Hi guys! Need some advice. Tried looking through past threads but not finding anythig specific.

Ok, heres the story, and then the question

Me and my dad picked up some young "weaned" quakers about a month ago. Mine is blue (Quark), his is green (Newton). The reason I say "weaned" is because of the following. When we got them home, mine absolutely would not eat solid food. He wanted formula or wet pellets only. It has been weeks on this diet and Quark now starting to eat on his own.

Now, with my dads bird, he would not take the moistened pellets. No pellets at all. The only thing we could get him to eat is seed. He seems to be eating that just fine. We recently got some Roudybush pellets and he seems to be eating those.

The problem I am having is that I do not get to see Newton so much, so I don't know exactly how much he is eating. My dad is a new bird owner, so he is not quite familiar with what is "normal" eating. He just says Newton eats.

My concern is that Newton is skinny. His droppings are normal and healthy looking now. Everything in me tells me that we just messed up badly when bringing him home and trying to find something for him to eat!! I think his weight dropped and now I am trying to fatten the boy up a bit.

His droppings are normal, he is active, runs around, explores, flies good, etc. But he needs a weight boost. Do you have any suggestions? I've thought about getting some of those cheerio looking weaning pellets and see if he will eat those. I'm keeping the seeds in his cage for now until this is under control and since he is eating pellets too.

I feel bad for him even though he seems fine, but I don't like the feel of his keel bone.

So am I just imagining things? Are babies skinnier than adults? Any SAFE, healthy ways to boost his weight?

I've tried to give as much info as possible, but if you need more info, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks guys!

How old are they ..??

I still let my boys share a spoon full of my poridge each morning and they are adults , its nice and warm and filling they seem to love it..
Maybe you could share breakfast with your fids (feathered kids) and give them some porridge...

Mashed sweet potato is also good food for them ,I have a recepe for sweet potato Balls in the recepe section you can make a batch and just freeze them mine get one zapped for 1 minute in the m/w and love them...There is also a Birdie bread recepe and most fids seem to love that too..
My guys love a bit of pasta when we are having spaghetti Bol. or scrambled egg occasionally... They have pellets available 24/7 (Roudybush crumbles as they are a small size somewhat like seeds) but I think to fattenthem up you should try some healthy human foods..

Boiled brown rice with veggies can also be cooked up in a big batch and frozen in nightly portions , very yummy for them in ther winter especially to have a warm meal of a evening...

Good luck share some photos , I am sure someone with some other ideas will come along soon...........

I'd work at getting the bird weaned off of the seed and on to other suitable foods, fruits and veggies, potatoes, pastas, beans, rice etc. Seed only on rare occasions as a treat. Millet however is a good seed that will help put a little weight on the bird as well...Millet sprays while it is seed is a seed with decent nutrients as well as a little added fat

There are other products on the market that help add calories to food such as "instant ounces" that you can sprinkle on moist food that helps add carbs.

You might have your dad start a nightly ritual of feeding the bird a few pieces of popped pop corn that has no salt or butter on it as a treat and that might also help put a little weight on him. They could sit and eat it together watching TV or something. A good time to bond with each other.

My guys also love unsalted cashews and dried figs (I only give the dried fig every other week due to high sugar BUT they love it all the crunchy seeds inside )

You guys are great! Thanks for the suggestions. Will be putting them to good use.