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Post by conureowner1 on Oct 11, 2009 15:51:21 GMT 10
Hi everyone my sun conure has lost weight. When i got him he weighed 106 grams now he weighs 96grams. I did start worming yesterday and the day before that i straved him to see if he would eat seed. Could he have lost the weight due to me straving him i did give him pellets at 3:30pm and worming. I noticed when i started worming he didn't drink much or eat much. When i put fresh water into his cage and mixed some vetafarm pellets with passwell pellets he began to eat. As soon as i put the fresh water in he dove on it. I did buy some hand rearing formula and tryed to feed him some he did take some but got more on him and the cage then in his crop.
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Post by vankarhi on Oct 11, 2009 21:01:40 GMT 10
have you contacted the breeder at all yet?? Maybe you need to take him back to her so she can reasure you nothing is wrong with him?  |
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Post by asharee on Oct 11, 2009 21:47:34 GMT 10
im sure he will be fine tara  |
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Post by avinet on Oct 11, 2009 21:49:47 GMT 10
What did you use for worming - some wormers have a bitter taste and the birds will avoid drinking it for as long as possible. How long did you leave wormer in with him before giving fresh water.
Starving a young bird to try to change his eating habits is definitely not advised - any changes made should be gradual, not cold turkey. As some of us have kept on saying, it is MUCH better for him to get a pellet based diet rather than a seed based diet. Even Passwell pellets, which I don't think are the best around, are far better than seed for him.
A 10 gram weight loss is significant at a time when a young bird that is properly weaned should be gaining weight. One thing that occurred to me is that is original weight was taken when he had a full crop, and the latest was with an empty crop, then a 10 gram difference could be accounted by the food in the crop. Birds should be weighed at the same time of day, so that variation due to the state of the crop is largely eliminated. Until you sort out this diet stuff I suggest you weigh him at the same time every day and keep a record.
cheers,
Mike
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Post by conureowner1 on Oct 11, 2009 22:14:15 GMT 10
HI i used Aristopet bird wormer i used it for a day and half then put in fresh water. When i put in the fresh water he began to eat more. He went to bed tonight with a mighty full crop. I weighed him with an empty crop both times,when i first got him and today.
I understand that mike and am going to keep him on pellets and try to convert my other birds, MoJo will be pretty easy as she is eatting pellets already, Maya will only pick at them which is a start,Aqua on the other hand won't even look at them. I was talking to the breeder on my sun conure she said cause aqua been such a seed junking eg he won't even touch fresh fruit or veggies i may have extreme difficulty getting him to eat pellets. I plan on buying a 10kg bag of vetafarm south american pellets on the 15th when i get paid, I'll use the passwell pellets if i do end up runing out or runing low just as a back up.
But like i said since removing the worming water and giving fresh water my sun conure started eatting again. I did mix some passwell and vetafarm together to make the vetafarm go further till my 2kg bag and 350gram bag arrives. BUt he eats both vetafarm and passwell. I dare say its my fault for messing around. His poo no longer stinks so maybe it could have been worms or maybe it could of been stress. I will see what he is like tommorrow. I couldn't beleive how big his crop was tonight.
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Post by vankarhi on Oct 12, 2009 7:22:45 GMT 10
Good I am glad he is eating now. I also remember saying to you that my birds when I first bring them home will not eat much for the first few days as it is a shock to them to be taken from what they have known for their short life and put into strange sights, smells and noises and now new people. Usually within a few short days they are pigging out totally. Just always keep a good variety of food available to them and they should be fine ;D Just glad to see you can finally relax.
I always weigh my birds first thing in the morning on an empty crop.
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Post by asharee on Oct 12, 2009 12:19:41 GMT 10
LOL my little guy was pigging out on the way home in the car, as soon as he heard the pellets he ran over to the bowl and ate x] he eats anything
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Post by vankarhi on Oct 12, 2009 20:33:38 GMT 10
you sound like you have a lovely little bird there Asharee.
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Post by asharee on Oct 12, 2009 20:52:07 GMT 10
he snuggles now x]
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Post by cheekybird on Oct 20, 2009 20:00:20 GMT 10
hi conureowner, please don't force your birds to eat pellets. It's not a natural food for birds and should never constitute the whole diet. They should be eating a variety of foods including greens, some fruit, legumes, sprouted grains and seeds, a good dry seed mix, some source of animal protein like cooked egg, and other such things. I work in parrot rescue in Europe and have seen health damage caused by pelleted diets. As Mike pointed out, birds should also never ever be starved to force them to eat what we want them to eat. Diet change should always be a slow and controlled process.
