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6 month old Jardine Parrot really skinny

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6 month old Jardine Parrot really skinny

Postby KashifM » Fri Oct 30, 2020 12:45 am

I bought him when he was only a month old. Hand fed him until about 5 months of age and I couldnt wean him off myself so i gave back to the breeder to wean him off. Breeder weaned him off in 5 days. First couple days i had him ate completely fine and his crop was round. Its been about a week now where he doesnt eat as much and i can see the bone underneath his crop. I always keep water, millet, a bowl of vegetables and fruit and a bowl of pellets. He’ll sometimes eat the veggies and fruit but rarely pick at the pellet. Am i worrying too much about it or is there a real problem here? Thank you!
KashifM
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Types of Birds Owned: Jardine Parrot
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Re: 6 month old Jardine Parrot really skinny

Postby Pajarita » Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:36 am

Welcome to the forum and I am sorry to tell you that yes, there is a problem. Something is wrong if a baby bird (he is still a baby and make no mistake about that) is so skinny that his keel bone is protruding. I do not know what the problem is but I can tell you without the shadow of a doubt that sending him back to the breeder was a BIG mistake! For one thing, sending him away was terribly stressful and scary for him but, aside from that, no baby bird weans in five days. None. It just does not happen. He must have been starved in order to force him to eat adult food because, although I am sure the breeder will deny this, there is no other way of doing it so fast. The truth is that baby birds wean themselves, the same that puppies, kittens and all babies, including human ones do it. When they reach a certain age, they want to eat solid food and, although they will still take (and want) the formula for a bit longer, eventually, the bird rejects the syringe on its own. And then and only then it's when the baby is weaned. Not when we want it to happen and not at any pre-determined age, it happens when the baby is ready. Depriving a baby of food always has bad long term consequences with the most common of them being an eating disorder that the bird drags through its entire life. See, the thing is that breeders are NOT bird lovers (if they were, they would not breed parrots for the pet trade), they are merchants and their merchandise is birds. I know it sounds extreme and a 'too absolute' opinion (nothing is black and white and there are lots of shades of gray, etc) but there are only three reasons why anybody breeds baby parrots and sells them just like any other merchandise: 1) is that they do not know enough about parrots (because, if they did and loved them, they would not do it), 2) that they do know but don't care and 3) that they do not know and do not care to learn. Basically, it doesn't matter how you slice it, it comes up peanuts. Your breeder sells unweaned babies which is a clear sign of a bad breeder - because even though breeding them for the pet trade is bad no matter what, there are degrees of good and bad when it comes to breeding animals. A good breeder would sell only babies that were weaned with the abundance method, a bad breeder will sell unweaned babies and a mediocre one would sell weaned babies done the 'normal' way -which is not really good anyway but better than selling unweaned babies. In other countries, selling unweaned baby birds is illegal but here, in US, although the law prohibits selling puppies and kittens younger than 6 weeks, there is no specific law for bird and breeders take advantage of the loophole because it allows them to 'move merchandise' faster - which means more money and less work for them.

First I would make sure there are no other symptoms but his lack of appetite and his weight loss because he could have caught something at the breeder's so you will need to observe him VERY carefully for a couple of days (the ENTIRE two days, both from morning to night) but, in the meantime, you need to get him to eat more. Offer him soft food (two kinds served fresh and warm both at dawn and at dusk - try white rice which is very fattening for them) while still leaving millet (I would use a cockatiel mix instead because I do not feed pellets, they are not good for birds in the long term), a veggie, a fruit and a leafy green (different one each day) in its cage all day long. Offer him some birdy bread, too (birds love bread) and, if you don't make it for him (it's super easy if you have a bread machine), you can get an organic, sprouted multi-grain, low sodium bread in Aldi that is pretty good - if there is no Aldi near you, get Arnolds HealthNut or a similar multigrain bread. Not too much of the bread because they all have too much iron for a bird but offer him a piece and see if he doesn't eat it - and, if it does, get yourself a bread machine and make him some good birdy bread. But, if he doesn't go for the soft food, put him back on formula because babies cannot go with little food for long.

Now, if you see ANY other symptom: fluffed up during the day, lethargy (lack of desire for activity), diarrhea, polydipsia (drinking too much water), polyuria (too much urine), any type of secretion from the nares (nostrils) or eyes, any swelling anywhere (cere, for example), weakness (you see this clearly when they fly), disorientation (bird acts confused), lack of balance, etc take him to a vet for a complete physical to diagnose problem.

Let me know if there is anything else you need clarified.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Re: 6 month old Jardine Parrot really skinny

Postby chaneljanes » Thu Dec 10, 2020 10:47 pm

Thank you, this question was also relevant to me.
chaneljanes
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