I have bought a parrotlet

[Wolf]

Maybe she wants more or as you say maybe she wants some attention. My parrotlet will eat for a few minutes and then wants to be held and talk and then after 10 to 15 minutes wants back in the cage to eat some more. Just because I have not noticed it before, does she have a name ?

[dexterlancer]

I don't have a scale but I can feel it getting heavier.

[Pajarita]

That's a hungry bird asking for food and comfort, my dear, and the poor baby is suffering.

You need a scale because, first of all, there is no way on this green earth that you can feel a difference of a couple of grams in your hand (NOBODY can, not even all scales register such small difference and that's why people use small, digital scales for their baby birds). For another, you need to weight the baby early in the am, before you feed it because you need to feed, at least, 10% of its weight on every meal. If you don't know how much the bird weights, you can't feed it right and that's most likely the reason why it keeps on begging for food after you feed it. Be very careful of the decisions you make at this point in time because a bird that is not weaned properly and abundantly will have dietary and/or psychological issues all its life.

[dexterlancer]

But I can see that the crop is full.

[Wolf]

Some of this is rather a moot point, in my opinion, but I would like to weigh in on this again. First of all a scale that weighs accurately down to the tenth of a gram would be very helpful with a bird that is this small. I have a parrotlet of the same species as we are speaking of here. My parrotlet weighs 1 oz. or 28 grams. one tenth of this is 2.8 grams which my scale will not read as it only goes down to grams, very few people can feel or see this small of a weight change. But as I said this is largely a moot point as the bird is begging and there are only two reasons for this to occur, the first is that the bird is hungry and the second is that the bird needs attention, more specifically time on the birds special human.
Both of these are very important to the well being of the bird, especially as it is such a young bird and not answering either of these needs is going to create both short and long term issues for the bird.
Scales are not that expensive and can save you some problems in the long run so it is advisable to acquire one and while you are waiting for it to arrive, there is no valid reason to not address the possibility that the bird needs more one on one time. This way you can easily address both possible reasons for the birds behavior. Agree to disagree and take care of the birds issues, if this makes sense to you.

[dexterlancer]

How can I calculate for example 2.8g of food and when mixed with water, it will be difficult?

[liz]

They are not talking about some new fangled expensive scale. They are talking about a kitchen food scale. I have a digital that did not cost much. You can get them almost anywhere. I don't like leaving the house (PTSD) so I got mine from Amazon.

[Wolf]

I know nothing about the formula that you are feeding but it should have instructions for mixing it by volume as well as by weight. If the crop is full then you may be giving enough food for that feeding, you may need to feed him 3 times a day with the formula instead of just twice. Or it could be attention that he is begging for. In either case find out what he is asking for and help him. Babies need a lot of attention.

[Pajarita]

Also, take into consideration that baby birds always regress a bit when they go to a new house so it is possible that although 2 feedings a day were enough at the breeder's (where he was with other babies and it was the very familiar place were he/she was born), it might not be enough now. Food is more than just food to a baby bird, it's comfort, it's a parental presence, it's bonding.