# baby cockatiel wont try eating on her own?



## kaiel (Jun 2, 2012)

hello everyone 

my cockatiel's clutch hatched 35-37 days ago.

the babys are now 35-37 days old and they are all healthy and happy the all started flying last week so i clipped their wings yesterday.

however the are all 5weeks old + im feeding them twice a day and 3 of them stopped crying a week ago.

the third oldest one a female lutino :yellow pied: she still cries for food every 4-7 hours.

i think the problem is that she didn't try eating from the food bowls unlike the other 3 they love the pellets i gave them.

so i tried giving her pellets directly and i tried putting her in another cage with a bowl of pellets she only plays with it.

so im hoping anyone can give me an advice.

thanks in advance.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

I really don't suggest clipping wings at such a young age, do your babies eat from food bowls? You need to make it foraging style- put newspaper or anything the can make the bottom of your cage flat then you need to scatter seeds and pellets, at first they will play with it, that means they are learning what it is, sooner or later you will se her eat then you can take the newspaper out and she will eat on her own


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> the babys are now 35-37 days old and they are all healthy and happy the all started flying last week so i clipped their wings yesterday.


I'm sorry but this was not a good idea. They need to learn to fly before you do this. Now they will spend the next six months crashing.

As to her weaning, all birds wean differently. Some wean quicker, some slower. Based upon the ages you posted, they are just at 5 weeks. Give her time, keep offering her feeds when she wants them. Some babies need it more as a comfort thing. Try sprinkling food on the ground for them to peck at, tiels are foragers and often eat off the ground. Let her see you eating it (pretend) and offer it to her. They are getting seeds too right? A diet of all pellets is just as unhealthy as a diet of all seeds. You could try offering millet first, I started my babies off on millet and they loved it!!!


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## KerriMac0216 (Apr 7, 2013)

My babies are also five weeks and i offered them millet to start...they loved it now my brave ones are eating out of the food dish....I keep seed and pellet and some millet out...I am not hand feeding but my cock is feeding these chicks even though they are starting to eat on their own. Remember your last hatched will be a few days behind the first ones


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## kaiel (Jun 2, 2012)

thanks for the replys guys 

i will try putting food on the cage's floor.

and i wanted to say that i only clipped their wings because they all learned how to fly.

and a day befor i clipped their wings one of them crashed onto the wall and got hurt really bad he was dizzy for 6 hours and sleepy.

hes fine now but i dont want any of the babies getting hurt anymore they mean so much to me.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> and a day befor i clipped their wings one of them crashed onto the wall and got hurt really bad he was dizzy for 6 hours and sleepy.


If they were still crashing then no they had not yet learned how to fly. A bird who knows how to fly does not crash into random walls (windows maybe because they're clear). Leaving the wings and giving them a controlled environment to practice in would've been the best way to teach them. 

You can put paper towel down and sprinkle the seeds on it and let them have at it. You can also add pellets too so they can try a variety of foods.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

> and a day befor i clipped their wings one of them crashed onto the wall and got hurt really bad he was dizzy for 6 hours


You should of let them fly in a smaller room to teach them, but hopefully when their wings grow back they will relearn how to fly, tell us how it goes


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Babies learn foraging-style eating a lot sooner than they learn to eat from a bowl. In addition to sprinkling food on the floor, you can also hang up some millet spray and leafy greens for them to nibble on.

For future reference: when babies are learning to fly, it's best to let them do it in a relatively small room where they can't travel too far before they have to turn. This prevents them from building up too much speed, so they won't hit too hard when they smack into something. And they will smack into things at first - flapping the wings is instinctive but steering and landing have to be learned. So do what you can to minimize the dangers.

It's physically and mentally healthy for babies to learn how to fly well. It builds up their chest muscles and their endurance, and it teaches them to make decisions (which way to go, where to land, etc) as well as giving them a feeling of confidence and independence.


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