# What age do they wean?



## superluvrgurl

Okay so currently I am hand feeding my baby tiel (who still has no name cause I cant figure out if its a he or she... thats still a work in progress) anyhow.. the baby is 8 weeks now, and I hand feed it.... but I dont know when to stop. I have a bowl of little parakeet and finch seeds in the bottom of the cage, and some water, but I have never caught the baby eating it. How do I encourage baby to eat seeds? When can I start giving it fresh veggies like to do my Ryley? This is the first baby I have had, so this is fairly new to me. 

Thanks so much!
~Rissa~


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## superluvrgurl

Okay so I feel dumb for posting this becasue tonight at supper time, I offered Ryley some egg whites, and I just put them on the bottom of the cage. The baby wondered over and started eating them with Ryley. He then followed her to the seed cup and to the water dish. When I fed the baby tonight, I didn't feed him till he was full, just enough so that I knew he wouldnt be starving. That way, he might decide to try some of the foods that I offer. Well, apparently it worked because as I type, both the baby and Ryley are flinging eggwhites all over the cage! lol Maybe the baby just needed someone to show him how to eat 

~Rissa~


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## xxxSpikexxx

Sounds like the baby is learning to eat, I would keep a close eye on him to make sure he is eating enough. Here is a link http://www.cockatiel.org/articles/handfeeding.html with ages of chicks and how much food they need. Hope this helps


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## superluvrgurl

cool article... but what is fledging? I noticed that word associated with chicks that where 35-44 days. Ive never heard that term before.

thanks for the help!
~Rissa~


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## xxxSpikexxx

Fledging is when they start to lose some weight in order to prepare themselves to start flying. Although they should not lose more than 10% of their body weight.


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## Bea

I just wanted to add that it's never too early to start offering veggies.  Sounds like your baby is on the way to weaning.


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## superluvrgurl

Im still hand feeding him atleast twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening. The rest of the day he eats seeds, pellets, and whatever veggies and protien I give them for the day. He's always making that static noise to beg me for food, even when I know that he cannot possibly be that hungry cause his little crop is near full with everything else he eats. When will he stop begging me for food? Oh, and the baby flaps his wings alot... as if he's trying to take off... is he trying to learn to fly? Does he need to do that? This is my first baby as I said before so I am new to this. I want to do the best I can for him.

~Rissa~
ps: HE LOVES PEAS! lol what other kid loves peas?!?! what a hoot!


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## Bea

They usually start slimming down to fly around 4-5 weeks old. The parents will feed them less at that time too, to motivate them to come out on their own. Perhaps you shouldn't fill his crop all the way - i've never known a bird to be able to fly with a full crop.


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## tielfan

Fledging is when the chick leaves the nest. Prior to that they start losing weight and start flapping a lot in the nest to strengthen their muscles. Fledging age can vary - my chicks fledged at 3 1/2 to 4 weeks old, which is a little early. Most of them took their first voluntary flight (taking off on purpose as opposed to flapping on the way down after falling off a perch) a day or two after they left the nest.

My chicks learned to forage a lot faster than they learned to eat from a dish. So spread food out on a flat surface (as you've already learned) and also hang up thin veggies and millet spray in a place where the chicks can reach it easily. Small pellets are a good learning food because they don't have hulls, and my chicks learned to eat pellets before they learned to eat seeds.


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