry for your loss..don't blame yourself for this. We can't prevent every problem from occurring.


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