5 week old love bird feeding issue

[Birbmum]

Hi All,

I'm seeking guidance on managing a pair of particularly challenging young birds. With my extensive experience in hand-raising numerous birds, I've never encountered any as tricky as these two.

I've been nurturing two Fischer lovebirds, now 5 weeks old, since they were 2 weeks old. Everything was smooth until they reached 4 weeks. Around that time, they suddenly became reluctant to accept their formula. Despite their constant hunger cries, I can only manage to feed them about 1ml at each feeding. They show no interest in seeds, millet, or water. Despite their loud, persistent cries for food throughout the night, they refuse to eat more when I try to feed them, clamping their beaks shut.

I am quite adept in this field, familiar with preparing formula at the right temperature using a bottle warmer and administering it with both a syringe and spoon.

I'm curious if anyone has experienced similar behavior and can offer advice on how to effectively feed them just twice a day, rather than dealing with their frequent, small feeding demands. I'm eager to find a solution to reduce the constant squawking.

Thank you in advance

 

[Icey]

@Zara is our lovebird queen and may be able to help.

 

[Zara]

That is odd they would stop accepting food if everything is the same. Same food, same feeding place etc. You could try feeding them in another place - inside the brooder, or snuggled up to you, see if they will take the formula in another place. If they don't, maybe feed millet spray when they are comfy and snuggling.
Keep trying to offer pellets, seed, veggies etc

If all else fails and they will not eat a thing, you will have to gavage feed using a crop tube as a last resort.

 

[Birbmum]

It seems to be one more than the other, I am able to get 2ml into one but the other (although is crying) clamps his beak shut when I attempt to feed.

Thank you for your reply and suggestion of the feeding tube, this may be the answer if the difficult bub continues to refuse his feedings.

 

[Shezbug]

Out of curiosity- no changes to the water being used? I only ask this as fairly recently my dog became weird with her water bowl (wanted to drink but wouldn't) - turns out they were putting new chemicals in our water as it has been contaminated with blue green algae ( and some other issues apparently) so I have gone back to giving her rainwater and all is good again.
I am particularly sensitive to the taste and smell of horrible treated water so I only ever use rain water for drinking and cooking with and for my birds drinking water but for some reason I had got lazy and started using town water for the dog.

 

[Birbmum]

hmmm i dont believe there has been a change, the issue is still persisting with one lovie under eating. He will guzzle one mouthfull but then nip at the rest and shake his head around making an awful mess. His sibling is eating seed now, but he is still a bit hesitant.