# Wierd crying sound



## andreanne1422

Alright so Lila has been making this wierd noise. When I come to take her out of her cage she starts doing it and won't stop until I place her on her play stand or give her something to eat. I'm just worried that she may be doing it because she's in pain or something so if any of you could tell me why she's doing this and what it means it would be really great. I managed to get an audio of her doing it. It's at the link below.

http://www.geocities.com/mice_pups/Lilacrying.wma


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## Raven2322

That's a baby static noise. They normally make it while still being hand fed and when they want food. I don't know how long after weaning they make it. I got my Edward at 3 months and he still made it a little sometimes. Maybe one of the breeders will know more.


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## tielfan

How old is your bird and how does she behave when she makes this noise? If she's quite young (about two months or so) and bobs her head while she's doing this, she's begging to be fed. If she's older and sort of crouches and/or puts her tail up, it's mating behavior.

If she's begging for food, try holding some food in your hand for her to eat. This is comforting to handfed chicks. If she's begging for, erm, something else, there are techniques that can reduce her hormone levels.


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## andreanne1422

I'm not sure how old she is, like I mentioned in my other post, but she does bob her head like there's a hip hop song playing. From your guys' replies I think she's asking for some food, wow that means she's younger then I thought  She stops when I give her millet but I don't want to encourage her to do that for millet since she loves it so much and I want it to be a treat or reward. So i'll handfeed her some pellets  As for her beeing handfed I'm not sure. I think the petstore does that but I'd have to ask.


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## andreanne1422

Sorry forgot to add that she does this noise when I come home from work and I take her out of her cage. I'm switching her to a mainly pellet diet (of course she'll have veggies and some seeds) could she be doing this because she doesn't like the pellets and isn't eating them, so when she sees me she wants me to give her some seeds?


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## xxxSpikexxx

She could be hungry, since you are switching her to pellets. Birds can and will starve themselves if they refuse to eat something they don't want to. Here is a link about converting to pellets http://www.birdchannel.com/media/bi...rd-nutrition/convert-bird-to-pellets.aspx.pdf I personally don't like the take everything out (except water of course) for several hours method. Spike has both seeds and pellets in his cage and seems to eat both. He also likes peas and broccoli


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## andreanne1422

Thanks for the link Spike! I've started showing her that I'm eating the pellets and then offering them to her and she's been eating them  Yay! I'll keep a close eye on her tho and continue to show her how yummy her pellets are!


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## xxxSpikexxx

Thats good  Is there away you can weigh her in the morning? I think it is good to keep an eye on our tiels weights, especially when you are changing their diets


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## andreanne1422

I don't have a scale right right now, put since you mentioned it I find that it would be very useful to get one. Hopefully in the next day or so.  Thanks for bringing that up I never thought a scale would be of an important use but I can see now how helpful it could be with a cockatiel


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## atvchick95

Make sure the scale weighs in Grams  

I'm not sure where you are but I got one at my local Harbor Freight Tool Store, it actually weighs in Grams, Ounces and pounds and it has a button If i need to use a little basket to hold the baby (for the ones who won't hold still) I turn it on, sit the basket on hit the TARE button and it'll clear the reading back to Zero then only weigh the bird and not the bird Plus the basket(or what ever I used to hold the baby)


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## allen

keep a very close eye on her that is the sound that my 8 week old chick makes when it is hungry and mom and dad feeds it then it stops 

i,m not saying this has happened but as a breeder i have had a few chicks revert back and i had to hand feed them for and additional 1-2 weeks mind you this is rare but does happen


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## andreanne1422

Oh wow, so from this how old do you guys think she is? When I first got her she had bald spots under her wings, could that help with determining her age? She grew feather under them now. I'll make sure I keep a close eye on her, she's out of her cage often anyways. 

Allen what would the signs be if I had to start hand feeding her? Would she stop eating her food? Anything else she'd do?

