[Mir]

I have a little dilemma. I have 3 seven
week old baby tiels right now that I've hand fed just as I have the
previous ones. However, I'm finding that they're not as calm or tame
as the others. All they want to do is fly off. The others that I've
had were so placid and cuddly-the opposite of these. Can you suggest
what I could do to change their behaviour? I was thinking of picking
them up individually, but as soon as they hear their sibling's chirp,
they fly off-so frustrating. I'm still hand feeding them once at night
and you won't believe what I have to do. I have to feed them in a box
together and they're jumping on each other to get to the food, but if
I feed them individually, they don't eat because they want to be with
their brothers.

 

[Sensfan]

Mir are you offering them food other than the hand feeding? I would think that at seven weeks they should be starting to eat on their own.
Also it sounds like something in the environment is making them hyper. Has anything changed since you hand fed before?

 

[Mir]

Hi my friend. No nothing's changed and they are eating on their own, but I still supplement once a day-at night until fully weaned. I have stopped the last couple of nights as they are eating well on their own. They're just so bonded to each other and want to be together all the time. Little rascals they are. Maybe they've discovered that they can fly a little too late compared to the others and that's why they seem to wat to get away all the time. Also, I started hand feeding this clutch earlier that the others, which should give the opposite results. I started these at 2 weeks as opposed to 2 1/2 to 3 weeks as before and they have grown so fast too. At 4 weeks they looked 6 weeks-huge little fellas.

 

[Sensfan]

Mir are you sure it isn't normal baby behaviour? I don't have any experience with babies except through Ineke but I've noticed that they find out they can fly and for a while that's all they want to do. Taiyo's brother Java wouldn't stop to eat either when we were there a month ago. He's calmed down now, eating and flying into the bird room to be with the others. We wish we could have taken him too but opposite sex siblings are not a good idea.

 

[nanay]

Is it possible to house them in separate cages for a while and only work with one at a time? It sounds as if they are upsetting one another.

 

[Mir]

I spent lots of time with them last night and they seemed better. I will continue to give them more of my time tonight and see if they settle down a bit more. Thanks everyone.