Cape Starting to Ween & FLY, need help please.

[apollosparents]

Sorry, long post. I type fast and like to get it all in.......

As of today, our new Cape baby; Apollo is 13 wks old. I have raised 4 out of our 5 others from hand feeding without incident and Apollo is no exception so far.

Apollo has started to ween since we got him. The last week he has been fussy at one feeding or another each day. He is currently on three a day. I am of the camp of "as long as he will take it, I will feed it." So I am not ready to drop a feeding because he still eats some at his "fussy" feeding but might be like half of it. His next feeding is generally a normal affair.

Apollo has also become SUPER active ALL DAY Flapping his wings, attacking toys, climbing all over his temporary cage, digging up the litter, flapping more wings, stretching, wash, rinse, repeat. and over the last couple of days has started to take flight and can now fly about 4 feet in the air from ground level. He has made me VERY nervous though because once he goes, he has that standard poicephalus flight pattern of "high speed/straight line" and his keel bone is sooo protruded. That coupled by his "bulk" makes us very nervous. Even with three humans, his flight training has been hectic, and he has bumped himself a few times on the beak and keel once but nothing anywhere near worrying about. Like a toddler learning to walk that fell on his butt per say. No harm but everyone gasps...

His weight has been a concern of mine. I weigh him in the morning and try to let him do a morning poop but he sometimes goes more or less each time and usually goes 2 or three after he is awake and before or after he eats his morning formula...Anyone that has a Cape knows, there is some mass in these things! Anywhoo, his heaviest weight with us was around 340 grams. Lately, he has been getting a little lighter and his weight fluctuating more and more though. His lowest was yesterday at 315, but today was at 327. I know all of my children lost some to a quite a bit of weight as they weened and learned to fly but Apollo's up and down gets me going.

Apollos diet is 3 feedings a day of Kaytee Exact. Usually, he does about 35 to 45CC a feeding. He gets wet pellets in the morning after feeding (type of pellet is: you name it, we give it; zupreem fruit, harrisons, roudy, zupreem weening) he generally picks and plays more than eating but gets some in. He preffers the orange zupreem fruit. A few hours later, he gets the above but dry and some harrisons spicy treat, papaya bits, and 2 gerber freeze dried yogurt drops for babies. In the afternoon after his formula, he gets dry pellets and a nutraberry broken in half. At both dry meals, he plays more than eating but does eat some of everything I am sure. At night, he gets dry pellets, some harrisons spicy treat, and 2 sunflower seeds, 4 safflower seeds, 1 pumpkin seed after his formula. He really seems to like the seeds and has dumped out his entire food bowl in search of more.

My questions are:

1. Is the weight gain/loss/gain/loss but gradual loss in weight OK? Someone that weened a cape would be great in this matter.

2. Am I missing something for his diet or any feedback on it? I have read to add peanut butter to his formula to keep his weight up. I have given him tastes of peanut butter yesterday and today and he loves it so I would have no difficulties doing it. I just want some first hand experience doing it.

3. As for teaching him to fly and do it safely...Any pointers?? We have wood floors and tile so there is not much space for a soft landing. He flys more like a cumbersome space shuttle than a nimble fighter jet.......

Any help or input on the post would be really appreciated.

[liz]

Sorry no one got back to you. How is he doing now?

[Conure_Concierge]

That's a big baby... must be a suahelicus. Hopefully someone with experience weaning Capes will answer soon. At this point it sounds like you have a lot more experience than I do. I've read somewhere that up to a 10% variation in weight in Capes is normal; I guess since they can hold so much waste it's hard to tell when you're getting a true 'empty' weight. I've experienced something similar in my one year old when I got him. He started at 308 grams and cyclically increased to 340 grams over a two month period; then as he became a much more active flier and all around monkey, he has cyclically dropped to 317 grams.

My Cape was properly fledged, unclipped and flight capable when I got him, but only flew in fright at first and immediately crash landed. He had very little flight-strength so he usually flew a very short distance to a hard landing. Now he flies to get into mischief, or just for fun, can turn on a dime and usually lands gracefully. It was rough on his keel and legs initially, but he was never injured. The only other indoor flight precaution I take with both of my birds is to daily take them around to some or all of the mirrors and windows in the house, tap the glass with my finger nail, gently bump their beak against the glass and say "window hard", or "mirror hard". Hopefully this will allow them to memory-map the hazards.

Let us know how things go with your baby.

[apollosparents]

Thank you for the reply's. I am not sure what sub species he is. He is 7 months old tomorrow, weighs 347 grams and is starting to really molt and loose his final baby fluff and a lot of his red head. He doesn't have his red socks yet or his red spots on his wings but he has fluffy white tuffs thicker than ever where the wing red will come in.

I gave him a flight clip 2 months ago but was a little over agressive so he can take off and land but not sustain any filight. He made us too nervous crashing into things at high speed so I will work with him now that his keel bone is not so pronounced and he has grown up a bit. He learned everything but hover so he should be ok when he gets his new wing feathers. We did and still do all the "bump tests" of windows, walls, and mirrors. We shall see if he remembers. He does avoid them now during his short flights but I only wonder if he will remember during sustained flight, turns and hovering.

My Avain DVM told us that he needed more seeds and nuts than many other parrots so now that he was given the opportunity he is trying to become more of a seed eater than pellet eater. I am working on reverting him to some degree because my 7 year old Quaker is a seed eater and we are working through some liver issues with him and he almost died a few weeks ago without us knowing anything was wrong other than him being overweight. ( He was not weened by us and was weened on strictly seeds....sunflower/safflower mix)
It has been a battle with him but he is doing better now with clear(er) urates but his urine is still yellow tinged. I am not feeding him more veggies and heathly people food than ever but he is not taking to pellets or any other non seed diet.

Back to baby Cape Apollo.....He is a NUT. He still NEVER STOPS moving unless you are scratching his head. Then he stops and goes into a transe and will lay there for an hour or more as you scratch his head, beak, and neck. He eats wood toys faster than any parrot I know (including Maccaws) but his favorite toys are ones he can hold in his feet or carry around, Coke boxes (loves to be inside any dark hole), and hanging toys he can hang from and flap his wings and eat. He loves to explore and walks and takes short hopped flights around the house looking around and getting into every hole he can find. He likes to use his wings as extra "arms" and broke a wing feather the other day. It didn't hurt him but it worries me when his blood feathers come in.


Below is some pics I snapped tonight. You tell me what sub species you think he is please? (Yes that is a diet coke box on his cage. Who knew a free box would always be his favorite toy. He takes things in an out of the box(es) and plays for hours!)









BEFORE MOLT @ about 3 1/2 months old:

[liz]

I don't know but he is cute.

Rambo likes boxes. Myrtle liks paper bags.

[chadsnyder]

I have just begun learning about capes and they look and sound like a fascinating bird. I'll watch for more posts but any info you can offer would be highly appreciated.