My young chick is still just growing feathers and he is 4 weeks!? Whats wrong with him.

My young chick is still just growing feathers and he is 4 weeks!? Whats wrong with him.

 

What sort of feed is it getting? Apologies for not following your breeding journal, which may tell me what im about to ask but if they are being parent raised, what soft food and veges/protein are you giving the parents (who in turn give it to the chicks?). If they are getting adequate soft food, perhaps the chick is not receiving enough food to grow adequately.

 

Alternately, if the chick is being hand raised, it could be a problem with the strength of formula you are using (either the brand or the water/powder ratio). At 4 weeks old the chick should be able to eat seed or soft food itself, try encouraging it to eat more proteins. For protein i use cooked brown rice fed with lentils (soup mix), as neither rice nor lentils are a complete protein alone, but together are complimentary. Also, boiled egg mashed up with the shell fed FRESH is a great source of fats and complete proteins for growing babies that are in need of that little extra. I would not feed egg very often though.

 

And as a rule, i always offer sprouted seeds to the parents, which they LOVE. The babies in the nursery go nuts over it now too

I offer sprouts, seeds, millet and budgie starter. He is a bush budgie, would this make any difference. He is also the only one in the nest.

I offer some vegies to the mum but she doesnt touch them, She only eats seed and sprouts.

Photo please ?

Of what!? The baby now?

Of what!? The baby now?

Yes.......you said he wasnt growing feathers. Need to see to what degree :bliss:

He was 4 weeks on christmas day. I guess he is 5 weeks now. Developing very quickly now.

 

(also do you think he is still a he?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personally I think it is a hen. Could he have french moult? He is still growing feathers so that is good.

He looks like he's a little slow to get hs feathers but given he had a bit of a rough start I wouldn't be too worried as he certainly looks healthey enough :bliss:

Well I wasnt really too worried untill he hit 5 weeks and I was like ARG! I got mak at 5 weeks and he looks nothing like him.

Looks okay to me. some develop slow if the parents didn't feed all that well. Looks like a hen to me

Hen too :bliss: Feathers look fine...but looks like a 3 to three and a half week old

Edited December 30, 200816 yr by KAZ

I wouldn't worry as he doesn't seem sick and he still is growing and developing. Or should I say she lol

 

Very cute :bliss:

Just a late bloomer by the looks of it. Hen I think.

well I can't answer your health question but she (I'll say that but I have no idea) is very cute.

Well maybe bush budgies develop slower than pet ones. It makes sense that pet budgies and show budgies would develop faster as they have been bred to do so among other things.

He looks rather dark for a bushie

SW: I thought she looked abit olive as well. I was assured they are genuine- So if not there will be *** to pay! lol

Also same train of thought with the selective breeding thingo.

SW: I thought she looked abit olive as well. I was assured they are genuine- So if not there will be *** to pay! lol

Also same train of thought with the selective breeding thingo. :sad:

Baby looks grey green or olive ....odd

Edited December 31, 200816 yr by KAZ

Well I think show budgies have been bred to mature quickly. Makes sense.

 

On the colour. Looks like someone had a naughty with a mauve or grey pet budgie somewhere along the line.

Notice how his butt is a mauve too. The yellow doesn't go all the way.

It is possible he is a purebred bushie and the mutation has just occurred in him, but unlikely.

Edited December 31, 200816 yr by Sailorwolf

Your telling me!

She's a sweetie!!! Just keep offering her lots of goodies on the floor of the cage for her to pick through... she should get it eventually!

There are naturally occuring varations in bush budgies among the greens and even in opaline. The trick is that as long as that bird would be able tp persist in the wild and stay hidden in the trees it could certainly pass on it's genes. We have drawings on the walls of my old work which were done about 100 years ago of wild budgies and I'd swear one of them is grey green!