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Post by conureowner1 on Oct 20, 2009 22:14:26 GMT 10
I forgot to mention i did contact the breeder about this problem but she jus said he was prefectly normal here eatting like a pig, I can't do anything once the leave my care its up to you. She said she doesn't offer a health guarntee at all.
Cheekybird my sun conure will not touch seed at all not even if you soak the seed, He gets pellets fresh fruit and veggies everyday.
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Post by Laraine on Oct 21, 2009 9:45:34 GMT 10
Have you checked with the breeder as to what they were feeding him. Sorry that's all I can suggest. Don't overdo the worming, could be more harmful than good.
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Post by Robyn on Oct 21, 2009 12:17:50 GMT 10
Conureowner, as i have tried to explain to you before so what if Bailey was weaned onto pellets & fruit & veggies, he is only eating what he knows, as he grows older so will his tastes for other foods change. He will want to try foods he sees you eat. There is a whole heap of other foods you can also try him on. Don't beat yourself up because he won't eat sprouts or seed. You have to figure out yourself what he will eat.
As far as pellets goes i can not for the life of me think that they will harm him in any way what so ever. Especially when you look at the first 8 weeks of their life & the formula we feed the chicks. Made from pretty much the same ingredients as the pellets. I think we have to be realistic here, the benefits of feeding a balanced nutritional diet to our birds would be to feed what ever was healthy for them.
I might also add a lady i know up here breeds Major Mitchell's has done for years, she only feeds her birds Vetafarm breeder pellets & fruit & Veg, most of her chicks are parent reared these days so what do the parents feed their chicks PELLETS & the fledged chicks go on to eat the pellets themselves so that shoots down the idea that pellets are not good for Parrots. You have to balance the diet.
Robyn.
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Post by cheekybird on Oct 22, 2009 4:50:37 GMT 10
Robyn, I have to disagree. Just because the parent Major Mitchells are feeding pellets doesn't mean they are good for them or any other bird - it just means that that is what they're used to and that is what's available. If they had other choices, they would feed other choices. You're right in saying you have to balance the diet - and birds do exactly that when they can.
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Post by Robyn on Oct 22, 2009 6:59:14 GMT 10
Cheekybird, I would have thought the fact this lady feeds her birds pellets as well as fruit & veg would have to be a balanced diet or the pellets in question is of better quality than the ones you have mentioned Z ones. We don't have them here. I forgot to mention that this ladies hubby is also a Vet as well. I think what your getting at is a total pellet diet is not good i get that. But surely including pellets along with other foods can't hurt & would be balanced i would think.
I think its the companion parrots owner that needs to be educated on what they should feed their birds. The breeders have a responsibility to help the new owner along but after that it the petshops & other suppliers that should be concerned what they sell along with any advice about bird diet. it's not happening all the time.
Lets also face it, its not just diet that cause the birds problems you have encounted at the rescue center, surely there must be other causes for their problems. In my experience there are many things that can cause liver disease, plucking, screaming & diet alone isn't to blame. I can imagine that a lot of the birds at your rescue center were not cared for very well in the first place & now have a second chance at a happy life. Some people just should not own parrots.
Thanks for your input very interesting.
Robyn.
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Post by conureowner1 on Oct 22, 2009 11:08:50 GMT 10
thanks everyone for the information. I can see both point of views. Some birds scream/pluck cause there not getting enough atention,silmulation of the brain,not enough toys to relieve boredom,stress,underlying medical condition,trauma of some kind. Bailey seems to be sitting at 103grams i would like him to put on some weight and get back to 106grams but hopefully with him on medication he will gain weight and get better.
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Post by Laraine on Oct 22, 2009 11:26:23 GMT 10
I guess you could say that there aren't pellets in the wild, so all the wild birds can eat are seeds.
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Post by vankarhi on Oct 23, 2009 6:50:25 GMT 10
if Bailey is stable in his weight then that is a good thing. Don't panic he is just a baby and you will find as he matures he will gain weight. All babies ........ well "most" babies are lean and as they mature they "fill out". Erik is still a lean green eating and screaming machine and yes he is a little on the small side for an ekkie......but he has big attitude ;D and he is healthy ;D
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Post by conureowner1 on Oct 23, 2009 15:19:07 GMT 10
Thanks Vankarhi your Erik is just gorgeous i hope some day i can own one myself. Bailey is doing good see my post in sqauwk talk update on bailey.
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Post by vankarhi on Oct 23, 2009 20:53:24 GMT 10
yes I have been keeping updated on Bailey ;D and thanks about Erik ;D
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Ollie at 8 1/2 months. 
Rosie at 3 months.
