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Post by patty on Dec 16, 2005 8:46:55 GMT -7
hi everyone,
i brought Gandalf home last week Sunday. He was 10 wks on Tuesday. He is still on 4 feedings a day and i want to cut him back but i am concerned about him losing too much weight as he did lose some in the transition of switching homes. the breeder weighed him on Sunday and he was 470grams, i weighed him at home and he was 460. i'm assuming it was a difference in scales.
Dec.12th: 7am-460g, 11am-468g, 430pm-462g, 930pm-462
Dec.13th: 7am-452g, 11am-460g, 400pm-456g, 900pm-462
Dec.14th: 7am-452g, 11am-468g, 300pm-466g, no record
Dec.15th: 8am-448g, 1pm-462g, 500pm-466g, 900pm-470
Ded.16th: 7am-458g
my question is i have never done hand feeding befor and i dont know how much weight fluctuation is normal. does this look normal and can i cut him down to 3 feedings per day.
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Post by jozi on Dec 16, 2005 10:24:47 GMT -7
Hi Patty. I don't know anything about weaning other than it is really easy to mess it up and do some damage to the bird. Usually, (please note that I am not directing this to your decision to wean) it is considered bad practice for breeders to let bappies go before they are fully weaned because of all the things that can go wrong. My suggestion would be to contact the breeder as they will be the most familiar with the weight gain and feeding schedules that would be most appropriate for your bird. Im concerned about your new baby...please be very careful and do some online research while you are completing the weaning. Them's my two bits  |
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Post by Adele on Dec 16, 2005 14:14:51 GMT -7
Wow, I'm impressed with how many times a day you weigh your bird. I got Manzi unweaned due to bad people. Well, He was 7 weeks old. He was getting only 3 feeding a day. He got up to 460g. He did fluctuate like your baby. At about 11 weeks he started loosing weight. He lost weight for a while and then he started to fly. He dropped down to 425g and has stayed there ever since. I didn't cut back on his feedings until he refused them. He stopped taking feedings while he was learning to fly, then he took some again till about 16-17 weeks. Now and then he still begs for a feeding (he is 6 months old), but he won't eat a complete one like before.
Gandalf sounds like he is the right age to fly and he might be loosing weight due to that. You also have to remember that due to the amount you feed and the size of his poop, the hourly weight fluctuations can be quite large.
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Post by agmommy on Dec 16, 2005 18:29:40 GMT -7
They usually start fledging right around 11weeks... Sydney flew at 11weeks on the dot... They will normally refuse their morning feeding on the day they are going to fly. It was like clock work from what I read online about fledging... The morning she refused her feeding (on 2 at the time) I knew she was going to fly... I got home from work and brought her out of her cage and set her on the back of a chair and waited... I could tell she wanted to fly, and I knew she was going to... Maybe about 5min. after I put her on the chair she took off in flight. It was SOOO neat, just like when a baby takes their first steps (I am assuming) I was so excited, I praised her it was an awsome experience weaning her... I let her fly for about 3-4 weeks to make sure she had her balance down... then slowing trimmed a couple feathers here and there...
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