Ill-looking macaw baby?

[~Drini~]

Are you able to monitor his weight?

No, my scale had broken but I have another one on the way. He was 901g at vet A and 860g at vet B, but that was on day 2 when he was very actively vomiting.

 

[Pixiebeak]

It doesn't hurt to offer a baby hand feeding comfort like at the end of the day .
I will leave it to macaw foks in weaning age . But I think I read parents will still give comfort feeds up to a year

 

[Peachfaced]

Sorry all! It has been a hectic weekend (for non-bird reasons).

The little dude continues to do relatively well. We have fallen into a rhythm with the medications (I now just take him into a dark bathroom where I can towel and medicate without him seeing it coming). After we do medications, he will very willing take several mLs of water from the exact same syringes I use for the meds. He honestly will very willingly take as many mLs of water as I give him. I am not sure if he recognizes it washes out the taste of the medications, if he’s just really thirsty, or if it resembles handfeeding to him. I have tried giving him the meds without force, but as soon as he gets a taste of what is in the syringe, he will leave it.

He will still gag or even vomit a tiny bit (1-2x a day max if at all) but I think it’s getting better. He is not eating a whole lot. He is pooping, so he must be eating something, but I swear my conures eat more than he does. I have started exposing him to Harrison’s pellets (just a couple in his dish and offered by hand) and he has technically eaten a couple. I also thought maybe he would be willing to nutriberries but he had more fun just crumbling them into pieces on the floor. I also don’t see him dunking food into his waterbowl like my conures do. He was a lot more willing to eat pellets that I had pre-soaked, but he doesn’t seem to know how to do it.

I am also still seeing wing twitching and head bobbing and baby squeaks (?). Part of me wonders if he should still be receiving handfeedings? Is he not eating because he is still ill or because he is not fully weaned?

Right now he’s on my chest getting scritches:
View attachment 446833 View attachment 446834

I dunno if this will work for you, but I recently saw this and figured it’d be worth a try. Warm up a little bit of mashed banana, and mix the meds in. Feed via spoon. You don’t want it hot, but roughly the temperature of formula.

 

[Toy]

Sounds like he's reverted to needing hand-fed due to him being sick. You can syringe feed him formula or try soft mushy foods like mashed sweet or white potatoes (cook them first). Soaked pellets. Just soak them a few minutes in hot water, long enough to get them partly soft. Drain off the excess water. Bananas, etc. I'd place a bowl (I got a heavy crock type cat dish for JaKhu) on the cage floor with mushy foods for him to eat. Once he's over his meds & feeling much better try mixed veggies. I pop them in the microwave, with a little water on, for about 5 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water to cool to room temp, drain. I do enough to feed 3 parrots for 2-3 days. Drain & put a heaping tablespoon full in a dish. Keep in mind parrots do not eat the skins of veggies. They actually will peel a pea, lima bean, corn, grape, etc. Keep pellets in his cage at all times.

Young macaws need to learn how to perch & how to eat different foods. To them seeds, nuts, chunk of a veggie is some foreign object. Their parents fed them regurgitated mush. You fake eating shows them the food is safe to eat. They will drop a lot, as they also need to learn to use their beak & feet to hold & eat the food. A great toy, that teaches them how to use those big feet, is a rubber dog ball with slits or openings in it. One bigger than a golf ball, but no larger than say a baseball. JaKhu would pick hers up & wave it around, bite it & throw it. Eventually she destroyed it.

My B&G Macaw (JaKhu) was pretty much weaned when I got her at 4 months of age. Parrot store/breeder told me no in-shell nuts yet, as her beak needed to grow more. Generally by the time they are weaned, or close to it, they are more interested in playing than eating. Being sick or in the weaning stage they will loose some weight. During molt they may also cut back on food or increase eating. Molting can be painful. They need a little higher fat in their diet, so a few nuts are a good option.

 

[~Drini~]

Today I tried grinding up some Harrison’s high potency pellets and adding water to form a liquidy paste. Man he went nuts for that and ate maybe 30mL total of it before he stopped taking it. This will be great for giving medications too. I need to figure out how to make things less messy though:




My questions:

• Should I be giving handfeedings?
• Will giving him some handfeedings do harm (ie. reverse whatever weaning progress he has made)?
• If I should be giving some handfeedings, how often and how much (how many mL) should I be offering?

 

[April]

Today I tried grinding up some Harrison’s high potency pellets and adding water to form a liquidy paste. Man he went nuts for that and ate maybe 30mL total of it before he stopped taking it. This will be great for giving medications too. I need to figure out how to make things less messy though:

View attachment 446953
View attachment 446954

My questions:

• Will giving him some handfeedings do harm (ie. reverse whatever weaning progress he has made)?
• If I should be giving some handfeedings, how often and how much (how many mL) should I be offering?

Look at that happy face! I'm so glad he readily ate the mush. I'm no expert but I don't think it will do any harm especially if he does recognize other foods and pellets it can be a comfort/treat. But hopefully some more experienced folks in that regard will chime in.

 

[Shezbug]

Give him some yummy warm mush off a spoon, he will love it and so will you.

Burt had a big scare which caused a crash and fall the other day and it really upset him so he was all sulky till I gave him some warm mashed sweet potato off a spoon.... fixes everything lol
Spoon feeding some warm mushy pellets is a wonderful way to spend some quality time together

 

[Pixiebeak]

He looks so happy!
Eating that much makes me the hasn't been eating enough in his own yet. As members mentioned being in a new home or being under the weather or a combo of both can have newly weaned birds revert. Food equals confidence, and that's why weaning by abundance is offering hand formula and then offering your veggies and moisten pellets . Because then babies have confidence to explore new foods .
You need a scale to monitor.
How's the registration? Less? I hope the meds are making him feel a lot better. I think he really has something going on , even if minor, you witnessed his regurge before getting him , and then the stress of new home it guy a little worse.
I honestly think he even looks better here in these new pictures!! Yay! Than your pet store pictures
I think offering a little in the morning and a little in the evening would be fine , and just a continuous of weaning by abundance. Getting him grounded and eating well with you..you can also add a little cooked puree veggies to your homemade pellet formula. Like pumpkin, sweet potato, kale , butternut squash.
So happy he is with you