Weaning Problem

[ZoneR AsH]

I had recently bought an un weaned Indian Ringneck. I can't tell its age exactly. But I am sure he is now at least 10-12 weeks old (as he has been with me for a month and half). I have to force feed him because whenever I give him any chew-able thing, he just try to chew and the thing fall from him beak. Even he try to chew the tube on the syringe, thus I have to force feed him. I want to know that if force feeding will result in any psychological effect? Or is there any other thing I can do? Why can't normally eat swallow if he can chew? Is he normal?

[Wolf]

Welcome to the forum.
Now you know why we constantly recommend that you never by an unweaned parrot and why we are trying to get laws passed to prevent this sort of thing. I also understand that you may not have known this, so my statement is intended as much as a reminder to anyone else thinking of getting an unweaned bird as it is for you. That is enough said on that for now as I am not here to chastise you or make you feel any worse than you already do.
Yes, force feeding is going to have some long term as well as short term effects on the bird both emotionally and psychologically.
There are so many things that can go wrong that I really don't know where to begin. First there is the issue of the temperature of the food which must be consistent all through the weaning formula as too hot will burn the crop, too cool and the bird can get a crop infection. If the feeding is done wrong then there is the danger of aspiration, where some of the food gets in the birds airway.
This is not an area that I have any real experience with, Pajarita may be able to help you much more than I can as she is much more experienced than I am. There are only two things that I can say thatmay actually be helpful to you. The first is that if you are inexperienced then find someone such as a vet to teach you how to do this properly. The second is the parent birds must teach their young how to eat and I think that a big part of this is done by their rubbing and gently pulling on the baby birds beak, so it is possible that doing this will help with yours. If you think that anything at all is wrong with the bird get it to a vet right away.

[ZoneR AsH]

Well, thanks for your reply. Yes I am feeling bad about my decision of buying an un weaned parrot chick. But believe me I was not expecting this to happen.
But I am quite sure about tube feeding that nothing is going wrong with that. I feed him a little warm, a little viscous formula. Rio seems healthy. No crop slow down etc.
Besides force feeding, I am sure that I am doing things right. What I am actually concerned about is why he is not weaning? How professionals teach young birds to et on their own? Is his this behavior normal as a 10- 12 week old chick? How can I help him to wean?
Thanks again for your reply!

[Pajarita]

You need to take that bird to a avian vet, there is nothing we can tell you that it's going to change that. He might 'look' healthy to you but he is not. A healthy bird would have a normal feeding response and would eat soft foods on its own by now. Gavage feeding (force feeding) is one of the most cruel things we can do to a baby bird even when it's done perfectly and as kindly as we can make it. It's physically intrusive and painful and, from a psychological point of view, it creates a trauma associated with food because it takes ALL the pleasure out of eating, something that all living beings have encoded into their brains in order to survive. Birds that are gavage fed always end up with an eating disorder. Please take him to a vet.

[ZoneR AsH]

By the grace of God Rio is progessing and has started to eat on his own. I made him a vege mix and he loved it! Later today I served him millets, and surprisingly he ate them, Not all of them, but I am really happy about that.
I want to know that if there is any other thing other than pellets which can keep him healthy? Because I am not sure which brand will suite him and pellet samples are not shipped here.
So I need some help regarding his nutrition.

Thanks!

[Wolf]

I do not feed pellets at all, however, If I were to feed them I would only use them for the evening meal where I feed a seed mix and I would choose TOPA pellets.
I feed my birds, all of them, gloop. You can find out all about it in this section by typing gloop in the search box and hitting enter. I also feed fresh fruit and vegetables.

[Pajarita]

Oh, those are, indeed, good news! Yes, try gloop, it's ideal for weaning birds as well as adults.