# chick growing very slowly



## Tutu (Dec 31, 2013)

Hi everyone,

so my cockatiels are raising their first clutch ever and I have no experience when it comes to breeding problems.

The parents are currently raising two chicks... the older one weighed 4.01 grams when it hatched and has been growing rather fast (compared to the second chick). He is 14 days old today and weighs 50 grams. The second baby hatched 2 days later and weighed only 2.4 gram the day it was born, SO tiny! it has been eating and consistently gaining about 2-3 grams of weight every day, but now at 12 days old he only weighs 13.05 grams and seems really underdeveloped. 

Another problem is that the parents don't really feed the babies at night. the male WON'T sleep in the same cage as the mother and the babies and even though the mother has access to dry food and water overnight the babies have empty crops in the morning.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

You may need to co-feed. The issue could be that the parents are feeding a more solid diet for the older baby and the younger needs more liquidy food. I recommend getting up in the middle of the night to give one feed, and maybe another feed before bed at night. Another member had good luck with giving her babies some apple sauce, so try that as well. They're supposed to gain 2-3g a day, and since this one was so small, it's probably going to be a dainty bird.


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## Tutu (Dec 31, 2013)

you are probably right... I do think the parents feed the bigger baby more often, specially now that it is more vocal and bigger. I will consult the vet for co-feeding tips.  thank you!


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## Jenn1469 (Jan 23, 2018)

I agree, it probably isn't getting enough food or liquid. We lost our whole first clutch in February as my birds and myself were all clueless. They had a second clutch that hatched 4 weeks ago and I separated my male as he was pretty useless as a dad beyond sitting on the eggs.
My hen raised 4 chicks with a little help from myself. 
I used Harrison's high potency pellets ground to a powder and mixed it with water and apple sauce for the 2 younger chicks on the days they seemed like they could use a supplemental feeding. 
I also have 1 tiny chick, she is developing on track with her siblings but were they are all in the mid to upper 80s in grams at 4 weeks she is 67 grams. 

Your next time around will be better, first clutches are sadly kinda a learning experience for the parents and it seems a lot of birds struggle.


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