Young Cockatiel weight

[Margaret]

I start to worry.
Chico refused baby formula couple of days ago. She is 2 months right now. I was watching if she really eats or only play with her food- she eats.

Her diet looks like that:
- all the time mixture of unlimited budgies pellets + seeds in her cage
- veggies like: broccoli, Romanian lettuce, cooked carrot, spinach, alfa-alfa sproughts.
- cooked egg a little bit every other day- she seems to love it
- pieces of dark bread, cooked pasta and dark rice.

She seems to me like healthy, energetic, etc. but she stopped gaining weight since she refuses baby formula. I watch her droppings and they also looks fine to me: rounded, not dry.

I search the Internet and the basic weight is like that for tiels:

* 3-6 days---5-12 grams
* 1-2 weeks 12-45 grams
* 2-3 weeks 45-72 grams
* 3-4 weeks 72-108 grams
* 4-5 weeks 80-120 grams
* 5-6 weeks 80-90 grams
* 6-7 weeks 80-95 grams
* 7 weeks to Adult 90-110 grams

She finished 8 weeks and she weight only 75 grams. I tried to give her baby formula on spoon, or added to her food, but then she doesn't touch it. Other than that she eats normal.
Should I be alarmed, go to vet, add something to her diet or it's individual bird weight?

[zazanomore]

When in doubt, go to the vet.

[michellet]

There is a lot of varying recommendations re cockatiel weights...i've just done a quick search online and the first three sites I looked at all had different healthy weight ranges! One says that an adult cockatiel should be between 78-125g....thats a HUGE 50gram range!
The best thing to do is weigh your bird daily for at least a few weeks, so that you have an idea of their "normal" weight range...then if they deviate from this you know to get them off to a good avian vet....but when a bird has just come into your care and you havent yet established what their normal weight range is, it's virtually impossible to know what is "normal".
My advice would be to go to the vet if you have any major concerns...or call the breeder you got your bird from and ask their advice.
I've just weighed our 9week old lutino cockatiel and he's 84 grams....

[captwest]

I wouldn't stress over how much your bird weighs,yes you do need to keep track of his weight, my tiels are smaller than a lot of others so a weight is not that helpful, however a trend is very insightful, At 8/10 weeks many teils will start to trying to flege ( sure i screwed thatup) at that point they don't gain any weight to help with flight,less you weigh the easyier to fly, at about 10/12 weeks they should again start weight gain.It depends , some are early blommers .This does seem more common in males.

[CheekyandMalolo]

One of our Tiels weighed 89grams at about 4 months old, so I wouldn't worry too much about your Teil's weight. They lose a little weight while they're learning to fly, it helps them as they don't have as much weight to lift. Make sure you're weighing it regularly so you know if it continues to lose weight, if so, then take it to an avian vet.

[Margaret]

Thank you all for respond,
I have read that Tiels ready to fly stop gaining weight, but since Chico is clipped I didn't consider that.
Plus I think I got kinda panic since she stop baby formula and didn't gain weight.
We're Ok!

[patdbunny]

Very normal for newly weaned babies to LOSE weight. Losing that baby fat in preparation for flight. So don't freak if there's a little bit of weight loss so long as the baby's chirpy, sassy and happy.

I know you said your tiel was clipped. You might want to consider letting his/her wings grow out next molt and learn to fly around before reclipping. I notice in the tiels they tend to jump up and fly backwards, landing on and smashing their tails unless they've learned to fly forwards. No biggy - more so a cosmetic thing with keeping the tail.

[Margaret]

(...)
I know you said your tiel was clipped. You might want to consider letting his/her wings grow out next molt and learn to fly around before reclipping.(...)

Hmm, the thing is I don't want her to be clipped. I took her from store like that, so I didn't have choice. I can't wait to see her wings grow back. She is doing that wing exercises quiet often; is that mean that she want to fly or is that standard wings exercises in Cockatiels?

[patdbunny]

Normal wing flapping. She doesn't "want" to fly because she doesn't know she's supposed to fly. It's just a natural thing they do. Kinda like a baby doesn't "want" to walk, it's just something they're programed to try to do at a certain stage of development.

When my babies are flapping, the first flight is purely "accidental"; and so far as a bird can, they have a really surprised look on their faces. Sometimes for a little while afterwards they don't flap their wings as frequently as they did prior to the first "accidental" flight because they aren't sure what happened. It's really pretty funny actually - a bird surprised it flew.

[kaylayuh]

When my babies are flapping, the first flight is purely "accidental"; and so far as a bird can, they have a really surprised look on their faces. Sometimes for a little while afterwards they don't flap their wings as frequently as they did prior to the first "accidental" flight because they aren't sure what happened. It's really pretty funny actually - a bird surprised it flew.

My budgies had that exact look once their flight feathers grew in. I'm pretty sure they weren't ever allowed to grow in, so the first time Pigpen took off, she looked a mix between terrified and shocked. It was hilarious to see. She wouldn't flap her wings for about a week afterwards, but now she flies all the time. No Name's flights are still in the process of growing in, so I'm excited to see his first flight. Cheney Bird is clipped but can fly a bit and he looks terrified every single time he lifts off.