Atvchick95, thanks for the info on your scale. I live in Alberta, Canada. Your scale sounds awesome, so much details  I'll make sure I get one like that. Better pay a little more but get something that works properly!


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## tielfan

You can use a kitchen scale or a postal scale that weighs in grams. I have this one: http://www.amazon.com/Pelouze-SP5-2200g-Capacity-All-Purpose-Straight/dp/B00006IACE/


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## andreanne1422

Cool thansk! I don't have a kitchen scale, never had use for one. I'm planning on getting one tomorrow it's hard to go out since I don't drive and my boyfriend and I have opposite work scheduals this week.

How often should I be weighthing her? And does anyone have an idea on how old she could be?


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## tielfan

Based on the begging behavior, it sounds like she's very young - maybe 2 or 3 months old. She must have been handfed - she wouldn't think of asking YOU for food if she wasn't, since you don't look much like her mama! So she associates humans with food, and it's conceivable that she's older but has started begging again because she can't satisfy her needs by herself. You're converting her to pellets - are you sure she's getting enough to eat? Here's an article on diet conversions and the importance of going slow with them: http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.org/info/nutrition-conversion.html


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## andreanne1422

Wow tielfan that was a REALLY good article! Yesterday I showed her that I was eating her pellets and she ate some right out of my hand! She hasn't been doing that noise since the day before yesterday. I guess she must be eating the pellets but I'll buy a scale to make sure she's not loosing weight. Currently she seems pulmy to me  She does really like her seeds tho, so every nigth I'll make sure I add some to her diet. Today I handfed her some pellets again and she had some more. I'll keep doing this until I can see that she's eating them out of her bowl. 

Thanks for the age estimate. When I got her she had bald spots under her wings, which are now growing feathers could this be plucking or could this help in determining her age?


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## tielfan

Cockatiels are seed eaters in the wild, so it's good to keep some seed in their diet. If you want to boost the nutrition content you can soak or sprout some seed for her.

I think the feathers under the wing do come in more slowly than the "exterior" feathers but I'm not too sure about it. It's not an area that I inspect very often!


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## silverflower

I know it has been a few days, but how is the little one? 

From what you said about the bald spots under the wing I think it is much younger than 2 or 3 months. The store must have sold you an unweaned baby. How long are the tailfeathers?


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## srtiels

_*i,m not saying this has happened but as a breeder i have had a few chicks revert back and i had to hand feed them for and additional 1-2 weeks mind you this is rare but does happen*_
*-----------------------------------*

I'm experiencing this right now. I have a grey baby (hatch date 5/2) that has been eating on it's own for the past 2 weeks, is chunky with good weight and yesterday started begging and crying when it seen me bring out the formula for the younger babies in the room. It started the other ones in the cage to beg for a bit of formula when I gave it a few cc. I am baffled on why it re-verted 

Can you post a pix of your baby?

This pix is of some of my babies from June 10-16 and these brats still want to be handfed 2X a day. Usually when their tails are just an 1" longer then they are approx weaning age. These babies have good weight, they just want to be babies and be fed rather than eat themselves.


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## Tieltale

srtiels said:


> _*i,m not saying this has happened but as a breeder i have had a few chicks revert back and i had to hand feed them for and additional 1-2 weeks mind you this is rare but does happen*_
> *-----------------------------------*
> 
> I'm experiencing this right now. I have a grey baby (hatch date 5/2) that has been eating on it's own for the past 2 weeks, is chunky with good weight and yesterday started begging and crying when it seen me bring out the formula for the younger babies in the room. It started the other ones in the cage to beg for a bit of formula when I gave it a few cc. I am baffled on why it re-verted
> 
> Can you post a pix of your baby?
> 
> This pix is of some of my babies from June 10-16 and these brats still want to be handfed 2X a day.


Sammy has done the same thing.. she was only being fed at night but now begs to be fed 2 and occassionaly 3 times a day.. *and she wont stop begging until I feed her*. She is eating well on her own (cracking seed) .. and tasting the veggies at 'forage time'.. hatch date (June 13)


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