Fledgeling not eating and croacking

[ronel]

Hi all. I recently got a plus munus 23 to 25 day old budgie chick that was kicked out of his nest. I started handfeeding him about 4 to 5 ml of formula every four hours. One day i saw that his crop looked bloated and immediately took him to the vet who flushed his crop. All went well after that. Two days ago sammy discovered that those things on the side of his body was meant for flying. I still handfed but increased the time to every 5 hours plus he now ate the formula by himself from the bowl. He started to peel the husks off the millet offered but spit out both husk and seed. This morning he still very greedily attacked his formula, and shortly thereafter discovered that he can swallow the millet seeds. Since then he has refused any formula, but still eats the seeds. This afternoon i discovered that there was a hard feel to his crop, almost as if he swallowed a little ball. I raced back to the vet, not avian as it was after hours, who again flushed the crop. Since then i have only been able to get him to eat a little bit and he makes this funny croacking sound when i offer the formula. He has however eaten a couple of millet seed again. Surely he can not becomw weaned within a day? he does not seem to be drinking water by himself yet. Please, any advice as to what is normal for a 31/32 day old budgie? Do i forcefeed at this point? Or take the millet away?

[nat]

Perhaps his lack of abitily to drink water is causing the crop impactions and making him croak?
Have you tried dunking his beak in a shallow bowl of water on the floor? If you are still syringe feeding him, then maybe add more water to the formula and also feed a high water content soft food which he can take himself. I use sweetcorn nuggets which have a high water content mixed with very damp eggfood in a shallow dish on the cage floor. I would keep feeding him seeds and millet spray, but use the corn and eggfood as his main diet until at least 6 weeks old and drinking properly.
Last time I had to handrear I was still tube feeding them at 4 weeks but they were beginning to resist strongly. Thats when the sweetcorn, eggfood and millet spray started to get eaten. You might still need to top up if you see the crop is empty and hes not eating. Also you can buy good quality dehusked millet from most superstores which is what I got my abandoned chicks onto next by mixing it in with the eggfood and corn.
Often weaning chicks will eat alot of seeds without dehusking. Even though you will see them dehusk some, they get tired of this and don't always dehusk everything as they are hungry and just want to get something down them! That another reason why the corn and eggfood is important because at this stage they will not have grit in the gizzard to help digest unhusked seeds.

[mizloco]

I know nothing about your problem but wanted to welcome you and wish you and the chick well. So glad you are handrearing the little fellow. Good luck.

[ronel]

Thank you so much for your speedy response. I give a corn mixed with other tipes of seeds which i cook prior to offering. This unfortunately does not seem to be a hit at this stage, bit the millet definitly is. I will try the beak dunking as you suggested. It is now night here, so i will worry the whole night. Is it normal for some to just suddenly switch from formula to seeds in one day? He is super cute and i really want him to pull through. I have an older cock, but he bites at sammy if i try to put them in the same cage, so i dont think fostering is going to happen. Thank heavens for an understanding boss who is allowing me to take him to work tomorrow.

[nat]

No its not normal to switch just like that in a day, however one of the 6 chicks I hand reared refused all hand feeding at approx 4 weeks old and weaned onto soft food quickly. Then she proceeded to feed the other chicks!
You've done well to get him to this stage. I had such a stressful time rearing my abandoned chicks I know how it is for you! Its so tiring and such a worry.
I actually found the weaning stage the most scary as thats when you give over the control to the bird.
Its also very important to allow his crop to empty completely before hand feeding. If I remember right, topping up a crop that is not empty can also lead to crop impaction or something else but I can't remember what!
Its a bit of a risk putting a chick under 6 weeks with an older cock. I have tried it in desparation before and it doesn't work until the chicks are older and a bit more self sufficient. Unless the older cock is particulary amiable.
Sometimes if you have a young cock that is pre breeding age (under 6 months) to show the chick the way that can work well. I had a 4 month old cock look after another batch of chicks ranging from 5 weeks to 10 weeks :-)

[ronel]

Hi all! it seems sammy has at 4.5 weeks decided formula is not for him. I mixed formula every 2 hours today in the hopes that he would eat, but he just gave me the evil eye every time I put it in front of him. So it seams he weaned himself within a day. Millet seeds are the bomb! Not budgie seeds though, those are just to play with! He stuffed himself just before bedtime at 6 o'clock, I forcefed him a little bit of water, and off to bed. Do you guys think i still need to wake him for some food at 10 o'clock, or only feed again tomorrow morning? He did fly a around a bit less today and was more quiet than usual, but seemed as a whole ok. Thanks for the advice so far!

[nat]

Is he managing to dehusk the millet seeds properly or eating them whole?
They say from 4-5 weeks the feeding should still be every 5 hours with the last feed at 10pm and first feed at 7am.
I would perhaps turn the lights back on between say 8 and 10pm and let him top himself up if he is willing :-)