# 21 day old cockatiel chick cant use his feet??



## Amyy (Apr 23, 2011)

when i saw him yesterday afternoon...
looking almost dead...
he didnt have the strength to lift his head or open his eyes even (he is 21 days old today but looks like a 12day chick)...
he was utterly malnourished and i could see skin clinging to his bones   
i rushed and pulled the handfeeding formula i brought for emergencies and forcibly fed the chick some formula...he didnt even had the energy to lift his neck up
after seeing a half filled crop,i kept the chick back in the nestbox.
after 3 hours i fed him a little more quantity and saw that by the end of the feeding,he was asking for the formula on his own and i didnt have to force feed him...
i fed him again in the evening and then finally put him to bed after dinner.
today morning,when i fed him again,i noticed he looked better than yesterday and didnt look dead at all..
he was infact trying to move around..but sadly with the help of his left wing and beak...he wasnt using his feet at all....
i just hope his feet arent permanently damaged! i just hope he doesnt die because im feeding him regularly and from tomorow im going to feed him at 7am,12pm,4pm,7pm and 11pm.
(although today when i fed him in the afternoon,at 3 he still had a little food in his crop left...from the morning feeding 
and when i fed him after his crop got empty ie at 4:30,
and checked him for the third feeding at 6:30,his crop wasnt completely empty...
so should i feed him just thrice a day or??)
i hope its okay to feed him at these timings because he really looks like a 12 day chick and i dont think i can feed him at the same timings as a normal 21 day chick.so am i doing everything right?and any suggestions would be appreciated.also do you guys think he will survive if i handfeed him regularly?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

There might be a problem if his crop isn't emptying. Please read these articles to see whether anything there applies to you:

http://justcockatiels.weebly.com/sour-and-slow-crop-remedies.html
http://justcockatiels.weebly.com/crop-and-digestive-problems.html
http://justcockatiels.weebly.com/yeast-problems-with-babies.html

Here is a series of series of educational pictures on handfeeding tools and techniques from srtiels, our resident expert on breeding. Her technique for holding the baby may be too advanced for beginners and it's OK to use a simpler grip:
http://s525.photobucket.com/albums/... birds/Hand Feeding tools and info/?start=all

She recommends feeding 10% of body weight at each feeding. Since he's at the developmental stage of a 12 day old chick, you should feed him in the way that's appropriate for a baby that age, not his actual age of 21 days.

Please look at how the baby is holding its legs, and post pictures for us to look at if you can. If the legs stick out to the side at an abnormal angle all the time the baby might have splay legs. This can be fixed; the thread at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=19362 will help.

If you post pictures of his legs, his crop, and his whole body this will help us assess his condition.


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## leeisme (Feb 4, 2011)

also what type of handfeeding formula are you using. A while back there was a recall on Kaytee exact formula but it was on certain lot numbers. I unfortunately lost 4 chicks because I didnt know. And although they were being fed faithfully they kept withering away and finally died. To be sure he is getting enough check the keel bone. The bone under the crop. If it is sharp it might not be getting enough nutrition.


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## Amyy (Apr 23, 2011)

ill post pictures within the next hour.
and i feed him nutribird A19 handfeeding formula


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Nutribird A19 Hand Rearing Formula is for Macaws, Eclectus parrots and African grey parrots. It will have way too much fat for a cockatiel, you will have liver problems and most likely slow crop if you continue to feed this. You need Nutribird A21 Hand Rearing food which is a general-purpose hand feeding formula, suitable for all bird species.


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